Happy 2006!!

Can you believe it's 2006? Time is such a strange thing. It simultaneously feels like there's no way an entire year has gone by and like it has been six lifetimes since I was living in Fort Worth and student teaching in Grapevine last spring.

I'm excited about 2006. I like the potential of New Year's Day, of not having any idea what might come my way in the next year. There's always the possibility that 2006 could be the first year of my life that really sucks. But I'm an optimist so I like to think that maybe this will be the best year I've ever had. Or at the very least that I'll manage to be pretty content this year.

If the first eighteen hours are any indication, 2006 could end up being really good. I spent basically all day yesterday with Mike. His older brother got married yesterday. They had a Justice of the Peace marry them at a courthouse so I didn't go to the wedding ceremony itself, but Mike invited me to the reception which was just a casual food-and-cake deal at his sister Amy's house. It was mainly Mike's family there, Patty (Devin's new wife)'s family, and some friends of Devin's from work. I had fun. The food was delicious, and I like Mike's family. They're nice people.
Then last night Mike took me to his friend Brian's New Year's Eve party. I'd been kind of stressed about New Year's Eve since I didn't know who was going to be at the party and I was irrationally worried that I was gonna have to beat dumb chicks off Mike with a stick all night long, but it ended up being so much fun. Mike kept me close to him all night and introduced me to people and I never felt left out at all, which was awesome. It also helps that I'm finally getting to know everybody now, and can sometimes keep up with at least some of their group gossip. It helps that I can at least put faces to most of the names now. I'm also finally starting to get why Mike loves his guy friends so much, because they really are funny as hell. Turns out it just takes a while for them to warm up to an outsider like me, I guess. I have to say I still don't like most of the girls, though, and it's honestly not a jealousy thing. I would admit it if it was. I just feel like most of the girls in the group are, well, dumb. There are some girls in the group that I actually do like, but a lot of them make me sad. Maybe they're intelligent, friendly, rational people, but most of them come across as ditzy. Plus I keep hearing stories about them that just depress me. Like the girl Mike was dating for a while who is basically just a basketcase who got evicted from her apartment and can never pay her bills (and not because she had a legitimate emergency that caused her to lose her money, just because she's an irresponsible person). Or the girl who is married and screwing around with seemingly all of the guys in the group (apparently she's getting divorced now, thank god). Or the girl who is always out with the guys whenever I go out who has a baby at home. I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for a girl with a baby. It was her stupid mistake getting pregnant in the first place (There is no reason for an accidental pregnancy, there just isn't. And you can't convince me there is, so don't even try), and her even bigger mistake choosing to have and keeping the baby. So I don't feel bad that she couldn't come to the new year's party because her baby daddy didn't come to pick up the kid. When she chose to have the baby she chose to give up her going out drinking and partying non-stop lifestyle. Or at least, she should have in order to be a good mother. That's not to say you can't go out and have a good time once you have kids, because I fully intend to continue drinking and partying once I'm a mom. But not as often as this girl seems to. She's the kind of parent that makes me sad.
So yeah, I'm getting way off topic. Most of the girls are lame, but the guys make me laugh.
The party was a lot of fun, and it was a sleep over so I got to spend all night cuddling with Mike, which was pretty perfect.
Crap, I have to go eat dinner right now so I cant elaborate like I wanted to. But I'll leave you with my favorite quotes of the evening/morning:

Matt: Only thirty seconds left! Quick, if you wanted to do something in 2005 and you never did it, do it right now! I never did this: [Breaks out in bizarre gyrating dance move, head thrown back and hands waving in the air]
Carla (from across the room): Yes you did!
Matt: I did?
Carla: In Austin. Alllll of Austin.
Matt: Damn! 10! 9! 8!...

"Wow Bob. That wasn't very G-Unit of you."-Bubba, staring down the stairs towards the bathroom, where Bob had just finished puking all over the bathroom door and the hall floor [yeah, it was a pretty ridiculous party]

"Hey, Bob. This blanket? It's gangster!...This loveseat? Not so gangster."-Matt. That was the first thing he said upon waking up this morning. Like, literally the very first thing. It KILLED me.

Me: Why did you sleep on that short loveseat? You're the tallest person here.
Matt: When I came to bed it was the only place that wasn't already taken up by people or throw up.

There was so much more, but apparently we're going to dinner like, NOW, so I'm out. All in all, it was a pretty awesome night.