A New Years Extravaganza

Happy New Years! I know everyone's tired of hearing that, but I'm going to say it again: Happy New Years! Everyone rang in the next 365 days differently. I know some went to parties, some went to bed. Others prayed in the new year while close friends sat on the couch and watched the NYC Times Square action. Some, like myself, went to Times Square to see what makes it the most exciting place to be on New Years Eve.
At 5:00 am on New Years Eve my mom, my brother and I departed the Amtrak station in Portland for Penn Station. For my mom and Andrew this was just a day trip, so they only carried small backpacks. I, on the other hand, had everything I need for the next four months packed into a suitcase, a backpack, and an illegal third bag. Lugging three bags around two train stations and multiple subways is a pain in the you-know-what, just in case you were wondering.
We arrived at our hotel, the Blakely, which is located on 55th and 7th Ave. We checked in, unpacked, and found a place to eat dinner. Then we scouted out our place in Times Square. We wound up right in the middle of the 48th and Broadway intersection, which has a perfect view of the ball. On three corners were the Olive Garden, the M&M's Store, and the Hershey's Store. And for a very hungry 17 year old girl who stood out in the middle of the street for over seven hours, looking into those windows was quite painful. The rest of the night is actually quite boring, considering it stayed at a solid 38 degrees and we stood in the middle of the street for over seven hours. I'll repeat that: over seven hours.  

The following performers graced us with their presence: Rick Springfield, Ke$ha, Taio Cruz, Backstreet Boys/New Kids on the Block, Liberty Bells, Grayson Chance, and even a wedding. For those of you who like to watch the ball drop from your couches at home, you're probably used to watching performance after performance from all your favorite artists. Well here's a little secret: almost all of those are prefilmed shows. I'm not sure what you all watched tonight, but the only performers I saw were the ones listed above. And they're all allowed three to five minutes each. Here was the schedule for tonight: http://www.timessquarenyc.org/nye/nye_events.html.  As you can see, there's not much actually going on in Times Square on New Years Eve. So now you ask, Why on earth would someone wait outside for so long if nothings going on? Because that last minute when the huge Toshiba screen starts counting down, and tons of confetti is dumped from the tops of buildings, and everyone starts hugging and kissing each other and blowing air horns and screaming, the energy streaming through Times Square is probably enough to kill all the cell phone waves. It doesn't matter who you've been standing with for the last night of the year. Whether they were from Australia, or they were drunk college kids, or they didn't know a word of English, or they just danced crazily to every song that was played (well, that was me), you realize that everyone rings in their New Years in different ways. But this one year, millions of people came together on the same day with one mission: to celebrate the New Year in a way that is completely unexplainable and unpredictable. Some people love it and choose to go back every year. Others hate it and vow to never participate again. I fit into the first category, and as I sit in my hotel room now listening to endless rescue vehicle sirens and reminiscing on this year, I have to say that I lived 2010 with no regrets, and I plan to live 2011 the same way. I encourage everyone to do the same!