Looking back, I realized that while I had some great New Year's -- a couple of parties were legendary, including one we threw while our parents were out of town -- a lot of them were pretty bad.
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| Times Square, 1937. No, I wasn't there. I've never been there for New Year's. |
One year I spent New Year's in a dumpy hotel in New Jersey with my parents. It was supposed to be a party atmosphere, but it actually seemed to suck joy right out of the air. Passing cars would feel a joy drain. Another year, when my folks were older and living in Florida, I was visiting for the holidays. Both of my folks were asleep by ten, right in their chairs. I loved my parents, but they weren't a ball of fire to be with for a young guy on New Year's Eve.
On the other hand, as I've gotten older myself, I'm no ball of fire either. I enjoyed watching the Thin Man marathon on TCM for a few years with my wife; they skipped it last year but are back to it tonight. I also thought of a New Year's long ago when I just hung around with a friend's younger cousin all night, talking about comics, Dungeons & Dragons, playing video games, and watching TV (1967's Camelot was on, and as bad as I'd always heard). He was a good kid. We met up again a few New Year's Eves later but it wasn't the same; his interests had drifted and so had mine.
Good or bad, though, one thing I have always done on New Year's is make it to midnight, at least since I was a little kid. Not sure about tonight. I guess we'll see. But I expect to be here on the 2022 side of things, and God willing it will be a good year for all of us.
I'll be up around midnight, but not by choice. In this area, fireworks are the thing. And not just puny firecrackers - roman candles, rockets that burst in multiple colors, M80s, what we called "sp*de chasers" in Neolithic times, you name it. All illegal in Virginia, but people drive to Tennessee or South Carolina and load up their cars and go nuts for the New Year. And having two sheriff's deputies, a couple of county cops, and three state troopers all within a half mile deters nobody. I bet they participate, too! You know, the old cops are juvenile delinquents with uniforms theory. On the plus side, the crime factor in the neighborhood is zero. Happy New Year, Fred!
ReplyDeleteNeighbors setting off pyrotechnics should keep us up (oddly, no rifles or pistols going off -- yet). That and the three-hour nap I had today should help us make it to midnight.
ReplyDeleteWhatever.
Happy New Year to all!
We used to have fantastic NYE parties at my friend Joe B's parents' place...the "adult" party was on the ground floor, & ours was on the 3rd. (Joe's nearly-deaf Brazilian grandma lived on floor 2, & blessedly couldn't hear a thing.) We'd start making cassettes for the party around Labor Day, with songs from the 30s to the 80s & everything in between. Drinkin', smokin' & dancin' from start to finish, with stops at the Sex Room (inspired by "Animal House") & the Drug Room (inspired by drugs). God, I wish I had more pictures of those days.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year, chaps! Stiiv, if you want to see pictures of those old days, just get yourself nominated to the Supreme Court. Even if the pictures don't exist, someone will Photoshop them...
ReplyDeletei prefer the rasinnets
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