What did you do last night? (This is How We Roll)

[Lucky Strike]

Still in Rome with my girlfriend; yesterday was my 40th, so we went out last night to dinner at Da Giovanni's, had a fantastic meal, walked around Rome and ended up with prosecco at the Campo de Fiori, where the locals gather to stand around the edge of the piazza to try to kill each other with fireworks and by throwing empty bottles into the open space in the middle I dragged the girlfriend into the middle of the piazza and proceeded to propose marriage at a quarter past midnight. Went down on one knee in front of a thousand people and pulled a ring out of my pocket. The whole piazza applauded, heh. All in all, not exactly an average evening.

Pre-proposal:

And post- , with fiancÃ

e (note fireworks in the background):

 

[Alter]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

I dragged the girlfriend into the middle of the piazza and proceeded to propose marriage at a quarter past midnight.

Went down on one knee in front of a thousand people and pulled a ring out of my pocket. The whole piazza applauded, heh.

All in all, not exactly an average evening.

Well played. Congratulations, LS!!!!!!

 

[Matt]

Happy birthday and congratulations LS!

Nowhere near comparable, but a decent enough entry into the new year for me.

Started off out at Binh Quoi, which is a mediocre 'nature reserve' just outside the city, where we were having our company end of year breakup thing.

Went fishing, caught nothing, but staff seemed to enjoy themselves playing cards, eating, and drinking etc. I wanted to go watersliding personally, but was outvoted. Damn locals. Went from there to the worst buffet I have ever been dragged to. Even my staff lamented the selection, and they like local food (I like VNese food, but find it boring).

Anyhow, it ended, went back to the city, and then after a quick shower n change, went to meet my gf at Underground. She was running late (cos she is female), but made it eventually. One drink at Underground, then went to meet friends at Q.

Q were being assholes on this particular NYE. Some friends went to nab a table inside, were told by the waitresses that the table service was to only have between 7 and 9 people, and that we had to pre-guarantee a minimum spend of 7 million VND...that is about $450. They umm-ed and ahh-ed over it, and invited me and the gf in, but we muttered about it, and came to the conclusion that neither of us was likely to drink ~$60 per person over the course of the night. Opted out. Attempted then to order her a mojito..."no sir, we no serve mojito tonight, it will be too busy"..."huh"..."no cocktails, tonight, just beer, wine, and basic mixes". We are regulars there, and friends with the owners (which all the waiting staff know), so really not used to this kind of crap. Then try to order her a tequila sunrise. Same answer. Crazy - that is just three ingredients in a cup, still wouldn't do it.

We bailed.

Headed then to Bounce. One of my good friends is resident DJ there (whacked just met him actually) and the MC is also part of Matts-Little-Circle...but both were off doing some gig in Singapore. GF and I arrive at Bounce - turned away for not making a reservation. Second unheard-of incident of the hour. Since DJ/MC both away, couldn't just SMS them and get the door staff yelled at (as we would otherwise do)...so ended up going downstairs to Prive.

Walk straight in, hugged by the owner, who shows us to a table reserved by someone else. Tosses the reserved sign at one of his staff and gives the gf and I the best seat in the house.

That's more like it.

Joined by assortment of friends as the evening progressed, and really happy to see the way Prive (which is still pretty new, and owned by one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet) is progressing. He came over and joined us, I threw my arm around him, pointed at the sea of bobbing heads and room full of hot women and said 'look what you built dude' and he just kinda nodded with pride.

3,2,1 "chuc mung nam moi", and all that.

Drinking. Whisky. Lots of it.

Wandered over to the other side of the room, where a friend Chris was kinda lamenting the fact that he is leaving next week. He has been promoted and is being sent to Bangkok - but he really doesn't want to leave.

He has another friend Justin who seemed to have a remedy. Three of us sitting in a triangle passing a bottle of Absolut around, drinking it straight from the bottle for one minute on, one minute off.

After the third minute, and god knows how many swigs, I was wishing myself dead. Gf came and rescued me, dragged me back to the now-packed-Q Bar.

Nursed a beer, tormented the little 'you buy flower sir' and 'you wan chewing gum' girls for a while, and then we wandered over the road to a late night Chinese joint. Had pork dumplings, and headed home at about 3.30.

Therein lay my New Years.

Others?

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I think we might have killed J last night.

It is probably one of those "Oh my god, I'm never drinking again" type of evenings...

Happy New Years!

*edit*
Yes, it is 7:55 am and I just got home.

 

[dsholmes1]

OMG! Hit up h2o and zanzibar in DC. The night was good then got ******* terrible. Got too drunk fell to sleep woke up in Georgetown Hospital. ****! Lost my cell. Cannot find my find my friend. Took the amtrak from DC to Bmore. Bad way to bring in the new year =(. I am done partying for a wee bit

 

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

I dragged the girlfriend into the middle of the piazza and proceeded to propose marriage at a quarter past midnight.

Went down on one knee in front of a thousand people and pulled a ring out of my pocket. The whole piazza applauded, heh.

All in all, not exactly an average evening.

[/IMG]

Great execution!! Congratulations and all the very best.

Some simpleton next door let off firecrackers here last night. Wife and I hit the floor!! .. great way to bond.

The roads are blocked in and out of town, finally no traffic

There has been a lot of tension obviously, and lot in our house. The wife as a journalist wants to break the big stories (there are a lot) and I think I'm pretty supportive as a rule, but I am not happy about the dangers involved right now.

To relieve the tension I went and enjoyed a number of beers in the sun with an aussie friend today - amazing the way we can reduce any situation to a sporting analogy or two... (This is half time in 1970 Carlton Collingwood GF in this case for those who know - Jesaulenko you beauty). Half time and democracy is a long way back. Felt great afterwards.

Driving home had a new roadblock and lotsa AK47s.. Decided with the help of the first policeman to take the scenic route...

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

I dragged the girlfriend into the middle of the piazza and proceeded to propose marriage at a quarter past midnight. Went down on one knee in front of a thousand people and pulled a ring out of my pocket. The whole piazza applauded, heh.
That, people, is how you do it.

 

[Huntsman]

Congrats, LS!

 

[amerikajinda]

Originally Posted by dsholmes1

OMG! Hit up h2o and zanzibar in DC. The night was good then got ******* terrible. Got too drunk fell to sleep woke up in Georgetown Hospital. ****! Lost my cell. Cannot find my find my friend. Took the amtrak from DC to Bmore. Bad way to bring in the new year =(. I am done partying for a wee bit

Why were you in the hospital?

 

[Brian278]

LS, has anyone ever told you look just like Mika Hakkinen?

 

[Lucky Strike]

Thanks all - it's been a great day today as well, with the new - um - fiancÃ

e.

Originally Posted by Brian278

LS, has anyone ever told you look just like Mika Hakkinen?
Yes, they have. Not sure whether that's necessarily a good thing, though?

 

[dsholmes1]

Originally Posted by amerikajinda

Why were you in the hospital?

Alcohol Intoxication is what the paper says. The champagne did more damage than I thought.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Great execution!! Congratulations and all the very best. Some simpleton next door let off firecrackers here last night. Wife and I hit the floor!! .. great way to bond. The roads are blocked in and out of town, finally no traffic

There has been a lot of tension obviously, and lot in our house. The wife as a journalist wants to break the big stories (there are a lot) and I think I'm pretty supportive as a rule, but I am not happy about the dangers involved right now. To relieve the tension I went and enjoyed a number of beers in the sun with an aussie friend today - amazing the way we can reduce any situation to a sporting analogy or two... (This is half time in 1970 Carlton Collingwood GF in this case for those who know - Jesaulenko you beauty). Half time and democracy is a long way back. Felt great afterwards. Driving home had a new roadblock and lotsa AK47s.. Decided with the help of the first policeman to take the scenic route...
My friend was supposed to spend a semester studying in Nigeria. Her flight was scheduled for this morning, but I think she ended up canceling it due to the violence. Stay safe over there!

 

[Brian278]

Originally Posted by Lucky Strike

Yes, they have. Not sure whether that's necessarily a good thing, though?

He seems to have done OK in life. Actually, I've always thought he was one of the better looking F1 drivers in the world. But what do you care, you're engaged.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Brian278

He seems to have done OK in life. Actually, I've always thought he was one of the better looking F1 drivers in the world. But what do you care, you're engaged.

Might be good if he needs to make a fancy hotel/restaurant reservation in Finland.