New Year’s Eve Aftermath

So my friend suggested I start a livejournal. Having no backbone, here I am. Looking at the name I chose for myself, I’m sure my creativity is at an all time low. I blame society. From what I can gather, I just write out whatever is on my mind. So essentially this will be an Erik dump. (Similar to a file dump; nothing to do with waste management.) I read an Onion article recently about a mother finding her son’s weblog, so my writing is probably going to be colored by that.
Yesterday was New Year’s Eve. I always have low expectations of that day. If I go out, it’s always disappointing. However, staying at home alone is depressing. Given a choice between the two, I chose to go out. However, with the above attitude, I waffled a lot before forcing myself out the door. I decided to head to New City Likwid Lounge (Yes, I check for spelling before I post.)
I’ve been wanting to find myself a bar I can go to regularly (where everyone knows your name) but it’s hampered by several facts: I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I suck at socializing with people I don’t know. Since none of the friends I made in Edmonton seem to want to go out to socialize at a bar (if the bar is not showing hockey, they’re not going) I just stand there awkwardly hoping to fit in, but not. I probably shouldn’t be going to bars, but society has raised me to believe that that is where you go to make new friends (and influence people?) I had heard that New City was interesting. I think it’s a goth bar. I’m not goth myself, but I find some of the goth women attractive. So at least the view will be nice. I went there before Christmas and surveyed the place once. Nothing wrong with it. I think someone mentioned to me once that you have to go to a bar several times before they start accepting you. So that is why I decided to try and go back for New Year’s Eve.
Long story short, I had waffled too long and the place was full by 10:00.
I drove home, and then walked to a nearby bar called the Armoury. It was a top 40 place, so I enjoyed the music. A lot of the people were younger than me, and the women seemed to all want to be Britney Spears. I drank some overpriced coke that was mostly ice and awkwardly tried to fit in. This involved standing at the bar and trying to say hello to people who came to order drinks. But on the whole it was disappointing. I went home before 1:00.
I really shouldn’t go to bars. I’m not comfortable in them and I can’t help but think of the saying about being alone in a crowded room.
So that was my New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Day has been better. A month ago I had signed up for a short New Year’s Day run at a local YMCA. I think I joined more for the free heart rate monitor, cleverly hidden in the price of the run. Anyway it’s a reason to get up and do something. I went and by 11:00, I was starting to run five kilometres. Conditions were bad. It was -16 out, but I was dressed for that. At times the wind was strong, but that didn’t bother me. My problem was that it had been snowing all night. There was a nice layer of snow all along the course. Traction was non-existent. I still came through with a decent time of 22:20. I didn’t win anything, but I was just behind the woman who came in second. i.e. If I was a girl, I would have placed third. If I was a motivated girl, I could have come in second. The last fifty meters though was all loose snow. I couldn’t sprint properly. But I think I did ten seconds better than last year.
Afterwards there was a pancake breakfast. The advantage of finishing the race quickly is that you get first crack at the pancakes. After I had finished my second course of pancakes, the place was packed and getting more required a long wait.
There were some door prizes, but I didn’t win any. I shouldn’t expect to. The chance of winning is less than 1%, but there is always the hope that you will.
Well, that’s it for now. The first Erik dump of the new year. Looking it over it sounds rather depressing. So I guess I better pick that as my mood. Although I’m wondering if writing this is the cause of that emotion. If I hadn’t written this would I be happy? I’m sure the philosophers would like to debate that. Or the physicists. (Is the act of observing the mood, changing the mood?)
P.S. I saw that I could pick Disappointed for my mood. That sounds much more appropriate. That or “Meets Expectations”.