Heya folks!
It's been far too long since my last entry so I'm just going to dive right in. So throw on your gear and get wet.
New Years Eve...holy moly. For the past two years I've had my festivities dampened down or ruined because of my job at the Sheraton. Heh, no longer. Around 10pm that night I arrived at Hotel one, one of the tallest/ritziest hotels in Taichung, in a cab with my Aussie pal Brian. A bottle of McAdams rye whiskey was tucked safely inside my jacket as I strode onto the elevator and hitched a ride to the 27th floor. Articficial smoke shrouded the quiet stage where the Money Shot Horns would rock us into the new year. The bar was upstairs (pictures are coming) and was a big horse shoe surrounded by lounge chairs and low coffee tables complete with candles. Each one was jammed with revelers and spirits were high.
I snagged my two free beers from the bar that my $20 entry ticket got me and cruised around. More people I knew showed up and the crowd in general grew. The band kicked up and kept the atmosphere good and funky with covers of James Brown until the clock struck midnight.
Hooray.
One of my co-workers saw me right after we entered into 2009 and said those fateful words that many of us have heard on these legendary nights of drunken debauchery:
"Nik!"
"Heya! Happy New Year!"
"You too!"
"I need a drink!" I said.
"Tequila shots. Now."
Aw geeze. The "shot" felt like a liter of mexican horror and took two full swallows to conquer. I fared better than most, one unlucky fellow handed his drink off and mumbled something about having to piss. Right. I hope his dinner wasn't expensive.
Another hour or two passed filled with hilarity, a guy that couldn't stand up, and irish drinking songs of all things (sung by rowdy Australians). I believe, as best as I can remember, Brian floated off somewhere and I got attached to a group trip to a night club called Liquid Lounge. I'd heard of it and it didn't sound that great. But, with a few gallons of liquor in my veins it sounded like a pretty goddamn good idea.
Liquid was packed to the gills, of course, and the crowd was equally rowdy and grooving to some pretty kickin' electronica. I have hazy recollections of seeing Davy, a nice irish chap I know, and a few other assorted folks. More beer, of course, and then I danced my way to the door to find a cab home.
The curb outside was lined with taxis and the sun was making its bleary ascent into the first morning of 2009. Sunrise. Mission accomplished. I jumped into my yellow chariot of wonder and mumbled some Chinese at the cabbie. I must have made some kind of sense as 20 minutes letter I was grunting and gesturing where to pull over. 7am I walked into my door and straight to my bed.
2009 was looking pretty good so far.
Then, as many or all of you know, I turned 25 a week later. A quarter-fucking-century...when did that happen? Officially the mid-twenties range, yikes. Thankfully my current job entails lots of sound effects, paper-scissor-stone, and sticky ball games to keep me good and youthful.
I try not to make that big a deal of my birthday and this year was no different (exception: last year when Eric and I had a kick-ass surprise party <3). I told a few people the day before and most people the day of as I had to work, of course. My little monsters in Jump class (5-6yr olds) told me happy birthday in their demonically sweet piping voices, and after class I was ambushed by my staff with a cake and songs in both English and Chinese...my first bi-lingual-cross-cultural birthday. Woot.
After consulting Sue, my co-worker that is all knowing in the ways of good food and all that stuff, I decided to hit up a Le'Bled'or: a German style beer hall with a French name, Asian staff, German beer, and Spanish music. Odd. Yet, there was definitely something satisfying about drinking beer that was opaque; quite a delicious rarity in this beer-heathen-country-of-no-craft-brews. Traditional fried appetizers ensued along with sausages, tasty veggie pizza and pig's knuckle.
Thats right pig's knuckle.
My, oh my. What a tasty treat. I honestly and entirely uninformed as to the availability of this swinish delight back home, but I recommend it (especially if accompanied by a good yellow mustard). I had planned to drink my one opaque beer and then be responsible and scooter home, but to no avail. A five hundred cc mug of Hefeweizen was plunked down in front of me along with an expectant look from my chums. Well yea, its a weeknight...but its my birthday...
Oh well. You only turn 25 once, right?
Surprisingly, Jon, Aussie Brian, and I had quite a bit of trouble flagging down a cab; most cabbies here assume we need a ride anyway and slow down instinctively waiting for the "Come over here and drive me around" wave of the hand. But, we made the best of the situation and snagged some cold ones at the 7/11 on the corner (where else?) and sat ourselves down on the curb. I must say that I am definitely a fan of drunken curb-side discussions at 1am in Taichung. The cab we took home had an LCD television in the front dash and one hanging from where the dome light should be.
What a country.
Well I think that's enough for now, I'll throw up another entry in a couple days (I promise!). Until then, you kids stay safe and warm back there in the Western Hemisphere. Long days and pleasant nights, say thankya.
ps. Please excuse any typographical errors, its been a long week and I'm too lazy to proofread :D