Ringing in the New Year in an Old Way

Every year, I've watched the New Year's Eve festivities/insanity on my TV, serenely glad to not be one of the masses crowded into Times Square. A good New Year's Eve had me asleep a few minutes after midnight. A better New Year's Eve saw me asleep an hour before midnight, sleepily kissing Jay sometime around the year's turn, and back to slumberland.

A slightly new tune is now sung here in my little slice-ette of Greenwich Village. Turns out that ringing in the New Year with a whole bunch of strangers (and Jay, of course) in Times Square is a whole lot better than I thought it would be. It was...dare I say the word...FUN!

The secret, evidently, is to have a fiance who has a strong contact in Times Square who gets invited to the "party within the party" - a private gathering in the middle of the very public gathering. We were part of a group that had its own barricaded-off section of Times Square, and best of all, access to warmth and indoor plumbing. Yup - that's the way to ring (and flush) in the New Year. I found the whole experience quite interesting....