New Year's Eve @ Dickie's

Lawrence, Sue, Jennifer, Linda, Perry. Dickie and Catherine in front.

Dickie and Perry organized another New Year's Eve party this year. Dickie opened up his home to everyone again. His mother made a huge tray of noodles, Perry made his yummy salmon and other people brought various food items.

The guests consisted of two main groups - The church folks from CPC and RHCCC and Sue's Mandarin-speaking friends.

The activities were pretty much the same as last year. Perry brought his Rock Band video games for the Xbox. Other people kept themselves entertained watching DVDs on Dickie's big screen TV before the countdown. And there was a ping pong table in the basement for those who were so inclined to play table tennis. New this year was a Karaoke machine upstairs that Dickie either found or was given. It was a little hard to operate so I don't believe it was used too much.

I arrived sometime after 7:00 (if I remember correctly). Dickie's place was already quite full. I discovered the Karaoke machine in the computer room when I went upstairs to change. Linda came up shortly after and we tried to figure out how to work it. We managed to sing a couple of songs before it was time for dinner.

I watched a bit of Men In Black III on DVD, but most of my time was spent playing Rock Band. I really like it. Singing is fun. So is playing the guitar and bass. The drums are more challenging, but cool too.

People dropped by throughout the evening. At midnight we probably had around 20 folks watching the countdown on CityTV.

Happy New Year, everyone! All the best in 2013!

New Year's Eve at Dickie's

Photo taken by Dickie

Once again, Dickie was gracious enough to host a New Year's Eve gathering at his place. Perry took care of arranging the food (again as well). He made salmon and arranged for some of his other friends to bring stuff too. Dickie's mom made her wonderful noodles that I like so much.

Now this gathering wasn't unlike ones we've had in the past. Perry brought his Rock Band game for the Xbox again. Even though I've sung many of the songs over and over again, I still enjoy it. And it's fun to try the drums which I think are the hardest "instrument" to play. I've only recently gotten used to them and in easy mode have started to score relatively well.

Perry also brought a DVD Cowboys and Aliens. It was a fun movie. Kind of silly, but nevertheless entertaining. What more could you expect from a movie with a name like that?

Close to midnight we switched over to Citytv to watch the countdown from Toronto City Hall. Nathan Philips Square was packed with people. They were lucky. The weather this year was actually quite nice. I believe it was near freezing (which is slightly warmer than normal). And there wasn't any precipitation of any kind. In previous (as well as subsequent) days we had a mix of snow and rain. So the people down there were blessed in that way.

Even though we didn't have as many people over as in previous years it was still nice to have a few friends to hang out with. It made ringing in the New Year a bit more special.

Happy New Year, everyone.

New Year's Eve Party

I attended the Meet Market Adventures New Year's Eve Party last night. As they've often done in the past, they sent me an e-mail to go for free. If you were to pay, tickets were going for $79.99 or $100 at the door (plus HST). Sometimes I think they need to fill a certain demographic, so that's why they do it (give away tickets to certain people).

It was held at the Arcadian Court (shown above) on the 8th floor of the Simpson Tower at 401 Bay Street (south of Queen Street West). Unlike the photo, the room was empty. It just had booth seating around the edges with open spacing for dancing in the middle. Not nearly as elegant as the picture. As usual the music was way too loud for talking, but what else is new?

There were supposed to be 1,000 people in attendance. That may sound like good odds for meeting someone, but there was quite a disparity in age. I spoke with a few younger folks who were pretty unhappy about that. Most of the attendees were a bit older I have to admit.

I have to say it's really not that interesting when I go by myself. While I can always find people to talk to every now and then. Sometimes that's not always the case. That's when it gets kind of boring. I guess I'm just a sucker for a free deal. I'm pretty sure I would have had more fun if I hung out with my friends doing something more entertaining.

I feel sorry for the people who paid full price for this event. I think they got ripped off. All they really provided was a few hors d'oeuvres, a wee sip of Champagne and some cheap party favors for nearly $80 (or more). I probably shouldn't have told so many people there I went for free. Oh well, what can you do? Happy New Year.

Happy New Year!

I spent New Year's Eve over at my friend Dickie's place (sitting on the floor on the left). He invited a group of friends from the Richmond Hill Chinese Community Church over. It was a last minute affair organized by Jim (sitting on the floor with the guitar in his lap). He sent an Evite out on Monday inviting people to come out. Perry (sitting on the floor, far right) brought his X-box 360 with Rock Band over, as well as a movie trivia game. That was fun. Some of us played it while others went downstairs to play ping pong. Big Jon was supposed to come over, but he fell asleep at home and missed the countdown.