Parade? Football? But it isn't New Year's Day anymore...

Since I woke up early anyway, I've been watching the Tournament of Roses parade this morning, the first time I've watched the whole thing in quite a few years.

First of all, I have to say that as nice as the television coverage is, once you've actually been the parade (and I have been, three times during junior high and high school, so a long time ago), watching on TV just doesn't do the parade justice. It's pretty on TV and all. It's just not the same as being there.

Having said that, however, I loved the surfing dogs. And the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are always bonus.

Mostly, what watching the parade this morning did was make me homesick for Southern California. It's been 34 years since I've lived there, but it still is and will always be home. The fact that the sun was out, the sky was blue and it was apparently about 75 degrees F at parade time, all made me want to be there rather than here. Although, it's supposed to get about 65 degrees here today, way above normal for this time of year. I might have to get up and out later if it really does that.

Also, I have issues with the fact that the parade was today, the second, rather than yesterday, when it should have been. I know. It's tradition that the parade be held on Monday when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday. But it's a tradition I don't like. It would be like having the 4th of July on Saturday or Monday if it fell on a Sunday.

Oh, wait. They do that in Utah. Never mind.

Still, at least I'm not depressed after watching the parade. I expected that I might be. One of the reasons, besides it not being the same on TV after seeing the parade in person, that I quit watching the parade, was that I would watch it after I moved away from Southern California, sit there crying through the whole thing, wishing I was back there rather than where I was, and then be generally inconsolable for about a week afterward.

This time, I'm a bit homesick, yes. But I didn't weep through the whole thing, and I don't want to just go back to bed mope for the rest of the day.

It's an improvement.

Now, if all that football would Just. Go. Away.

It's the holidays, and I'm feeling just a little cranky, or, are the holidays over yet?

Apparently, someone in the neighborhood thinks tonight is New Year's Eve, judging by the noise they were just making outside. They got the timing just about right; it's 11:58 p.m. local time as I write this, but they're off by a day.

Although, actually, I'd be just as happy if this was New Year's Eve. I'm ready for a new year to start. Of course, because New Year's Day is on a Sunday this year, they're dragging the whole thing out an extra day. Personally, I think it is lame to have the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl Game on Monday when the first is on Sunday, but then I guess I don't get a vote.

You may have gotten the impression, from the preceding two paragraphs, that I'm feeling a little cranky around the whole New Year's thing. That impression would be correct. Some of the crankiness has to do with just wanting 2011 to be over with, but most of it has to do with the fact that I hate the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day with a a passion the temperature of molten rock.

I might have written about this issue here before, but just in case I haven't, the short version is this: The week between Christmas and the end of the year always seems like a week of wasted days, with one holiday just over and the other one hovering just over the horizon, waiting to happen. Also, to be completely frank, it's just an arbitrary date. A good excuse to have a party, some would say. Me? Not so much. We need a good party in, say, August, where there are no holidays. It's warmer then. A much better time for a party, in my opinion.

Let me be clear. I know the reasons why we in the Western World celebrate New Year's when we do. I know no one is going to change the date we celebrate the New Year. Except when in falls on a Sunday, and then only by one day. But two holidays seven days apart is just too much for me. It's bad enough that Halloween and Thanksgiving fall roughly a month apart, with Christmas following about a month after Thanksgiving.

On the other hand, if Samoa could jump the International Date Line, as it did this year, and lose December 30 altogether, and if my cousin's family could celebrate her birthday, which falls on Christmas Day, on the Fourth of July instead, couldn't we just move New Year's Day a little farther away from Christmas? Please?

Happy New Year's Eve...

Happy New Year to those of you who have already made it into 2010, and for those of you who are still on this side of midnight, Happy New Year's Eve, and I hope you have a fun but safe celebr ation.

Me? I'm staying home and hiding from all the madness. It's a tradition that I like just fine, thanks. I'll make dinner, watch some TV, maybe some DVDs, possibly watch the ball drop in New York when they televise that (if I think of it), and perhaps get some writing done. I've got a new internet project that I hope will go live within the next week or so, and I need to do some preparation for that.

I did have to share something I saw earlier today as I was on the bus on the way home after spending the day knitting with friends.

There was a guy standing on the median at one of the busiest intersections in town, one of the places where people usually stand with signs asking for work, for money or for something to eat.

None of that for this guy. His sign read, in big block letters: "WON'T LIE. NEED BEER."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I guess my worse nature came out, because I settled on laughing. But, you know...I think he at least deserves points for honesty.