2009 Off With a Bang!

Happy New Years. Woo hoo!

I've had a good visit home so far. I've had lots of quality time to simply relax and visit with friends, which is always wonderful.

I decided to spend New Years Eve with Erika and Barf, since they weren't able to come to Columbia for Christmas. Erika made soba noodles for dinner around 5:30pm (a japanese tradition,) which were actually quite good. Erika had to leave just before 7pm to get ready for a fashion show that she was modeling in at The Foundation Room, so Barf, Stara, Marley and I played some good 'ol American Idol Karaoke Revolution for a few hours. We headed out to the venue at about 10:30pm where we hung out until the fashion show started, which was fun to watch. (Erika got to wear the best outfit, and I'm not just saying that because I'm partial to my sister.) We stayed afterwards and attempted to dance to this weird techo music until about 2am, then headed home. This is where the real fun began ...

We planned on watching the sunrise, (another Japanese New Years tradition,) on top of the roof of the theatre where Erika works. Our problem was ... well ... the sun wasn't due to rise until 7:38am. We had several hours to kill and sat around trying to decided what would be more miserable: Going to sleep only to have to be rudely awakened 3 hours later, or stay up all night and go to bed after the sunrise. While we were contemplating, Sam showed up around 3:15am with blanket in tow (ready to watch the sunrise!) so ... everyone ended up going to bed except Sam, Erika, and myself. We decided it would be easier to just stay up rather than going to bed. We passed the hours with Harry Potter Uno, several cups of coffee, and several cups of hot chocolate. I decided it would be an awesome idea to add a little kick to the game. Now, on every number 7 uno card, there's a picture of Bertie Botts Jelly Beans. I thought it would be a great idea if, everytime some one laid down a Bertie Botts card they had to drink/eat a spoon full of cold coffee with jelly beans soaking in it. (It was ... repulsive.) Needless to say, that little twist added much queesyness but also tons of hard core laughter. BTW, it's much easier to stay awake when each orphus of your body is occupied ... umm ... hahaha ... yes that's the kind of theory you come up with when you're dead tire. :P

Finally, we made it to 6:50am and headed out to watch the sunrise. (Even after Barf tripped and twisted her ankle on the way out to the car.) Again, the only people mental enough to climb the ladder all the way to the top part of the roof were Erika, Sam and I. We sat miserably huddled under blankets in the freezing cold waiting for the sun to peak its orby face over the horizon. We were so delirious, that the smell of what we were told was sewage, smelled to us like a delicious breakfast of omelette and hashbrowns, hahaha. Finally, at exactly 7:38am, the sun rose over the horizon in the east, and we experience great victory.

We then headed home, had some Sake, (another Japanese tradition for good health,)ate some leftover pizza/cheese sticks, and dumped into bed for our sleep of triumph just before 9am. We clocked in almost 6 hours of sleep ... and ... it was beautiful. :P