Given that we're in the year 2-007, I suppose it's fitting to be posting from a remote undisclosed location.
Looking back, I know the wisdom of seclusion during this annual transition. I've seen many a trainwreck on New Year's Eves in the past: outright breakups; the end of long (and sometimes tedious) friendships; couples cancerously doomed to distintegration within the year by exposure to the wrong elements (usually involving other couples on the rocks or on the make or worse, involving various loyalty tests, failed royally, often miserable mismatches obvious to all but the couples in question to begin with); grown men and women brought low by wormy tequila, weeping, puking and passing out face down; idiotic people doing incredibly stupid things. And poor Hank Williams died on New Year's Eve.
But sometimes, magical things happen on New Year's Eve and I've experienced some of those moments, too.For instance, when I was a boy of about seven, I lived in transit with my family in an apartment building in Justice, Illinois, an "eclectic suburb" at the edge of Southside Chicago. Never a dull moment there, I saw riots, a building fire a few units over, the aftermath of a tornado that flattened a school and dozens of houses for several blocks on end, brick fights that ended with a cop raid and screeching ambulances, a kid run over by a VW Beetle with blood running out of his nose and mouth, and a lot of crazy people acting out; but there, too, I remember like yesterday an eerie little twin from the apartment above us named Misty coming down and introducing us to her Tennessee hill tradition of fetchin' a penny from a cup of hot black-eyed peas for good luck on the New Year, her with hilly twang and greasy shiny hair and flashing eyes all proud to show us.
Heads up -- good luck. Heads down -- flip it for the next draw and get good luck that way, too. And don't do any laundry on New Year's Day -- it's bad luck.
Good luck to all those clingy couples who fit the bill last night on the eve of their destruction. May they rest in peace by next New Year's Eve.
Today's Rune: Protection.
Amen.
4 comments:
New Year's Eve is way too dangerous, especially when you combine this year's icy roads with Albuquerque's infamous drunk driving problem.
We'd planned on going to a party last night that was thrown by a very dramatic couple. We decided that it was best not to risk our lives to watch two people argue.
Yes, New Year's Eve parties can sometmes get a bit too out of hand!
Happy new year, Erik!
Helen
Happy New Year Erik,
Agree that it's often better to be secluded during this time if you can. My mountain trwk was worthwhile, but there were some idiots throwing aggressive shapes on the train to the start of the trek. Quite rare for the Japanese to be aggressive...
New year's eve is always good for me. It is my oldest son's birthday. I call him my Bi-Centennial tax deduction since he was born on December 31, 1976. After his birth, the only thing I ever did on New Year's Eve is have his Birthday Parties.
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