Let's start off the brand new year with a really, really disturbing photo of me! On Wednesday I went to the eye doctor to get new contact lenses and she gave me those eye drops that make your pupils dilate so that she could check my retinas. Look how creepy they make your eyes look! Ew! ˆ me ˆ pupils ˆ

On Friday night, I whole bunch of us went to the Mercury Lounge to welcome Posh Tony and The Five O'Clock Heroes back to New York after months and months of touring in Europe. ˆ band ˆ five oclock heroes ˆ

Karen and Sarah were there! (Karen, if you're giving that "five" hand signal in honor of The Five O'Clock Heroes, you are a huge dork.) ˆ karen ˆ sarah ˆ

Rubano was there! In this photo he's subtly pointing out the girl with the totally gross past-her-asscrack hair. We pretty much missed out on the entire show because we were discussing all the potential bathroom-related disaster that could befall a person with hair that long. Gross. ˆ matt ˆ hair ˆ

Elliot and Posh Tony making it happen. ˆ elliot ˆ posh tony ˆ five oclock heroes ˆ guitar ˆ

After the show we went downstairs to hang out and laughed at all the stickers advertising horribly-named bands. Trampled By Turtles? ˆ sticker ˆ

Looking at the stickers, I noticed that a few of the bands had vaguely homoerotic names. Both Worlds? ˆ sticker ˆ

The Back Alley Boys? Hey, now! ˆ sticker ˆ

Blowjob Monkey? (These guys couldn't even be bothered to get proper stickers made!) ˆ blow job ˆ monkey ˆ

Lizzy was there wearing her sunglasses at night. ˆ lizzie ˆ

After the show, Matt and I hopped in a cab and went to some awful club in the Meat Packing District (that if I remember correctly) was hosting the Five O'Clock Heroes afterparty(???). ˆ crowd ˆ

This about sums up the experience. ˆ matt ˆ bored ˆ

We hid out in a back room at watched some kids "party like they were on MTV" by climbing up and dancing on top of the booths in an empty room. ˆ dance ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ matt ˆ dance ˆ

On Saturday night, Matt and I went out again and Matt wanted to "brain" strangers. His jeans were too tight for him to pull his ball-sack out through his fly, so he got creative and just decided to pull up his sack so that it was peeking out of the top of his waistband! Hahahaha. ˆ matt ˆ brained ˆ

My friend Amy K has a "no photos after 4am" policy. I always used to chastise her for being a baby, but now that I'm looking at this picture of myself throwing up "hip hop hands" while wearing a vulture mask that's timestamped 4:47am, I'm beginning to see where she's coming from. ˆ me ˆ mask ˆ vulture ˆ

But hey, at least my balls aren't peeking out of my waistband all tight-and-shiny. (Matt, after you're done braining someone, you have to remember to put your luggage away!) ˆ matt ˆ brained ˆ mask ˆ vulture ˆ

Speaking of Amy K, I ran into her the very next night at Sway! ˆ amy k ˆ

John Roche and Mike Doyle (who was in town visiting from San Francisco). PS - What's with the "hip hop hands" again? I guess I was feeling big pimpin' back then. ˆ john roche ˆ me ˆ mike doyle ˆ

Awwww. C'mon Amy, bring back the Teenage Unicorn. ˆ amy k ˆ me ˆ

On Monday we had a Cranium night at our apartment. Gurj came over a little early to play some Wii! Look at how awesome her Mii came out! ˆ jeet ˆ mii ˆ wii ˆ

Meredith and her Mii! ˆ meredith ˆ mii ˆ wii ˆ

Meredith, Jenny Penny, Karen and Quinn squared off against... ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ meredith ˆ quinn ˆ cranium ˆ

...Shruti, Sarah and Matt. ˆ matt ˆ sarah ˆ shruti ˆ cranium ˆ

Team Three was me, Faran, Benjamin... ˆ benjamin ˆ faran ˆ cranium ˆ puppet ˆ

...and Gurj (seen here trying to figure out what hell Faran was trying to get Benjamin the puppet to act out). ˆ jeet ˆ matt ˆ cranium ˆ

FAIL! ˆ benjamin ˆ faran ˆ cranium ˆ puppet ˆ

Later in the game, Faran got her comeuppance when it was Benjamin's time to use her as the puppet! ˆ benjamin ˆ faran ˆ cranium ˆ laugh ˆ puppet ˆ

Scandalous! ˆ matt ˆ shruti ˆ cranium ˆ laugh ˆ

We finished Cranium a little after one, and everybody rallied and decided to head to karaoke! I love how everyone in this photo is all "Woooo! Party!" except for Benjamin. Hahaha. ˆ benjamin ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ matt ˆ

Amanda came and met us at karaoke ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ

Her soulful-stylings inspired some tranny-dancing! ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ tranny ˆ

Quinn and Matt. ˆ matt ˆ quinn ˆ

After some stalling, Benjamin hit the stage and sang karaoke for the first time ever! ˆ benjamin ˆ cherryoke ˆ karaoke ˆ

Action shot of Benjamin popping his cherryoke! ˆ benjamin ˆ karaoke ˆ

Karen and Jenny found a song in the book and started screaming about it, but refused to tell anyone what song they'd found. ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ karaoke ˆ

They hit the stage and it turned out to be a Taking Back Sunday song... ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ karaoke ˆ

...and Matt was pretty much horrified. Hahaha. ˆ matt ˆ quinn ˆ surprise ˆ

If they ever decide to make a reality show about two girls who get drunk and sing karaoke duets together... ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ karaoke ˆ

...it should most definitely start these two. ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ karaoke ˆ

Matt = traumatized. Hahaha. ˆ matt ˆ

Our homegirl that was dancing along with us all night finally got called up to sing and she totally killed it. ˆ karaoke ˆ tranny ˆ

Just when Matt had recovered from Jenny and Karen's rendition of one of his band's songs, he was called up to sing! I don't remember what song it was... ˆ matt ˆ karaoke ˆ

...but from this photo of Matt pretending he's putting his foot up on a monitor, I'm going to venture a guess and say it was probably something by Iron Maiden. "Run to the hills....run for your..." ˆ matt ˆ karaoke ˆ

"........liiiiiiiiiiiiiife!" ˆ matt ˆ karaoke ˆ yell ˆ

Amanda! ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ

And right at the end of the night we were treated to another very special Karen & Jenny Penny duet. ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ karaoke ˆ

Check out Karen totally killing Jenny with the old "Get a load of this guy!" Hahaha. ˆ jenny penny ˆ karen ˆ get a load of this guy ˆ karaoke ˆ