reveillon

Happy New Year, everyone!


Spent New Year's with Rob, his sisters and mother, Carla, Nate, and Sheridan. It was a relaxed night at Carla's studio (on 48th and 8th), with a few exciting moments. First, at around 9 pm, I got a call from my dad , telling me happy new year, etc etc etc. I thought it was strange, because I thought it would be midnight in Rio at 10 pm NYC time. Well, I was an hour off, so after hanging up, I ran back into the room and got everybody running towards Brasil Grill to celebrate the fireworks in Copacabana. In our hurry, running into the restaurant during the final countdown, Carla popped open a bag of confetti all over someone at the bar! Luckily he was drunk enough not to care.
We spent the next three hours shuffling between the rooftop and the room, making fun of Ryan Seacrest and fellow teeny-boppers and so-called musical acts, and eventually settling upstairs and looking for lines of sight towards times square, or anywhere there may be fireworks.

Suddenly, the crowd a couple of blocks away began getting louder, and we figured they were counting down. But we couldn't really see anything, or discern any sounds from the noise. So when things started quieting down, Rob said, "it's midnight, Verizon time!". Nothing like having a cell phone service provider tell you the new year has come...
We toasted, drank our bubbly, and watched the crowds flow out of Times Square towards the trains to Jersey.

We went back to the room, got ready to go party and left for a party in Brooklyn. Sheridan knew the DJ at this house party in BedStuy, so we made the trek down. An hour and a half, a trip on the dreaded G train, and some fun with horns and fries later, we ended up in the basement of an older 3-story brownstone. We paid a small donation to a child-care center run out of the house, and then enjoyed a few hours of dancing to incredible old school hip-hop, funk, afrobeat, and some Michael Jackson and Prince! There was a spread of fried chicken and vegetables, and a killer punch concoction that made eveyone smell like alcohol, even if you didn't drink it. Oh, and apparently the kids were having a sleepover upstairs! Thanks to the people that organized the party (I still haven't figured out who you are...)!

And thanks to you guys, for making this a great night!