Last night was a helluva party downtown. There had to be over 100,000 down on the riverfront jamming to Lynyrd Skynyrd and waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

What sucked about being downtown was not being able to actually bring your own bottle of champagne with you and have a champagne toast. Unless you went into one of the really crowded bars or restaurants and drank it inside the bar, you could only cheer or kiss someone close to celebrate.

I kinda missed the champagne toast. We’ve done that every year of my life that I can remember – as far back as only 4 years old. My parents would let us stay up and have a tiny sip of champagne while we watched Dick Clark on the TV. I miss those days.

There is a favorite way to end a night on the town when you are partying out on the West Coast. In L.A. there is a famous chain of restaurants that serves up chicken and waffles. A lot of celebrities like to stop by the chicken and waffles shop in Hollywood. I think they have 5 or 6 locations now and other people are opening imitations. I hear that San Francisco has at least two chicken and waffle restaurant knock-offs.

My morning routine includes a hot cup of coffee. My night time routine includes a hot cup of tea. I am becoming such a creature of habit, but I really count on these to relax and focus. I would much rather sip on a hot beverage and cradle a warm mug in my hands than stand outside a back door by trash cans and smoke a cigarette.

Do you remember a couple years ago there was this big scare about people getting sick from eating spinach? How bizarre is that? I mean, spinach is supposed to be one of the great healthy things for you to eat. So you ate eating spinach and thinking you are so good for doing the right thing, trying to eat healthy and all. And then, Bamm! You get poisoned from the spinach!

When I was a kid we got candy bars as a treat and were allowed to chew gum just about any time we wanted to. There was not the stigma of sugar and tooth decay.

My parents’ only stipulation about gum was that you had to chew with your mouth closed and you had to dispose of it properly. My mom always carried gum in her purse have fresh breath, and I always seemed to have a nickle to spend on a pack of gum when I wanted some.

I loved to chew Dentyne gum, but also tried different ones, like Juicyfruit, Fruit Stripes, Doublemint, and Teaberry. I miss those days.