DANCING, CLINTON, AND BIG AL’S, YOU CAN’T ASK FOR MUCH MORE: I have visitors! A bunch of friends from Decatur came up to hangout for a night before New Year’s Eve. How crazy is this that the girls requested that we go to the World Famous Big Al’s [a gentlemen’s club]. This was a last of the minute visit, but very welcome. My only regret was that it was the night before New Year’s Eve; no one was out because they were saving themselves for the next night. When we got to Roxy’s, there were three other people there! We had to go find a lively bar to hangout at! Adam’s Apple on Tuesdays was the only option we had. Luckily some girl from Clinton, IL, with a retainer (or braces I don’t remember) was our entertainment. For a long time, we were the only ones on the dance floor. After we got a little tired from dancing, we had to go to Big Al’s. I swear, the only reason we went was because a girl requested it! It was a great way to end the night, we had so much fun, New Year’s Eve is going to be bland and boring. The best thing about my friend’s visiting is that I still don’t have my couch yet. It’s supposed to be delivered sometime in Mid-January. Good times though… good times! Life is good when you get to party with friends!

SIMPLY, HAVING, A WODNERFUL CHRISTMAS TIME: Lots of Christmas parties to go to. My old Supervisor holds a Christmas party every year that I have to attend; lots of food (and drink) and good people. From that party I made my way to a local consultant group’s annual Christmas party. This party is a major production, where they rent a large reception room, hire a band, have an open bar, and provide catered food. After working all day and partying all night, I just crashed that when I got home. I had to prepare for the wedding tomorrow! Life is great when you get to party!

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE FLU? My mom called me at work to tell me that my dad had to go to the doctor because he’s been sick with the flu for 2 1/2 weeks and hasn’t gotten any better. It’s scary because the doctor told him that he was very close to having pneumonia. Besides that happening, our family’s plans for traveling to Texas for four days were in jeopardy. A friend’s wedding is that same Saturday that they wanted to leave for Texas (they wanted to drive). To work out the schedule, I bought a plan ticket to fly down on Sunday to meet them ($150 for a one-way ticket). The plans were for me to ride back with them, which there was a great chance for them not to go. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Life is not good when your dad is really sick and you lost $50 on canceling a plane ticket.

I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS: It’s snowing again (or still). It’s been snowing all day long. I was going to go Christmas shopping today, but I think that I’ll just stay inside instead.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON:
Yep, still snowing! When is this craziness going to end?!??!!

LATER THAT NIGHT:
Still snowing, I was going to order a pizza dinner (I didn’t feel like going out). Kevin was going to come over and we were just going to hang out and watch a movie. That is before Christine called, she had a friend in from out-of-town and she basically begged us to go out and meet her. Kevin wanted to meet her friend anyway, so we ended up going out (even after I told all the Bradley kids that I wasn’t going to go). After getting to Kelleher’s, I must say that I had a great night! I didn’t drink much because I was driving. I had fun hanging out with a few friends, then I went to see the best cover band ever, “Mike and Joe”. That’s where the Bradley kids were (you guys know I say that all in good fun). The band will be back in mid-January and we’ve already got a large group that’s going out that night. Life is good when you only have to pay a $5 cover and get to see a great band and hangout with friends!

BIRTHDAYS IN BLOOMINGTON: So Friday, after having an easy day at work (I was able to get a lot of things done), I drove to Bloomington to celebrate my friend Cathleen’s birthday. Living in Champaign, Bloomington was a good central place to celebrate, since she had people coming from Decatur and Peoria (of course). The band that she adores was playing at a bar there too (that might have had something to do with it). The band is called “Maggie Speaks”. Personally, I thought it was a sub-par band. I guess they’re big in Chicago. Sorry, maybe I was just wasn’t in the mood to listen to a band that night. A highlight from the night, is that I got to see two friends from college that I haven’t seen in over 2 years! Coley and Pam, I didn't even recognize them at first. We had a good time that night. I'd do it again. How about next year Cathleen? Life is good when you’re celebrating a friend’s birthday in Bloomington!




The girls posing for a quick picture (minus Coley and Pam who were missing from the pictures). Birthday girl is in red. Everyone say "BEER PLEEEEEEAZEE!"





Another picture of me and the girls. I still don't know where Coley and Pam are? I know there were there that night.





The birthday girl in red showing that she's had fun tonight. How many drinks did you have?






Extremely drunk guy that wouldn’t leave the girls alone. He is shown here molesting some other, poor, innocent woman.

WHAT MEDICINE CURES A COMPUTER VIRUS: I think that my computer is finally healed! Good thing, I was about to take it to the Emergency room (ie, reformat the hard drive). I'll probably just do that anyway. Life is good when you don't care that you have a virus because you can easily fix it.

ITS AN EPIDEMIC: Yeah, so my computer’s got the bug that’s going around. That darn virus. I should have gotten it a Flu shot. Life’s no fun when your computer is sick with a virus.

FRIENDS WINES, EQUAL GOOD TIMES: I had another great weekend. This year has been so much fun. I must say that I would challenge the saying that “College is the best years” or ”College was the most fun you’ll ever have”. Why? It’s so much more fun when you don’t have to worry about money or homework. Don’t get me wrong, you have other things like all the bills and unpaid overtime, but it’s different and much easier.
Anyway, one of my good friend’s came to visit me, Greg Chambers. He’s getting married early next year, so we wanted to hangout a few more times before his life is over as he knew it (just kid’n Greg). We had a great time though. Got to show him around Peoria; showed him the great “ghetto” we have here. [Side story: I asked one of the Bradley students how much they were, (I wanted to live there) that’s how I found out they were “The Ghetto”.] After that, we had 2 bottles of wine with dinner at the best Italian restaurant ever, Rizzi's. Another bottle at Kelleher’s before we went to this semester’s [Unofficial APO] Activation party that was going on that night. I just know that I was probably affected a little too much by the wine (i.e. a little too drunk but not out of control). What it comes out to is that we had a good time. Thanks for visiting Greg, you’re welcome to come back and party anytime buddy! Life is good when you’re with old friends!