Happy new year everyone. 2014 is shaping up to be an exciting year for me and I’m very much looking forward to it. I finally finished my masters degree and my business is about to take off. We dropped some dead weight, hired a marketing firm and going to rebrand. Going all in on becoming a product company. Very exciting time. I hope all of you have big plans for 2014. It’s important to set goals for yourself. A new year is always an opportunity for a fresh start.

I detailed the events of last year’s party in this post. Now for this year…

Basically, every year my friends and I throw a big party where we find a house and supply all the booze, etc. Free entry for all. The hosts would each drop about 300 or 400 dollars and it would be a great party for all of our friends. This year, some of the hosts wanted to “take it to the next level”. I was pretty much against this since it would no longer be a party for friends. Rather, it would feel more like a business. Anyway, that’s exactly what it turned out to be — in the end we were nothing more than promoters for this guy who runs a club in Flatiron.

This time required people to purchase tickets and we sold out and then some. I think the manager of the venue underestimated what was going to happen. I had very little to do with the setup this year so I actually learned of some fucked up shit when I got there. For example, the bathroom, only two available, were restricted to females-only. The men had to go across the street into a church parking lot and pee in these portapotties. You pay $100+ for a ticket, you expect to have a real bathroom at your party. The tickets themselves were fucked up. People were getting rejected when they shouldn’t have been, etc, etc…

I got there early, right at 8pm and my sister came as my date. Some other friends got there early — his girlfriend’s friend came and they introduced to me to her. She was cute and we shook hands. Held our eye contact for a bit and I got that feeling …hmm.

By 9pm the place was filling up rapidly. The line outside in the parking lot across the street was a total disaster. The line inside for the coat check was also a total disaster. My friend was flipping a shit since she waited 20 minutes in the cold only to be told that when she got to the front of the line, she was on the wrong line. Had to wait 20 minutes on a different line. And then 20 minutes in coat check. Following this event (she was already hammered by the way), another guy from our party walked up to her and was flirting, creeping, and being inappropriate with her in front of her boyfriend. Then her and her boyfriend had a major fight about that and argued for the entire night. They didn’t even kiss at the ball drop. Not a good night for her.

There were a ton of attractive girls at this party though. If you were a guy and made out with any girl there. Odds are it was a win.

The night goes on and the girl that was introduced to me earlier and I begin to talk and flirt. I was pretty non-chalant about the whole thing. We had scored a victory as being a “host” we had a couch to ourselves that we stuck to for most of the party. It was key, kind of like a “home base”. My sister was having a fun time too. I thought it would be weird having her there while I flirt with girls and what-not. Maybe it was, but I was in a total 0 fucks given attitude. Remember, it’s only weird if you think it’s weird. Turned out to be a non-issue and I got to spend some quality time with her since I only see her a few times a year anyway. And she got to see my social skills in action.

It was open bar and people were getting hammered. By 1030 the place was roudy and really happening. The DJ and band were great. I am still on the alcohol-free diet and was 100% sober during this entire night. But you can see around the party that things were starting to get out of hand. The club manager lost control of the party at this point. Across the street, the fucked up bathroom situation finally blew up in his face. The wife of the man who owns the church saw people peeing on the church. Called the cops. Cops arrive and arrest some girl who they found peeing on the church when they got there. Now they closed down the parking lot and everyone had to pee in those bathrooms inside the venue. Only two bathrooms and the line to pee had a 30+ minute wait. Other issues that began cropping up:

There was supposed to be some complementary food and appertizers. They arrived an hour late and were beyond gross.

People started having actual sex on the dance floor.

Some cops were walking through the dance floor at one point (reason unknown).

Saw at least 7 girls wipe out and slip on the disgusting floor.

Granted, as the quality of the party was rapidly declining, I didn’t really care. My small group of friends were largely insolated from the chaos around us. You can be at a disappointing party in general, but in the end, if you’re with the people you care most about — that’s all that matters. Everything is about people and so I still managed to have a good time.

We get closer to the ball drop and I move on the girl I was flirting with earlier. It’s obvious at this point and with 5 minutes to go we’re dancing up close. Actually, no one gave any official warning that the ball drop was coming. It was so sudden out of nowhere. Guy on the microphone gets up and says 10, 9, 8…Caught one of my friends off guard while he was on a stairwell and didn’t have time to find a girl to kiss.

We were also entitled to have champagne for the ball drop but apparently (some people are so dumb), they only had like 3 bottles of shitty champagne available to the whole party of 500+ people. One of my friends actually snagged a bottle for just us, amazingly, so barely anyone got champagne.

Anyway, the girl and I make out when the ball dropped and it was fun.

It wasn’t long before the party began to go to complete shit. The venue was running out of beer and cups. By 130/145 people were drunk as fuck. Fights were breaking out. Friends getting into arguments with their girlfriends. My sister and I wanted to get out of there. Time to leave, so we did.

So we left and headed home. Definitely the worst of the 5 years we’ve thrown parties, but memorable in other ways. Regardless, I achieved my goals for the party.

1) Have a good time

2) Make out with a girl at the ball drop

So that’s really it. I told the guys I’m retired and will not be a host next year. Maybe it’s a maturity thing. Maybe I’m just tired of this shit. But this is the end. It was a nice run.

And that’s that. 2014, here we come.