I was confused because her having that much taste seemed weird.

Yeah, I couldn't figure out what he must have been thinking.

I think I'm ringing in the new year with cat barf.

Hey, I have dog barf! I think I'm taking myself out for coffee before I break out the carpet cleaner.

Huh. Just got my first Emergency Warning broadcast, for flooding along the Russian River.

Ooh, that's scary. Good luck, NoCal!!!

OK, dishes are done. A couple of thank-you notes have been written. Coats have been hung up. Things are coming together.

Consuela, I hope the predictions are worse than reality. Are you in a low lying area?

Probably be a quiet day here, just hanging around the house until we head down to Alexandria for First Night celebrations.

Sounds fun, Sheryl. I think we might take down the Christmas tree, now. We were going to wait until tomorrow, but it would be nice to have the house back to normal for a couple of days before everyone goes back to school and work.

We generally don't go out on NYE, any more. I think our last big shindig was the NYE a couple of months after we were married. The next NYE, I was in my 9th month of pregnancy. One or two of the years when we only had Ben, we went to a s-i-l's house, but went home before midnight, so we wouldn't have him on the road with as high a concentration of drunk drivers. Once Julia and Chris came along, there was little sense to even trying to go somewhere.

I'd like to have NYE parties here, someday, but I'm paranoid about people drinking at my house, and then driving home. I think I'd have to have an understanding ahead of time that people who came, would stay overnight. That seems like less fun. If I hit the lottery, I'll hire limos.

What is everyone else doing, tonight?

I'm going to pick up a couple of bottles of wine and maybe watch a movie. Ohh, maybe I'll go by the artisanal cheese and bread store that opened in my hood recently, too. Oh! And the new cupcake place!

Well, would you look at that. I have plans.

That all sounds so yummy, brenda. I'm coming over. I'll be there...er...next year.

Oh, I'm fine, Cindy. I'm about half a mile from the bottom of the hill, and nowhere near the water. No mudslides or flooding for me.

I think however I will go to the gym and then buy groceries and whatnot. An exciting day!

I'm hosting a New Year's party tonight. Nothing fancy, just friends getting together for snacks and drinks. I threw one last year because I was sick of never having anything to do on New Year's Eve, and it turned out pretty well. This year, the half the people I invited never responded one way or the other, so I've got that tacked on to my normal pre-hosting anxiety. It's silly, because I'm always excited at the prospect of hosting a party, but the 24 hours leading up to it are always a mess of "Oh my God, what if it sucks? What if nobody comes? What crucial thing am I forgetting?" and the non-responsiveness of most of the invitees is just compounding it.

I also have a lot of cleaning I really should be doing. Yet I'm playing on the internet instead.

The friends who were coming into town to go the concert with me just cancelled. Feh.

O'Donnell and Radner?

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Fie on barfing animals, mudslides, cancelling friends and other bits of 2005 trying to end on a crappy note.

There. Culture has hit its zenith. We can do no more....

The sad thing is, when I first saw it I thought "But Batman would never use a gun." and then I thought "Wow, I'm a colossal dork."

The friends who were coming into town to go the concert with me just cancelled. Feh.

Feh indeed. I hope you find someone else to go with you, or go on your own, Aurelia.