I'm bad at NYE

Seeing this post reminded me of just how bad I am at NYE.

My finest example of NYE's laziness was in 2000-2001 when I flew out of LA on 30 December and arrived in Australia on New Year's Day. NYE disappeared somewhere over the date line. This, however, was not actually my worst NYE.

My least enjoyable NYE ever was in 1998-1999 . That year I spent NYE on a Greyhound Bus somewhere between Calgary and Fernie (Canada) with my boyfriend of the time. Along the way I looked up and asked him the time. "Midnight," he grunted, exhausted and bored. "Oh," I said. No one else on the bus moved.

Aside from these low points, I also have a history of simply piking out and deciding to go to bed before midnight. The worst example of this was in 1993-1994 when I was in New York with my father and brother. Jono wanted to go to Times Square for the count down. I refused, declaring that it was already New Year's Day in Australia and so the count down was meaningless. This was the set the tone really...


In 1994-1995 I was in Orlando, once again with my father and brother. Disney World was doing something special for NYE, but we all decided that we would rather get a good night's sleep and went to bed around 9:30pm.

In 2003-2004 P and I watched 9pm 'family fireworks' from Cremorne Point with family before walking back to Dad's place and going to bed. We then watched the midnight fireworks out the spare room window from bed. (To be fair, we were both exhausted from having arrived home that day from China still recovering from food poisoning).

To continue with this pattern, in 2005-2006 P and I went to a funky bar called 'Elsewhere' in Phnom Penh with my brother, Nat and their friends, only to pike around 11:35pm rather than waiting for the midnight countdown. Once again we were exhausted from a nasty bout of food poisoning (and we also had to get up early for a flight to Bangkok).

In 2004-2005 I had no such excuse, but after having friends over early for drinks and sushi, P and I (well me really) sent everyone packing to another party around 11pm and after walking them to Taylor's Square went home to bed just after midnight.

Finally last year (2006-2007) P and I stayed in Canberra, watched the 9pm 'family fireworks' in the rain and then had a hot chocolate in Garema Place before going home to bed. This time my excuse was the fact that I was 7 months pregnant.

My three best NYEs were all between 1999 and 2003.

In 2002-2003 I danced the night away on Lonely Beach, Koh Chang during my post-Uni, post-big-break-up backpacking trip. However, although this was a fun night, I did pay for it the next day...

In 1999-2000 I went out to a few bars in Vancouver with my boyfriend of the time and a small group of friends. We then counted down to the new millennium on the freezing streets of the city that was to become my temporary new home.

And then there was my favourite NYE so far: 2001-2002. That year I spent NYE drinking fruit cocktails around a camp fire at Kangaroo Valley with my brother and a group of friends. I then counted down to midnight by being sent flying into the trees on a huge swing. Not only was it a great night, but I still felt great the next day.

So, the question is: how should I celebrate this coming NYE?

I realise that is over 6 months away, but given my history I think that this is something that I should put a bit of thought into.

[Of course, I may just bow to the reality of having a baby and my general laziness and go to bed early...]