So I enjoyed the school holiday light traffic, and cruised up to Gulfstream in the man sized Caddy SUV. Paul and arrived at the same time, and we walked over to see Lou and Dennis awaiting Christine Lee's opening.

We realized our group was bigger than anticipated, as Stu called and pulled his ass out of bed by noon, to fetch his Dad Bill for the party. Paul's brother in law Geoff came, too, with his boy Grant and son in law Adam. So 9 men, good and true, took our seats around a few tables.

It was Eric's birthday, and I was feeling festive, and so took a photo of the First Race roster and sent it to him. I told him I would bet $20 in his honor -- if it lost, I would eat the ticket -- if it won, it would be his birthday gift. He picked a 6-1 horse, and damn! -- it won! I cashed the ticket for $154, tipped the ancient clerk $4, and this am sent Eric his check, as promised. Wow. Some guys are lucky in love AND lucky with horses.

It was a delightful day. Lou brought a bottle of Opus One, from a friend of his who collects wine. Dennis looked it up -- $450 at Total Wine. I brought a bottle of a nice Rioja from my friend/broker Pat -- Dennis looked it up -- $85. Both were decanted, and I tried them. They tasted like red wine to me -- I am NOT a wine guy. But the Ketel martinis were fine -- they made me quite happy.

Lou, Dennis, Paul, and I formed our usual syndicate -- $100 each. We only lost about $20 by the end of the day -- so it was a win. At least Eric, remotely, got the big hit.

We stayed past the last race -- the 10th, and enjoyed each other's company immensely. The bill came, and we paid, though Paul, in hopes of keeping Fate on our side, got Dennis to agree to pay out of next year's fee owed to him. Hopefully we make it for another year -- Dennis will be on the cusp of 82 then, and our firm turns 30 in November.

It's amazing -- Paul and I committed in November of 1994 to ten years of "whatever it takes", with no clear plans thereafter. And somehow another 2 decades happened. How about that?

So the wine mavens loved the 2 nice bottles, the martini drinkers were happy, and we all feasted on classic Hong Kong-type food -- the Chinese of my youth. It was a perfect way to say adios to 2023 for our firm and fellow travelers.

Today I drove down to Homestead to possibly buy some fish for my pond -- my fish farm has an end of the year sale. But, as typical, I left without buying -- paying $30 for a small koi was past my tipping point. Plus, the 15 or so in my pond don't seem too lonely -- especially with their friends the cichlids and plecostomi...

Tomorrow, Kenny and Joelle and their boy Adam are coming over -- for a NYE streaming movie, some Ubereated in food, and adult beverages. I plan to let them enjoy the second bottle of Rioja from Pat -- red wine is really wasted on me. Wifey and our friends will chose the movie.

Wifey's birthday movie, "The Maestro," was a dud -- too much time spent on Bernstein's bi-sexuality. I couldn't care less who the guy schtupped -- I'd rather have learned more about his genius and how he came up with one of the best musicals in history -- "West Side Story." But I guess that's modern Hollywood -- the gay angle is the most important.

As Donald Fagan sang: "The things that pass for knowledge I don't understand."

And then, hopefully, 2024 will be upon us. I had predicted 2020 would be the year of perfect vision. I guess it was -- just so happened that a lot of what we saw was putrid.

2024, and there's so much more, to borrow from Neil Young? Big Man knows -- it's just lovely, as the 9 men assembled at the track yesterday agreed, to be vertical.