The Debriefing is a series of blogisodes wherein I, Anton Beza, discuss what I’ve learned, loved and not-loved-so-much after the completion of a user-created mission from the app Checkverse. To go on your own adventures download Checkverse for iPhone today!
Last time on The Debriefing…
“…alison5800's extremely popular, 29-objective, whopper-of-a-mission: Celebrate Christmas…”
“…this was the most fun I’ve had completing a mission…”
“I really enjoy doing these season/holiday-themed objectives along with other people. I like it so much, I’m going to do it again!”
“…next week’s The Debriefing mission [is] Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2015–2016 by lyssadee! If you haven’t already, take it on and celebrate New Year’s Eve with me LIVE!”
So what happened on New Year’s Eve? Did Anton complete his mission? Did he make any New Year’s Resolutions? Did he almost end up abandoned and alone by his naysaying pals? Find out now in this bone-chilling episode of The Debriefing!
New Year’s Eve: the day we resolve to be a better person right before we don disposable hats, binge drink cheap champagne and chant along with Ryan Seacrest as a sparkly ball descends above us to usher in a hangover. What’s not to celebrate?
To fully embrace this wonderful day, I took on lyssadee’s 8-objective mission: Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2015–2016. It was a short and sweet challenge that I figured would be a delightful condiment to add to an already fun and exciting evening.
Well we almost didn’t complete it, save for what I can only call a miracle. But, before we get into that, here’s what my New Year’s Eve looked like:
The Debriefing
I barely have a format for this blog. Each episode is a second cousin of the last and this week is no different. Instead of the familiar bullet-pointed approach of my previous debriefings, I’m going to take you through the chronology of my thrilling final two hours of 2015 wherein I completed the entire mission:
10:03 pm
Objective: Photograph something sparkly
Location: Apartment
I live with my girlfriend Alyssa (lyssadee). Our friend Kris (sirkrobat) came over to figure out what to do for NYE as we had no real plans. I’d spent the morning with “Making a Murderer” playing in the background and had convinced the two of them that we should watch it while we figured out what to do. Going to Manhattan was immediately ruled out due to the crowds and Kris was waiting on a friend to suggest a party we should go to. While we deliberated, I painted the fingernail of my left index finger with sparkly fingernail polish as Alyssa had done earlier in the day.
10:06 pm
Objective: Make a New Year’s Resolution
Location: Apartment
Scanning through the objectives necessary to complete the mission over the next hour and 54 minutes, I noticed I had yet to make a resolution. With my mind on my Checkverse, and my Checkverse on my mind, I made this proclamation: “2016 will be the year of Checkverse! Also, I’m going to drink more water.” Kris heard back from his friend, he was at a party pretty far away so we abandoned that plan and waited for fortune to hand us a new one.
10:24 pm
Objective: Drink champagne
Location: Apartment
In our only moment of foresight, earlier we had picked up a bottle of champagne from the wine store near our apartment as a contingency plan in case we couldn’t find it again before midnight. I jumped the gun a bit and took my first sip.
11-ish pm
We finished another episode of “Making a Murderer”. Realizing that we only had about an hour left and 5 objectives to go, we decided that the best course of action would be to leave our warm apartment and wander the streets of Brooklyn in hopes of finding:
- “kazoos”
- A party with a TV tuned to “New Year’s Rockin Eve” for the ball drop
We left our place and headed towards the more hopping part of Brooklyn clinging to our delusional hope of bumping into a lavish, city party that would take us in.
Along the way we popped into multiple corner stores to ask if they sold “kazoos”.
No dice.
11:30-ish pm
I led the gang toward Kent Ave, which in my mind, had to be the promised land of New Year’s extravaganzas because it has an amazing view of Manhattan. I envisioned people lined up along the avenue peering across the East River to see the ball drop with crazy light shows and fireworks.
We got to Kent Ave and saw nothing.
Not one person was there. The street was eerily deserted and Manhattan looked exactly as it did normally. There was no sign of celebration.
At this point, the troops began to lose faith…
“He always does this, he has no idea where he’s going”
“See if you can find a bar on Foursquare, there’s nothing around here”
“It’s so cold, why did you walk us out here?”
I had a backup plan, but I was beginning to lose hope in its efficacy as well. You see, there’s a bar on Kent Ave called “The Kent Ale House”. In fact, it was the first place we’d hung out with Kris in the city. It’s nostalgic powers would be of no use though, if it didn’t have the key ingredients we needed to complete the mission. The Ale House was only two blocks away at this point so we trudged on…
11:36 pm
Objective: Blow a kazoo
Location: The Kent Ale House
In a stroke of luck before the stroke of midnight we walked into the warmth of The Kent Ale House and experienced a miracle. The place was half-way full, which is my favorite kind of fullness: enough people so you know its good, but not so many people that it starts to suck. As we glanced around the bar we saw the patrons wearing matching 2016-branded-bowlers with kazoos hanging out of their mouths.
Author’s Note: I don’t think they’re called “kazoos”. To me, a kazoo let’s you make different tones with your mouth. The “New Year’s Eve horns” as I call them, only let you make one sound. When Alyssa created the mission she called them “kazoos”, but I think there’s got to be a different name.
Back to the story…
Seeing everyone with matching accessories, I assumed they were schwag from the bar. I asked our waiter and sure enough, he procured three bowlers and three “kazoos”. It was a New Year’s Eve miracle. With their faith restored, Kris, Alyssa and I focused on our final four objectives.
11:38 pm
Objective: Go to a New Year’s Eve Party
Location: The Kent Ale House
Realizing only moments later that we were in fact at a party on New Year’s Eve, Alyssa and I snapped a photo as proof. Then we started to plan how to complete the next three objectives “Watch the ball drop”, “Get a kiss at midnight” and “Say ‘Happy New Year!’” in the span of one minute…
12:00 am
Objective: Watch the ball drop
Location: The Kent Ale House
As the ball descended I snapped a quick pic from one of the bar’s many TVs.
12:01 am
Objective: Get a kiss at midnight
Location: The Kent Ale House
I swear I did this at midnight. I think the server was a little fast or something. As you can see from the photo, Alyssa wasn’t very participatory. Very John-and-Yoko-esque.
12:01 am
Objective: Say “Happy New Year!”
Location: The Kent Ale House
I finished the final objective to fittingly ring in the new year.
A Final Review
What did I learn from this mission? Well for one, don’t have plans because luck will always find a way. Also, “kazoos” are incredibly hard to find. Oh and, Kent Ave isn’t the street of dreams I thought it was.
So, that was how I spent my New Year’s Eve. I hope you enjoyed yours. Inline with my resolution, I’ve been drinking more water and working hard to bring Checkverse 1.0 to Android to make “the year of Checkverse” a reality.
Till next time,
Anton
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