corkboard and pbbth, that sounds like murder to me. Premeditated no less, because you’re standing for 9-10 hours with nothing to drink. Why the hell do people do it? Is it always tourists, or do you know masochistic locals?
For the past few years the rest of my family has attended a college football bowl game on New Year’s Day, so I get a nice, quiet couple of days at home to myself. I take myself to a movie on New Year’s Eve, then watch the ball drop on TV. This year will be different, as my husband and I are planning to spend the weekend at our beach house. I’ll probably still go to a movie and watch the ball drop on TV, though.
The reason people do it is because it is iconic. People have watched the ball drop and listened to Dick Clark count down every year since the beginning of time so they want to go experience it live, albeit with Ryan Seacrest now instead of Dick Clark. They don’t think about the 999,000 other people who want to stand in that same 5 block radius of the ball and watch it drop too. They don’t think about the fact that most of the buildings in that part of Manhattan (and most other parts of Manhattan, actually) are so tall that if you get too far from the ball drop those buildings will block your view. They don’t think about the fact that it is winter in NY and pretty dang cold for the 12 hours you are outside. Locals do it too sometimes but mostly it is tourists. I tried to do it once. We got off the train at 8 pm and it took 45 minutes to walk 1 block. We turned around and walked back to the train and went home.
We don’t have any plans yet as far as I know. When I was growing up, my family had a tradition where we would put together a puzzle together on New Year’s Eve. LOUNE currently won’t let me get any puzzles because we have cats, or else I’d try to keep up the tradition.
pbbth, see, I guess I’d just think (like you did) to show up at 8pm. I’m lucky to go 4 hours without peeing. Man, people who show up from out of town must be piiiiiiiiissed off not to be close by when they show up at like, 6pm. I wonder how many turn back to the hotel and how many tough it out, not being able to see anything. I definitely considered it, in the Dick Clark days. I guess I can’t see the enjoyment with Ryan Seacrest, really.
traditional fun - cheesy movies and assorted fondues.
Hot chicken broth and : chicken and beef cubes, precooked baby potatoes, pearl onions and baby bok choy, assorted dips
Digby’s Cheesy Spoo and : asparagus tips, bread cubes, veggies from the soup fondue
chocolate fondue and : hothouse strawberries, vanilla pound cake cubes, banana discs
And to drink, a good cheap plonk turned into sangria, egg nog with whisky, rum or bourbon and coffee with various fixings.
You have to be careful to not overheat the cheesy spoo, we heat it with a tealight once it ends up in the fondue pot otherwise it burns and curdles. Same goes for the chocolate. Supposedly one can adjust the temp of the alcohol burner but it never seems to work. I think I may investigate electric fondue pots next.
Sometimes we get lucky and find the really thin slices of beef for making shabu shabu, and we get those and have a go at slicing the chicken real thinly as well. Unfortunately they closed the chinese grocery in Norwich that had the lovely shabu shabu beef and we haven’t found a good source for it closer than the Salem Meat Market.
I’ll be in bed asleep.
I’ve never enjoyed NYE, forced jollity over a arbitrary date change is not my idea of fun.
I have had exactly two fun new years eve ever, one was on top of Victoria peak in Hong Kong, the other was an overnight stay on a boat in Milford Sound NZ.
The enjoyment was nothing to do with NY and everything to do with HK and NZ
My friends and I rent a local bar for NYE. Well drinks, finger foods, and champagne for the midnight toast are all included in the cost. People make their own music sets and take turns as DJ for an hour or so each until PA law requires the bar to close at 2 AM, then it’s off to the hotel for the afterparty.
NYE fucking rules.
I should be in Lijiang, Yunnan in southwest China. I plan to have a couple of Beerlao Darks and hopefully will be able to light fireworks in the streets.
I’ll be in the Maldives with my husband 
My girlfriend from the USA will be here, celebrating her first Dutch Christmas and NYE.
We plan on spending it with our best friend, making it a relaxing and fun evening.
Probably some alcohol will be involved. Play some games/watch some tv to stay entertained.
Oh, and of course she’ll be amused by all the traditional Dutch snacks and tv-shows.
Then, at midnight, we go outside and watch the fireworks in the streets.
For the first time in 20 years I plan on getting some fireworks myself to make sure we have something to OoOOooOh over.
with a 103-degree fever and nearby bucket to hand, i pretty much slept right through most of dec 31/jan 1.
i’m hoping this year will be a bit more fun. 
For almost 15 years we’ve been gathering at a home for NYE. Initially it was ours, as our kids grew up and other friends procreated we’ve moved to their houses instead. Traditionally dinner is pot luck style with the host roasting a prime rib on the BBQ. Tradition also requires that we end up with way more side dishes and desserts than necessary for the number of people attending.
Entertainment includes some kind of game and has bounced over the years between various computer, board or card games. I believe the plan this year is for some kind of Wii game and poker.
You win the thread as far as I’m concerned 
I’ll be in the Muffdives with D :D;)
(Y’all better not tell on me!:D:D)
Q
Last year, the Other Shoe and I got drunk and watched porn. I cooked us a T-bone at some point. Probably do the same this year. Maybe we’ll mix it up a bit - he can grill the steak!
That was hands-down the best post of the week. Hehe, thanks for sharing, purplehorseshoe
(ETA: Jennyrosity still won the thread though. ;))
I’ll be at my in-laws in Chicago, with my wife and our one-year-old son.
I don’t think we’ll be doing much partying, but maybe a little celebration at the house.
I will be in San Francisco at the Furthur concert. Further is the most recent Grateful Dead offshoot. The original bass and rhythm guitar player and a bunch of other folks.
My wifes parents and Brother and his family are staying with us over the holidays. I suspect we will have a late meal , drink some champagne and hit bed not long after midnight as we have skiing the next day. Last year involved the same crowd except in teh southern hemisphere sitting by a pool drinking champagne until our wives removed all remaining bottles as it was 4am. We did solve most of the worlds problems, alas nobody took notes.