Did you make a New Year's resolution? I personally try to work on self-improvement all 365 days of the year, so I don't have to cram. However, last year I did make a resolution to not be in a club or bar the following New Year's Eve. And I actually upheld it ... I spent this New Year's Eve at a college football game -- the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, in which the Tennessee Vols apparently volunteered to lose to my Hokies.

You know why else I opted not to conclude 2009 in a bar or club? Because I go out to them all year long, and the only thing that makes them any different on New Year's Eve is that they're more crowded and charge an inflated cover. Hate to say it, but I call it like I see it. It's like amateur night at the Apollo.

I remember when I was an amateur ... my first New Year's Eve in Charlotte. I did one of those all-inclusive deals at the old SouthEnd Brewery. They were serving cocktail shrimp, which somehow contaminated the other finger foods ... well, I am highly allergic to shellfish, and I started feeling itchy. So I took a Benadryl, which in turn made me feel high. I stepped outside to cool off, but it was too cold to stand out there, so I went and laid down in the car. Bad idea. The Benadryl made me pass out ... from about 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. That pretty much sucked. Yet, the subsequent year was the best ever.

And it's definitely going to be a good year for Charlotte nightlife ... for starters, we can go out without the smell of smoke permeating our hair and clothes. And the city is really starting to get a life -- nightlife that is. Because on any given Saturday night, more than one nightclub -- such as Suite and Halo -- can be simultaneously packed. Does this make Charlotte a big city? It does in regard to nightlife.

As for a resolution, why not skip the bullshit "to-do" and to-don't" lists and just resolve to make 2010 another 365 days in paradise. And with all the nightlife that lives in Charlotte, play as hard as you work -- don't reserve partying for just New Year's Eve.