God, it was lovely. A bit of a whirlwind, so that I was very disoriented when I got back home/to work, and felt that much more time had passed than just a weekend. But lovely.
As sentimental as it may sound, my arms and my heart just feel more full with those people close by. It felt so right to be together again, even if not absolutely everyone could be there. And it was wonderful to be together with no obligations for once, too. Nobody was doing anything, performing anything, running around... we were just there to enjoy each other. And we did!
I'm glad Rachel and I decided to go on Friday. It was good just to arrive there, and fight our way through Times Square. And I was so excited when we were waiting for Lilah and Julia to appear! And then meeting Chelsea in Grand Central, and Maddie and Katie R. the next day... it felt like coming home. And I got most lovely presents. A work voodoo doll from Chelsea, which I'm sure will come in handy, a pair of pins from Julia which she said made her think of me... they make me think of me, too, and, completing the pin them with a flourish, a Saint Sebastian pin cushion from Lilah! I was SO excited about that... I cannot even express my excitement. And, of course, I had previously received a wonderful book of restoration plays called Libertine from Charlotte and Olivia Saves the Circus (by Ian Somethingorother!) from Katie R. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Which apparently is the word of the hour.
Friday night at Julia's we couldn't stand to actually separate ourselves into reasonable sleeping arrangments (i.e., one person per bed, as had been arranged), and instead Chelsea, Rachel, and I all snuggled together on one big matress, and we pulled the other matresses together so Lilah and Julia were within reach as well.
Saturday we hung out sleepily for much of the day at Katie's, as her sister plied us with champagne. In the midst of all this we got lunch and I managed to submit my Duke application. Then, we realized that the MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO for the New Year was to learn ALL the verses of Auld Lange Syne in Scottish. (The title comes courtesy of the last of those verses.) This filled me with joy. We sounded quite beautiful, in Katie's sister's living room, and I felt the meaning of the song in a totally new way as I looked around at all the faces. I think everybody else did, too.
Eventually, we got dressed and dolled up (in a manner of speaking), and headed out for dinner and Beauty Bar, where we planned to ring in the New Year. Dinner ended up being at a marvelous diner called Joe Jr.'s. It was the most decorated place I have ever seen in my life. There were Christmas decorations, New Year's decorations, Hanukkah decorations (including a big fuzzy blue Star of David)... all on every possible wall and hanging from the ceiling and everything. When we arrived in our big crew of 7, one of the waiters kept insisting we were eight and trying to add himself to the party. They also tried to convince us to split up into two booths, but we were not to be deterred from excessive togetherness. The waiters continued to be extraordinarily solicitous... when we asked what the soups of the day were, they brought us two small bowls and seven spoons! And after the meal, they asked if it was anyone's birthday, and we said it was Katie R's in a week, so they brought us two slices of apple pie covered in vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream and whipped cream! Then the waiter who had tried to join us earlier also tried to pay his share... which Katie R. said was, in fact, the whole bill. Oh! And as we were eating, a whole ENORMOUS parade of vehicles went by, all with giant menorahs atop them! And there were big vans that said "Mitzvah Mobile" and stuff. It was really incredibly cool.
After our fabulous meal, we went off to Beauty Bar, and were admitted amid a flurry of ID checking and cover charge paying. We had Dirty Girl Scouts to start, officially my favorite shot, and then Lemon Drops, and then... I had a rum and cranberry... and waited a little before having a gin and tonic... and later at some point had a B52, and finally champagne at midnight. I was really drunk, mostly because I've never done lots of shots before. But in a mostly fun way, no sickness or anything. Though there was definitely a period of time when Katie R. and I were clinging to a parking meter outside, and it felt sooo nice and cool and stationary, and we definitely discussed how odd we must look. And we took a whole series of Affectionate Women pictures, to compliment Rachel's present to Maddie (a book called Affectionate Men). And I kissed everyone at midnight, I think, though I have no memory of where I started. And, of course, we sang Auld Lange Syne... all the verses... in Scottish.... really loudly and not so prettily, but we got them all, even drunk. It was marvelous. There was lots of dancing. Good music! They said they didn't have Mr. Brightside, but they played it anyway. I got really hot and had to take my sweater off, revealing my very tight "Book Worm Walk" shirt underneath, but apparently it went over well, since two strange boys danced with me, and one seems to want to get together for coffee next week. I'm not yet sure what I think about that. Lilah's boyfriend Joe showed up and lei'd us all, and Katie R. and Rachel and he and I had a lovely dance entangling ourselves in the unraveled cord of plastic lei. Everything has this sort of colorful haze over it in my memory, though by the end I was much less drunk... since I stopped drinking shortly after midnight and we went home around 4. And it's not that I was perfectly happy the entire time... it's more that everything felt right in some hard-to-pin-down kind of way.
We went home and collapsed, emerging slowly the next day, and I made scrambled eggs with delicious cheese and ham, and we went to see Casanova, which was a rollicking good time, full of fun and sweetness and visual loveliness (in people and location) and silliness and laughter. And then we parted ways with the crowd going back to Julia's, and Katie R's lovely sister took Katie and Rachel and I out for Chinese food. Rachel and I finally made it home about 1:00 AM, and I slept forever and ever, and got up and did my applications.
And that was my New Year.
:)
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