Happy New Year!

Like most of us who partied too hard, I spent my day recovering from a hangover. When I first awoke this morning and rolled over, it felt curiously like my brain was sloshing around in an alcohol bath and had been bruised and battered. I took some Aleve and attempted to go back to sleep, but to no avail. Why is it that I've become one of these old people who can't sleep in properly anymore? I hate it!

I took it easy this morning and had Ronit fill me in on the details from the evening that are missing from my memory. Like midnight for example. I have no recollection of midnight! Isn't that a shame, seeing as how the whole night really exists for midnight? I remember things before and after midnight, but not that moment. Strangely enough I remember handing my friends their coats so we could leave, but I don't remember getting to the subway at all. Yet I remember riding on the 2 train home, but not riding on the N,R to get to the 2. It's all very spotty and weird.

Anyway, what I remember of it was really fun. We went to Swift (natch) and met up with our friend Lars, his friend Sasha (not sure if that's spelled properly) and our other friend Gabe. We took up our usual spot at the bar just to the right of the door and joked with our favorite bartender (see below--this picture captures the essence of Rob). The music was cheesy 80s, up to and including "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News and "Africa" by Toto. Can't go wrong with those tunes! We reminisced about our best moments in 2007 and talked a little bit about resolutions, although only Lars had come up with one that he actually intends to keep. I haven't settled on any yet, as I know I won't bother to keep them anyway. Last year's were going to be very easy and I didn't stick to them hardly at all, so I have a bad track record.

So what did I do on my first day of 2008 besides drink lots of water and move very slowly? I went to two movies! I saw Atonement, which I was really wanting to see before I left for Iowa. It was a solid film, but I can't say it was what I wanted it to be. Go and see it though, as it is very well done. I also saw Juno, the one about the pregnant teenager. It was both comedic and tear-jerking, which was a nice combination. I think that Ellen Page did an excellent job of portraying a 16 year old in that situation. She also has one of the most perfect mouths I've ever laid eyes on. I found myself watching her mouth when she spoke her part, rather than watching the greater scene. It's just so perfectly formed! Anyway, Jennifer Garner was also really fantastic at her part, which was small and had few lines, but you saw her every emotion on her face in her body language. Now that's good acting. Rounding out the day I went grocery shopping, entered receipts into my checkbook and talked to some people on the phone. Now I am going to go lay in bed and read a chapter out of "Gig: Americans Talk about their Jobs", which was coincidentally edited by the son of my favorite Executive-in-Residence at Columbia Business School. Small world huh? I am constantly amazed by just how small it truly is.

Here's wishing everyone the happiest of New Years and all the laughter you can possibly squeeze into 365 days.

Ro and I on the way downtown

Rob hams it up for us in his pink ruffled tuxedo shirt