Thursday, December 26, 2019
Countdown to...
Amateur Night!
I'm given to believe that this is what professional sots call New Year's Eve.
My fondest memories of New Year's Eve revolve around family and football and the countdown to the dropping of the stupid lighted ball. Even as a sprout I knew there was something fishy about "the moment," because I'd look at or imagine a globe and realize that as we were blowing our noisemakers "the moment" had actually happened seven hours earlier in Blighty.
And besides that, the actual real world moment had happened at the moment of winter solstice, 10 or 11 days earlier. So why the fuss?
Tradition for sure, and probably something deeply genetic.
Another New Year's Eve memory just popped up from wherever olden memories hang out; New Year's Eve at the roller skating rink. Zipping around, trying cool moves and falling down, candy and pop, shooting streamers and blowing noisemakers at midnight. Just a brilliant concept, getting all those sugar-fueled and out-of-school-too-long tweeners to run their asses of for four hours on New Year's eve! As I recall it worked pretty good. I had a blast and quickly went unconscious upon arrival back home. For some reason a single song from the non-stop rink music stands out in my mind. This is a goofy video, complete with Wildcats and A6M's, the Stearman Pizza Flight, and a tee shirt with quite interesting topography. And other stuff.
So all that's gone ahead of this is basically a setup. Not a good setup, mind, but a setup nonetheless.
As it turns out, I myself no longer imbibe the alcoholic drink concoctions. I used to do a lot of that as a sailor, and I fear I did too much of that for a while as a former sailor. For many years now the math has been very clear to me personally. The cost of imbibing exceeds by far the benefit of consumption. That's just me, I've got no interest in converting anyone to my approach. We're all equal ape-lizards and sovereign individuals.
However, I do enjoy reading about and observing some of the rituals surrounding alcohol consumption. I'm fascinated by beer making and the only thing preventing me from attempting home brewing is the question of what I'd do with the product. And I also enjoy the history of the thing, including the history of cocktails. So from time to time I enjoy watching a video or two from the "How To Drink" channel on the eww-toobe. Cocktails aside, the following video was my intro to the channel. What a hook!
Be well and enjoy the blessings of liberty.
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Amateur Night is what Law Enforcement calls it. New Years, and Christmas Eve are two of the most miserable nights of the year. People gathered together, and alcohol is added.
ReplyDeleteThe idiots came out of the wood work Christmas Eve. That was a long night. Christmas Night was nice and quiet. I actually had a nice chat, with a Grandma Lady from Chicago, about cathedral construction in the Middle Ages. She had never heard of hamster wheel cranes! https://someinterestingfacts.net/treadwheel-cranes/
People's are a clever bunch! To think of having to dig the foundation for a cathedral, without even a Bobcat!
I think you are gonna be thought of as Santa Shaun, for the Snows. I think you may have saved another couple of lives. Well Done!
People can build cathedrals without bobcats and they can also be complete losers on amateur night.
DeleteAnything I do is powered by the Big Aircrew Chief, so I can't take any credit. As with everyone else, the Snow's lives are works in progress.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Scott!
New Years 1965, Charley Kale and I greeted the New Years at Smiling Jacks, a riverboat crew hangout on the Main River, Hanau, Germany. We returned to the Kaserne in a Courtesy Patrol M151. I awoke on the barracks floor in my underwear. My buddies had taken off my new suit but decided against trying to put me in my top bunk. Every New Years since has seen me mostly sober.
ReplyDeleteGiven the Army culture of the time, be assured the Courtesy Patrol wasn't sober either.
The following Monday we were one of many in the hall waiting to see the Company Commander. As was the custom of our unit, the First Sargent offered us a choice. "Volunteer" for his after hours work detail, or see the CO for an Article 15. Good times!
That's a great story! There's nothing evil about alcohol but there are always effects and consequences; finding out how it actually works and how you are actually effected is not only a rite of passage but a vital learning experience.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting!