From grapes to gunshots - the best New Year's Eve in recent memory

Well as promised here are some of the sordid details of my New Year's Eve. Unlike the two previous years (marred by nasty fights with ex's essentially) - this was in fact a happy and fun New Year's Eve.

Friday night I went to the ultra chic lounge to have a couple drinks to celebrate my friend Watusi's birthday. Sadly there was one person missing - but he was out saving the world so we got to enjoy meeting some other fabulous bartenders. The lack of cigarette smoke was greatly appreciated too. The Boo had to work until late and he met up with us - and for once I wasn't 3 drinks into the night (it's pretty sucky when you have to work late and everyone else is out drinking and having a jolly time when you arrive) and I'm glad for that. While I did end up having 1 drink more than I would have liked - New Year's Eve day went fine - I slept in late. Then we were off and running errands and such. Then back to DC to bake some cookies, visit with Dbud and friends and then onto another friend's house for a faboo dinner.

My friend and dinner host (whom we shall call Kodiak to protect the innocent) is partnered with a Bolivian fellow whom we shall call Chiquito. Well anyhow - the Boo and I as well as out other friends were introduced to a couple of Bolivian New Year's customs. The first was the grape custom (most likely copied from Spain). At precisely the stroke of midnight on NYE - Bolivians eat 1 grape for each month of the year. As they eat each grape they think of a wish/prayer that they want granted in the New Year. Of course this all need to occur in about 12 seconds... maybe the high altitude in their country makes them faster eaters - who knows. The second custom is to bring a suitcase.

Now I've never brought a suitcase to a NYE party but there is a first for everything. Sadly in my rush to get from one event to another we forgot our valises. After you eat your grapes you are to take a walk around the block with your suitcase. This is to help you achieve the steps you want to take in the journey for the year. All very cool - though an interesting wrinkle to the story is coming soon.

Soon after a delish dinner we moved venues to Watusi's house to have a Cava toast and watch what fireworks we could see from his roof deck. (Champers from France is too $$$ these and too dry for my taste anyhow. I'm sure this blogger also drank Cava where he was...and maybe at 12 grapes too)

So 12:00 midnight occurs, Cava is sipped, I hugged and kissed that special fella of mine (*blush*) and then put my lips to their other purpose of the night. Frantically chugging 12 grapes, one at time in 12 seconds... I think I got all my wishes in. One of the Boo's wishes was that he wouldn't get sick trying to eat a dozen grapes - thankfully that one was immediately granted and in fact we were all fine... That is until the fireworks started.

Oh but they weren't fireworks. You don't have to be in the NRA to know what gunshots sound like (just watch CNN) and yepper, spattered amongst some of the legitimate firecrackers and cherry bombs we head a quick rip of semi-automatic gunfire. By my estimate this was about 5 blocks away and we couldn't see anything from the roof. Ok so we all laughed a little (DC is not exactly noted for quiet streets on NYE - esp. in the "developing" hood we were in - though you can still buy a million dollar home there so you figure out the distinction.) and told ourselves it was really just firecrackers. As I was on the phone with this guy I ended up hitting the deck - LITERALLY - as a second set of shots rang out - this time less than a block away. I'd barely hung up when another round of shots in response was issued.

Ok this was scary. Some of the people from the neighborhood were all blase and still standing but most of us were on the deck with heads down. Mind you we were 3 stories up but we were not taking chances - you know how stray bullets are. So this being my 1st time with hearing gunfire I did what every good citizen would do - I called 911. The cell networks were a mess since it was just after midnight and people were calling their friends etc - but thankfully I managed to get out on an analog connection. I told the dispatcher the situation, confirmed that while I hadn't seen shots, it was definitely gunfire (note: later a neighbor arrived having seen the punk who was shooting into the air). Suprising to all of us two united, then at least 2 more arrived on the scene about 5 minutes later - impressive considering how many sirens could be heard in the night air from all over the city.

They did take one person away and chased down a few more. I'm glad I called. We then had one last gulp of Cava and headed home where Boo and I had a late Xmas gift exchange. And I have to say I was really impressed by his wrapping ability (he used brown paper bags and drew on them since I stole his wrapping paper for another gift) and touched by a very generous and thoughtful gift. Thanks to him I will hopefully be more on time because of the kickass watch he gave me! I'm a lucky man - I can't say that enough.

So yes that is how my NYE went. The rest of the last 2 days has been relaxation, gym and doing chores. More on the gym bit later - I'm getting back in the swing of things (which started 2 weeks ago - wasn't going to wait around for 1/1/06 to start nor was I giving myself a pass to gorge myself before re-starting my workout routine and better eating plan!).

I wish all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year! Love TOS