New Year's Eve Confessions

Just so you know, this post is unlikely to live up to the hype of the title. I'll be honest right up front. 

New Year's Eve is always a giant let down. Except that time a couple of years ago when I went to Maroon 5 on NYE (even if it was in Oklahoma and the concert ended about 10:00).

Keep expectations low. Always keep expectations low. That applies to all events from mid-November (my birthday) through Valentine's Day -- the lonely season for singles.

My options for activities were not abundant this year. 

On Christmas Eve, Peyton called me about the possibility of having a friend come with her to my house since Paige had originally planned to go to a church lock-in. I put off giving her an answer that day, and by not bringing it up, got my way out of that. I told her she could do that sometime, but I didn't really want to do it on NYE. And someone put her up to doing that, and I don't really know why. I won't get into the "politics" of that.

I asked my "Girls' Night Out" friends if they possibly had plans. Angie (the married girl of the group) was planning to do something with her husband who was off for the first time in years (though I think her night ended up more boring than mine). Though Jenny didn't speak up at the time, I know she went to a hockey game with FedEx (any guy she goes out with has to have a nickname). Rakia was doing something with her family and asked us to wish her luck (I wonder how that turned out). Ashley invited me to meet up with her and some of her friends to Big D NYE, but I'm old and that sounded like torture to me personally. Cold. Standing around. A bunch of strangers. A bunch of drunk strangers. It's just not my thing, but more power to the brave that enjoy it! (I truly hope you had fun Ashley!)

I decided to go to a area-wide singles event that was announced at church. Rachel was determined she was not going to go (she had a legitimate reason among her list). I wish she would have let me talk her into going, but I went alone.

I'm sure you remember my blog posts about the singles events at the church I attend before. I figured this one had to be somewhat better if only because there was an age limit. College to mid-thirties. And I am on the absolute highest end of that, so I knew the 60+ crowd (meaning two) from our church would not be present. 

There was a reason I almost backed out and didn't firmly decide until almost the last minute to go. While I skipped the 5th Sunday fellowship meal, I heard that "The Fly" was asking the single ladies that were there (meaning two - though not the same two mentioned above) if they wanted a ride. I was not asked, but that was all well and good because I did know my way. I had gone through the nearby town twice in the three days before so well knew where I was going and can take care of myself. 

However, I sucked it up, knowing that I would likely spend the evening avoiding "The Fly". I will interject here that I could have gone and hung out with the parents at the youth group lock-in at church. (Paige decided not to go after all because of a weekend girls' camp and wanted to save her energy for it.) One of the mothers said she would have enjoyed seeing me play laser tag with the boys who stalk me. I should have gone for it. It was tempting to shoot at them. (I even thought about it when I got back into town.)

The people at the singles' event were nice. Most were from the congregation hosting the evening. Several were college students home for the holidays. I felt old. There was a person or two there that fit the there-is-a-reason-why-I-am-single-and-stuck-at-a-church-singles-event mold. Obviously, I fit that mold too, but not quite as awkwardly as the person I refer to.

The oldest single there (he told his age during a game in which we all confessed our ages - a year older than me), was actually someone I knew something about. I was playing a rousing game of Jenga with someone when I hear someone come in that said they were from a nearby very small town that I will call Sweden. (It is not Sweden, but is a town named the same thing as a European country.) This caught my attention, then I saw his name tag. He has a very unique name, especially for around these parts.  

Around this time, "The Fly" did speak to us by saying we were about to tip over because of too much weight on one side. What a brilliant observation. It's Jenga and that's kind of a given when it get's tipsy.

I finally got to meet a guy Jenny went out with ages ago. Ages meaning like 15 years ago maybe. Long ago because I remember her telling me a story about this guy from Sweden that stuck. Let's just call it unsportsmanlike conduct. I didn't bring up her name, but I did send her a message while I was there. Let me tell you what else I knew about this guy. He's been on the Church of Christ Singles website as long as I have or longer. (I'm a free member... I'm not getting any matches or anyone talking to me. I've found most people on that site fit the aforementioned mold. I proved this point about 12 years ago when I told our youth minister at the time that everyone on the site played the tuba. He blew my comment off until he actually met someone on the site once and painfully admitted to me that the girl played the tuba. I would just like to say that I am not musically inclined.)

I don't remember what his profile says as I haven't looked at it in many years because I knew enough from Jenny. I do know this guy misrepresents himself by his profile picture. He's had the same picture for as long as I have been on the site. I think the picture may be from his senior year in high school, but to give him the benefit of the doubt, it may have been while he was in college. It is definitely at least 15 years old. At age 38, he has a lot less hair than that pic. 

Ok, fine, to his defense, I have less hair than my picture, but my picture is 4 months old, and I had 5 inches of hair cut off earlier this week. 

There were 8 of us at one table who spent the majority of the evening playing Quelf. If you've never heard of the game, it's a board game about randomness and making a fool of yourself. I played right along and was loud and Quelf-like. We all embarrassed ourselves, and I made a point to rag on the Swede who was particularly embarrassed to do certain things during the game. It may have brought him out of his shell enough to feel more comfortable being friendly with my Jenga competitor. 

The only interaction I had with "The Fly" was when I had to search for 68 cents during the game and asked the entire room if they had any change in their pockets. He got his 75 cents back when I lost the challenge for not having exact change. I did look over at one point and it looked like he had been crying. Maybe he was laughing as hard as I was at the guy singing opera about me (another challenge) and had to use the word "hormonal." I doubt he was laughing at that though.

Shortly after midnight, I headed home, for sure not using my cruise control because now it is out on my car. Last week it was the door and window controls that were out. I paid $200 to get a wire fixed, and I'm pretty sure that the cruise was out at that time, but I didn't realize it. I didn't know it until I set out on NYE. Had I known, I probably could have gotten it all fixed under one diagnostic fee. I think it's probably all connected. I'm not sure what to do about it now. Not that I need it driving around town which is mostly where I drive. I'm not cheap or desperate enough to ask "The Fly" his opinion though he might actually know something about it given he used to work in the shop at the dealership that fixed my wire last week. I equate that to selling my soul to the devil. It's not that terribly far off.