This story happened the NYE of the millennium. Every year, in Regina, Saskatchewan, there is a big party, with something like 3000 people. There are several rooms, all with different kinds of music and atmospheres. I was there with my friends Amanda and Janice. I was drinking. We ended up in the main hall, where, around 11:45, the local radio guys got up and started doing their thing.

At this point, Amanda was in the bleachers making out with some guy, and I was right in front of the stage with Janice, the first guy she ever kissed, and the Fat Guys who were well known around the University section at Saskatchewan Roughriders games. Just to give you an idea of the caliber of guys these were, they would come to the games with no shirt on and green paint on their bodies with “Fat Guy” and “00″on their back and chest. They drank beer out of a rubber boot.

Anyway, somehow, I ended up on stage…with my own microphone. I was part of the show. Of course, someone in the crowd shouts “Take your shirt off!” I say “Not for free!”. I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea, but then when I saw the cash that was coming up from the crown onto the stage, I realized, it WAS a good idea! The radio guy had taken in $100, which was promised to me when I took my shirt off.

The crowd kept yelling for it, and the radio guy was flashing cash in my face. It was pretty hard to say no to that. I looked down at Janice and the fat guys. Janice just had a look of utter shock on her face. She knew me well, and wasn’t sure how this was going to turn out. But it was the Fat Guy who surprised me. He had this look of horror of his face and was shaking his head “don’t do it. don’t do it.” Something inside should have clicked at that moment. The guy who drinks beer out of a rubber boot and shows up to football games when it’s -30C without a shirt on is begging me not to make an ass out of myself.

I do it anyway. Of course, I was wearing a bra, and knew that to get the money, I had to go fully bare-chested, and was prepared to do it. But, there is something awfully sobering about standing in front of 3000 people without a shirt on yelling “Take it off! Take it off!”. It all kinda registered when I saw my boss looking up at me.

So I jump off the stage and run out of the room. It was impossible to hide. I was wearing a hot-pink shirt with pink fur around the collar. I didn’t get any money. Thank you Janice for driving me home immediately.

When I got home, I figured I should tell my boyfriend who was out of town at the time. Regina isn’t that big, and 3000 people were there. It was bound to get back to him. He nearly dumped me. Threatened not to come home ever. (Hindsight, I should have let him).

I’d had bad NYE’s before, but this was the first time I’d really had a shitty one.

The Fat Guys never talked to me again after that.

Tags: NYE Regina, Roughriders, Saskatchewan Roughriders