New Year 2006

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do for New Years this year. I’ve never been a big New Years party person. I’ve been to quite a few but, somehow, it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Not much different from any other party during the year. One of my favourite New Years was in Japan for 2001. We ate long noodles for longevity on New Years Eve, watched the TV special, and got up at some ridiculous hour of the morning (remembering that it’s Winter) to go to the temple to pray, make New Year wishes, and enjoy the carnival. Coming home on the train we watched the sun rise. It felt a lot more “special” and somehow more meaningful – like it was different from how we celebrated other things during the year. The idea of the end of one year and the beginning of another being a time primarily for reflection is really appealing to me. So much has happened this year, and next year is so uncertain, yet holding so much potential for excitement and challenges.

So I think I’ll spend this New Year’s in a way that I don’t spend any other day of the year. I’ll prepare a picnic breakfast for the next morning, and go to bed early. Then get up super super early, before sunrise. I'll go someplace beautiful, maybe the beach or the hills, and watch the sun rise up over the hills on the first day of the new year. Eat my picnic, get out my colourful textas (markers) and paper, and reflect on the year that has passed and the year to come. I want to start the New Year having thought again about who I am, knowing what I’ve left behind, and excited about what I want to achieve and experience in the coming year.