Happy New Year?

Celebrating the New Year has always seemed a bit strange to me.  While I might be up at midnight most nights, on New Year's eve, I am compelled to be up at midnight watching a ball lit with LED lights drop in Times Square (and since I live in Arizona, I watch this event "live" on a time delay two hours after it has actually happened.)  There is nothing about this holiday that is not ridiculous.  Who on earth decided that the right way to ring in the New Year was by setting off a lot of explosives in a place full of drunk people?  See?  Ridiculous.

There is this strange pressure to attend a really crazy party on New Year's Eve.  I find, especially now that I'm back in school, that in the weeks leading up to Christmas, everyone I know asks me "What are you doing for New Years?" expecting me to say something like "Going out to paint the town red while freezing in a sparkly gold evening dress and high heels. You?" If this is something you enjoy, good for you, but having experienced standing, freezing all night waiting for a few minutes of fireworks while listening to some bands play songs I've never heard before, I think having a happy New Year for me involves staying far, far away from firework displays and large crowds of drunks.  This may seem boring to you, but I find I LIKE spending the last hours of the old year on the couch, watching movies with my parents.  If I must celebrate the passing of a second, I intend to celebrate said second's death in the manner of my choosing.

Most of my New Years are like that.  For as long as I can remember, my family has celebrated New Year's Eve by sitting on the couch together eating excellent food and watching movies.  For years, we only watched musicals.  I saw classics like Singin' in the Rain and Funny Girl  for the first time on New Years Eve.  Eventually, we began running out of classic musicals, and figuring out what to watch became difficult.  One year, we rented Fiddler on the Roof, which seemed like a good idea in the video store, but proved to be so depressing we rang in the New Year in tears.

This year I had a particularly unusual New Year.  I was the virtual guest at a party where my closest friends were celebrating.  They were all in Kentucky, and being in Arizona, I was unable to attend the party in person.  Instead, I ended up talking to them on Skype (using the video chat).  My friends carried "me" (that is, they carried the computer) around the party, took pictures, even poured me a drink (which I'm rather glad I wasn't actually able to taste).  It was a bit surreal, but completely awesome.  Occasionally technology is a wonderful thing.