I sincerely hope that you have been enjoying your holiday season so far and that it has been peaceful with no adverse incident.
Mine, my dear ones, has been wonderful - mainly because I made a pact with myself to try and avoid retail shopping and the insanely, pressure-filled and idiotic times it tends to bring.
Stress management has been my call to arms this season and I think it's worked.
It seems that when I treat my humble abode like an engraved invitation to agoraphobia, not only do I manage to get more done, but I also seem to keep my blood pressure in check, keep my head on straight and - SOMEHOW - keep from murdering stupid people!
BUT, my friends, I believe that that could be about to change.
Yes, it's coming up on New Year's Eve. It's the one evening of the year that the amateur partiers come into my neighborhood to make asses and bloody nuisances of themselves.
Oh, yes, you might say that the same happens on Saint Patrick's Day, but it's not just the Irish and wannabe Irish on New Year's. Oh, no! It's everyone who shares the common calendar with the rest of the world.
I have never quite understood the draw of standing in the cold (and often rainy) night with hundreds of thousands of strangers in a roiling mass of bodies waiting to see a crystal ball be lowered on a stick above your damp and freezing head. But I have lived and worked in the Times Square neighborhood for a decade and a half now and I can tell you that this mass hysteria is NOT a good thing.
People, STAY HOME! Watch the ball drop on television. Drink (if you must and in moderation) in the relative comfort and safely of your own homes and DO NOT GET BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A CAR!
I may not LIKE stupid and thoughtless people but I would never wish them the kind of dreadful experience of crashing a vehicle - or into someone else's just because they didn't have the brains G-d gave a turnip.
Please, be safe this Saturday night and live to annoy people another day!
Happy New Year!
-SSG
