#Good bye to 2015

When we were younger we used to go out to New Year’s Parties; sometimes to a private one and sometimes to a ‘Dinner and Dance’ at a larger function. It was always fun and we had a good time. Our parents were usually along, because they enjoyed dancing and we liked the same music they did.

As we got older, our parents died along with the other ‘older’ folks. Many of our friends have also died. The clubs we used to go to don’t exist anymore, because the younger generation enjoys different music and they don’t dance the same dances either. Things have changed.

It seems, now young people and older people don’t mix anymore the way we did. They don't want to spend time with their parents, especially not New Year's Eve. For many of these past years my wife and I stayed home alone. We usually bought Lobster or Prawns and made our own New Year’s Dinner. Then we watched a movie, had a drink at Midnight to celebrate the New Year and went to bed. I know it sounds boring, but when you get older spending time at home is fine.

We don’t watch the New Year’s Celebration on TV anymore. They used to have a band for many years, playing nice music; now they have these ‘Heavy Metal’ bands with screaming guitars and singers with screaming flat voices nobody understands. We don’t listen to that kind of ‘music’ any other time, so why spoil New Year’s Eve with that?

Our plan for this time was to go to the Casino and play the slot machines for a little while and then have supper at the Casino. Actually, it was a last minute decision. We usually go to the one on Regent Avenue, the one that is connected to Aaltos. They did have a Dinner and Dance, which was free but rush seating, so we figured it would be no fun to stand in line and maybe not even get a table. We decided to go to the restaurant downstairs and have a leisurely supper and then go home and watch a nice movie.

It was a good plan but it didn’t turn out that way—like most plans. We drove to the Casino and played the machines for awhile. Actually, until the 10.00 Dollars of Free Play we got, was gone. We won a few dollars and that was good enough for me. I’m not a gambler.

It was time to have our dinner. What a surprise awaited us when we arrived at the restaurant: A long line of people standing on the stairs right to the top of the staircase; waiting time to get into the restaurant was around three hours. And that was questionable, so we thought we’d have dinner in the upstairs restaurant. They didn’t have a buffet but you could order. Waiting time there was about 1 ½ hours. Too long, so we left with no idea where to go and have our New Year’s Eve dinner. I suggested Chinese Food but my wife didn’t feel like it.

As we walked past Aaltos restaurant in the same building we saw only a few people lining up to get in. We don’t particularly like Aaltos but their buffet was $22.50 for seniors and we had nothing else planned so we put our name down. Apparently, it would be at least 30 minutes waiting. That was acceptable.

We waited one hour until we got our table.

Thinking back, we would have been better off staying home with a nice homemade meal, a good bottle of wine and a good movie, as originally planned. It doesn’t matter how old we get, we still are so naive sometimes. Why would we assume to actually get into a nice place on a moments notice without reservations on New Year’s Eve?

As I’ve mentioned, Aaltos is not one of our favorite restaurants. We’ve been to a few and were disappointed every time. This time was no exception.

The food wasn’t bad, neither was it good, mediocre at best. The shrimp floated in ice water, you had to peel them and we couldn’t find the shrimp sauce. The warm, breaded shrimp were tiny and so hard, dry, and tasteless I thought I was eating rocks. I worried I might lose a tooth. And for the life of me I don’t know why they even offer crab legs. They were as thin as the legs of a giant spider with nothing inside. For vegetables, they served some kind of turnip. I would have preferred peas, corn, carrots, broccoli or anything else. The chicken was dry. Everything was overcooked. When I told our son this morning he said the Aaltos restaurant at that location is known for their overcooked, dry food.

We made it home by 9:00 PM. Still time to watch a nice movie. In fact, they played a movie on TV staring Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence called ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, according to the hype a ‘Romantic Comedy’. Sounded good and we had looked forward to watching it.

I already programmed the PVR the night before to tape it. As we started watching it, I discovered that they screwed up with the programming and the movie started one hour later, so I quickly programmed to PVR to tape etalk, which was supposed to air at 10:00 PM. We didn’t finish watching the movie because of lack of time and we found it utterly boring. Neither my wife or I thought it was funny or romantic. Actually, we both thought it was downright stupid and disappointing. Nothing but talking, no suspense and no real action. Who wants to watch a movie about some people who are crazy? Not us. Not on New Year’s Eve.

We finished the evening watching the late night news and 'this hour has 22 minutes', which actually had a bit of humor. At midnight we drank a toast to each other and after that we watched 20 minutes of a comedian on TV. He was funny and we did have a laugh or two.

2015 went out with a whimper for us and I hope this evening wasn’t a harbinger of the way 2016 is going to be.

Happy New Year.