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

[DDK]

Ironically enough, after just posting a rant about why I hate Christmas, I have to say that disliking New Years Eve is kinda strange. I mean, even the communists Chinese celebrate it, albeit at a different time

I have very little to be thankful for but each NYE I reasses my life and sort out my goals. Last year was the only NYE where I made no NYE resolutions because things were basically as grim as they could get for me and I wasn't looking forward to anything. But, like always, I picked myself up and strove ahead, despite being kicked back down into the gutter and never seeming to be able to get ahead in life.

Next year I will be going to school to get my High School Diploma in order to get into University the following year. It's something I've tried a dozen times before but have always had something in my life go south and make it impossible to accomplish. But next year is MY year. I give a frig about anything else. I'll starve if I have to. I'll steal if I have to, I don't care, I'm going to finish that damn diploma and get top marks, join a top Uni and do honours in script writing and film making and become a damn film maker even if it kills me (I'll be the first undead director! Well... after Spielberg that is...).

That's what NYE is about to me. A self-assessment, reevaluation and cathartic climax of the years events and the following years goals. Every NYE resolution I've ever made, I've lived up to, whether it was as simple as "Give up smoking" or "Get fit (that's another of next years ones )" or as involved as "Get top marks in Diploma!" or "Achieve World Domination!", it doesn't matter, for it is all a part of the journey through life that each of us makes at his or her own speed.

 

[Mark Chance]

Just an observation...

Two threads so far I've seen around here bashing the holidays both have one thing in common: They decry the holidays as a meaningless, even painful waste of time.

Interesting that when holy days get reduced to holidays they tend to lose their meaning and become painful.

Reminds me of Mircea Eliade's The Myth of the Eternal Return.

-- Mark L. Chance.

 

[Buttercup]

Well, except for one thing Mark. New Year's Eve hasn't ever been holy in this culture.

 

[Mark]

Well, except for one thing Mark. New Year's Eve hasn't ever been holy in this culture.

Although praying the next day is a time honored tradition...

 

[Darkness]

Me, I don't really care about New Year's Day one way or the other; it's just another date in the calendar - nothing more, nothing less...

 

[Numion]

Me, I don't really care about New Year's Day one way or the other; it's just another date in the calendar - nothing more, nothing less...

So is your birthday - nothing more, nothing less...

 

[shilsen]

So is your birthday - nothing more, nothing less...

True. Which is why I forgot mine 2 years in the last 5. Am I qualified to use the "just another day" line now ?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Holidays are what you make of 'em. If you go in with the attitude they're gonna be crappy, they're gonna be crappy. Sometimes circumstances dictate that a holiday may not be as happy as it could be, such as when there is an illness or a death, but that is not the fault of the holiday. Bad things happen year-round. At least there are a few days in the year when people generally, in our culture, feel that they should be cool to others. Yeah, I know the rigmarole about how we should be cool to each other year-round, but it's nice to have a time set aside when we make a concerted effort at it.

The way I see it, if I'm healthy, have a roof over my head, and have family and friends who care about me, that's a hell of a lot to be thankful for. I mean, I even have internet access; how bad could life be?

 

[Mark Chance]

If you say so...

Well, except for one thing Mark. New Year's Eve hasn't ever been holy in this culture.

Not sure what "this culture" means, but if you say so. I certainly remember religious-oriented New Year's services when I was a lad. In any event, assuming you're right, it only reinforces my point.

In all ancient cultures that celebrated New Year, the celebration was always fundamentally religious in nature. It was a holy day, not a holiday.

The idea was that the new year allowed the recreation (re-creation - to create again, strictly speaking) of profane time through contact with the sacred. It was literally seen as a chance to get a cosmic do-over (hence the custom of New Year's resolutions, yet another clue as to the religious [albeit largely forgotten] roots of the holiday).

-- Mark L. Chance.

 

[Ziona]

To be honest, I used to see New Years Eve as an excuse for people to get drunk, and when I was younger, I didn't drink at all, so it was kind of silly to me. Also, I'm not a huge fan of the Winter time and snow and cold, either, so I never really made a big deal out of New Years.

However, my husband Xaltar and I were married on New Years Day 2000, so now we have a reason to celebrate! It's not just a "Happy New Year" for us, it's another year together, and that's a reason to be merry! Part of the reason we married on that day was because it was the year 2000 and we thought it was pretty cool to wed then. But, it's also nice to have some meaning to our celebration of the New Year, because it means another year together.

As far as mourning the loss of another year, I really think that's in the eye of the beholder. Do you see the glass half full, or half empty? I think adults need a "holiday" like this where they can just have fun. (My personal fave is Halloween, but not all adults are into dressing up, so there's New Years). I didn't understand that when I was younger, but my reasons for celebrating are still different from other people's. I just think it's all in how you look at the world.

I also don't put much stock in resolutions, because, although it's interesting to think of them, they never truly happen. I think that New Year's Eve & New Year's Day is a good way for people to reflect upon the things they did in the past year, and if it makes you reminisce and rekindle memories, I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

On a final note, we've begun get-togethers with our friends on New Year's Eve, where we stay up all night drinking and gaming! We have a blast!! We play Talisman, PS2, X-Box, Network PC Games, and watch movies...this year we're adding Hero Clix and maybe some LOTR Risk! So, I guess it's really all how you look at things and decide why you're celebrating the New Year. Anyhow, I hope you all find good reasons to celebrate!

Have a safe & happy holiday!