Happy New Year!

I've never really done anything particularly crazy for New Year's (except the time I was in Sunderland, England and called home at midnight there because I thought it would be funny that it was only 7PM at home, and home's response was "You must be drunk, it's only 7PM here). Most years involve some combination of laid back friends, cheese and crackers, board games, the Twilight Zone marathon, and watching the ball drop in Times Square on the TV at midnight.

This year was chill as ever due to the fact that I had to work at my stupid job till 10PM. I joined Jamie and Katie and a few of their friends from high school at a small bar in Pine Beach for a little while before heading back to Jamie's house. Jamie and Katie went in the hot tub and I sat nearby, bundled up.

It was chilly, clear night. Tons of stars. Very quiet and peaceful. We didn't have the TV or radio on, in fact, were pretty much sitting in the dark. And then it happened-- we could hear some distant shouting which quickly grew louder and was joined with pots and pans, party horns, firecrackers and fireworks. Midnight happened, as it would whether we were paying attention or not. I kind of liked it that way.

Happy 2012. It's off to a pretty good start-- today I played music in church, walked my brother's sweet dog, took an awesome nap, bottled my latest home brew (a stout!), and am watching the Twilight Zone.

Let the good times roll.