Surviving New Year's Eve
 

In the Philippines, ushering in the New Year is always done at the risk of life, limb and property. I am happy to let everyone know that I survived my 32nd year of New Years' Eve celebrations in Manila. What a relief for me to have survived without a scratch on my life and limb. My house is still standing as well. Even if people were throwing fire crackers into our driveway all night. My car simply refused to be blown up.

My Life Force would like to thank the Chinese volunteer fire men (since Manila barely has a fire department) for their extra efforts in putting out the almost 60 fires that have razed through the city for the month of December. As of 2:30 AM January 1, 2006, they are still putting out the additional 15 fires across the city that are still raging on as I type this.

My nervous gastritis would like to thank my street neighbors for toning down on their illegal fire cracker use this year (Or maybe it was just that my house is soundproof these days and I had the cd player blaring?) So far so good. We still have electricity and no electrical lines have fallen yet even though people were using the poor lines and posts for fire cracker target practice all night.

The paranoid side of me would also like to thank my drunken neighbors and drunk policemen of the City of Manila for not putting a bullet through the roof of my house this year as they have previously tried and not often suceeded (okay they suceeded in planting one once) in doing these past years.

Allelujiah! I have ushered in the birth of a new year successfully yet again! Thank god ! There was no need to hide under the dining table this year ! (That's another very long story)

I just always get drunk and then I don't care what the other people do... :D I have two excuses to drink: my birthday and New Years. Fun stuff right there! :)

So you're not fond of new year celebrations, then Luisa ... ?

I love to celebrate new year limey. It is just that in the Philippines, the people somehow have a knack for turning what should be a wonderfully happy celebration into a sad, tragic event. And that happens every new year's eve here.

What I would love to try is celebrating a quiet new year. One that does not require me to check the fire alerts every 15 minutes nor to hide under the table because you never know what is flying through the air and hitting your GI Sheet roofing. I would also like to remain in my seat instead of jumping out everytime a fire cracker rocks the house to its foundations.

As far as I am concerned, the perfect New year celeb would include, lots of food, drinks, music and good friends and family all around.

Hmmm... sounds like Detroit.

I'll be staying in with Pete and a bottle of Glenkinchie. That'll do. :)

Wishing everyone a joyous, fun-filled, prosperous New Year, with no trips to the emergency room.

If any single one of you says "Here, hold my beer" any time in the next 24 hours I will personally be over to kick what's left of your ass.

That's how it usually starts. Remember folks it is amateur night out there, be careful!

Ditto. :D

Happy New Year everyone.http://www.cellar.org/images/moresmilies/partyguy.gif

Gosh, Luisa, hope we get to hear more from you! Your description sort of reminds me of a New year's Eve I spent in Northeastern Brazil! And, no, Wolf, ain't no one was going to get to hold my glass!

Hmmmm... speaking of, its time to put on my new blue outfit and go drink green apple martini's (I have cab fare, don't worry!)

Happy New Year, All!

Tonight is my Cellar anniversary! I joined on New Year's Eve of 2002. I was doing then pretty much what I am doing now, minus the cream puffs and trail mix. Tonight, it was "March of the Penguins" and sugar free Russell Stover candies.

Looks like I just broke 5,000 posts as well this weekend. I'm sure each of them were inspired, witty and just plain entertaining (not). Even so, what better time for me to say "Happy New Year" to all of my Cellar family.

Speaking of surviving New Year, how about Dick Clark? It takes huge cajones to sit there and let everyone see you after what he's been through. I always admired his voice and his smooth style and presentation, which has been sorely afflicted by his stroke. He's a brave sumbitch, and I say good for him tonight.

I wonder if the revelers in Brazil have ever found themselves hiding under their dining table on New Year's Eve because it sounded like World War 3 was going on out in the streets and fire trucks were running to and from in an almost endless siren wail. That's what happened to me one NYE during my teen years.

Our house was still made of wood at the time and the safest place to hide seemed to be under our circular dining table that seats 10. so there, I was, cringing with every explosion and wondering how much a kevlar helment would cost me and would i be able to have one for the next NYE.

When all the excitement was over, we had our roofing checked for any damags from firecrakers. Well, no damage from the fire crackers BUT, the handyman did find a .45 caliber bullet lodged in between the roof sheets. Guess my family literally dodged the bullet that time.

And oh... there was the time some drunk fired a bullet into the air and it ricocheted all over the 3rd floor of our newly semi-concrete built house. That's for another thread again.

It's not midnight yet here in California, but it already looks like we will have a relatively quiet time of it and no fires this year. This is due to the torrential downpour which finally arrived in the Central Valley after nearly wiping San Francisco and Santa Rosa off the map in the past few days :worried: since I was house sitting at the momster's I got to watch the spectacle, the pool rose 2 inches in 10 minutes and the streets instantly became impassible. This is actually a good thing, because we were way down on rainfall this winter and definitely needed the water in the reservoirs, but better still is the fact that nobody could start a fire on a roof or anywhere else tonight even with a blowtorch :D

We're still celebrating -- southern California. Rain all morning, slowly clearing in the afternoon, and an actually visible sunset. I wouldn't be surprised if we'd gotten two inches of rain today here in Ventura County. We fixed Hoppin' John (ad-hoc, whatdowehaveinthepantry recipe) for good fortune in the next year, in the rice cooker, and are currently nibbling chocolates and watching Pirates Of The Caribbean on video, and haven't gotten into the drinks (much) yet. Celebrating en famille.