First and foremost, a happy and healthy new year to everyone in the U.S. and around the world. My friend Jon from college is in Australia right now, and he was first (of the people I knew) to usher in the new year about 12 hours before me. Gotta love those Australians…great beer, nice cars (Holden), and amazing country both politcally and geographically.
I was never a big celebrator of the New Year, and by that I mean I was never one to go out partying like it’s 1999. However, it is a time to refresh and regroup, to look at the past and celebrate achievements & obstacles overcome, and to remember friendships and good family, finally then to focus on the next year’s goals.
I was watching ABC’s show from Times Square in NYC, formally hosted by the infamous Dick Clark, star of The Pyramid and many other shows. He had a stroke last year, and this year was his return to hosting (well he co-hosted this year) the New Year’s Eve show. Sadly, one can easily see the damage from the stroke he had, but he was quite brave to get out there. It’s encouraging to see people who push through obstacles like that.
I did the whole NYC/Times Square thing once, being I live less then a 50-minute train ride from midtown Manhattan. Security was never as high as it is now, probably one reason I decline to go in there anymore. Even though I might enjoy a good strip search, something about a guy doing it with an itchy finger on an M-16 makes it slightly unsettling. 😉
I often like to think about the big picture. Life, our place in the universe and what it all means. Here we all are, 6 billion of us, celebrating our relative concept of Time, welcoming in a new “year”. Kind of funny when you think about it, as our concept of Time is a human thing, something for our brains to interpret.
What exactly is time? Ever get that feeling a specific day or week was going slow or fast, and other people agreed with you as they felt the same thing? If time is constant, those feelings shouldn’t even exist. 😉
Ah well, something to think about. Have a great new year!