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| Friday, January 2, 2004 I woke yesterday up at 5 pm only because I was expecting a call from Hellen. New Year’s eve was a long but fun night. New Year’s Eve There were six of us going to the CSO for the Count Basie Orchestra – Marisol, Judy, Danny, Rob, James and me. Since I’m living on my own, my place was the default meeting location so I hosted a potluck dinner. I have this bad habit of underestimating the amount of time these things require. It all worked out though because everyone helped with the set up. Yay! After dinner, we watched and danced along with an instructional swing dance DVD I had bought. Surprisingly, it was a lot of fun and we probably could’ve done that all night long. We got to the CSO a little late but we were earlier than last year so we’re getting better. There weren’t as many people in the band so that was a little odd but there also weren’t as many in attendance so that meant more space on the dance floor. We all tried to practice what we learned but we didn’t learn much beyond the three-step so it was more or less the same as last year. =D There’s always next year! Of course we stayed until the very end (we sat through the last 30 minutes). When we got back to my place, the late hour turned our brains to mush and we stood around debating whether or not we would hang out some more or take off. James and Judy eventually decided to call it a night. The rest of us changed out of our formal clothes and sat around my living room. I tried to stay awake most of the time as everyone else dozed in and out of the conversation. We stayed up so late that we ended up getting breakfast together at Korean Restaurant (AKA Hanguk Kwan). I had the requisite dduk guk. Indecisiveness might have made it an unnecessarily long night but it was pretty cool ending 2003 and starting 2004 together. New Year's Dinner with Hellen and Becky When I woke up, I was freaked out that I had missed my window of opportunity with Hellen. It turned out that she had just left me a message so that was a relief. We talked and she was waiting to hear back from Jen so I decided to clean up the aftermath. I really should ignore my vanity and stick with my practical side when it comes to using disposal tableware. Oh well. She called me back and we arranged to meet at Lou Malnati’s in Lincolnwood. They have the best deep dish pizza, IMHO. Of course, I forgot to bring her Christmas gift. Just like I forgot to give Marisol and Rob their Christmas gifts too. Hosting is fun but I’m so scatterbrained a couple days before and after. Anyway, she brought two for me. One was more of a welcome to Havasupai gift but that didn’t happen last year so she decided to give it me at Christmas. It was a head lantern!! Too funny! Actually, I was about to buy one a month ago but good thing I didn’t. Dinner was good for the most part. We got the Lou’s pizza which was yummy. A little bland but my stomach appreciated it. Gotta love Chicago pizzas! |