I made my return to the Underground Lounge for new year's eve. It was a $60 entry, open bar event so I could sample all the drinks, all night long. There was even Jameson on tap... maybe downtown's equivalent to bundy & coke on tab at the OBH. Red Stripe beer (from Jamaica!) is pretty nice, Newcastle Brown Ale is good (it's probably on sale in Oz but I've never had it), and PBR is what you drink if you have no money (and price is a very important attribute of beer). In fact I don't think there was one I didn't like-- even Buddweiser is good enough for me and no-one likes that!

OK now I've done the paragraph about booze. May I just say now that NYE isn't all about drinking and I don't rely on alcohol to have a good time? And also since I've started going to the meetings I've stopped drinking at work.

The crew I met on Wednesday night were all there, except for T: I think he was going to another party on Michigan Ave with friends from art school. I met some more of the underground regulars... Hello to Aarons roommate the teacher (sorry forgot your name), Al, Alex, Brad, Clay, Jeff, John, Nate. All are very nice, interesting and easy-going people. Since I was basically saying g'day to anyone who would listen, I met many other varied and random characters including Dave the ever-reliable barman who kept the drinks coming; Don, who made lots of badges inscribed with the text "I SURVIVED 2005" (sorry the picture of the badge is crap); and this other bloke who knew "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." That was pretty cool... after they kicked everyone out we were milling around outside deciding what to do and I was chatting to this dude who said he learnt it while staying in Ireland. He even sang it! Not quite John Williamson but very moving nonetheless.

A bunch crashed at Al's apartment which was nearby. The girls had planned ahead and bought fruit, bagels and pringles for new year's day. The bagels were interesting... I'm not sure my sense of taste had fully returned at that point so I will have to buy some more bagels and try them out. For me multigrain is a way-out-there cool bread experience so maybe I should expand my doughy horizons.