Last Night of the Decade*

My excitement of the evening was being exposed to a different world:  I met an old friend, BL, at a bar. I don't go to bars much, and never this kind of bar.  Most days, it's a "police bar" -- decorated with photos of our Brave Men (and Women) in Blue, and with the driver's side doors of police cars hanging from the high ceiling, often signed by the cops who drove in them.

On sports nights, however, such as last night -- when The Wild was playing at the Xcel Arena, and the Iowa State Cyclones were facing off against the Minnesota Gophers -- the place is decorated with scantily clad women in referee-striped halter tops and low-cut jeans.  They hold placards saying, "Buy Beer Here", and slowly dance around, go-go-girl-like on tables, to let the customers know where "here" is.  (You can see one of them behind me in both photos.)

After watching about half a game (with a table of Cyclone supporters, as they pulled ahead of the gophers), BL and I returned to the Peaceable Tate's house and we all watched an excellent truly French movie, A Christmas Tale. (Thus counter-acting, with intellectual entertainment, the effects of low-brow domestic brews and gyrating girls.) We drank champagne at midnight and thus toasted in the New Year.

*Personally, I don't believe the decade ended yesterday. The millennium didn't really begin until 2001, so how can the first decade have started in 2000, crossing millennia? However, the media have proclaimed the decade over (a good excuse to compile best-of and worst-of lists, I suppose), so I'll go with it.

Not to mention, the Noughts were a sucky decade, so I'm more than happy to put it behind me.  Here's to the start of a new year, and a new decade. May the Teens be an improvement!