The curse lives on

Something weird happened back in 1993 when AB and I started dating; our New Years Eves became flops. Ok, not all were “flops”, but they just didn’t yield the same “fun” that we had in the past. In fact, many nights we had more fun on any other night of the week. Do we try too hard? Is it a curse? Will it ever end?

Not only do AB and I suffer the curse, but those who choose to associate with us are subject to the gravitational pull of the curse. Let’s analyze:

New Years Eve 1993: The curse starts. AB and I had dated for a few months. He went to Alaska with his family for Christmas, I was home at my apartment where I rented a couple of movies by myself. Flop #1.

NYE 1994: I had gone to Alaska for Christmas with AB for the first time and come back before New Years. AB was working in Prudhoe Bay and had headed back up to work. I was in Boulder and had rented the movies Schindler’s List and Crooklyn. Bad move. Flop for both of us.

NYE 1995: We were in Alaska. We spent NYE at Simone’s house with some of AB’s friends (John, Brian, and Josh). I didn’t know anyone well and the apartment was crowded. The highlights I remember were seeing Brian’s face when he ate salt and vinegar chips for the first time (he didn’t like them) and all of us eating Jenny’s rum balls. This was not a flop, but not one of the great times we were used to having as 25 year olds.

NYE 1996: Our first year in Reno. We had driven to Colorado for Christmas. I think we wandered around Old Town Fort Collins looking for something to do. We ended up going back to my mom’s house… early. FLOP!

NYE 1997: In Alaska. Ok, this one might classify as the epitome of flop… AB, me, John, his sister Catherine and Brian. We all sit around watching Southpark the.entire.night with a 12 pack of beer. We kept talking about going and doing something… AB’s parents came home and had partied harder than we had.

NYE 1998: I don’t even remember, so it must have been good, not.

NYE 1999: John and his fiancé rockergirrl came up to Reno. AB both overcooked and undercooked the prime rib (charred outside, raw inside). John was sick that night. We sat on the porch watching fireworks huddled under blankets, listening to the neighbor girl yell at the people upstairs for not being quiet, waiting for the world to explode at the stroke of midnight. It didn’t, so we went to bed.

NYE 2000: We went to Colorado Springs to visit Tanya. This is another one of those nights that was in no way a flop. We cooked dinner and ate about 10pm, watched fireworks and then went to bed. But given that we were child-free 28 year olds it definitely was not a party hardy atmosphere. We had a good time and this one is probably the closest we ever came to kicking the curse.

NYE 2001: But we apparently didn’t. The curse was back. I don’t remember what we did this year, but it *had* to have been a flop.

NYE 2002: In Alaska. This is another one of those NYE’s that really wasn’t as awful. But the fact that I had the worst cold/bronchitis/pink eye of my freaking life made it a flop for me. I was so doped up. We were out on a frozen lake in Alaska, with a huge bon fire with Josh and Brian and a couple of their other friends. There was a potato gun and fireworks. Every Alaska Boy’s dream. But for NM? Flop.

NYE 2003: This was going to be the bomb of New Years Eve, despite the fact that I was pregnant and nauseated. We rented a condo in Steamboat, Colorado with AB’s brother and wife who we adore and their friends Tracy and Rick. We had loads of plans, dinner out, games and drinking. It was going to be juice for me, but I was fine with that. No, it wasn’t my being sick that sidelined this trip, it was the flu bug that AB and his brother picked up during the day skiing that knocked them on their asses (and later my SIL). We were a rocking group that night.

NYE 2004: We surrendered. We had a 5 month old who had to nurse every few hours. We played Mexican train dominoes with my mom and stepdad, grandma and uncle. We went to bed early since we flew home at 8am.

NYE 2005: The determination set in. We were not going to let this curse get the better of us. We have good friends here that we like and had been planning our evening for a few months. Dinner, snacks, games, all were in the works. We had it planned out! Leif would go down at their house and we would party it up!

That is until Leif didn’t go down. Refused to go down, wanted nothing to do with sleep… etc., etc. It was getting bad. After lasagna, homemade sushi and before crème brulee (sob) and stuffed mushrooms and games, we packed up and left.

The curse stands.