Here's to a better year

It's two hours and forty-six minutes into the new year and I'm no where near going to bed. Jude and I spent New Years' Eve on St. Laurent Boulevard having coffee and delicious ice-cider, a combination whose after effects are keeping my synapses wide open right now. I doubt we can get to sleep till 5am... I have a ridiculously low alcohol threshold but the ice-cider was irresistible. A 350ml bottle is made from 5.5 kgs of apples so you can just imagine how sweet and syrupy it is. The particular one we had, Domain Pinnacle 2002 is produced in Quebec and is related to the ice-wine in that they both use late-harvest fruits, one apple, and the other grape. It has a 12.5% alcohol content but really, you don't feel it at all- it's like drinking honey almost. And with black coffee on the side, pure bliss... And now, I'm paying for it.

St. Laurent was crazy tonight- there were lines snaking outside the various clubs and bars and women dressed to the bare minimum- we're talking flimsy sequined handkerchief tops held together only by even flimsier straps and a leather mini-skirt with fishnet stockings. All in -5C weather (not taking into account the windshield factor). I tried counting the number of these insane Frenchie-poohs but stopped after I almost slipped on black ice as a whiff of what I now know as pot swept by my way. Jude and I decided we're 1) too old to partake of these "we-need-to-find-ourselves" festivities; 2) too cheap to pay $100 to get into a place where the only form of communication is fearless nudging and/ or decible-defying shouting; and 3) too sane to waste the last hour of 2004 standing in line with people who believe that voluntarily exposing their skin in sub-zero temperature is defensible on any grounds. We hopped into the nearest cab, tipped the cab-driver $2 for a $8 ride and got home before 11.30pm.

We came back in time to wish our uncle a Happy New Year and watch the ball drop in New York. Thinking back, 2004 hasn't been a great year actually- it was the year of reality TV, Paris Hilton, a "mandate" for a second term, and a SEAsian disaster. But it was also the year Jude and I celebrated our first anniversary, moved into a real house, and welcomed our niece. There are always blessings amidst what seems to be a lousy situation and as we stand on the edge of the next 365 days, let's hope we've been made a little wiser from last year's mistakes and a little stronger from last year's disappointments. To everyone- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!