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[wombat]

Out of curiosity, how's Smith/the Five-Colleges area working out for you? I just applied to UMass for graduate school, but I'm curious how the actual Amherst/Northampton lifestyle works in practice.

As soon as I finished grad school and moved away, all sorts of restaurants started opening up in Amherst.  It's practically civilization now, at least last I looked.  Don't try to live there without a car though, like I did because I am an idiot. 

[Hobot]

Out of curiosity, how's Smith/the Five-Colleges area working out for you? I just applied to UMass for graduate school, but I'm curious how the actual Amherst/Northampton lifestyle works in practice.

Well, if you didn't pick up on it from my previous post about reading Dostoevsky by myself on New Year's Eve instead of partying, I should warn you that I'm not what you'd call a social butterfly -- this means that I cannot satisfactorily judge what a town's nightlife is like.  I can, however, tell you that Northampton is very gay-friendly, has the kind of eclectic and fun shops usually seen in a much larger city, is home to tons of restaurants serving a wide variety of cuisine, is a haven for hipsters (good and bad) and therefore attracts fantastic indie musicians, and is in a lovely part of Massachusetts to boot.  Downsides of living in Northampton include the nigh impossible parking situation and very vigilant traffic cops, the surprisingly large number of homeless people, and the fact that Smith is such a huge part of Northampton that it might be hard to live in the town without any connection to the school.

I've only been to Amherst once, but I got the impression that it is like a larger, less diverse version of Northampton.

[Bozack]

I baked a delicious cake and was in bed by 12:20, despite the bass blasting from the apartment above me. Subwoofers and apartment buildings do not a good time make. I had to work today, but I probably wouldn't have stayed out much later anyways.
Yeah, 2005 sucked a lot, but sucked slightly less than 2004 and 2003. I just heard a gun shot outside my window, so I can see the New Year is off to an auspicious beginning.
I did get a card yesterday telling me to call Columbia for an interview, which I think might be a good sign, as there wasn't anything about a "mandatory interview" in the stuff I read. They...like me? Maybe?

[Choop]

It appears that i'm not the only one here with a happening moustache.

The multiple wine glasses tell the story here.  One hint for the future, always put the lady in the forefront of the picture.

Happy New Year...

~Paul

And a DrP to you, sir! I'm going for the full Van Dyke, in honor of my granddad, who had one most of his life.

The missus positions herself behind me in nearly every picture. Couldn't say why.

[Carlos del Vaca]

At work on Friday, whenever anyone asked what I was doing for New Years, I said "Sitting on the couch, watching the ball drop, going to bed at 12:15."  That was pretty close to what actually happened.  There was a Monty Python marathon on BBC America involved, however, that was not previously part of the plan.

New Years used to be one of my favorite holidays.  Now, not so much.  I'm a bit nostalgic for those days.  But it's a trade-off.

2005 was a suckhole year for the country and pretty much the world, but for me personally it was pretty damn good.  I told Catie del Vaca when I put her to bed Saturday night, "2005 will always be your year."  awwwwwwwwwww.

[side_show]

Every year, I feel so much pressure to go out and party on New Years.  This year, the SO and I just stayed in, and it rocked.  We drank wine with dinner, then moved on to our drinks of choice.  By the time the clock struck, we were both pleasantly hammered, and without any discussion, ended up discarding our clothes... 

My New Year's miracle was that I woke up without a hangover.  Then my parents showed up, and I briefly felt like I had a hang over, but then they left, and the feeling went away.

For me, 2005 rocked pretty hard - we got our new house, I directed a play I'm super proud of, and the play I wrote got accepted to that big theatre in TO.  Basically, 2006 will only rock as hard as 2005 if I have actual genie-in-a-lamp-style wishes come true.

Hugs to all - may 2006 be a year full of meaningful moments!

[Lister]

For my first New Year's Eve on the West Coast, I watched the ball drop at an odd 9 PM, then dinked around on the internet and went to bed at 12:30.  It wasn't awesome, but it also wasn't my worst New Year's ever.

That distinction will always go to New Year's Eve 2001, which I spent in my 90-year old grandmother's house watching Lawrence Welk with absolutely nothing to talk about and going to bed on the sofa in the study at 10 PM.  It's nice knowing that I got that one out of the way relatively early.

[Golfhaus]

My New Year's miracle was that I woke up without a hangover.  Then my parents showed up, and I briefly felt like I had a hang over, but then they left, and the feeling went away.

That's awesome... "Mom, your visits feel like the morning after."

[CortJstr]

Last year the SO and I had to go to my parents house to cat-sit and grandma-sit. We ordered in indian food and went to bed just after midnight. We couldn't even get it on because we were in my parents bed with the kitten.

This year we just went to Clyde's. It was fun but the DJ was craptacular. He played a dance remix of Stayin' Alive. Last time I checked that is already a song that people want to dance to. A dance remix is completely unnecessary.

[Mantonio]

It was fun but the DJ was craptacular. He played a dance remix of Stayin' Alive. Last time I checked that is already a song that people want to dance to. A dance remix is completely unnecessary.

Is that the one Puff Daddy was responsible for? If it is, it's the same thing the DJ played at the New Years Eve event I went to. Fuck that shit.

[pmcd9]

Fuck that shit.  Man I love saying that.

~Paul

[theinevitable]

mannn! stayin' alive? fuck that shit!

that's when you whip out a walkman, and listen to the original version, and give derisive looks to everyone around you while dancing. being a music snob about horrible pop songs is be most fun.