That didn't go as planned...

First of all, HAPPY 2011!! I'm oh-so-excited to get started on this year. I'm going to make this one a good one. That's my only resolution.

I had high hopes for NYE. I wanted to ring in the new year by having fun with good friends. I didn't really care what we did. I just wanted to have fun - after all, I rang in 2010 on my couch, in my PJs. 

A friend of a friend was having a poker tournament at his house for New Years. The plan was to have 18 people - two tables of 9, a $20 buy in, start at 6:30, and be done shortly before midnight. As I should've figured out by now, things never go as planned, right?

People didn't show up to get the game started until 7:30ish, and we only had 9 people, but, we started playing. Two of us girls didn't have a clue what we were doing, and we felt really bad about making everyone explain things to us every five seconds, but it turned out that only about four of the nine knew what they were doing - everyone else was as bad off as me.

In order to explain what was going on, everyone who did know how to play felt it necessary to talk at the same time. Throw in some alcohol, some hard earned cash, and some cutthroat competitors and you have yourself a bad time.

People were ordering shots from the girls who weren't playing, mid-hand. Then someone would get up to go for a smoke break, mid-hand. The ones who were doing shots couldn't handle their alcohol - and we're talking GROWN MEN! It was a constant battle to figure out who's turn it was, what the bet was, where we were at in the hand, etc. The fact that I didn't know how to play was the least of my worries.

Around 10:00, it just gets CRAZY. I started taking a couple of videos, just to share with you guys. There may be some foul language a-flyin' in some of these videos. I don't want to offend anyone, so I'm giving you a heads up!

I took this first video when I was just sitting back, watching. So many people were talking at one time, it was just easier to sit back and take it all in. When you watch this one, take note of the guy in the black hat who does the talking in the end, he's important later.

That's the chaos that went on the entire game. And then when someone would get mad, everyone else would start laughing hysterically and it just became one vicious cycle. I'm not one to antagonize people, if I know someone's mad, I'll stay out of their way. But after this next video, seeing how angry black hat guy was getting, I couldn't help but laugh.. which only made things worse. And his girlfriend? She cracks me up.. she wasn't helping the situation.

This is the point where all hell breaks loose. It's the one with the bad language. I didn't want anyone to know I was taking a video, so all you can see is the table. If you look, halfway through, in the background, you can see the hostess with a broom. That's because she got mad and threw her glass full of wine across the room - shattering it (obviously).

It was right after this video that black hat guy started getting even more upset. He got up from the table, threw a shot glass full of Jaeger on the table & cards, and walked away. Other guys there weren't going to put up with his disrespect, so they started yelling, fighting, and throwing things. I went and hid in the guest room. The whole thing scared me so much that I started crying! I don't like drunk people fighting - especially when I'm sober, haha. 

So, the night's casualties consisted of a wine glass, a dining room chair, the poker table, and a deck of cards. We called a cab & hauled butt out of there as fast as possible.

So I ended up ringing in 2011 on the couch... in my PJs. But that's okay, because I had my best friend beside me, making all the difference in the world.

(And just in case you were wondering, yes, we got our money back! :-))