We are not going out tonight. I don't feel well enough and we are pretty tired anyway. The last few years we either had people over or we went to a friends house for New Years Eve. We didn't go out much anymore.
One year we did get all dressed up. I put on a tux and Lisa got a great dress and we went to the "Campbell Apartment" which is this great bar in Grand Central Station. They had a full orchestra who played swing music with a great Frank Sinatra Impersonator guy. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to Times Square and hit a few joints I did the taxes for until the wee hours. But that is too much for us now.
What really sucks is that I can't have my normal New Year feast of pigs in a blanket and salt covered Tater Tots. I am really going to miss them this year.
I hope you guys have fun tonight and stay safe.
Happy New Year!
70 comments:
Happy New Year to Lisa and You and of course the TY gang. Stay safe.
Happy New Year, Trooper!
I'm going to put on pretty dress and party. A little.
Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor is dropping the Times Square ball. I'm not a stick in the mud, and I like these insular people to get out in the world, but a little tacky.
Buon anno to all.
We stopped going New Year's Eve out a few years ago when the ride home turned into a mix of bumper cars and dodgeball. I know that I'll croak one day, but I'd rather not have it happen because some yutz who started drinking at noon T-bones my car at 1 AM.
Steak, champagne, candles, etc. Stay up until midnight and watch the neighborhood fireworks.
Whatever the top of the New Year's Eve party age demographic is, we passed it. Last time we went to a NYE thing at a bar, I felt like a chaperone at a high school homecoming dance.
Besides, people laugh when I go full Travolta when the BeeGees "You Should be Dancing" comes on.
Have a couple of cocktails for me.
I will be drinking decaf tea. I might have a couple of peanut butter cookies to rock out when the ball drops.
You are all party animals. I will probably be asleep by 10.
I hope no one decides to use up any spare ammo to usher in the new year - who knows, I might think I am under attack and return fire.
Who am I kidding - I'll sleep through that, too.
And Darcy, pictures or it didn't happen. ;^)
heh. Sixty beat me to it. Why am I not surprised?
Happy New Year to all and sundry!
I'll be watching the Bruins play...someone tonight. I don't care who.
In a little while I'm going to eat some greens sauteed in vinegar and maybe some beans and later on I might have unsalted unbuttered popcorn if shit really gets crazy.
And there are some people across the valley from me that usually put on a good display of fireworks. Even though the dog will freak out, I'll enjoy it.
Although usually they do one on Christmas this year and they didn't. Maybe they moved or something.
Set the clock to eastern time, so the little one can celebrate New Year's, be asleep by 9:30...
Happy New Year, Youse Guys!
Hope it's a damn sight better than the last one.
(I think Colonel Potter said that on "M*A*S*H".)
You're right, Blake.
Both in quote and sentiment.
Or is it sediment.
Home with MrM tonight, a fire in the fireplace, tree lights lit, and the furnace keeping us safe and warm.
We both worked a number of New Year's Eve's when we were young, he as a bartender, me as a waitress, and those experiences (though lucrative at that time) were enough to make the rest of our Eve's spent at home seem an enjoyable alternative.
First it was dinners together with more fireworks added with growing children. Champagne, sparkling grape juice and confetti shooters at the ball drop were followed by a spinning Happy Lamp hanging out in the bird tree.
The paper tooters that roll out and squeek were a dog favorite when the Old Boy was alive, as he'd go nuts trying to grab them before they'd roll back up, so there was lots of laughter there.
Now that the sonsM are grown men celebrating their own Eve's and the dog is gone, we're back to being the two of us together at home. No more paper lanterns to be lit, but MrM cooking up something good in the kitchen as I type and chat with him, and a warm glow in our home and hearts tonight. Being alive is what it's all about.
Happy New Year to Trooper and the Troops! I'm glad you're all alive, kickin' and around to bring in the New Year!
Palladian: The picture on your site of the open door with the Light streaming through has not only touched my heart in a profound way, it also serves as a pictorial symbol of my hope and prayer especially for you and TY, along with the rest of us as we enter into another year.
Aw, there's MamaM! Happy New Year to you and your family.
Thanks Sixty! Wishing the same for you. I have two more comments hanging open, where I became mired in my own thoughts on previous threads. It's not the computer electrons but the ones in my brain that become seized. A shout out and a fresh thread gets the lights flashing again!
Happy New Year.
We plan to drink hot cocoa in our PJ's while signing up for Obama Care.
We feel motivated for some reason. Subliminal maybe.
Quiet evening. We gave up staying up special on NYE long ago. I've been sick since the day after Christmas.
Daughter is busy making these, but I don't feel like eating anything, so I can only admire and photograph them. She also made the kitty cap in the avatar pic.
Son is out with friends, with our strong admonition to be careful and watch oncoming traffic very carefully. He's having a belated Christmas party with friends. They were supposed to be buying one of their friends a laptop, because his family is too poor to get him one, and they like to have lan parties.
Wife is reading up on thyroid cancer, a book the surgeon gave her. She got a little sick, too, but mostly coughing. Fortunately, it didn't hurt the incision at all.
Not sure about 2014. Was thinking at Christmas, that this may be the last one with the kids both home. Son is off to school in the fall. He's hoping MIT or Stanford, but NC State is the most likely scenario.
Life has been slowing down for years. I guess it's becoming noticeable now. Like our good host, I'm a teetotaler tonight. Boy, when you're too sick to drink, you are too sick indeed.
Happy New Year, y'all.
I'm at the crest of Cahuenga Pass on a hill. If I look one direction, I see LA; the other Blake Valley. Hollywood sign is front and center.
Go Wolfpack! I think NC State is a very good school. Many of my friends and coworkers went there. So did my niece. Best of luck to him wherever he ends up.
I have been to all the campuses you mentioned - by far Stanford is the most beautiful, but you pay for such opulence.
MIT - nice school, too bad it's up north in Y*nkeeland.
And guess what - kids come home from college for the holidays.
Happy New Year All!
Where's Palladian? Shouldn't he at least say hello on a night like this?
BIL is caking shocktails...
We're watching a TV show youse guys will like. It's called Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda.
The guy is the real deal - a retired homicide detective who tells a great story.
Caking shocktails sounds better than cocking shaketails.
spurry bleech here.
Kenda is awesome. I love the "my my my"...
Happy New Year, you easties!!
Nappy You Here, Easties!
If the Chicken is drunk can we take advantage of him?
This year on Althouse, I'm shooting to be more than deleted for no good reason; I want to be insulted for being nice.
So make it happen, you spies who still read here.
So I'm guessing the Chickster doesn't want to be taken advantage of by us who's still up. Or awake.
BTW, Chicken, if you ever decided to be nice to me I'd be happy to insult you. Just offering.
Happy New Year Trooper. If I had to make a resolution my is going to remind you, from time to time, of the ones you have made here.
They are inspiring. If I call you on them, it means I'll be upholding them, or at least trying to uphold them myself.
Happy New Year Everybody. and don't forget me. I know you wont Troop.
Palladian: The picture on your site of the open door with the Light streaming through has not only touched my heart in a profound way, it also serves as a pictorial symbol of my hope and prayer especially for you and TY, along with the rest of us as we enter into another year.
Thank you for your kind words, MamaM. I am always humbled when something I made has an effect on someone.
I hope that the door always remains open...
(I made the light outside the door brighter for 2014)
Where's Palladian? Shouldn't he at least say hello on a night like this?
Hello!
Cody Jarrett said...
BTW, Chicken, if you ever decided to be nice to me I'd be happy to insult you. Just offering.
And...that's exactly why I quit Twitter.
Too much of a demand on someone to not always be contrarian?
Chix, you quit Twitter cuz I tried to fool with you in a blog comment section?
(I made the light outside the door brighter for 2014)
Is that a positive sign, scooter?
Hopefully.
Hey, wake up people, we're burning daylight here! Get busy - the year is a-wasting!
Snow. Snow coming down faster than Charlie Sheen's pants. Lake effect snow that showed up without much warning and looks to continue for the next 24 hours. I've already cleared out my elderly SIL's driveway and laid down about 50 lbs of ice melt on her sidewalks.
It's a beautiful way to begin the new year.
Cody Jarrett said...
Chix, you quit Twitter cuz I tried to fool with you in a blog comment section?
One of the nice and special features of TY (especially since he went private) was that that sort of BS only happened at Althouse and to some extent Twitter.
I'm afraid I don't get you, Chick. So never mind. Unless I hear otherwise, I don't guess I need to talk to you.
Okay?
You are welcome in North Carolina, Trooper, just don't tell those Y*nkee scum over at Lems that I said that.
Stop by, visit, see if you can adapt to peace and quiet.
Your sense of humor would only improve the place and you have the added benefit of not being a communist.
So come on down, you big lug. Florida - it's full of New Yorkers - who wants that?
Thanks Sixty but the kids live in Florida.
I have been thinking seriously about relocating.
New York is over for me.
I am very sad about it but it is true.
Good luck with that.
We have what are known as "half backs" here - they leave NYC, go to FLA, then find out that it sucks and move half way back.
I was just trying to save you some trouble.
Long-time friends up and moved to Naples last year. They were back for Christmas and we went out for dinner. The spent $200K on a 1300 ft single floor condo on a golf course. Nice patio, two car garage, swimming pool, the whole Florida deal. They could not be happier.
Had a NYE text from them. The went to the beach and watched fireworks.
I'm thinking about this.
That's kinda huge, moving to Florida.
Here in L.A. we can't get plastic bags at the grocery store any more. I'm surprised at how pissed off I am about this.
Mike we were looking at a two bedroom two bath in a development with a pool and private park. $300 a month maintenance. Ocean view. About $230,000.
A studio condo on Union Street in Brooklyn just went for a million dollars. Why would anyone in their right mind pay that.
We have tons of half-backs and Floridians here. If we meet someone for the first time, we typically just ask, "So, what part of Florida are you from?" before we know anything about them. Never had anyone correct us about being from Florida.
When we moved here in our mid-20s, people assumed we were Flat-heads, too, but we'd tell them we were from NY and had never lived in Florida, that we were skipping that part of the formula, and were about 40 years ahead of the game. You know Florida people have ruined everything when New Yorkers are more welcomed by North Carolina mountain folk.
Seriously, Troop, if you're going to escape from NYC (and especially if Adrienne Barbeau is with you), you are welcome here, as NC has some dandy places. Of course, you'll need to get a car and a license.
What I used to love about my neighborhood is that I knew everyone. I could get my Italian specialties at the pork store. My Greek food at the diner. My Thai food from people I was friendly with.
Now I have to go to the new Whole Foods like I am a douchebag like Leisure Suit Larry.
I can do that anywhere.
What made Carroll Gardens special is gone now. Never to come back. It's over.
Except in the nostalgic novels I hope to write on my balcony in Florida while I sip lemonade and take in the sun and listen to the ballgame on the radio.
Oh I will never learn to drive windbag. It is not in me.
Can I get a horse?
It would be great research for my Western novels.
Sure. When you subtract the state income tax, the NYC income tax, and the high NYC property tax, the FL place is darn near free.
In Florida I am thinking of getting a boat.
I want to go from reading about Travis McGee to being Travis McGee.
What I used to love about my neighborhood is that I knew everyone. I could get my Italian specialties at the pork store. My Greek food at the diner. My Thai food from people I was friendly with
They all moved to Florida.
I love the water. I was always on a boat when I was younger. My Uncle V would take us out on the water almost every weekend.
I could get back into that with no problem.
Yeah - I can see you at the helm of "The Stugats".
Not really.
The boat would be called:
"Phongool"
I mean I have all the Hawaiian shirts already and stuff.
Actually, if you move to our town, you can drive a lawn mower or power scooter w/o a license.
How about a golf cart?
Although I think I am verging on "Little Rascal" territory these days.
I think the police don't allow them, since we never see them being used. Maybe they're too big? Horses are allowed, too. Forgot to answer that one before. I've actually had a guy tether his horse to the the light pole and come in for lunch. He wore a six-shooter in a holster. Takes all kinds, eh? Concealed carry is the law in this state, so crime is low.
Open carry has a different set of rules than concealed.
And, for the record, I really like animals. Even horses.
Do not ride a horse, Troop. Think of the animals.
Hey I can get a deal now.
All those carriage horses from Central Park have to go somewhere.
Better they carry a fat fuck like me than go into a dog food can. Just sayn'
What was the rationale behind shutting down the carriage horses?
Cody Jarrett said...
I'm afraid I don't get you, Chick. So never mind. Unless I hear otherwise, I don't guess I need to talk to you.
Okay?
TY has a big detente. OK by me.
May I make a suggestion for some good TV viewing? "The Bletchly Circle" available on Netflix about WWII code breaker women several years after the war on the trail of a serial killer. Three 44 minute episodes of gripping drama.
Also I have come to love "Call the Midwife" and the BBC comedy "Miranda".. Midwife is on Amazon prime and Miranda is on HuluPlus.
We had a lovely NYE. Kids all stayed up to watch the ball drop and we sent them off to bed around 12:20 after prayers. I cherish this sweet spot of their ages..pre-puberty and still innocent...they are so pleasant to be around.
Thanks Troop for the cyber saloon. Love it.
I want to go from reading about Travis McGee to being Travis McGee.
Earlier this month, I was reading Lee Child's introduction to "Killing Floor", the first of the Jack Reacher novels, when I came on this reference another New Year's Eve and Travis McGee.
How far back should I go with this? Reacher made his first appearance in print on March 17, 1997-Saint Patrick's Day-when Putnam published Killing Floor in the US, which was Reacher's-and my-debut. But I can trace his genesis backward at least to New Year's Eve 1988. Back then I worked for a commercial television station in Manchester, England. I was eleven years into a career as a presentation director, which was a little like an air traffic controller for the network airwaves. In February of 1988, the UK commercial network had started twenty-four-hour broadcasting. For a year before that, management had been talking about how to man the new expanded commitment. None of us really wanted to work nights. Management didn't really want to hire extra people. End of story. Stalemate. Impasse.
What broke it was the offer of a huge raise. We took it, and by New Year's Eve we were ten fat and happy months into the new contract. I went to a party but didn't feel much like celebrating. Not that I wasn't content in the short term-I sleep better by day than night, and I like being up and about when the world is quiet and lonely, and for sure I was having a ball with the new salary. But I knew in my bones that management resented the raise, and that the new contract was in fact the beginning of the end. Sooner or later, we would all be fired in revenge. I felt it was only a matter of time. Nobody agreed with me except one woman.
At the party, in a quiet moment, she asked me, "What are you going to do when this is all over?"
I said, "I'm going to write books."
Why that answer? And why then?
I had always been an insatiable reader. All genres, all the time, but very unstructured. I naturally gravitated toward crime, adventure, and thrillers, but for a long time in the UK we lacked genre stores and fan magazines, and of course the Internet hadn't started yet, so there was no effective network capable of leading a reader from one thing to the next. As a result, I had come across some very obscure stuff while being completely ignorant of many major figures. For instance, in February of 1988-while the ink was still drying on our new TV contracts-I took a vacation in the Yucatan. I flew back via Miami and picked up John D. MacDonald's The Lonely Silver Rain at the bookstall in the airport. I had never heard of MacDonald or Travis McGee. I read the book on the plane back to London and loved it.
I was back in the States at Easter that year and bought every McGee title I could find, which added up to about a linear yard's worth.
Nobody needs me to sing MacDonald's praises, but that yard of books did more for me than provide excellent entertainment. For some reason the McGee books spoke to me like textbooks. I felt I could see what MacDonald was doing, and why, and how, as if I could see the skeleton beneath the skin. I read them all that summer, and by New Year's Eve I was completely sure that when the ax fell, I wanted to do what MacDonald had done. I could stay in the entertainment business but work for myself in the world of books.
It took six years for the ax to fall. But fall it did, and so it came time to make good on that earlier ambition.
Which sucks, Chick, cuz I enjoy your posts, comments and wit.
But hey--if I annoy you...life's short.
G'night!
New York has to become a total hell hole before it can get better. De Blasio and his cronies and their wrong ideas have to totally ruin the place before people will wake up and say "Enough!" and elect a mayor who can fix the place.
It's going to be an ugly ride for the next decade. Brooklyn is no country for old men. Just sayin'.
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