Christmas is for families, but New Year’s is for friends. I couldn’t decide between Pat and Jen’s or Aaron and Karen’s this year, so I went to both.
Pat and Jen had me over for dinner first. I met Sophia for the first time, which was a good way to put a face to the person who Jen talks about all the time. It was a great change to be hanging out with people who didn’t mind playing console and hand-held games at a New Year’s party. Usually I’m the geek who wants to play games, and most people are uninterested.
I headed to Aaron and Karen’s after a couple hours. They’re only a block away from each other, so it was an easy walk. It was the usual Trivial Pursuit (guys won), poker, and general rowdiness. A few people crashed so they could drink, and the party went into the next day with some early morning Wii.
Mel gave me an invitation card to their wedding in March, and Rob extended the annual Super Bowl party invitation. It was a nice gesture, because I don’t know Rob and Mel as much as I’d like. I think I’m given that respect by association with Aaron. I hope Rob knows that it goes both ways; a brother of Aaron’s is a brother of mine.
When I’m hosting a party, I can see Pat studying the other guests. It’s in his nature to be aware of his surroundings, and he always tells me that there are interesting characters. This time it was my turn to observe, and there were plenty of characters at both places.
I suggested that both couples combine parties for next year, but I’m not sure if the people would mix.
I also had a chance to try the Wii. Admittedly, the innovation impressed me. Gameplay can be fun for casual and seasoned gamers alike.
And people have the funniest faces when they’re swinging that controller around.
I thought for sure it would be outdone by the ps3 but everyone is raving about wii. Still, until they have FF, they will never have this little black duck! :p
I’d still rather have a PS3 myself. The Wii graphics are rather cartoonish; there isn’t really a great sense of immersion.
sure love your pics, they have that elusive magazine quality to them
my quick lil point and shoot cant hold a candle to those, even with post editing
sigh
if I had the time to pursue a new hobby
I’d be asking you what kind of camera you’re using
I miss parties with lots of games..
the parties we go to now, everyone is too busy chasing their own kids around to sit and play a game
I used to ROCK trivial pursuit
love board games and all the socializing that goes with it
we did make it to a new years party WITHOUT the kids..but most of our friends had their kids there..wasn’t the same
perhaps next year we’ll try a different approach
i saw in the pics ya got snow there..
did ya hear we got over 10 cm rain from jan 1 to jan 2?
gotta love the wet coast
least we dont have to shovel it
haha
Wii is great for the first time and parties.
I don’t think the novelty will carry on when guests see the same game a second time.
@amy — Thanks! A point-and-shoot is pretty limited, so it gets to a point where your camera becomes the bottleneck for photography (of course, there are those who can still take amazing photos with basic cameras like Lomos, but I think the effect gets old quickly). I think you should get a new camera, especially since you have kids, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.
I’ve always been terrible at Trivial Pursuit, except for the pop culture edition. You’ll be able to play board games like Trivial Pursuit with them eventually (and then be amazed at how much they know). And having parties without kids is something that’d be hard to agree on, I imagine.
It’s not snowing very much over here…it’s actually the warmest winter on record. I miss the snow, but everyone (who drives) tells me that they don’t miss it at all. I’m sure they’d all rather be over on the West. ;)
@Pita — I have the opposite theory. I think the Wii is great for guests because the learning curve is so low they can continually get better, even when they’re not playing regularly. It’s not good for the hardcore gamers, because the gameplay isn’t really deep enough to spend hours and hours practicing.