Steppin into 2005: Chicago Style

It's 2005, so I guess I shuold write about New Years in Chicago to party with Harper.

Friday night, Kari and I went to this pretty cool little bar/kitchen called Viand to hang out and have a martini. Then we met Harper, Saresh, Megan, John, and Mike (who is a deron miller look alike) at Rezas. The food was soooo good - persian food or something. We got lots of pitas, hummus, soup, dill rice, etc. After dinner we welcomed the new year with Scottv and AbeFroman at this dive bar called Gold Star. We made lots and lots of noise and did a fake countdown to piss people off, haha. Next we went to Kill Hannah's practice loft for the big afterparty. The place was so so packed. I met a lot of people including a couple guys from kill hannah, saw Chris Holmes, etc. Eventually it got so packed that Harper and I had to go down and work the door - very funny. Bands played while we were at the door, including Kill Hannah, I think. Harper didn't wear pants and I rollerbladed, which was a bad idea. Around 4:30 I called it a night.

Saturday we woke up, ate at Giordano's (love giordano's) then we shopped around on Michigan Ave. Later we ate dinner at Lawry's where we were way way underdressed, it was funny. This lady next to me had a shiny dress on and fur; I was in my not bam jacket and stocking cap. Whatever - I ate really good prime rib. After dinner we went to this robe party with Harper. It was crazy - on the top (46th) floor of the Mariott on Michigan. It was in this huge huge suite that a couple club owners had for the week or something. It was a little odd, when I walked in seeing everyone in robes and harper runs out of the bathroom naked wanting hugs... but it felt good to lounge around in robes - and get hugged by naked harper.

After robes we went to a club called Red no 5. At the door they wouldn't let me or mike in (dress code) until they found out we were there with the owner, haha. I've gotten past dress code in Chicago so many times due to being with VIP, hehe. So yeah, cool club and free drinks all night. Later we went to this metal bar called Exit. It was funny, lots of big skulls and old motorcycles inside... plus good music.

It seems like I should look back and talk about 2004, so... I bought a house, got a dog, got engaged, went to 1-2-3-4 weddings, started a company with nick, made more friends, had bad luck with my car, made movies, saw some shows, drank a lot of beer, went to Chicago 1-2-3-4 times, Denver 1-2-3 times, Minneapolis 1-2 times, St Louis, Cornerstone, Leech Lake, LA, Cedar Rapids/Cornell a lot, and Port Byron a few times. Whoa, I had a good year.

written by 23 year old Derek Brooks

I might as well add to the list.



This year I finished my first engineering degree, and am 3 classes short of my electrical engineering degree. Took a promotion and moved from San Francisco to San Diego, but more importantly into an R&D position. Travelled to Mexico (cabo), Egypt (all over), Canada (calgary), Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis. Volunteered off 3 flights, and made a lot in money in airfare vouchers and each time got a 1st class flight out the same day. I also played a lot of golf, rollerbladed all year, and made some new friends.

Greg posted

you should just start a website and update it ;)



also, i finally got all my pics uploaded and linked to from the article...

derek posted

what are you talking about? I update my website often. Every week or so I choose a new shade of white! Looked at the pics. That's a pretty good way to capture your memories of 2004.

Greg posted

so i just looked at mike's pictures... apparently I missed out on the gaylords playing while i was waiting the door... (tommy sunshine, chris holmes, chris kostrazach, kill hannah people, people from the assassins)



crap.

derek posted

won't be shared or displayed
optional