New Year's Eve

I've never been a fan of New Year's Eve. I am a morning person, and 9pm is fairly late for me. Midnight is terribly late. Over the Christmas holiday I was wondering where on earth I could run off to where I could have a quiet, peaceful New Year's Eve without fireworks and guns waking me up at midnight. I had the perfect plan: drive up to Gold Bluffs Beach and camp overnight, wake up to the ocean and a cup of coffee. Gold Bluffs Beach is closed until further notice due to a land slide.

Having just gotten back from Arizona, and leaving for Belize in a week, I decided maybe I should just suck it up and deal with it like I always do. Watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", it made me think about how I see New Year's. I am pretty un-fond of New Year's. Like I pretty much dislike it. If there was a "dislike" button on New Year's, I'd hit it a few times. I don't understand why a holiday would require having to stay up until midnight- watching seconds tick by on a clock. Morning comes and you're tired and hung over. And that's how you start your new year.

Why not start your new year the best way possible? Wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on another year. Exercise, eat right, feel good! I don't know what it is about me that doesn't like to feel like crap, but I just don't. I don't enjoy headaches or nausea or feeling super tired. It's just not my thing.

So New Year's Day I wake up early and go run or do some other sort of workout, have coffee and a good breakfast, and just enjoy the day.

It is hard though with all the noise that happens at midnight.

I love the response I've always gotten when asked to stay up late for whatever reason. "You can just sleep in tomorrow!"

This morning I woke up at 4 am. I went back to bed and closed my eyes. Nothing happened. Namely, I did not fall back to sleep. At about 4:30 I got up and turned on the coffee pot that was set for 5:45. Around 4:45, I got my first cup of coffee and brought it back to bed with me and sipped it in the dark.

I do not control what time I wake up, and usually I can't fall back to sleep.

So New Year's Eve rolls around and I am the Grinch. The Grinch of New Year's.

Watching the movie reminded me that I really should not steal New Year's from anyone. There's this sorta-mean thing I tend to do on New Year's Eve that I think I've decided not to do this year. I turn off my phone (which I AM doing) and then first thing when I wake up in the morning, I text everyone back who texted me at midnight. Say 4 or 5am. And I secretly hope it disturbs their sleep.

Right? Grinch.

In other news, as I was heading out to yoga today, my car decided to go completely powerless. The neighbor jumped it, but as soon as I disconnected the jumper cables, it died. Tried again, let it go longer, disconnected them and it died again. I rode my bike to the auto parts store to get a battery charger and a voltmeter. The battery is fully charged. The mechanic says it's probably the alternator. Which I replaced two years ago. And no longer have the receipt for.

So I'll have to have it towed to the mechanic and leave it there while I head out to Belize. Fortunately for me, the mechanic has decided that he needs the parking while I'm gone, so when they're done, they'll leave my vehicle at my apartment. How cool is that?! These guys are keepers.