New Year

Get ready for a characteristically uneven spate of updates. First and most important, I convinced Harlo to get engaged! It was on New Year’s Eve. The original plan was to meet at the Bravest, a bar where we used to hang out after work. I had the evening so meticulously planned and was so cunning that, in fact, I forgot to tell Harlo that she was supposed to meet me there.
So, Plan B turned out to be meeting her at her doorway and giving a wonderful speech about how much she means to me, and how I can’t wait to grow old with her. I had been in the car driving down from Boston for a very long time, though, and had drank a lot of Diet Coke in my nervousness, so I really had to use the restroom. I don’t recall, um, the full speech I managed to perform, so you will have to ask her.
After convincing her that this wasn’t a joke, she said yes, which set the tone for the evening’s celebration.
After a strange, fancy dinner cooked by a roommate’s boyfriend, we headed to a wonderful nameless place on 5th street between A and B; we had previously rung in the New Year there and loved it because there was very little fanfare—just a quiet little place where it might not even be a holiday. A great number of our best friends were able to make it to the celebration, and we had a lovely time. Also, there was a dog who was trained to play pool!