New Year's Eve Running Diary 2012

New Year's Eve Diary 2012:

6:15pm: Arrive at Matt and Julie's house after a 3 hour nap (I was worried I wouldn't make it to midnight and also get up in time to be at work tomorrow morning).

6:30pm- food is laid out, looking fantastic. (my goal to lose 20 lbs by march just became more difficult).

7:24pm- fighting the food comatose and contemplating taking a walk around the block (while it's still plus 50 degrees). now that the food has been consumed, pondering the next activity. Bennett is playing with the entertainment system while she attempts to connect to her video camera. She has a video montage she has put together.

7:30pm- conversations in the room range from some undistinguishable baby talk, to Parents directing children to not eat on the carpet/not punch your brother/stop putting that in your nose, to Fiscal Cliff, to expletives under the breath (Bennett as she works with the audio visual equipment).


7:42- A/V Success! home movie time. Bennett has put together a nice compilation of recent and not so recent pics... How fantastic are old family photos?? even photos from 5-10 years ago seem ancient. It's great.

7:45pm- Julie hands out papers for everyone to fill out. "Year End Surveys" (thanks Pinterest).
sample questions:
Favorite food
favorite activity
favorite book
Highlights of 2012:
-greatest lesson learned
-hardest thing of the year
-favorite memory
-what I loved most about 2012
Looking Forward to 2013:
-want to learn
-want to get better at
-biggest goal

Everyone was able to read their answers from last year (I was working last year so this is my first one).

8pm- everyone is talking/reminiscing about 2012 as they fill out their forms. some of the highlights being thrown around include: Good Movies that came out, vacations, baptisms, the end of Riley Nelson's QB career at BYU, and SongPop. Jacob (my nephew) said his fondest memory is when his cousin Luke shot urine into his cast using a squirt gun.... (I didn't catch the backstory of why the urine was put in the squirt gun and who it belonged to, or why they decided to shoot it into a cast, but I thought it was an interesting statement regardless).

once finished filling out the survey, Julie collects them to be opened next year. I think it's a great idea.

8:20-time for bed... just kidding, but I'm not sure I'll make it to 12. I made the mistake of staying up to watch Dark Knight Rises last night and was up until 1:45am. I think my body can only handle one late night a week these days. How sad is that.

8:27-kids are going to play a round of the wrapping paper game before they go to bed (could be some carnage shortly). for those not familiar with the game, you bring out a present that has been wrapped in several layers of wrapping paper. everyone sits in a circle and passes around a pair of dice. if you roll doubles you put on a pair of oven mitts and try to unwrap the present. meanwhile everyone continues to roll the dice. if someone else rolls doubles, that person now puts on the mitts and continues unwrapping the gifts.

 

8:37pm- Wrapping paper game is cut short by crying. it got pretty intense in that circle.

8:42-kids have gone upstairs to bed.... Julie observes how nice it is to have a quiet house...we all nod our heads in agreement.

8:59- a game on niners is on the agenda as Ryan Seacrest does NYE pregame. not the same without Dick Clark (I feel obligated to type that, I'm not sure I actually feel that way. I'm not sure what made DC so good at hosting the New Year's Eve bash. I'm not a huge Seacrest fan, but maybe I just don't have a high expectation for the host...)

9:06- Times Square is looking crazy packed.... and cold. on a side note, I'm not doing so well at the card game we're playing... getting some unlucky draws currently.

Ryan just threw it over to Jenny McCarthy, who is his co-host. Apparently Jenny is letting America decide who she kisses at midnight. The options according to Jenny are: "Sexy Naval Officer, Sexy Fireman, or Average Joe" (the average joe is wearing a mad bomber hat, so he gets my vote).

9:10-I'm making a comeback in the card game...

9:13- NY Rocking Eve puts up a graphic with the TOP 5 Resolutions according to FaceBook:

5-Spend Less, Save More

4-Fall In Love
3-Take More Family Time
2-Enjoy Life More
1-Lose Weight

Interesting top five. On the surface there aren't any surprises. There is conversation around the table that number 4 is an interesting pick. The consensus is that it seems kind of forced. What happens come November and you still haven't checked that off your list? are you going to run out and fall in love with the person standing in front of you at the grocery store so you can fulfill your goal?

9:25- Card Game update. I finished the first game in 2nd place with 4 points. A late rally and some wise decisions allowed me to come back. The second game is also setting up nicely for me.

9:35pm- PSY comes on stage to perform "Gangnam Style"... this leads to a discussion of whether Psy is tired of performing this song. the answer: probably not. Matt makes a comment that it's not like they are asking him to perform any of his other songs, so as long as the gravy boat is floating, he'll ride it out. Curiosity then got to me and I googled the English Translation of his song, which produced the following results:
Here are the "Gangnam Style" lyrics translated in English:

Oppa is Gangnam style
Gangnam style
A girl who is warm and humanly during the day
A classy girl who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of coffee
A girl whose heart gets hotter when night comes
A girl with that kind of twist
I'm a guy
A guy who is as warm as you during the day
A guy who one-shots his coffee before it even cools down
A guy whose heart bursts when night comes
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let's go until the end
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

A girl who looks quiet but plays when she plays
A girl who puts her hair down when the right time comes
A girl who covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all
A sensable girl like that
I'm a guy
A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who goes completely crazy when the right time comes
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscles
That kind of guy
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Beautiful, loveable
Yes you, hey, yes you, hey
Now let's go until the end
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style
Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style

Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby

I'm a man who knows a thing or two

On top of the running man is the flying man, baby baby

I'm a man who knows a thing or two

You know what I'm saying

Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style
Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh

This makes me want to write a song in english with a bunch of random sentences and then have someone translate them into Korean for me. There's a strong possibility it becomes a hit (provided I have some wicked cool choreography)

Some of my favorite lines from the song:

A guy who seems calm but plays when he plays
A guy who has bulging ideas rather than muscle
A guy who one-shot's his coffee before it even cools down.

fantastic lyrics, I must say.



9:48- I didn't do so hot in the second round of Niners... After a strong start, I got distracted by the TV festivities and didn't pay attention to my cards...I've dropped considerably in the standings. but third round went well, so I'm back in it.

9:53. Pit Bull just performed on NYRE. someone asked how old Pitt Bull was, stating he looked 40. (sad, because he's actually 32). during Pit Bull's performance, something fell on the stage. Someone*(name witheld to protect guilty party) stated they thought it looked like a bra. This was a surprise to me considering Seacrest just stated it was 38 degrees in NY. after several more camera angles it was determined that it was actually just a string of confetti. that's kind of the same thing right?

10:20- NY rocking Eve ended at 10, so we're currently watching the news...
I've started playing subway surf on my phone, while playing cards and blogging.... looks like I can check off my multi-tasking resolution already. That's gotta be a record time for completing a new year's resolution.

10:30-Niners is over. I finished in third place. a comment was made that the top three finishers in the game all happened to also be playing on their phones/ipads, so chalk one up to the multi-taskers.

10:43- left the festivities a little early to come home. I will not make it to midnight. The Cafe Disco episode of the Office is on TBS right now. Andy and Kelly are in a dance off. classic. I'm flipping between that and Couples Retreat on USA.

I believe this will rap up my New Year's Eve 2012 running diary. now, you may read this and ask yourself a couple questions: 1-why did I just spend the last ___ minutes reading about Ben's New Year's Eve?? well, that's a good question, but this is my blog, so if you came here expecting something different.... I don't know what to tell you.

11:45-*update* I started playing a game on the iPad before bed... and just checked the time. Since I'm so close, I might as well see it thru to midnight.

12:03- The sound of Fireworks down the street filters thru my window...I made it. Happy New Year Everyone!