bonne année.

i joined al in nyc for new year's eve 2006 at her friend's loft in soho. we drank champagne and sorbet, danced to late nineties pop & r&b, and finally went out on the town around 1:30. problem is, only 1 girl is 21 leaving the rest of us to worry if our fake IDs would be confiscated. considering the holiday, we imagined many places would be much more strict. we did, however, make it to a bar in the upper west; al's father's friend owned the bar. the friend is an attractive middle-aged man who happened to be sporting a kilt that night. he ended up flashing his penis twice at my urging. al pretended to be traumatized. i, however, found the absurdity of it all rather entertaining.

the highlight of my night was not the bar or soho, but the 6 train. drunken revelers passed around a communal handle of barcadi rum. we (me, al, and al's friend from brown, riana) took swigs of the barcadi. the 15 minute highlight was the best of my night. a desperately drunk & outlandishly dressed young girl with skunk streaks and thick black eyeliner announced that she was headed uptown from soho to wander times square. she further said that she'd lost all of her friends. at the 42nd street stop, the girl cries out, "where am i going?" a prim and proper girl replied with just the right amount of attitude, "girlfriend, this is your stop!"

it is a southern tradition to eat black eyed peas on january 1st. my mother holds fast to this tradition; it is one of our things that i always look forward to.

best wishes in 2006.