Do you think it is bad luck to spend the very first day of the brand spanking New Year totally holed up in your apartment watching Wes Anderson DVDs, drinking coffee? Amazingly enough, this slothful day wasn�t even courtesy of the ubiquitous New Year�s Day hangover. I was nowhere near drunk last night.
Really. You can get up off the floor now.
Instead of getting all liquored up, I spent a Very Sensible Evening at my pal Tim�s house. I mean, who can resist a Winter Barbeque with Champagne toast? *
I think the most fun part of the night came directly before midnight when, the small group of people I was with realized it was just about midnight and so there was a mad dash for the remote control to find some sort of TeeVee countdown (it is funny how we, the North Americans who reside in the United States don�t officially count the stroke of midnight as the stroke of midnight unless we see the 10�9�8� countdown on TeeVee) and with only 30 seconds to spare someone found the remote and switched on FOX where the Goo Goo Dolls, playing at the House of Blues, stopped one of their homogenous rock ditties so there could be an official countdown.
And so there it was, right on TeeVee - 3�2�1�.MIDNIGHT and so we blew a few noise makers, had some of champagne and cheered just a little bit as we basked in the glow of the Christmas tree lights, each with a paper crown perched on our heads.
What? I didn�t mention the paper crowns?
Yes, along with the official TeeVee countdown we, the North Americans who reside in the United States don�t officially count the New Year unless there is some silly hat involved.
Although it is not specifically written in the Bill of Rights, I am sure you can just chuck �silly hats� in there somewhere under the �pursuit of happiness� and wonder if our forefathers are rolling in their graves all the while thinking, �for this we left England? If we wanted weird headgear, men would still be wearing powdered wigs, man.�
But yeah, silly hats and the farking Goo Goo Dolls.
Just how I imagined kicking off 2003 when I was a little girl, I am sure.
And so, five hours, two beers, one Boca burger, approx. three quarts of hummus and crackers and a half-glass of champagne later, I was on my way home sober ready to sleep tight all comfy in my own bed.
All in all, it was a very good time.
Because, just between you and me � the New Year actually starts on December 30. That is the day after my birthday. So let there be no mistake, my friends � this past weekend is when I got my booze on.
Let�s just say enough to do a little dancing in my living room about 4am. Which is nothing amazing, that is something I do all of the time. But more so when I am all-alone, blinds shut tight. Not so much when the place is packed with people.
But not just any people. These were my Very Best Friends.
Sometimes there is a silly hat involved, sometimes there is not. My point is December 29th is a great day to start a New Year Because when your birthday is on December 29th, and you usually have some sort of big blow-out involving all of your good friends, lots of good food and good booze � who needs all the pressure of New Years Eve? December 29th does just fine for me.
And of course, like searching for the elusive Big Foot, this is the one day of the year you will find the elusive Dancing ann-frank actually pulling out The Cheap Trick to do the Air Guitar for a captive audience.
I don�t care what you say, �Dream Police� is a really great freaking song.
And one of the best parts of the New Year/Birthday - my good pal Macie and her husband all went out and bought me a blender for my birthday! I do not own a blender and frankly, this is the gift of some serious happy-making because, granted, it was originally Christened with a bunch �o margarita mix, and don�t get me wrong, I never do New Years resolutions, and I certainly won�t be giving up booze any time soon - but man, the blender opens up so many great new beverage opportunities, I cannot help but make my new battle cry: fruit smoothies in �03!
Happy New Year, indeed.