- The Seu Jorge CD “Cru,” or “raw” for those of you unfamiliar with Brazilian Portuguese, was one of the reward gifts I gave myself in preparation for leaving for Wyoming
I crashed just after 10 p.m. last night.
The only New Year’s celebratory fireworks I saw where in Sydney – and those had cooled long before I got up yesterday.
I’m not fishing for pity or anything here. Frankly, I’ve never cared for New Year’s Eve.
I’ve long bucked making resolutions based on personal conviction that one shouldn’t wait for numerical justification before undertaking serious changes in your life. Besides, I often lowball my resolutions to mock others who make such a big deal over their goals.
“This year, I’m going to drop at least two dress sizes.”
“Really? This year I’d like to make a weight loss in the single digits and strive to eat less chocolate mints on Thursdays.”
I’ve made some people quite steamed when I voiced my declarations, but I have the longer-term satisfaction that I have a better chance of achieving my goal.
Big, blow-out parties have never attracted me either. New Year’s is usually spent with my family, so I’ve never really had to worry about finding someone to kiss at midnight. Consider me mistletoe proof.
During the handful of times over the years I found myself removed from relatives, other factors intruded in fantastic and unexpected ways.
One of my more memorable New Year’s Eves concluded when I was sitting on a bus driving through the middle of a Texan dessert while Prince’s “1999.” My evening had started at the South Fork Ranch, the extremely swanky complex where they filmed the television series “Dallas.” I was there, along with several thousands others, as part of the festivities for those who would perform in the Cotton Bowl parade the next day. My high school marching band had gotten an invite to attend.
I knew several friends who had half-seriously joked about having three hours to find someone to kiss by midnight. I was not in that group, though I did assist them by acting as a spotter who could look to see if certain people were looking at other individuals (I would take notice if others took notice of a person temporarily leaving the room). Several plans were in motion, working toward the big countdown, when the chaperones of the band decided to pull our group out of the mix 20 minutes before midnight.
The stated rationale was that it would be more difficult to “extract” the scattered band members after midnight when everybody would start leaving at the same time. I give credit to their logic, though I don’t think that’s the whole story. Earlier that evening, I’d challenged God to come up with a surprising midnight conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to previously predict.
Note: Don’t EVER do this! It doesn’t matter how many possibilities you have dreamed and weighed. If God takes you up on this challenge, you will be creamed.
So there I was, on a dimly lit bus with about 30 other disenchanted peers, listening to Prince sing on the radio while we rode past the fallow ranchlands back to our hotel.
On New Year’s Day, the chaperones would pull the stunt again. We left the Cotton Bowl partway through the third quarter, in this case to beat bad weather approaching to the north. To ease the blow, however, they let us play “Rudy” on the bus VCR which was, admittedly, a much more enjoyable experience.
The students would have their revenge when the band convoy was caught in a major snow storm and forced to spend the money to put the group up for an extra night as some roadside hotel that made some of us think of Norman Bates. Hmm… Maybe I should rethink who triumphed over who in that case.
Anyway, if this is my most notable New Year’s, that should give you a feel for how the others went. Maybe someday I’ll be able to throw myself into the festivities – the noisemakers, the resolutions, Dick Clark doing his Dorian Gray impression, etc.
But for now, with all the last minute packing I’m doing, I was content to treat it as just another evening. Now if you will excuse me, I have a personal pledge to eat more chocolate chip cookies in 2006 that I need to get to work on.
