For auld lang syne, my jo, / For auld lang syne

Last night I went to Oklahoma City with Brad and Amanda to ring in the New Year in Bricktown, an old warehouse district that has been converted into a neighborhood of bars, restaurants, and shops. We walked around for a little while before settling in Tapwerks Ale House, a pub with hundreds of beer choices. When we first walked in, after paying the $10 cover (very cheap compared to what most other bars were charging), we tried to find a table, but there was nothing open on the first or second floors. Luckily, we stood around for a few moments and then a booth opened. We had several good beers and good conversation for a couple hours, just the three of us in a six-person booth.

Then a guy, ironically named Billy, came up to us and explained that his wife was pregnant and they couldn't find anywhere to sit, and he asked if they and another married couple could join us. We obliged. The two couples were a lot of fun, and Billy bought us a few rounds of shots. Between the shots and the several 7-9% beers I drank, I was feeling pretty good by the time we had the champagne toast at midnight. There was just one problem: I was the only single guy in a group of three couples, which is how my life seems to be going the past few months. Everyone decided that at midnight I should have someone to kiss, but as my luck would have it, there was no random stranger available.

Shortly after midnight, Brad and I decided to go upstairs to look around and have a cigarette -- the first floor was completely non-smoking, but the upstairs, which was full of pool tables and dart boards, allowed it. As we left the table, Amanda told Brad, "make sure Josh finds someone to make out with."

I've never been one to make out with random drunk girls in bars, but last night I was willing to give it a try. We walked up to the second floor and stood near the stairs watching people come up and down. After a few minutes, a line of girls came by us to go downstairs. One of them, toward the end of the line, made eye contact with me and smiled. She was ridiculously cute and just my type: thin, shoulder-length straight brown hair, freckles, beautiful eyes behind eurotrash glasses.

When she approached me, I leaned in and said, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," she said.

"Are you having a good time?"

"I'm having an amazing time."

"I'm having an amazing time too."

She smiled again. I reached my hand out and said, "I'm Joshua."

She shook my hand. "Ashley." Then she got the attention of the girl in front of her. When her friend turned around, Ashley gestured toward me and asked her friend, "Well?"

Her friend looked at me, shook her head, and said, "I don't think so."

And without a word, Ashley, the beautiful random stranger, walked down the stairs. Brad looked at me and asked, "What happened? I thought that was a sure thing." I told him what her friend said, and he laughed and told me I'd just been cock-blocked. I've never been cock-blocked by a girl before. But I've also never tried to make out with random strangers on New Year's Eve in a bar in Oklahoma City. I guess there really is a first time for everything.