New Year's Eve.

December 31st, 2007 will be a day that lives in infamy as the day I tried not to die. That's not really an exaggeration. After spinning out on the highway for the 5th time I was ready to pull the parking brake, give the howling wind and driving snow an enthusiastic middle finger and just sleep in the car; the same all-wheel drive equipped car that had managed to face me into oncoming traffic and direct me toward a ditch once again that evening. It was absolute mayhem on I-696 and I suspect other highways as well. Plow trucks? Salt trucks? nope. Just a bunch of mildly (and not so mildly) intoxicated bar goers trying to make their way home in a storm that had it in for them. It's a strange and eerie sort of feeling that washes over you as you struggle to stay on the road, traveling 8 miles per hour in second gear to keep your tires from spinning, watching a car spin perfectly around an imaginary axis that is exactly centered on the vehicle, pass you while the driver looks on in horror and suspense. That was how I spent the wee hours of day one, 2008.

And it started off soo well. Nick Deyo and I went to the Red Wing's game and while they lost, it was a good game. We left there and went to Royal Oak for some drinks and to play pool, and managed to arrive just in time to get the last pool table. Getting drinks was a bit of a problem but I think that would have been the case anywhere. 9 devastating defeats later Nick invoked the mercy rule and we decided to call it a night. A great time; lots of laughs and celebratory knuckles at midnight. (had to do something and a kiss was out of the question). We stepped out of the bar into the blizzard and went our separate ways. He would have an uneventful ride home, I would have the ride detailed above.

Shot out the front window of my car a day later. 10 inches of new snow. That pile you see in the foreground is as tall as I am.

Anyway, it's a new year. I got to spend some time with a friend I don't see very often and that's always cool. Happy New Year everyone. May it treat you well, and bring you happiness.


Music: "The New Pollution" - Beck