Ringing in the New Year. New Years kind of sucked this year. Not all of it, but some. For starters, most of my friends went to Tempe to see the Cats kick some ass in the Fiesta Bowl. I ended up hanging with my good friend Kyle and his friends Raquel, Jake/Jeremy, and Jamie. We had a good time, which included my first ever fondue experience, Cranium, and Taboo. That was probably the best part of my New Years Eve. THEN we went to Aggieville to see the first annual ball dropping ceremony. Ahhh how to describe it....

When we got there, there were 12,500,000 people (not really, but we couldn't really get into the mouth of Aggieville. They had a lazer light show going on, and it was displaying logos of the sponsers of the event as well as unsettling images of the grim reaper. Then they did a countdown of the top ten events to hit Manhattan. The only one I agreed should have been on the list was the Cats wining the big 12 championship. Everything else, such as the opening of our local Target, the debate over whether to pray in city hall, and the temporary closure of a small section of 3rd street, was utterly ridiculous. At about 11:59, our attention was directed to a small "apple" (which looked more like a disco-ball-style strawberry) on a maybe 10-foot pole on top of Varney's. Then there was the 10 second countdown. The "ball" dropped about two feet between our "NINE!" and "SEVEN!", and that was the extent of the ball drop. At one, a pretty fair fireworks display illuminated the surroundings, which held the overly depressing image of several happy couples kissing and then kissing more and then making out and then pretty much laying down and having sex right on Manhattan Avenue! It was so great. Anyway...

Today composed of me waking up and watching some of the Rose Bowl Parade, which brought back happy memories of my childhood, so I decided to go and buy some of the traditional New Years fare that my family and I have enjoyed for many a year... black eyed peas and cabbage - which are said to bring good luck in the coming year. I've never really been a fan of the stuff actually, but, I decided, why not?

I sort of knew how to make the black-eyed peas... the peas, of course, some ham hock, an onion, some chicken broth, and a little (or a lot) of Tabasco. They turned out about like always... which I was happy with. For the cabbage, my family usually has cole slaw, but I wasn't feeling that, so I opted to attempt a cabbage casserole like one my Uncle Jim brought to Christmas dinner quite a few years ago. I searched diligently for about two and a half minutes before finding one that seemed about the same, and I made it, and it turned out reasonably well. I invited Kyle over, and he tried some, but he's not too into the whole cabbage and black-eyed pea scene, so we ordered some supplemental Gumby's. I really think that New Years got the shaft as far as holiday food. I mean.... who thought up those things? Why can't cheesburgers and french fries bring you good luck???

Anyway... then we watched Identity, which was good, and a couple episodes of The Office, which I love, and then we played and beat Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in cooperative mode. Kyle left then, and I did dishes, then came to my room and discovered an away message from Katie, which made me smile. And so I decided to blog. This has been my 2004 so far... it's off to a great start, I feel! I wonder what the coming year will bring? Fame? Fortune? A girlfriend? The possibilities are endless... this is, after all, the year I turn twenty-one. In four days, I will officially have only six months left to wait... although by that time most of my over twenty-one year old friends will be graduated gone.