A decade of New Year's Eves

Everybody's doing countdowns to commemorate the end of a decade. So in honor of New Year's Eve, I'll run through what I've done on the most overrated night of the year. These are in order of the year, not in order of how much fun I had. I'll keep that to myself, so I don't hurt anybody's feelings. The year is the one we rang in, not the one we left.

2000: A guy I knew in high school had a party at his parents' house. My, how times have changed. I'm not sure if his parents knew he was having a party. I don't know that I brought anything. But this was the debut of the backless shirt, later to be known as my JLO shirt. Freshman year of college, I bashed girls who wore those so bad, calling them slutty. Suddenly, I was on board. This shirt was H.O.T. It was magenta satin and, obviously, tied in the back. It would pave the way for later backless shirts that included: a purple cotton one from The Limited; a metallic one someone gave me (too slutty for them, I guess); and a leather-inspired one Neha gave me. The evening was enjoyable and I remember everybody checking the TV to see if Y2K was really going to blow up the world.

2001: Boyfriend at the time was obsessed with the University of Iowa. Friend Stefanie went to school there. Let's go. Only problem: no car. Boyfriend didn't have one (lucky me). Stefanie didn't have one. I had one but John Sod was putting the kibosh on me driving it. My cousins still quote him saying "My cars don't go to Iowa." Even though this was my car - I bought it off them - thus giving them power over how it was used. The day before NYE, Stefanie went to her waitressing job at Rainforest Cafe, and her boss offered to let her drive his car to Iowa City. She went home and told her mom, who, I think, said if she was planning on doing that, she shouldn't come home. Steffie didn't care, and we were on our way. We ran into a problem on the way there when the glove compartment wouldn't close, and we were afraid the light inside would run out the battery. Not sure how we fixed it. We walked into Stefanie's apartment, and it was so messy that boyfriend seriously said, "Oh my God, you've been robbed." But we had a really fun time dancing at The Union.

2002: This was the NYE in which all NYEs would be measured against. None of us were 21, but we had all been in college for more than two years, so it's fair to say we enjoyed a cocktail or two on the illegal. My high school girls and I went down to University of Illinois to spend a night in a land where you only need to be 19 to enter the bars. We all strapped on our go-go boots and headed to Clybourne, where insanity ensued. I can't even say most of the stuff that happened that night because people's moms, including my own, read this blog. Just mark my word, it was a time.

2003: Now we're 21!!! Went to VooDoo Lounge, a now defunct club in Schaumburg. A friend of ours had connections at the La Quinta Inn, so we got a free room next door. Stefanie and I made sure we secured boys to smooch for the ball drop so we had a good time (even though those guys didn't get the message that once the smooch was done, so were we). But the other girls we were with didn't have much fun and ended up retiring to the room to watch a "Sex and the City" marathon. Only snag was when VooDoo smooch guy called me a week later and wanted to take me on a date. I told him waiting a week to call a girl was ridiculous and told him no.

2004: Worst NYE ever. I had moved to North Carolina a couple months prior, didn't know anybody, and sat at home. Sad face.

2005: First NYE downtown experience. Paid $80 for some appetizers, a glass of champagne and an open bar at Lincoln Station. Spent most of the night on the phone with jealous new boyfriend. However, this was the first time I met Heather's now husband Jason. At breakfast New Year's Day, Heather kept telling us she was going to marry him and, since we had heard that before, we didn't believe her. I made her sign a statement on the back of an order form. They've been married two years and have a baby!

2006: Another horrible night. Paid $100 to go to a swanky party in the lobby of a high rise downtown. Open bar, tons of food, lots o' people. Only problem: I was severely hung over from the night before. I went to see "Brokeback Mountain" with my mom, aunt and cousin and went home and had pizza and my famous melon martinis. Many many melon martinis. Needless to say, it was the one time in my life an open bar was not making me loony tunes.

2007: Kept it low-key that year. Made dinner and drank at Heather and Jason's apartment in the city. Things got hairier when some guys from high school showed up wasted. Then went on an adventure with Moogs that went awry.

2008: Another top night. Kept it real in Fort Wayne and went out for a nice dinner and to a bar. Highlight of the night was when I was dancing with a bottle of beer in my hand. I was waving my hands in the air and ended up pouring beer on my head. But in my drunken state, I was convinced someone was standing above me pouring water on me. Boyfriend at the time had to correct me and say "No, silly, YOU'RE the one pouring beer on yourself." So in every picture, I look like I shot-up heroin: glassy eyes and wet hair. Boyfriend and I closed down a dive bar called Billy's Dugout, cleaned out their buffet, used our literally last three dollars to buy cans of beer (boyfriend had to borrow money from a random guy to tip). I spent the last minutes chatting with a black guy in a leprechaun hat.

2009: Went to Heather's and made dinner. Food was excellent, but I was in one of my non-drinking moods.

2010: My friend Meghan is coming to Fort Wayne from Chicago to hit up the town with some Hoosiers. Pre-dinner cocktails at my place; to Catablu for dinner with a group of people; then downtown for some boozin' and dancing. Pray for another top night!