Happy New Year

As my body processes the Crown & Cokes from tonight and I listen to one of my neighbors throwing up in the parking lot of our condo, my mind is jazzed...not yet ready for sleep.

Here are some interesting New Years facts:

-- The New Years tradition started in 4000 BC in Babylon
-- it's the oldest of all holidays
-- it used to be celebrated on the first day of Spring (the first new moon)
-- January 1st holds no astronomical or agricultural clout
-- January 1st has only been celebrated as the start of the New Year for about 400 years
-- resolutions date back to the Babylonians
-- American's most popular resolution: lose weight
-- Ancient Babylonians most popular resolution: return borrowed farm equipment
-- Egyptians and Greeks are responsible for the effigy of the New Years Baby - it dates back to 600 BC
-- the Rose Bowl was introduced in 1902; it was replaced by Chariot Races in 1903
-- the Rose Bowl returned to tradition in 1916 - where it's remained
-- the Dutch believe eating doughnuts on New Years day brings luck - anything in the shape of a ring means "coming full circle"
-- American tradition presents that black eyed peas, ham, rice and cabbage are good luck foods to eat on New Years Day as they all represent prosperity (of gas maybe...)
-- the song Auld Lang Syne (which means "the good old days" or literally "old long ago") has been a staple of the English speaking New Years Eve celebrations since the 1700's

All in all - it's a strange holiday. However, I'm all about new beginnings -- Mondays, Saturdays, mornings, 1st of the months, end of years - I am constantly starting over, always looking for fresh, new, different. So, I quite like it. If nothing else, it's fun writing a new date on paperwork.

Here's to 2008 -- a "new year", a new date, an even number, a new president, the Olympics in China and just as yesterday and the day before that and three years before that - a new me...always evolving, always growing.

Now, let's go return that farm equipment!