Thursday 01 January 2004

My Christmas break went very well, thank you. The comfort of family is well-documented in these pages already.

Cathy enjoyed her computer. I loaded several games on it and Kevin installed Microsoft Office so she'll be able to do schoolwork with it as well. We ended up staying an extra day to celebrate Gabby's birthday, which was also nice. Mom brought us back Tuesday and she stayed overnight. Indeed, she did give me help (even though I never did ask). January rent is paid, and tomorrow I'll be heading down to the bank to draw a cashier's check for the Winnebago County District Attorney. Hopefully I should be set for the month.

Last night after Mom left I didn't really do that much at home... played on the computer for a while until 11:30pm. I figured I didn't deserve to be alone at midnight, so I took a quick shower, got dressed, and walked two blocks to downtown Menasha. Main Street was closed to traffic while a few thousand people partied in the street. After the band was done playing, I watched people kicking like a chorus line to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York." I watched them bouncing to the Village People's "YMCA," of course with the proper arm movements. I watched the lighted ball descend the flagpole to the countdown to midnight. I watched couples kiss in the new year to "Auld Lang Syne," then watched people polka in the street. Then everyone wandered to the riverfront to see the fireworks display.

Once the fireworks were done, there was a somewhat-controlled rush to get out of the cold. Most everyone who'd come had parked nearby and my street was pretty busy for the next half-hour. I came home to warm up, figuring the bars would be jam-packed at 12:15am. A little before one I went back downtown for a few beers. I went to Coyote Rose. No offense to Crystal or Cheri from Scoreboard back in Onalaska, but man, we have sexy bartendresses in Menasha! Each wore low-riders and bikini or halter tops. Every twenty minutes or so three would get up on the bar to dance. Stephanie, my bartendress for the evening, was the prettiest of the six I saw, and she was very good at her job. I was always asked for another beer before the one I had was empty (I treated myself to three Heinekens), and I never saw an ashtray with more than three butts in the hour I was there. Between dances on the bar, Stephanie took a turn at blowing fire, spraying alcohol from her lips through a flaming bottle. She also occasionally tossed free drink chips down the blouses of any woman showing a little cleavage. All in all, the joint is a little pricy, but it's quite the entertaining time.

Continue...