Or should it be Twenty O’ Five? Hmm, well, it isn’t O’ Five until after midnight, since eve is evening and after midnight makes it a.m. which means after midnight, right, so I guess it would be O’ Four until after midnight, then it would be morning and not evening, but it is the end of O’ Four, so you are bringing in O’ Five, then I guess it would or could be O’ Five, but then wouldn’t it … oh, I give up.
How many times does the hand of a clock pass in front of its face from the stroke of midnight on New Year’s morning to the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve? Has anyone really spent the time to figure it out? Probably, and the money for the time spent doing the calculations no doubt came from taxpayer money. What does any of that have to do with what I am writing now? Absolutely nothing, I was just trying to see if any of you actually knew, not that I want you to tell me if you do. Ringing in the new year, where did this term come from was there really such a thing as ringing in a new year what did someone watch the clock and then start ringing a bell so that everyone else knew that it was the next year? And just when did all this kissing stuff come along, was it some persons idea of fun, oh wouldn’t it be fun if all us couples kiss in front of those that have no one to kiss and make them feel more lonely what the heck is up with that.
The ending of one year and the beginning of another… so many thoughts can run through ones mind as the last few hours of the year pass by. Each agonizing minute passes with a click of a hand on an old clock or the hum from a digital or perhaps you watch each second sweep by with the movement of a second hand. No matter which way time passes for you it seems to take forever, or too fast, as your mind races toward the coming year. Depending on what you believe there are either blank pages waiting to written on or the book written and the pages waiting to be lived. Destiny, fate, faith, written, unwritten, no matter, we wait for that clock to reach this point the defining moment of the year when it’s all over and for a millisecond what is past is past and what is in the future is the future.
I can’t say for sure how old I was when I was first able to stay up and watch the ball drop from Times Square in New York City, but I can vaguely remember being woken up with my mom or grandmother pointing toward the TV telling me that it was almost time. Rubbing sleep out of my eyes just long enough to see it fall before falling myself, back to sleep that is. I can remember all the excitement from early in the evening and how I was finally going to be allowed to ‘party’ with the adults instead of having to put my ear to the grate in the upstairs hallway. What I can’t remember is when I would find some quiet corner and fall asleep, don’t get me wrong New Year’s Eve parties in my house where never all that wild and crazy, well that is if we had any at all. However, we did always have some sort chips and dips, plenty of ginger ale for us youngsters, and the odd friend or family member over. While the adults played cards or talked about whatever they were talking about then, we would be under foot and eating too much of whatever it was that was laying about and being told that we had enough. Did we stop you ask… did it ever stop you when you were younger? Besides it was a celebration isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?
New Years Day was filled with more ginger ale and dips, parades, the odd football game and… okay as many football games as they could stuff on three networks. I can’t be sure if there was a set New Year’s Day lunch or dinner I think it was what ever was left in the fridge and dips. There was something different about that first day of the year and maybe there still is, something magical… no not that, I don’t know it just seemed to feel different.
Will this year finally be the year will you get that job you have been hoping for, will you find true love, will your children see you for what you are, will you be blessed and finally have a child, will you win the lottery, will your boss recognize your talents once and for all, perhaps this is the year you’re going to retire and you’re hoping that you have saved enough money. Whatever you are hoping for this coming year remember the following:
It isn’t always where you are; sometimes it’s where you’ve been.
Things always have a way of working out, for good or bad.
Just when you think you’re done, there’s always something else.
If you think that you have had enough lemons and you’re sick of making lemon aide, perhaps it’s time to make a pie.
If you think that this could finally be your year, hey, isn’t that what you said last year.
It’s not always what you say you’re going to do, it’s what you do.
It’s not how many years you’ve been here; it’s how many times you go away.
Making a New Year resolution is not meant to be hard.
Resolutions were meant to be broken… weren’t they?
Champagne was not meant to be drunk warm or with that cigarette butt in it.
Someone went through a lot of trouble cutting up those tiny pieces of paper that you so easily toss about.
Inhaling helium can be funny, but not when you’re telling the Officer that you’ve only had one drink.
Champagne bubbles are not French ticklers.
If you have to drink standing on your head remember to drink from the opposite side of the glass, or is that from the bottom up I get confused.
You can always attach a balloon to your car but you can’t count on someone not popping it.
When your older brother sits on your head he’s not trying to kiss you.
While you can drink until your drunk, you can’t drink until you’re sober, well you can try but it doesn’t work, you can trust me on this one.
There’s no such thing as Baby New Year, but there are New Year babies.
While you might not be able to drink a pretty girl, you can drink an ugly girl pretty.
If you are talking for hours to the most beautiful person you have ever met in your life and all they do is smile back at you, you’re talking to a mannequin or maybe a cardboard cutout.
Make sure that you know the way to the bathroom.
Make sure you know someone at the party just in case… you may need someone to hold your drink while you use the bathroom, or hold your hair back….
Make sure that you are at least one hundred feet away from the person you least want to kiss at midnight and at least in eye contact of the one you most want to.
Never wait until the last minute to pick the person you want to take you home or that you want to take home.
Keeping your hands and feet inside the car at all times wasn’t meant for just the rides at the amusement parks.
If your drink tastes like an ashtray… it probably is.
Never tell your boss just what you think of them… at least not until they pay the bill.
If you remember something cold and wet on your face it might not have been a washcloth.
If you think you drank from a large white punch bowl think again.
And most importantly… If you are going to go out and party make sure you have a designated driver.
I am sure that there are many more things that you should remember, but for the moment I think that is enough, besides I might want to use this again and I would hate to think that I used all the good ones up.
So to you my friends and family on this the end of one and the beginning of another I ask that you remember the words to that timeless song, “well I come from California…” sorry wrong song what was that again… oh yeah, “Should old acquaintance be forgot in days of Auld Lang Syne,” with those words planted on your lips raise your glass and make a special toast to those friends that are not in your presence and those that have gone before you. Remember them fondly, wish for them to be well, wish for them to remember the time when you were close and laughing about some silly joke or song that you just made up, keep them close in your mind as you sip and celebrate the coming of a new and exciting year. And from me personally I would like to take this time to wish you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year.
2004 December
From The Strange Mind of Me 