[OT] New Year's--Who gives a crap?

[Napftor]

Watching the ball drop...new year's resolutions...Auld Ang Syne...honestly, I must ask what's the friggin' point? Exactly what are we celebrating here? Dick Clark making it through another year? I think not.

What new year's is is the celebration of the calendar. You're holding a party for time, people, don't you see this? This "holiday" is just another of the many many excuses throughout the year to drink and feel Mary. Like you need another one. Instead of celebrating surviving another year, we should be mourning the part of our life that has just passed.

Am I a just a crazy old loon or does anyone else feel this way?

 

[BOZ]

*shrug* i guess the better you feel about life and yourself, then i guess the better it feels for you. it's one of the few holidays that just about every american, and people in quite a few other countries, can appreciate and not argue too much about what it means.

it's really only a "happy new year" if you're happy about it.

 

[maddman75]

To me, New Years is the holdiday for adults and one's friends. Christmas, thanksgiving, the 4th of July, halloween, are about family, especially if you have little ones.

New Year's Eve is an excuse to get snot-slinging, ankle-biting, commode-hugging drunk.

Of course, I never watch the ball drop and don't know the words to that song, much less how to spell it. So YMMV

 

[GameWyrd]

Hogamany is a big deal over here. It's a nice, safe, non-religious holiday. That's why you all sing our Auld Ang Syne. That said; I'm not sure I'm going to venture out to the street party in Princess Street this year (the biggest in Europe, I'm told) because a) I'm anti-social, b) It's cold and c) everyone will be talking about possible terrorist attacks.

I'll fill my hip-flask up with whisky, climb to the top of the nearby hill and watch the fireworks go off all around the city.

I'm looking forward to Hogamany (New Year, to you) but not Crimbo, not mercenary shopping season.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

This "holiday" is just another of the many many excuses throughout the year to drink and feel Mary.

God bless her, year in an' year out, good ol' Mary is always up for a feel.


Wulf

 

[Umbran]

Am I a just a crazy old loon or does anyone else feel this way?

Probably not. But you forget that tradition and ceremony have a place in culture even when they aren't centered on a thing that's particularly important in the Grand Scheme of Things.

In one frame of mind, no anniversary of any type is at all meaningful. Who cares how many times around the sun our planet has gone since a particular event? Years, in and of themselves, are an arbitrary measure of time. So, what's the point?

The point is to remember, to think, and to join wiht your fellows in remembering, and thinking about similar things, and being happy that you're alive! If nothing else, New Year's has value in that - remembering the value of having lived a little while longer.

 

[shilsen]

What new year's is is the celebration of the calendar. You're holding a party for time, people, don't you see this? This "holiday" is just another of the many many excuses throughout the year to drink and feel Mary. Like you need another one. Instead of celebrating surviving another year, we should be mourning the part of our life that has just passed.

Am I a just a crazy old loon or does anyone else feel this way?

You're not a crazy old loon, but you do sound a little depressive Umbran's right about ceremony and tradition, although some people (like me) don't believe in them much. I don't celebrate New Year's (or birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) because it is just a random chronological convention, but mainly because I'm celebrating every day and enjoying myself so much that I'd feel silly to try to make one day special. Other people celebrating Christmas and New Year's doesn't bug me in the least (as it seems to do you). They're happy doing their thing and I'm happier doing mine. What's the problem?

 

[Tewligan]

Instead of celebrating surviving another year, we should be mourning the part of our life that has just passed.

Why, you're right, that DOES sound like fun!

 

[Darrin Drader]

I enjoy the holiday. Its not that I spend a lot of time getting drunk, in fact I used to have a tradition of making big extravagant plans and then having them get ruined at the last minute by random illnesses, parties that turn out to be pretty lame, etc. What I like to do on this holiday isn't that much different from what other people do: reflect back upon the latest trip around the sun and either thank all that is good that I made it through the s%*#storm that was the year, or remember some of the good times that were had. Sometimes both. I also like to think back to past occasions and remember the way things were 5, 10, or more years ago. Things really do change over time. People in your life come and go, styles change, and so on.

 

[Napftor]

Re: Re: [OT] New Year's--Who gives a crap?

You're not a crazy old loon, but you do sound a little depressive Umbran's right about ceremony and tradition, although some people (like me) don't believe in them much. I don't celebrate New Year's (or birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) because it is just a random chronological convention, but mainly because I'm celebrating every day and enjoying myself so much that I'd feel silly to try to make one day special. Other people celebrating Christmas and New Year's doesn't bug me in the least (as it seems to do you). They're happy doing their thing and I'm happier doing mine. What's the problem?

I've been pretty much celebrating every day as well. The problem is all the hype. "Oh, did you make your new year's resolutions up yet?" To which my unspoken response is, "Oh shut up." The problem is probably that my grandfather is close to death. But I've had the same feeling about New Year for years..."a random chronological event." It's much ado about nothing.