Metatalktail Hour: How auld is your lang syne? December 31, 2022 4:32 AM Subscribe
Happy weekend, dear friends, and happy brand new year! 🎉 As we put our old acquaintance, 2022, in the rear view mirror (with perhaps some measure of relief), I'd like to ask about your traditions for celebrating the new year holiday, whenever you celebrate it. Any special foods, games, customs, rituals? What will you be doing, if anything special, to mark the transition?
And whatever else is on , I'd just like to take this opportunity to offer a cup of kindness ...
And there's a hand my trusty friend
And give me a hand o' thine
And we'll take a right good Metatalktail draught
for auld lang syne.
I wish you all a very happy and hopefully much improved 2023! Thank you so much for being here. 💖
And whatever else is on , I'd just like to take this opportunity to offer a cup of kindness ...
And there's a hand my trusty friend
And give me a hand o' thine
And we'll take a right good Metatalktail draught
for auld lang syne.
I wish you all a very happy and hopefully much improved 2023! Thank you so much for being here. 💖
It's my wife's birthday, and we've been celebrating together since 1995 turned into 96. That first year we took a carriage ride through Central Park, went to see the Alvin Ailey dancers, swung by Times Square early but it was way too cold to stand out there so we went back to my clum apartment in Queens to watch the ball drop on TV.
This year it will be Scrabble and Glass Onion with our son and her mom and sister. I feel so lucky every year to get to spend another year with my favorite human.
posted by rikschell at 5:20 AM on December 31, 2022 [18 favorites]
This year it will be Scrabble and Glass Onion with our son and her mom and sister. I feel so lucky every year to get to spend another year with my favorite human.
posted by rikschell at 5:20 AM on December 31, 2022 [18 favorites]
A couple memorable New Year's Eves:
* In the early 90s I worked for a company that had an office overlooking Times Square. One year I decided to take advantage of that and just stayed there after work one December 31st, with a couple friends coming by at about 5 pm. At some point one of my friends left to use the bathroom down the hall, and came back with two strangers in tow; they were doing the same thing, but had a bad view of the ball drop in the office they were in. I invited them to join us, since we had a better view. To thank me, they showed us a trick they'd learned - they'd swiped a few of the spare toilet paper rolls from the bathrooms, and showed us that if you unrolled enough of the roll out the window, at some point the wind would catch it and start unspooling it for you. So we did that a couple times. ...I've seen later footage of Dick Clark's broadcast from that year, and at a couple points when he is talking you can totally see a couple of our huge toilet paper streamers waving behind him.
* In the New Year's Eve rollover from 1999 to 2000, someone launched this huge international photo project. If you signed up (they had caps on the number of participants for each location), you submitted 3 photos taken any time between noon on 12/31/99 and noon on 1/1/20, from whereever in the world you were, and 500 or so of them would be selected for inclusion in a book. I got in the running; I'd heard that there were going to be some hourly observances in Times Square for each one of the world time zones, and I figured I could get something there if I went at about 3 or 4 pm, when they were marking New Year's Eve in Kazakhstan's time zone or something. But things were already full and they weren't letting any crowds near Times Square. I snapped a couple photos of random things, then went to take some photos in Central Park or something. But - one of those near-Times-Square photos was of a guy selling novelty plastic "2000" goggles, and I'd caught him just as he was standing next to a storefront with a sign reading "Shop closing soon, inventory clearance." And that photo actually got picked for the book.
* In 2015/2016, I was in Paris, for the first time. I'd seen a note in my guide book about a cocktail bar based in the spot which used to be Lizst's apartment, and thought that sounded like a swanky option; but when I got there, I learned the guidebook was a little misleading. It was a bar alright, but it was more of a private-party velvet-rope kind of place. The bouncers took pity on me and let me in anyway; and instead of the lavish club I'd envisioned, I was shown into a couple of empty rooms, with a techno DJ set up in one room playing for about 30 hipsters and a small bar that specialized craft gin. I realized I was way out of my depth and ordered one cocktail, planning to sit in the corner and drink it quick and get out. ...But shortly after midnight, this one adorably friendly (and slightly drunk) guy started running around hollering "Bonne Annee!" at everyone, offering them a hug as he did; even to me, when he saw me sitting awkwardly in the corner.
....But when I don't have anything like that going on, I'm more about food - eating something decadent and "lucky" at some place in the world. Tonight will be some posole (I started making it yesterday), and tomorrow I have black-eyed peas and collard greens on the menu.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:20 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
* In the early 90s I worked for a company that had an office overlooking Times Square. One year I decided to take advantage of that and just stayed there after work one December 31st, with a couple friends coming by at about 5 pm. At some point one of my friends left to use the bathroom down the hall, and came back with two strangers in tow; they were doing the same thing, but had a bad view of the ball drop in the office they were in. I invited them to join us, since we had a better view. To thank me, they showed us a trick they'd learned - they'd swiped a few of the spare toilet paper rolls from the bathrooms, and showed us that if you unrolled enough of the roll out the window, at some point the wind would catch it and start unspooling it for you. So we did that a couple times. ...I've seen later footage of Dick Clark's broadcast from that year, and at a couple points when he is talking you can totally see a couple of our huge toilet paper streamers waving behind him.
* In the New Year's Eve rollover from 1999 to 2000, someone launched this huge international photo project. If you signed up (they had caps on the number of participants for each location), you submitted 3 photos taken any time between noon on 12/31/99 and noon on 1/1/20, from whereever in the world you were, and 500 or so of them would be selected for inclusion in a book. I got in the running; I'd heard that there were going to be some hourly observances in Times Square for each one of the world time zones, and I figured I could get something there if I went at about 3 or 4 pm, when they were marking New Year's Eve in Kazakhstan's time zone or something. But things were already full and they weren't letting any crowds near Times Square. I snapped a couple photos of random things, then went to take some photos in Central Park or something. But - one of those near-Times-Square photos was of a guy selling novelty plastic "2000" goggles, and I'd caught him just as he was standing next to a storefront with a sign reading "Shop closing soon, inventory clearance." And that photo actually got picked for the book.
* In 2015/2016, I was in Paris, for the first time. I'd seen a note in my guide book about a cocktail bar based in the spot which used to be Lizst's apartment, and thought that sounded like a swanky option; but when I got there, I learned the guidebook was a little misleading. It was a bar alright, but it was more of a private-party velvet-rope kind of place. The bouncers took pity on me and let me in anyway; and instead of the lavish club I'd envisioned, I was shown into a couple of empty rooms, with a techno DJ set up in one room playing for about 30 hipsters and a small bar that specialized craft gin. I realized I was way out of my depth and ordered one cocktail, planning to sit in the corner and drink it quick and get out. ...But shortly after midnight, this one adorably friendly (and slightly drunk) guy started running around hollering "Bonne Annee!" at everyone, offering them a hug as he did; even to me, when he saw me sitting awkwardly in the corner.
....But when I don't have anything like that going on, I'm more about food - eating something decadent and "lucky" at some place in the world. Tonight will be some posole (I started making it yesterday), and tomorrow I have black-eyed peas and collard greens on the menu.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:20 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
After a morning of doing admin in the city before it got too crowded, I'm now back in my Worcestershire hideaway. Tonight, when the bells ring in the new year, there will be ... asleep. Partially as I am too old and boring to go out partying, and partially as here on "plague island" so many people are going down with airborne illnesses that spending a few hours in a crowded room somewhere with a lot of drunk, uninhibited people? Nope to that.
However, going to video chat with several people and there's a sort of schedule for 1-2-1 and group online chats worked out for today. Plus, as I've done several times in the last week or so, there will be swans on the river to be fed.
I'm quite looking forward to 2023, for several reasons. There's a new Godzilla film (a proper, Toho, one) due out. If the many rumours are true, Boards of Canada will release the album they've allegedly been working on since 2022 / 2021 / 2019 / 1992 (delete as applicable to rumour). If / when it feels safe enough I'm going to make a trip to Bergen in Norway. If we don't get an Android / phone iteration of Animal Crossing this year coming, then there'll hopefully be firm news of a 2024 one (just, please Nintendo, add some narrative in this one, unlike Pocket Camp). And I'm near the start of a partial career change, of which the bulk will (hopefully) happen this year coming.
Right; I have a box of Marks and Spencer dark chocolate Jaffa Cakes, a Waitrose cheeseboard, some oatcakes, some grapes, a ... quantity ... of mince pies, and a particularly interesting looking Merlot (that should probably remain unopened until after the video chats). Think that's it for 2022, of which there's less than 11 hours left. Wishing all MeFites a peaceful, healthy and fulfilling 2023.
posted by Wordshore at 5:25 AM on December 31, 2022 [15 favorites]
However, going to video chat with several people and there's a sort of schedule for 1-2-1 and group online chats worked out for today. Plus, as I've done several times in the last week or so, there will be swans on the river to be fed.
I'm quite looking forward to 2023, for several reasons. There's a new Godzilla film (a proper, Toho, one) due out. If the many rumours are true, Boards of Canada will release the album they've allegedly been working on since 2022 / 2021 / 2019 / 1992 (delete as applicable to rumour). If / when it feels safe enough I'm going to make a trip to Bergen in Norway. If we don't get an Android / phone iteration of Animal Crossing this year coming, then there'll hopefully be firm news of a 2024 one (just, please Nintendo, add some narrative in this one, unlike Pocket Camp). And I'm near the start of a partial career change, of which the bulk will (hopefully) happen this year coming.
Right; I have a box of Marks and Spencer dark chocolate Jaffa Cakes, a Waitrose cheeseboard, some oatcakes, some grapes, a ... quantity ... of mince pies, and a particularly interesting looking Merlot (that should probably remain unopened until after the video chats). Think that's it for 2022, of which there's less than 11 hours left. Wishing all MeFites a peaceful, healthy and fulfilling 2023.
posted by Wordshore at 5:25 AM on December 31, 2022 [15 favorites]
After a blissful decade+ of my feeling zero need to stay up until midnight, last year our then-seven year-old and two friends stayed up (so we and their parents also did). Same crew is coming over tonight. It’s really nice to be friends with our kid’s friends’ parents, however fleeting a moment this might be in the scheme of things.
posted by Pax at 5:40 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Pax at 5:40 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
I will do a quick stop at a neighbor's new years eve thing tonight, but New Years Day is where it's at for me. Midnight is arbitrary, dawn is the start of something new. (For me! Calendars are also arbitrary, so feel renewal at your own pace.)
Tomorrow is hoppin john and coffee on the porch at dawn. This whole weekend is, discipline willing, some much needed house cleaning.
A poem for the occasion, by Trista Mateer:
Tomorrow is hoppin john and coffee on the porch at dawn. This whole weekend is, discipline willing, some much needed house cleaning.
A poem for the occasion, by Trista Mateer:
new yearposted by the primroses were over at 5:46 AM on December 31, 2022 [12 favorites]
we have done it
waded through another impossible year
stared failure in the face and cruelty too
we did not always plan to make it
but look at us
survivors nonetheless
I quit drinking about a decade ago.
Me too! I quit in January 2013, and can count the number of drinks I've had since then on my fingers. I've never been drunk in all that time. Sobriety from alcohol is great, high fives all round.
We've got quiet plans for tonight; I'm editing some writing today, then we're going to watch Knives Out and roast all the leftover Christmas vegetables that still need using up. Glass Onion tomorrow and perhaps the Weird Al biopic on Monday, then back to work on Tuesday.
Last night we watched Cats for the first time (the 1998 film of the stage show, not the 2019 film that caused Andrew Lloyd Webber to require a therapy dog). I can't help wondering how many gay people, furries and gay furries had those realisations about themselves as a direct result of the Rum Tum Tugger section of the show. I do wonder what everyone involved was smoking, from Eliot to Trevor Nunn (who, incidentally, I've met), ALW & Cameron Mackintosh. Not that I can complain given that I was also high while watching it.
2023 is feeling positive and hopeful so far. I've had a pretty nice break overall, highlights being visits from friends who live far away (though one has recently moved three hours away, instead of six, which is huge for being able to spend more time together) and some great meals. I have a consultation about top surgery on the 3rd and am hoping to get a date around April if I can. I have Springsteen tickets for June and frankly more travel plans than I suspect I'll have time for. I'm feeling pretty persistently content lately and enjoying it a lot.
posted by terretu at 5:56 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Me too! I quit in January 2013, and can count the number of drinks I've had since then on my fingers. I've never been drunk in all that time. Sobriety from alcohol is great, high fives all round.
We've got quiet plans for tonight; I'm editing some writing today, then we're going to watch Knives Out and roast all the leftover Christmas vegetables that still need using up. Glass Onion tomorrow and perhaps the Weird Al biopic on Monday, then back to work on Tuesday.
Last night we watched Cats for the first time (the 1998 film of the stage show, not the 2019 film that caused Andrew Lloyd Webber to require a therapy dog). I can't help wondering how many gay people, furries and gay furries had those realisations about themselves as a direct result of the Rum Tum Tugger section of the show. I do wonder what everyone involved was smoking, from Eliot to Trevor Nunn (who, incidentally, I've met), ALW & Cameron Mackintosh. Not that I can complain given that I was also high while watching it.
2023 is feeling positive and hopeful so far. I've had a pretty nice break overall, highlights being visits from friends who live far away (though one has recently moved three hours away, instead of six, which is huge for being able to spend more time together) and some great meals. I have a consultation about top surgery on the 3rd and am hoping to get a date around April if I can. I have Springsteen tickets for June and frankly more travel plans than I suspect I'll have time for. I'm feeling pretty persistently content lately and enjoying it a lot.
posted by terretu at 5:56 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Shepherd and I are now COVID negative after losing Christmas to this nasty virus, so we will be making pad see ew, drinking Topo Chico fizzy (sober New Year's Eve is where it's at!), and continuing our annual tradition of watching the Big Fat Quiz. We rarely make it to midnight anymore, but I will try.
Tomorrow is greens and black-eyed peas, a nod to my Southern heritage, probably some TV before the wild rumpus of Back to Real Life begins on Monday.
posted by Kitteh at 6:17 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
Tomorrow is greens and black-eyed peas, a nod to my Southern heritage, probably some TV before the wild rumpus of Back to Real Life begins on Monday.
posted by Kitteh at 6:17 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
My wife and I both have the flu. My case is mild, hers is the opposite of mild. Odds of us even being awake to watch the ball drop on TV are close to zero. If you are going out to celebrate, please be responsible, and careful.
Happy New Year.
posted by COD at 6:29 AM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
Happy New Year.
posted by COD at 6:29 AM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
We're in Buffalo, so the end of year holidays are hitting a bit different this year. We're still planning on our traditional "watch the Big Fat Quiz of the year and go to bed early" new year's plans, but that's more of a bright spot in the weekend than its focus this year. (We're personally fine, but generally horrified.)
posted by okayokayigive at 6:46 AM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by okayokayigive at 6:46 AM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
the primroses were over, that poem is great!!
We're cooking — our typical holiday-of-any-kind celebration. We're having rolled pork, black-eyed peas, greens, pappardelle pasta, and mixed green salad. And I'm having champagne, though I won't be drunk. I haven't been drunk on new year's eve for ... well, decades. At first it was because I left new year's to the amateurs, and didn't want to be among a throng of people unused to getting their drink on, of whom some were likely to discharge firearms (yes, U.S., then) to celebrate. We used to visit my folks in the country and bring a huge bag of oysters in the shell to put on the grill. Now I'm just more sedate. Sedater.
posted by taz (staff) at 7:00 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
We're cooking — our typical holiday-of-any-kind celebration. We're having rolled pork, black-eyed peas, greens, pappardelle pasta, and mixed green salad. And I'm having champagne, though I won't be drunk. I haven't been drunk on new year's eve for ... well, decades. At first it was because I left new year's to the amateurs, and didn't want to be among a throng of people unused to getting their drink on, of whom some were likely to discharge firearms (yes, U.S., then) to celebrate. We used to visit my folks in the country and bring a huge bag of oysters in the shell to put on the grill. Now I'm just more sedate. Sedater.
posted by taz (staff) at 7:00 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
My husband and I will have a New Year’s Eve picnic dinner on the rug in front of the wood stove. There’ll be the honey-baked feta from the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, some chestnuts roasted on the wood stove, some other nice dinner snacks, Prosecco to toast with, and a chocolate silk pie for dessert. I highly recommend picnic-on-the-rug to anyone who needs something a little celebratory but dead-easy.
posted by daisyace at 7:01 AM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by daisyace at 7:01 AM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
Flying back home today after spending Christmas with my family. I don't really celebrate New Years Eve anyway but after a full day of traveling and going through two time zones I'm really not going to want to go out. I think I'll just stay home, enjoy some wine and watch Colombo. That sounds like a perfect way to start the new year.
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:03 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by downtohisturtles at 7:03 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Our NYE tradition for many years is to lay out a spread of nibbly things - cheese, fruit, candies, etc. - plus a splurge on a bottle of nice champagne and real caviar. My wife and daughter almost never stay up until midnight, so I am left to my own devices to ring in the new year.
I can't even begin to imagine what lies ahead for 2023, but I hope for everyone that it has some moments of calm and beauty that help sustain us through the inevitable chaos.
posted by briank at 7:12 AM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
I can't even begin to imagine what lies ahead for 2023, but I hope for everyone that it has some moments of calm and beauty that help sustain us through the inevitable chaos.
posted by briank at 7:12 AM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
Over the last decade or so, we've developed a tradition of eating kålpølser (as its tradition in Sønderjylland, where one branch of my family have roots) and colcannon on new year's eve. The problem is that these particular sausages are impossible to find here in the UK. Consequently, we have to either bring some with us if we get to travel to visit my family in Denmark, or a few years they've even posted us some! The tradition has expanded into sausages generally - we've scaled down to four kinds of snack/starter sausages this year.
At some point our group decided that since we don't know the words to Auld Lang Syne anyway and none of us can stand Jools Holland anymore that we put Painkiller by Judas Priest on at exactly midnight. So the last several years have started with loudly and badly singing along with Rob Halford. I'm looking forward to it.
posted by Dysk at 7:42 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
At some point our group decided that since we don't know the words to Auld Lang Syne anyway and none of us can stand Jools Holland anymore that we put Painkiller by Judas Priest on at exactly midnight. So the last several years have started with loudly and badly singing along with Rob Halford. I'm looking forward to it.
posted by Dysk at 7:42 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
Oh, I forgot a New Year's Eve!
In 2011-2012, my dear friends had just gotten a place in Moab, Utah, and we all went there to sort of inaugurate the place. We all went on a hike during the day on New Year's Eve, and then (using a cookbook I'd gotten from the Christmas gift haul) went back to make dinner, and then watch the Times Square ball drop; we were all still Brooklynites then (they've since moved to Colorado), and we realized since we were on Mountain Time, we could watch the Times Square ball drop at a reasonable hour. So we counted in the New Year on Eastern Time, complete with champagne, and then all went to bed THEN, when it was still only 10 pm where we actually were; so when we woke up the next morning, we all felt fine and it wasn't too late, and we realized that was one of our smarter ideas ever.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:44 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
In 2011-2012, my dear friends had just gotten a place in Moab, Utah, and we all went there to sort of inaugurate the place. We all went on a hike during the day on New Year's Eve, and then (using a cookbook I'd gotten from the Christmas gift haul) went back to make dinner, and then watch the Times Square ball drop; we were all still Brooklynites then (they've since moved to Colorado), and we realized since we were on Mountain Time, we could watch the Times Square ball drop at a reasonable hour. So we counted in the New Year on Eastern Time, complete with champagne, and then all went to bed THEN, when it was still only 10 pm where we actually were; so when we woke up the next morning, we all felt fine and it wasn't too late, and we realized that was one of our smarter ideas ever.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:44 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
My wife and I formally started dating on New Year's Eve - we were chatting online, lamenting that we had pretty light weeks coming up but couldn't spend the time together, as I was in Texas and she in California, when it occurred to me that I had a *bunch* of JetBlue miles from a previous job's business travel, and, sure enough, air travel on NYE itself is dirt cheap. An hour and a half later, I was on a plane.
As a result, we have decided to celebrate it as our anniversary. We pick a fun narrative-heavy game that we can play together (usually with me driving and jointly deciding story choices), get something nice to eat, and spend the whole day together. Alex doesn't drink at all (I saw her get a two-day hangover from half a bottle of hard cider, the only time I've ever seen her drink), and I really prefer not to leave the house on Amateur Night, so it works out very well for both of us.
This year, because we spent the last two days visiting friends in NYC, we're punting to tomorrow (which, fortunately, we both have zero problem with - the point is what we do, not exactly when we do it.) I think we may try Stray.
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 8:36 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
As a result, we have decided to celebrate it as our anniversary. We pick a fun narrative-heavy game that we can play together (usually with me driving and jointly deciding story choices), get something nice to eat, and spend the whole day together. Alex doesn't drink at all (I saw her get a two-day hangover from half a bottle of hard cider, the only time I've ever seen her drink), and I really prefer not to leave the house on Amateur Night, so it works out very well for both of us.
This year, because we spent the last two days visiting friends in NYC, we're punting to tomorrow (which, fortunately, we both have zero problem with - the point is what we do, not exactly when we do it.) I think we may try Stray.
posted by restless_nomad (retired) at 8:36 AM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
I'm immune-suppressed and my meds leave me with no drinking tolerance (one drink leaves me with a shocking hangover) so we're going to have a quiet day/evening. Tomorrow we're going to a friend's brunch open house though I expect I'll just be masked and give everyone hugs.
Glad to see so many non-drinking, non-partying options out there.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:43 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Glad to see so many non-drinking, non-partying options out there.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 8:43 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Immune-surpressed person here too! Not allowed alcohol with my current meds, so no drinks for me either. I have, however, ordered a multi-course dinner for delivery from one of the fancy restaurants here, which I am looking forward to.
I will probably be asleep well before midnight but we're having a mid-afternoon video call with friends in Australia, which will be nice.
I just found out the local restaurant that does the best breakfast sandwiches is open tomorrow, so will probably grab one of those for brunch.
posted by Kris10_b at 9:13 AM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
I will probably be asleep well before midnight but we're having a mid-afternoon video call with friends in Australia, which will be nice.
I just found out the local restaurant that does the best breakfast sandwiches is open tomorrow, so will probably grab one of those for brunch.
posted by Kris10_b at 9:13 AM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
I’m skiing with my daughter, hope to stay awake long enough to look down at the fireworks in the village below us. Sad not to spend it with Dexter the dog, he’s very afraid of the fireworks and needs all the cuddles. He’s in good hands though.
posted by boogieboy at 9:18 AM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by boogieboy at 9:18 AM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
My best friends, with whom I usually spent New Year's Eve, have moved to Stonehaven, Scotland this year. They were telling me of all the fun small town/village traditions they've experienced this holiday season and mentioned the fireballs that get swung about at Midnight on the High Street. I've found that there is a web cam set up and will be watching from California while they go and watch in person (well, one may watch and one may stay home with their greyhounds).
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:27 AM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by agatha_magatha at 9:27 AM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
Tonight I am checking off a bucket list item, catching Phish at Madison Square Garden. I'm here for the four night run and so far the shows have been amazing. I've met some great people and made some friends. They always pull off An Event for New Years Eve (I made a post about one of them once) and it's always a total surprise and something completely unexpected that often makes absolutely no sense to anyone outside the community. I suppose that's true for most of what they do.
posted by bondcliff at 9:46 AM on December 31, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 9:46 AM on December 31, 2022 [14 favorites]
Food, booze, cats, one person dance party. Jan 1 is my first cat B's birthday - he's the ginger one. We don't know what it really is, and that's what the vet wrote down during the first visit, so. My kittycat is THREE YEARS OLD and he's a very Good albeit Loud Boy. He's yelling at me right now, demanding to be let out immediately right this moment please and thank you.
Frankly terrified of 2023 after a hellish 2022, which I really thought would be better since Covid-wise we seemed to have turned a corner (i forgot that non-covid tragedies could sneak up on me). I no longer have such delusions.
Wishing you all a happy year ahead. May it treat you gently.
posted by Nieshka at 10:25 AM on December 31, 2022 [12 favorites]
Frankly terrified of 2023 after a hellish 2022, which I really thought would be better since Covid-wise we seemed to have turned a corner (i forgot that non-covid tragedies could sneak up on me). I no longer have such delusions.
Wishing you all a happy year ahead. May it treat you gently.
posted by Nieshka at 10:25 AM on December 31, 2022 [12 favorites]
I can already tell this isn't going to be a grand start of a better year. Mom's dementia is in major mode today and I'm enjoying the serenade of vocalized grunts emitted with her every other breath interspersed with little yelps at times just to add sauce to the continuous drone. To say my nerves are frazzled is to speak truth.
So I am hoping for an early quiet night. There's leftovers in the fridge and plenty of snacks to enjoy.
posted by mightshould at 10:37 AM on December 31, 2022 [11 favorites]
So I am hoping for an early quiet night. There's leftovers in the fridge and plenty of snacks to enjoy.
posted by mightshould at 10:37 AM on December 31, 2022 [11 favorites]
We have fireworks on the mountain every year at midnight, so if I'm still awake by then I like to bundle up, wander out into the street, and see which other neighbors are out watching, too.
Starting Monday, Jan 2, a few of us are doing the Apartment Therapy January Cure over on IRL, where you get daily tasks to get your home clean and ready for the new year. Everyone is welcome to join. I'm getting a head start on it on my own today with fresh bedding, swept floors, and empty trashcans, which seems fitting -- 2023 will be a welcome houseguest and I am looking forward to her arrival.
posted by mochapickle at 10:41 AM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
Starting Monday, Jan 2, a few of us are doing the Apartment Therapy January Cure over on IRL, where you get daily tasks to get your home clean and ready for the new year. Everyone is welcome to join. I'm getting a head start on it on my own today with fresh bedding, swept floors, and empty trashcans, which seems fitting -- 2023 will be a welcome houseguest and I am looking forward to her arrival.
posted by mochapickle at 10:41 AM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
Covid is currently making its way through our household. Spouse has been sick all week (but thankfully on the mend and able to step up today) and I got sick last night. Kiddo is fine and we are both very much hoping he stays that way.
We normally have a quiet night, so that part will not be different from years past. Subs and wings for dinner. I’m thinking of switching from Veronica Speedwell audiobooks to episodes of Ugly Betty as background for the aching fog.
I wish every single one of you a peaceful closing of 2022 and a joyous 2023. I think we all could use some magic in the upcoming year.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 10:50 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
We normally have a quiet night, so that part will not be different from years past. Subs and wings for dinner. I’m thinking of switching from Veronica Speedwell audiobooks to episodes of Ugly Betty as background for the aching fog.
I wish every single one of you a peaceful closing of 2022 and a joyous 2023. I think we all could use some magic in the upcoming year.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 10:50 AM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
This has turned out to be a puttering day. I made mincemeat this morning - I don't really need it but have missed fiddling with the recipe. (This year I misread the amount of raisins but was able to skip the brown sugar.) I'll make a half-batch of cookies tonight, and figure out the rest of it... sometime later. The house smells delicious.
There is lingering disarray from hosting family and a hard freeze, which I am slowly working through. I'm also doing one of those year-planning workbooks, aided by tea. Mowing the lawn looks like this afternoon's project. (It will only take maybe half an hour, but I do not like mowing so my reward is not having to do anything else.)
Happy New Year, Metafilter!
posted by mersen at 11:26 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
There is lingering disarray from hosting family and a hard freeze, which I am slowly working through. I'm also doing one of those year-planning workbooks, aided by tea. Mowing the lawn looks like this afternoon's project. (It will only take maybe half an hour, but I do not like mowing so my reward is not having to do anything else.)
Happy New Year, Metafilter!
posted by mersen at 11:26 AM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm not a big Thanksgiving or Christmas person, New Years Eve is my favorite holiday. I love getting glammed up, going out and eating food, drinking a lot, wearing beads and silly hats, dancing and having fun with friends, winding up to a hug-fest at midnight and then stumbling out into the cold, drunk and happy and with sore feet to make your way home.
As my friends have had kids, plus Covid, the celebrations have been smaller, but still very enjoyable. Tonight, the fiancé and I are going to a local banquet place that is holding a thing with a married pair of his friends that I really like. I'm looking forward to it.
2023 is looking great for me -- I'll be buying a house with the fiance, selling mine, and then getting married, eeeep! 2023 also marks 5 years (?!!!) of running Metafilter Card Club, which I'm proud of.
Happy New Years, Metafilter! Best wishes for a safe, healthy and fulfilling 2023 🎉
posted by Sparky Buttons at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2022 [30 favorites]
As my friends have had kids, plus Covid, the celebrations have been smaller, but still very enjoyable. Tonight, the fiancé and I are going to a local banquet place that is holding a thing with a married pair of his friends that I really like. I'm looking forward to it.
2023 is looking great for me -- I'll be buying a house with the fiance, selling mine, and then getting married, eeeep! 2023 also marks 5 years (?!!!) of running Metafilter Card Club, which I'm proud of.
Happy New Years, Metafilter! Best wishes for a safe, healthy and fulfilling 2023 🎉
posted by Sparky Buttons at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2022 [30 favorites]
Welp, my NYE is rapidly turning even more low-energy; I've had this lingering infection in my ear, one that I was SUPPOSED to see an ENT about three days ago until he up and decided to cancel all his appointments that week. I rescheduled for the next available appointment (the 9th) and in the meantime the antibiotics I was taking have run out, and it'll be a couple days before I can even simply call the doctor and ask for a refill.
In the meantime, though, that gunk is showing signs that it's getting ready to relocate from my ear into my sinuses, and I'm kind of trying to encourage that because I might be able to deal with that more easily (Neti pot, mucus thinner, decongestants and the like). I've got a moderately spicey posole on deck for tonight and I'm hoping that helps too.
But in the meantime I'm coping with some gunk-induced vertigo while it figures out whether it's going to stay in my ear or move out.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:11 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
In the meantime, though, that gunk is showing signs that it's getting ready to relocate from my ear into my sinuses, and I'm kind of trying to encourage that because I might be able to deal with that more easily (Neti pot, mucus thinner, decongestants and the like). I've got a moderately spicey posole on deck for tonight and I'm hoping that helps too.
But in the meantime I'm coping with some gunk-induced vertigo while it figures out whether it's going to stay in my ear or move out.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:11 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
Another one on the sober (band)wagon. It's nearly 24 years since I stopped drinking so I tend to stay home on what we recovering alcoholics call 'Amateur Night'. I've made a trifle to eat over the next few days, and tomorrow the Christmas decorations are put away for another year. I'd usually go for a long walk in the forest where I live, but we've had a lot of rain with more to come, and it's really muddy right now, so no fun at all for a long hike.
Anyhoo, I got up this morning and changed out of my sleep PJs into my lounging PJs, and will soon change back into my sleep ones. Livin' it large, just me and the cat, waiting for Match of the Day to come on TV.
posted by essexjan at 1:18 PM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
Anyhoo, I got up this morning and changed out of my sleep PJs into my lounging PJs, and will soon change back into my sleep ones. Livin' it large, just me and the cat, waiting for Match of the Day to come on TV.
posted by essexjan at 1:18 PM on December 31, 2022 [10 favorites]
continuing our annual tradition of watching the Big Fat Quiz
Oh thank you for the reminder!
not_on_display continues to test positive for COVID after nearly ten days, poor guy, so he's not coming up here for the "ring in the New Year with some of the local nerds" event which (I think?) we did last year. I went over there for Xmas in my elf costume and we had ChatGPT make some five-person plays on various inane holiday topics and had fun reading them aloud. This time there may be a round of "I want it" which is a sort of white elephant thing and I'm making vegan red beans and rice which is a nice sign of health because I felt dragass for a LOT of 2022 for various reasons. I pretty much don't drink (and my friends are mostly affable stoners who appreciate a good cocktail) but may have a celebratory beer because Capt. Renault brought me a few from Canada when he was cruising through town.
Earlier today I got out for a walk, returned some library books including Incredible Doom (vol 1 and 2) by MeFi's own churl (SO GOOD) and hammered some of the ice out of the driveway since it's above freezing. I sent out issue 100 of my librarian newsletter and blabbed with some folks on Mastodon and email and chat.
On January 9, assuming all goes well, we close the deal selling my mom's house, my childhood home and I CAN NOT WAIT. It's been such an exasperating process but my sister, who I have been doing it with, has mostly been a champ and we've been a good team. In a year that started out with a bunch of not-great uncertainty, it's wrapping up in a way that is definitely nicer and chiller and for that I am grateful. Happy New Year. Fuck right off 2022. I'm glad you're all here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:41 PM on December 31, 2022 [19 favorites]
Oh thank you for the reminder!
not_on_display continues to test positive for COVID after nearly ten days, poor guy, so he's not coming up here for the "ring in the New Year with some of the local nerds" event which (I think?) we did last year. I went over there for Xmas in my elf costume and we had ChatGPT make some five-person plays on various inane holiday topics and had fun reading them aloud. This time there may be a round of "I want it" which is a sort of white elephant thing and I'm making vegan red beans and rice which is a nice sign of health because I felt dragass for a LOT of 2022 for various reasons. I pretty much don't drink (and my friends are mostly affable stoners who appreciate a good cocktail) but may have a celebratory beer because Capt. Renault brought me a few from Canada when he was cruising through town.
Earlier today I got out for a walk, returned some library books including Incredible Doom (vol 1 and 2) by MeFi's own churl (SO GOOD) and hammered some of the ice out of the driveway since it's above freezing. I sent out issue 100 of my librarian newsletter and blabbed with some folks on Mastodon and email and chat.
On January 9, assuming all goes well, we close the deal selling my mom's house, my childhood home and I CAN NOT WAIT. It's been such an exasperating process but my sister, who I have been doing it with, has mostly been a champ and we've been a good team. In a year that started out with a bunch of not-great uncertainty, it's wrapping up in a way that is definitely nicer and chiller and for that I am grateful. Happy New Year. Fuck right off 2022. I'm glad you're all here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:41 PM on December 31, 2022 [19 favorites]
Let the Good Guys Win above is best New Years song ever: Thank you O Canada.
posted by y2karl at 2:03 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 2:03 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
We don't really have any New Year's Eve traditions but tonight we're making fondue, which is Swiss, and a Swiss roll, which isn't, and maybe that will become a tradition. This partially depends on how well the Swiss roll turns out, I've never made one before.
posted by an octopus IRL at 2:07 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by an octopus IRL at 2:07 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
Just got home from work and have made the transition from wet shoes and pants to dry socks and fuzzy pants. Spent the day watering plants in various greenhouses and I am so pleased to be home, warm and dry.
And that’s my New Year celebration: home, warm and dry.
Wishing y’all a wonderful year to come.
posted by sciencegeek at 2:10 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
And that’s my New Year celebration: home, warm and dry.
Wishing y’all a wonderful year to come.
posted by sciencegeek at 2:10 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
Happy Hogmanay Metafilter!
posted by ellieBOA at 2:28 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by ellieBOA at 2:28 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
The atmospheric river of rain has driven the ants into my flat, so I'm starting off the new year with a bout of invigorating formicide, which also involves cleaning the kitchen, so that's good. The rain and wind knocked a tree across the freeway near my house so there have been a lot of sirens and some chainsawing.
The person I've spent the last few New Year's eves with is out of the country, so I'll spend it downstairs with my close friends, one of whom is having a birthday, although not a birthday party. There will probably be a couple of champagne cocktails, some cheese and crackers, and various of us falling asleep on the couch, I predict. If it's not raining tomorrow there's a good long hike with friends happening.
I've had the last week off work and spent it tackling various house projects, complete with a trip to Ikea and minor furniture assembly. My housemate is off on the East Coast. I'm really enjoying being by myself in my house, which is new for me and I'm leaning into that.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
The person I've spent the last few New Year's eves with is out of the country, so I'll spend it downstairs with my close friends, one of whom is having a birthday, although not a birthday party. There will probably be a couple of champagne cocktails, some cheese and crackers, and various of us falling asleep on the couch, I predict. If it's not raining tomorrow there's a good long hike with friends happening.
I've had the last week off work and spent it tackling various house projects, complete with a trip to Ikea and minor furniture assembly. My housemate is off on the East Coast. I'm really enjoying being by myself in my house, which is new for me and I'm leaning into that.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
Kiss A Cat! I will end and begin as I do each night and day by kissing a cat, Happee New Year, Baby Goat!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:07 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:07 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
It is already 2023 here, so far the outlook is: hot. I need to close windows to keep the heat from getting inside, then it will be a bit more sleep before hanging out with a friend playing games (PC or board, maybe both).
Last night I saw in the New Year listening to an episode of "You're Wrong About" while doing a Colin Thompson jigsaw puzzle. I'd meant to have a wee dram of scotch and some raspberries but I got sucked into the puzzle and then the firework noise started. Checked on the kitty, who was flooping obliviously on the bed, gave him some scritches and had a quick, sleepy Happy New Year from my sweetie in the US. Did some more puzzle and then thought I'd wind down by playing a bit of Pentiment, which I got due to a comment somewhere here on MF. I got so sucked into the game that when I finally stopped it was after 3. Oops. restlessnomad, if you are looking for a good narrative game for your NYE custom, Pentiment is where it's at.
Happy 2023 to all, when you get there, however you celebrate!
posted by Athanassiel at 3:22 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
Last night I saw in the New Year listening to an episode of "You're Wrong About" while doing a Colin Thompson jigsaw puzzle. I'd meant to have a wee dram of scotch and some raspberries but I got sucked into the puzzle and then the firework noise started. Checked on the kitty, who was flooping obliviously on the bed, gave him some scritches and had a quick, sleepy Happy New Year from my sweetie in the US. Did some more puzzle and then thought I'd wind down by playing a bit of Pentiment, which I got due to a comment somewhere here on MF. I got so sucked into the game that when I finally stopped it was after 3. Oops. restlessnomad, if you are looking for a good narrative game for your NYE custom, Pentiment is where it's at.
Happy 2023 to all, when you get there, however you celebrate!
posted by Athanassiel at 3:22 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
I slept through New Years Eve as is my tradition and I'm here to tell you that 2023 is alright so far. I'd like to point out that it's also the year that Xardoz was set in, so you've all been warned, but thus far no signs of hairy men running about in red nappies.
posted by ninazer0 at 3:24 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by ninazer0 at 3:24 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
I had a bit of an epiphany last night: I don't give a fuck right off in this my seventh decade, anymore. Green eyeliner like Sophia Loren (I don't look like Sophia Loren and will never look like Sophia Loren) hell yes, who cares, get outta my old lady way. I've been so tired for so long, being shamed for marrying my love who is younger, as if I was pouncing round the nursery from afar. For taking big chances on various jobs and opportunities, when I'm supposed to be working a steady dull job to buy more shit. For being a paid professional alcohol seller, and being proud of my skill and knowledge; champagne is an endlessly fascinating product that can hardly be beat for sheer complexity of process. I feel sorrow for those who can't drink alcohol anymore, sorrow for the world in which much of us must self medicate to get through it all. So I don't feel shame anymore, I've not got enough years left for that.
The champagne is chilling, I got some of those tasty tasty puff pastry snackies, and tomorrow I'll make aguas frescas of melon, cucumber, and guava, with some mescal for sunshine. Then start my project of walking over to the neighborhood outdoor gym and fumbling around on the equipment, why not?
There used to a be a lady in LA who wore head-to-toe same colors, with loads of accessories and jewelery. I'm not there, yet. But thinking about what colors they'll be...
Wishing everyone here a very happy and bright year ahead, however you like it.
posted by winesong at 4:05 PM on December 31, 2022 [16 favorites]
The champagne is chilling, I got some of those tasty tasty puff pastry snackies, and tomorrow I'll make aguas frescas of melon, cucumber, and guava, with some mescal for sunshine. Then start my project of walking over to the neighborhood outdoor gym and fumbling around on the equipment, why not?
There used to a be a lady in LA who wore head-to-toe same colors, with loads of accessories and jewelery. I'm not there, yet. But thinking about what colors they'll be...
Wishing everyone here a very happy and bright year ahead, however you like it.
posted by winesong at 4:05 PM on December 31, 2022 [16 favorites]
Currently doing our New Years Eve ritual of watching the Thames fireworks on the TV, while listening to the explosions live through the open window.
posted by Grangousier at 4:06 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Grangousier at 4:06 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
for those of you in the future, how's 2023 feeling. an old tradition in college on New year's was that we always spoke the truth if asked a question from the hours of 9:00 and 12:00 and reminiscence of the previous year or years was somehow interwoven into presents future. for example, a song by Nirvana might be playing at the bar and the conversation might entail how we all heard of his death on the radio while skipping poly-sci to get high whereas"today"you can see it within minutes on Yahoo or CNN'web page.
Happy New Year Metafilter, may the numerals find you well.
posted by clavdivs at 4:12 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Happy New Year Metafilter, may the numerals find you well.
posted by clavdivs at 4:12 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
We don't really have any New Year's Eve traditions but tonight we're making fondue, which is Swiss, and a Swiss roll, which isn't, and maybe that will become a tradition. This partially depends on how well the Swiss roll turns out, I've never made one before.
Update: the Swiss roll did not go well.
posted by an octopus IRL at 4:18 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
Update: the Swiss roll did not go well.
posted by an octopus IRL at 4:18 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
(But it was tasty)
posted by an octopus IRL at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by an octopus IRL at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2022 [8 favorites]
When I look back at 2022, all I can think of was only doctor’s visits/surgeries for me and my family. I’m so glad the year is coming to an end and we are all feeling better and stronger now. Best thing happened this year was, making some new friends with other mefites through meta card club.Thanks Sparky Buttons.
Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!🎉🎊
posted by SunPower at 4:27 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead!🎉🎊
posted by SunPower at 4:27 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
My worst new year's eve, so far, was the one I spent in a bus station in Cleveland.
My second worst was the one where I came home and threw up in the kitchen sink.
Those were both more than twenty years ago, so perhaps I have adopted more sensible holiday practices.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
My second worst was the one where I came home and threw up in the kitchen sink.
Those were both more than twenty years ago, so perhaps I have adopted more sensible holiday practices.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
The good news about a lot failures in the kitchen, an octopus IRL, is that they're still tasty. I think we're experiencing this with Jacques Pepin's seafood bread. It's something we've made before, but it ain't happening tonight in the way we expect.
posted by mollweide at 4:37 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 4:37 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
A couple of years ago someone introduced me to:
What’s something you want to take with you into the new year?
What’s something you want to leave behind?
For me:
Taking with: a new understanding of myself, hard-won.
Leaving behind: a couple of unhealthy relationships that are never going to be what I want them to be.
posted by curious nu at 5:50 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
What’s something you want to take with you into the new year?
What’s something you want to leave behind?
For me:
Taking with: a new understanding of myself, hard-won.
Leaving behind: a couple of unhealthy relationships that are never going to be what I want them to be.
posted by curious nu at 5:50 PM on December 31, 2022 [7 favorites]
Hello from 2023!
I drove to a friend’s flat, we watched a New Year’s episode of Mad Men, then walked to a nearby(ish) park in the drizzle to watch Edinburgh’s Hogmanay fireworks going off over the Castle. Despite the rain and the walk being longer than anticipated, we arrived in time to grab ourselves an actual park bench to sit on and couldn’t believe our luck. The fireworks looked closer than I anticipated, and we watched them in proper, if rather damp, comfort, and free of charge (to get a close-up view you have to pay to go into the the city centre street party, but that’s a young person’s game).
Then, having supped only decent alcohol-free fizz/beer, I drove myself home, had a dram of home made bramble whisky on the sofa watching the end of Jools Holland and now am off to my bed.
Metafilter, and its still being around, is one of the things I’m grateful for going into 2023 - thanks to jessamyn and the transition and steering committees, and everyone else who’s helped make that happen. And to everyone else for being here.
Happy New Year everyone!
posted by penguin pie at 5:57 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
I drove to a friend’s flat, we watched a New Year’s episode of Mad Men, then walked to a nearby(ish) park in the drizzle to watch Edinburgh’s Hogmanay fireworks going off over the Castle. Despite the rain and the walk being longer than anticipated, we arrived in time to grab ourselves an actual park bench to sit on and couldn’t believe our luck. The fireworks looked closer than I anticipated, and we watched them in proper, if rather damp, comfort, and free of charge (to get a close-up view you have to pay to go into the the city centre street party, but that’s a young person’s game).
Then, having supped only decent alcohol-free fizz/beer, I drove myself home, had a dram of home made bramble whisky on the sofa watching the end of Jools Holland and now am off to my bed.
Metafilter, and its still being around, is one of the things I’m grateful for going into 2023 - thanks to jessamyn and the transition and steering committees, and everyone else who’s helped make that happen. And to everyone else for being here.
Happy New Year everyone!
posted by penguin pie at 5:57 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
I went on a mystery coach trip yesterday, with my father - he has dementia and I thought it would be a different way to spend a day with him. It's rather unfortunately called a Twixmas trip because of the time of year. I'm meditating whether it is a good thing to make into a New Year tradition. It didn't go too badly and we found a good local museum and an excellent Oxfam bookshop at the mystery destination, but it did take four hours to do a journey that should take around two - partly because of bad traffic, but also because of all the picking up of groups of people on the way.
posted by paduasoy at 6:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by paduasoy at 6:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
I don't know that it's a custom so much as something you just do, but I always change the calendars when a new year starts. Each Christmas for many years now, I've been the happy recipient of the Star Trek Ships of the Line calendars. And I've discovered that somehow, improbably, I took down my 2021 calendar in preparation for hanging the 2022 edition (with different ships!) ... and promptly put the 2021 calendar up again. So, if you're cringing from a brain fart and need to know you're not alone, I've got you covered.
Happy 2023, MeFi friends.
posted by bryon at 6:43 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Happy 2023, MeFi friends.
posted by bryon at 6:43 PM on December 31, 2022 [5 favorites]
Kind of disappointed in myself for begging off an invitation to a NYE party when it's been years since I've been invited to one I could go to. There are supposed to be lots and lots of people there so I shouldn't be missed, but I just wasn't in the mood, for reasons. One of them is the tripledemic, although I have all applicable shots. I have avoided COVID so far (to my knowledge) and it seems like bad form to tempt the devil. Possibly even typing that out was bad luck.
Anyway, the year comes with or without our permission, and there will be greens and black-eyed peas tomorrow. Happy new year to all --
posted by Countess Elena at 7:38 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
Anyway, the year comes with or without our permission, and there will be greens and black-eyed peas tomorrow. Happy new year to all --
posted by Countess Elena at 7:38 PM on December 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
I don't care if I do anything on NYE, but it's long standing tradition for me to do a polar bear plunge. Start the year clean and invigorated.
posted by brookeb at 7:40 PM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by brookeb at 7:40 PM on December 31, 2022 [6 favorites]
Hear! Hear! Winesong!
posted by Oyéah at 8:22 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 8:22 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have to make a new, New Years tradition, since my grandson can do it on his own now, at least I think that is how this evening is going. His parents have a music gig for every New Year so I have been there for grand boy and dogs who fear fireworks. This evening I will go to bed soon, probably, probably not open the sparkling wine from Trader Joes I bought six months ago. I liked the click top bottle with the porcelain stopper. Not a drinker really. But, I love January 2, it is the realm of silence, and all possibilities. Best to all of you.
posted by Oyéah at 8:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 8:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [2 favorites]
We also watch the Big Fat Quiz of the Year on Bew Year's Eve every year. I'm so pleased that others do that as well.
This year, my mom and I made fondue (it came out poorly but it was fun to attempt) and we had pound cake with cool whip and strawberries (came out GREAT).
And now we're lounging with the dogs on the couch. It's not quite 2022 here so happy NYE and 2023 to you all!
posted by dearadeline at 8:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
This year, my mom and I made fondue (it came out poorly but it was fun to attempt) and we had pound cake with cool whip and strawberries (came out GREAT).
And now we're lounging with the dogs on the couch. It's not quite 2022 here so happy NYE and 2023 to you all!
posted by dearadeline at 8:31 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I decided that I would quit smoking on December 31st 1999 as I didn’t want to carry the habit into the new millennium. We were visiting Mr. Carmicha’s father, then about 95, who lived on the Intracoastal Waterway. I had grand ideas about mindfully smoking my last cigarette as midnight approached while watching the water contemplatively, taking a last drag and stubbing it out as the fireworks and cheering began. But instead, the mister, my FIL and I all fell asleep watching tv people warning about dire possibilities related to Y2K. We woke up around 12:20. I may have slept through my last cigarette, but I never smoked another.
posted by carmicha at 10:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 10:33 PM on December 31, 2022 [9 favorites]
Happy 2023! I got to ring in the new year with a negative antigen test!
COVID-FREE IN '23!â„¢
posted by not_on_display at 11:30 PM on December 31, 2022 [11 favorites]
COVID-FREE IN '23!â„¢
posted by not_on_display at 11:30 PM on December 31, 2022 [11 favorites]
I have to add this about the song Let the Good Guys Win I linked above. I heard it last night on one of the CBC programs our local NPR station runs before it switches to BBC World Service at midnight. I was struck by how it looked to the future with a hopeful wish rather than to the past with nostalgia as does Auld Lang Syne, which I have always loved.
Mefi's own hades, who I met at my last job at the Burke Museum is a friend on Facebook and posted a wonderful version of Auld Lang Syne there today and I cross posted Let the Good Guys Win in a comment there, where he noted the singer and songwriter was Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer Charles de Lint. I think that is worth noting.
And now I am going out to watch the Space Needle fireworks due in 10 minutes.
posted by y2karl at 11:52 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
Mefi's own hades, who I met at my last job at the Burke Museum is a friend on Facebook and posted a wonderful version of Auld Lang Syne there today and I cross posted Let the Good Guys Win in a comment there, where he noted the singer and songwriter was Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer Charles de Lint. I think that is worth noting.
And now I am going out to watch the Space Needle fireworks due in 10 minutes.
posted by y2karl at 11:52 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I find New Year's is a great time to do a radio show. This one's happening now but it's completely concerned with 1972 ... for some reason or other.
posted by philip-random at 11:55 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by philip-random at 11:55 PM on December 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I HOPE YOUR 2023 IS EXCRUCIATINGLY GOOD, EVERYBODY!
posted by aubilenon at 12:04 AM on January 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 12:04 AM on January 1, 2023 [6 favorites]
So, I watched the fireworks framed by two tall trees a block away at the Space Needle a mile and a half farther distant. And they went on for about twenty minutes. At which point I could hear the crowd roar at the end. That's always impressive.
It's been rainy off and on all day and the marine layer clouds are low overhead. But it stopped at the right time. The smoke from the fireworks made a cloud below the clouds.
I second aubilenon's emotion.
Happy New Year everyone.
posted by y2karl at 1:04 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's been rainy off and on all day and the marine layer clouds are low overhead. But it stopped at the right time. The smoke from the fireworks made a cloud below the clouds.
I second aubilenon's emotion.
Happy New Year everyone.
posted by y2karl at 1:04 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
This is the second year in a row where my husband and I stay up to midnight, awkwardly trying to not be too loud while my relatives pike (leave) and go to bed. Last year was at our house while my sister visited, this year we are at my parent's house, in the past the folks usually have stayed up but they've both had covid just before Christmas and they've been rattled by it.
We missed out on an epic hay bale pool last year because my sister was visiting. (We do every other year at home or out of town for Christmas, which impacts NYE.) Have resolved to spend next NYE with my husband's siblings as they have much more fun. (There's probably more best left for an ask.me.)
I don't usually do resolutions but this year I want to get out and about with my kiddos a bit more- library story time, swimming lessons, playgroup. Hopefully build up a bit of an immune system after being partially cloistered away from the world for the last two years. Littlefeet starts kinder next year and while it's not like it's 7 days a week I want to enjoy the toddlerhood, not just endure it. Littlestfeet is an absolute delight at the moment.
Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for being mefites.
posted by freethefeet at 3:25 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
We missed out on an epic hay bale pool last year because my sister was visiting. (We do every other year at home or out of town for Christmas, which impacts NYE.) Have resolved to spend next NYE with my husband's siblings as they have much more fun. (There's probably more best left for an ask.me.)
I don't usually do resolutions but this year I want to get out and about with my kiddos a bit more- library story time, swimming lessons, playgroup. Hopefully build up a bit of an immune system after being partially cloistered away from the world for the last two years. Littlefeet starts kinder next year and while it's not like it's 7 days a week I want to enjoy the toddlerhood, not just endure it. Littlestfeet is an absolute delight at the moment.
Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for being mefites.
posted by freethefeet at 3:25 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Some close friends moved away in 2009-10, and for many years we were a halfway point for them on their return visit from Christmas with family; so New Years was this bonus holiday where we’d mostly not go out, just lounge for a couple of days in our pajamas and eat snacks and catch up on all the things we had to talk about after a year apart. Then COVID hit and this wonderful tradition died, along with so much else…. but in its wake the friends decided to move back to our town, to a house a mile from ours. So last night (sponsored by antigen tests, open windows, and a CR box) we sat around with them and another friend and ate snacks and talked for hours and played a rousing game of Telephone Pictionary. No year apart necessary.
I think this was only the third time we’ve had grownups over for food since 2020. Naturally the iffy drawer in the kitchen picked last night at 5:15 pm to fall apart completely. Mr. eirias managed to stabilize it before anyone showed up, bless him. I made two snacks, both of which turned out a little crispier than I hoped, but both of which disappeared gratifyingly quickly.
posted by eirias at 5:12 AM on January 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think this was only the third time we’ve had grownups over for food since 2020. Naturally the iffy drawer in the kitchen picked last night at 5:15 pm to fall apart completely. Mr. eirias managed to stabilize it before anyone showed up, bless him. I made two snacks, both of which turned out a little crispier than I hoped, but both of which disappeared gratifyingly quickly.
posted by eirias at 5:12 AM on January 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Any plans we had this year got kind of scuppered; after several falls in December, my mom (eighty in a few months, inshallah) is hospitalized. I am staying at her place, looking after her cat. She’s doing okay, but she’ll be there for another day or two at least. My own plans with the family (as with some other mefites) for hors d’oeuvres and a Big Fat Quiz have been postponed.
I’ve had better and worse. There was the year I had just started a new job, which job ultimately turned out to be pretty good after an inauspicious start. On the other hand, the first day of the new millennium was pretty good: as a longtime tabletop gamer, I have long tried to take advantage of the week of weird non-time beaten Xmas and NYE to try to assemble people for a big game of something. On January 1, 2001, seven or eight of us convened at noon at a friend’s house for a full game of Advanced Civilization, which was glorious.
Over the holidays that year, my sweetie had returned home for vacation from her teaching gig in Singapore, and I spent some time with her, including New Year’s Eve itself.
So: the first day of the new millennium, I spent the first twelve hours with an enthusiastic redhead and the second twelve playing a great board game . I gotta say that every day since then by comparison has looked like pitiful.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:44 AM on January 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
I’ve had better and worse. There was the year I had just started a new job, which job ultimately turned out to be pretty good after an inauspicious start. On the other hand, the first day of the new millennium was pretty good: as a longtime tabletop gamer, I have long tried to take advantage of the week of weird non-time beaten Xmas and NYE to try to assemble people for a big game of something. On January 1, 2001, seven or eight of us convened at noon at a friend’s house for a full game of Advanced Civilization, which was glorious.
Over the holidays that year, my sweetie had returned home for vacation from her teaching gig in Singapore, and I spent some time with her, including New Year’s Eve itself.
So: the first day of the new millennium, I spent the first twelve hours with an enthusiastic redhead and the second twelve playing a great board game . I gotta say that every day since then by comparison has looked like pitiful.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:44 AM on January 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Last night I learned, we have stated traditions and unstated traditions.
Stated (and, honestly, boring) tradition: Make it until midnight, kiss, have a glass of champagne. It's also tradition for me to wake up with a massive headache. Something about champagne does not sit right with me. Feeling great today, but I woke up and saw I was only able to stay awake enough to have half a glass.
Unstated:
1. Apparently, it is tradition for our kid to spend NYE at a friends house? Neither me nor my partner remember this. We can only remember it happening once. The particular friend is someone we didn't think they were really in contact with anymore, now that they are going to different schools and such.
2. We haven't had cable/OTA TV for a while. 10 years? As such, we don't have an easy way to either watch the ball drop, fireworks, whatever. I am told I ask my partner to solve the problem each year and then I jump in anyway to try and find an answer with stress all around. I said I wouldn't this year, yet still offered suggestions. So... not the best tradition, but apparently it is one. Good news is, stress is all resolved well before midnight and the kiss.
3. All the gunshots in the area! Why, why, why? There is certainly a better way to ring in the new year.
But, yeah, we definitely don't go out on amateur night (I thought that was an Ed McMahon thing, not an AA thing?). Although, with the literal guns ablazin', not sure we are more safe at home. Partner and I discussed making a new tradition of finding a nice, quiet hotel to avoid the noise in the future.
Much love to all and may this year be better in every possible way than the last.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 6:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Stated (and, honestly, boring) tradition: Make it until midnight, kiss, have a glass of champagne. It's also tradition for me to wake up with a massive headache. Something about champagne does not sit right with me. Feeling great today, but I woke up and saw I was only able to stay awake enough to have half a glass.
Unstated:
1. Apparently, it is tradition for our kid to spend NYE at a friends house? Neither me nor my partner remember this. We can only remember it happening once. The particular friend is someone we didn't think they were really in contact with anymore, now that they are going to different schools and such.
2. We haven't had cable/OTA TV for a while. 10 years? As such, we don't have an easy way to either watch the ball drop, fireworks, whatever. I am told I ask my partner to solve the problem each year and then I jump in anyway to try and find an answer with stress all around. I said I wouldn't this year, yet still offered suggestions. So... not the best tradition, but apparently it is one. Good news is, stress is all resolved well before midnight and the kiss.
3. All the gunshots in the area! Why, why, why? There is certainly a better way to ring in the new year.
But, yeah, we definitely don't go out on amateur night (I thought that was an Ed McMahon thing, not an AA thing?). Although, with the literal guns ablazin', not sure we are more safe at home. Partner and I discussed making a new tradition of finding a nice, quiet hotel to avoid the noise in the future.
Much love to all and may this year be better in every possible way than the last.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 6:58 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
My band was able to pull off a New Year's Eve party gig last night for the first time since 2019, so that was a good time with a crowd of 450-ish ringing in the new year. And this morning my hips aren't bothering me thanks to the super cushioned mat that my wife found for me for Christmas. Standing up, playing and singing for 75 to 90 minutes at a stretch has been taking a toll on me for a while.
Being out last night, I missed all the celebratory gunfire that usually erupts not far from our neighborhood.
posted by emelenjr at 7:23 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Being out last night, I missed all the celebratory gunfire that usually erupts not far from our neighborhood.
posted by emelenjr at 7:23 AM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hello from New York!
My roommate and I were both homebodies, each of us staying in our little turfs; I was noodling about on the posole yesterday and its various components (I was making the hominy from scratch and that took all morning, and then I combined everything in the evening). I switched over to the TV just in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square, and then packed it in.
Equally chill this morning as I still nurse my ear, and I'll be starting the black-eyed peas in an hour (i'm going with a slow cooker application this year). I'm also going to try to bake something just because; one of the things I did with my week off this week was to clean out and organize the SNOT out of my pantry and food stores, with an eye towards finally USING things (I have a bad habit of buying interesting-sounding ingredients at funky food stores, but then hoarding them like Smaug instead of using them). I think I have all the makings for something that could finally use up the half package of hazelnut flour I found in there, for instance, and bonus, I'll have a baked goodie in the house.
There's a new-agey thing about picking one word to declare what your intentions are for the coming year, and I actually think I'm going to go with "empress", for much of the same reasons I chose that as my handle - the tarot card meaning. The vibe of the Empress card is this sort of nurturing, abundant, hippie Earth mother kind of vibe; acknowledging the abundance you've got, and actually treating yourself and others to it. Recognizing that you have 5 different kinds of flour on hand, and that the 5 different kinds of flour you have are pointless unless you actually do something with them. Sharing with others, and also sharing them just with yourself because you deserve it too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:15 AM on January 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
My roommate and I were both homebodies, each of us staying in our little turfs; I was noodling about on the posole yesterday and its various components (I was making the hominy from scratch and that took all morning, and then I combined everything in the evening). I switched over to the TV just in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square, and then packed it in.
Equally chill this morning as I still nurse my ear, and I'll be starting the black-eyed peas in an hour (i'm going with a slow cooker application this year). I'm also going to try to bake something just because; one of the things I did with my week off this week was to clean out and organize the SNOT out of my pantry and food stores, with an eye towards finally USING things (I have a bad habit of buying interesting-sounding ingredients at funky food stores, but then hoarding them like Smaug instead of using them). I think I have all the makings for something that could finally use up the half package of hazelnut flour I found in there, for instance, and bonus, I'll have a baked goodie in the house.
There's a new-agey thing about picking one word to declare what your intentions are for the coming year, and I actually think I'm going to go with "empress", for much of the same reasons I chose that as my handle - the tarot card meaning. The vibe of the Empress card is this sort of nurturing, abundant, hippie Earth mother kind of vibe; acknowledging the abundance you've got, and actually treating yourself and others to it. Recognizing that you have 5 different kinds of flour on hand, and that the 5 different kinds of flour you have are pointless unless you actually do something with them. Sharing with others, and also sharing them just with yourself because you deserve it too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:15 AM on January 1, 2023 [9 favorites]
No real NYE traditions to speak of (unless going in the tub and watching teevee is a tradition), but on New Year's Day I *must* watch the Neujahrskonzert from Vienna. It's been a family tradition ever since we've had a television. When the Radetzky March comes up, I miss my Dad pretty hard.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:10 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:10 AM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Much love to all and may this year be better in every possible way than the last.
After 2020 and 2020 won and 2020 II, I hope this is the year that we are 2020-free.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:13 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
After 2020 and 2020 won and 2020 II, I hope this is the year that we are 2020-free.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:13 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
This year I resolve to finish what I
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:26 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:26 AM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
This year I resolve to finish what I
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:26 PM on January 1 [1 favorite +] [!]
'm going to stop finishing peoples' sentences for them.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 11:02 AM on January 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:26 PM on January 1 [1 favorite +] [!]
'm going to stop finishing peoples' sentences for them.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 11:02 AM on January 1, 2023 [7 favorites]
ATTENTION BAKING PEOPLE!
I have just discovered a recipe that will help you with cleaning out the baking part of your pantry, and using up the weird little random half-empty non-staple ingredients you maybe picked up for Christmas cookies - the half a package of nuts, the half a bag of white chocolate chips, the scant half cup of raisins, you name it.
I am midway through the baking part of a batch of these Kitchen Cupboard Cookies - and so far so good. And it seems very flexible and forgiving - as long as you have the basic batter down (butter, sugars, the egg, the flour and baking soda, the vanilla) you can play around with the other ingredients:
* It called for 2 cups of quick rolled oats, I only had one and that hasn't seemed to make much of a difference.
* I didn't have rice krispies, but I had sliced almonds and threw those in instead.
* I also used white chocolate chips instead of the mini M&Ms called for, in equal quantity.
* I threw in a handful of dried cranberries at the last minute because why not.
I've eaten three already. Yeah, this works. And it will make room for the more regular-staple stuff. (I'm not a butterscotch fan, I got those chips to make a non-chocolate fudge flavor this year.)
This serious may become a new New Year's Day staple. I really like how much more of a handle I have on my food stores after that deep re-org, and how I have a bit more clarity on how to use stuff. I've just bookmarked a whole whack of "Mad-Libs" kind of recipes to use stuff up (i.e., 8 oz of whatever meat you have plus 3 cups of whatever sauce you have, plus 4 cups of whatever vegetables you have, simmer together, serve over rice, that kind of thing); and having that on my radar, but baking up a batch of these on New Year's Day to clean out the pantry and just have those cookies on hand feels like a seriously good idea.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:11 PM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
I have just discovered a recipe that will help you with cleaning out the baking part of your pantry, and using up the weird little random half-empty non-staple ingredients you maybe picked up for Christmas cookies - the half a package of nuts, the half a bag of white chocolate chips, the scant half cup of raisins, you name it.
I am midway through the baking part of a batch of these Kitchen Cupboard Cookies - and so far so good. And it seems very flexible and forgiving - as long as you have the basic batter down (butter, sugars, the egg, the flour and baking soda, the vanilla) you can play around with the other ingredients:
* It called for 2 cups of quick rolled oats, I only had one and that hasn't seemed to make much of a difference.
* I didn't have rice krispies, but I had sliced almonds and threw those in instead.
* I also used white chocolate chips instead of the mini M&Ms called for, in equal quantity.
* I threw in a handful of dried cranberries at the last minute because why not.
I've eaten three already. Yeah, this works. And it will make room for the more regular-staple stuff. (I'm not a butterscotch fan, I got those chips to make a non-chocolate fudge flavor this year.)
This serious may become a new New Year's Day staple. I really like how much more of a handle I have on my food stores after that deep re-org, and how I have a bit more clarity on how to use stuff. I've just bookmarked a whole whack of "Mad-Libs" kind of recipes to use stuff up (i.e., 8 oz of whatever meat you have plus 3 cups of whatever sauce you have, plus 4 cups of whatever vegetables you have, simmer together, serve over rice, that kind of thing); and having that on my radar, but baking up a batch of these on New Year's Day to clean out the pantry and just have those cookies on hand feels like a seriously good idea.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:11 PM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]
I am more into solstices and equinoxes than New Year’s Day, maybe because there’s been to many deaths in the family around these dates. December 22nd of this year was the third time I have been in a room when a relative dies, ready to take care of the logistics (I mourn weirdly).
I am also pathologically irritated by sudden loud explosions (unless they are my sudden loud explosions ), loud crowds, and low quality playing of loud music. I also don’t like to be touched by people, except a very few. (I promise I am fun at parties, specially if you like parties with explosions, good quality playing of loud music, and explicitly consensual touching).
The understanding in my family is that I do whatever families do for Christmas, then I am left alone until Jan 2 while everyone continues doing family stuff.
This year I was happy alone at home planning to watch 4 or 5 movies, but I lost power at around 7 p.m. I went to bed early, let four fireworks terrified dogs sleep under the blanket, and woke up early.
After a loooong shower and grooming I felt like cooking, but cooking for one is boring, so I decided to cook a new years feast for everyone in the house.
For myself I made double battered French toast with grand marnier and maple syrup, bacon, and fresh fruits.
For the dogs I made a chicken necks, feet and liver stock. Blended all the chicken bones from the stock and mixed everything with their dried food, topped with crushed dry anchovies.
For the three beta fish I sieved the mealworm substrate to find the smallest crunchiest larvae, added some live fruit flies from the fruit fly trap, and gave them a dusting of fish vitamins. They almost never get live food, today they were entertained for hours.
For the brackish water snails I made little agar cubes filled with spirulina, powdered eggshells from the French toast, powdered magnesium food supplement, and powdered fruit flavored Tums.
For the gecko I dug through the mealworms to find the soft white ones that have just molted, added a few juvenile dubia roaches, and dusted with minerals and vitamins. She is friendly, slow, and lazy. It was a pleasure to hand feed her until she was full.
The mealworms, adults and larvae, got a big meal of chopped carrots and apple, just toasted and hand ground wheat bran, and homemade croutons.
The zophoba superworms got an old sourdough boule with a hole in the middle filled with vegetables, dusted with minerals and vitamins. After they finish the veggies they like to burrow into the hard crumb and some will make a tunnel they like enough to metamorphose in there.
For the springtails I made little balls of spirulina, pasteurized compost from the garden, and dead yeast. All held together with a little bit of clay and sprinkled with live yeast.
The isopods got finely chopped carrot rolled in a powder of eggshells, royal jelly, spirulina, year old oak leaf litter, hardwood sawdust, and dead mealworm beetles. All ground in a mortar and pasteurized.
The dubia roaches got the best meal. They are still stuck in the seventies and love aspics. I made a vegan one based on orange juice agar. With chunks of banana, apple, carrot, croutons, dog food pellets, chopped hay, rabbit food, mandarin wedges, broccoli florets and just to be festive a stale Christmas cookie on top. The roaches love this, it is a water source, keeps the humidity nice inside their container, and it does not leave a mess for me to clean up.
I am so happy not to be in the dating game right now, on reread this comment looks like a dating profile from hell.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:18 PM on January 1, 2023 [19 favorites]
I am also pathologically irritated by sudden loud explosions (unless they are my sudden loud explosions ), loud crowds, and low quality playing of loud music. I also don’t like to be touched by people, except a very few. (I promise I am fun at parties, specially if you like parties with explosions, good quality playing of loud music, and explicitly consensual touching).
The understanding in my family is that I do whatever families do for Christmas, then I am left alone until Jan 2 while everyone continues doing family stuff.
This year I was happy alone at home planning to watch 4 or 5 movies, but I lost power at around 7 p.m. I went to bed early, let four fireworks terrified dogs sleep under the blanket, and woke up early.
After a loooong shower and grooming I felt like cooking, but cooking for one is boring, so I decided to cook a new years feast for everyone in the house.
For myself I made double battered French toast with grand marnier and maple syrup, bacon, and fresh fruits.
For the dogs I made a chicken necks, feet and liver stock. Blended all the chicken bones from the stock and mixed everything with their dried food, topped with crushed dry anchovies.
For the three beta fish I sieved the mealworm substrate to find the smallest crunchiest larvae, added some live fruit flies from the fruit fly trap, and gave them a dusting of fish vitamins. They almost never get live food, today they were entertained for hours.
For the brackish water snails I made little agar cubes filled with spirulina, powdered eggshells from the French toast, powdered magnesium food supplement, and powdered fruit flavored Tums.
For the gecko I dug through the mealworms to find the soft white ones that have just molted, added a few juvenile dubia roaches, and dusted with minerals and vitamins. She is friendly, slow, and lazy. It was a pleasure to hand feed her until she was full.
The mealworms, adults and larvae, got a big meal of chopped carrots and apple, just toasted and hand ground wheat bran, and homemade croutons.
The zophoba superworms got an old sourdough boule with a hole in the middle filled with vegetables, dusted with minerals and vitamins. After they finish the veggies they like to burrow into the hard crumb and some will make a tunnel they like enough to metamorphose in there.
For the springtails I made little balls of spirulina, pasteurized compost from the garden, and dead yeast. All held together with a little bit of clay and sprinkled with live yeast.
The isopods got finely chopped carrot rolled in a powder of eggshells, royal jelly, spirulina, year old oak leaf litter, hardwood sawdust, and dead mealworm beetles. All ground in a mortar and pasteurized.
The dubia roaches got the best meal. They are still stuck in the seventies and love aspics. I made a vegan one based on orange juice agar. With chunks of banana, apple, carrot, croutons, dog food pellets, chopped hay, rabbit food, mandarin wedges, broccoli florets and just to be festive a stale Christmas cookie on top. The roaches love this, it is a water source, keeps the humidity nice inside their container, and it does not leave a mess for me to clean up.
I am so happy not to be in the dating game right now, on reread this comment looks like a dating profile from hell.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:18 PM on January 1, 2023 [19 favorites]
EmpressCallipygos, I made chocolate chip cookie bars this morning (and a huge pot of chili) and I'm definitely going to try those Kitchen Cabinet Cookies because I also have a bunch of bags of leftover baking ingredients.
I'd love to see any links to those "MadLibs " recipes if you'd care to share...
posted by bookmammal at 12:32 PM on January 1, 2023
I'd love to see any links to those "MadLibs " recipes if you'd care to share...
posted by bookmammal at 12:32 PM on January 1, 2023
I've got a MadLibs "breakfast bread" recipe that I've been using for 10+ years. I have lost the source, but it was probably not Metafilter? It's not always good enough for company, but I've never had a total miss.
1. Beat together 1 egg, 1/2 cup butter or 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and 3/4 cup sugar (any kind)(if using sugared fruit below, can reduce).
2. Add all the dry ingredients, then stir: 1 cup flour (any kind), 1/2 cup oatmeal (or bran, spent grain, etc.) 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda.
3. Add 1 cup of fruit or fruit-like ingredient (shredded apples, pureed pumpkin, blueberries, leftover cranberry sauce, etc.).
4. Optional ingredients: Spices. Also: 1 cup nuts (or chocolate chips, trail mix, etc.).
5. Add 1/4 cup milk, buttermilk, yogurt (or other liquid: water works).
6. Mix well, but not too well.
7. Bake in a greased baking pan at 350 degrees. About one hour more or less - use a knife to check the middle.
posted by mersen at 1:22 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
1. Beat together 1 egg, 1/2 cup butter or 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and 3/4 cup sugar (any kind)(if using sugared fruit below, can reduce).
2. Add all the dry ingredients, then stir: 1 cup flour (any kind), 1/2 cup oatmeal (or bran, spent grain, etc.) 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda.
3. Add 1 cup of fruit or fruit-like ingredient (shredded apples, pureed pumpkin, blueberries, leftover cranberry sauce, etc.).
4. Optional ingredients: Spices. Also: 1 cup nuts (or chocolate chips, trail mix, etc.).
5. Add 1/4 cup milk, buttermilk, yogurt (or other liquid: water works).
6. Mix well, but not too well.
7. Bake in a greased baking pan at 350 degrees. About one hour more or less - use a knife to check the middle.
posted by mersen at 1:22 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'd love to see any links to those "MadLibs " recipes if you'd care to share...
It looks like the Food52 web site published a book like that, but they have some of their recipes here...
I also found a handful of such recipes on this Food Co-op website.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:31 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
It looks like the Food52 web site published a book like that, but they have some of their recipes here...
I also found a handful of such recipes on this Food Co-op website.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:31 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
I made us a nice dinner, nothing too fancy, had a small glass of wine with it, and went to bed around nine. Got my house decently clean beforehand and woke up this morning and made a reasonable attempt to start as I mean to go on, i.e., by making my bed, etc. I know better than to wish the past year away or think the coming year will be better. Of course I hope it will be a good year, but the only thing I know for sure is that anything can happen.
As far as intentions for the year, the main thing I'm hoping to focus on is making more time for creating and less time for consuming.
posted by HotToddy at 2:43 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
As far as intentions for the year, the main thing I'm hoping to focus on is making more time for creating and less time for consuming.
posted by HotToddy at 2:43 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
They always pull off An Event for New Years Eve (I made a post about one of them once) and it's always a total surprise and something completely unexpected that often makes absolutely no sense to anyone outside the community.
Post show update: this was the understatement of the year.
posted by bondcliff at 3:14 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Post show update: this was the understatement of the year.
posted by bondcliff at 3:14 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's it, French toast for dinner!
posted by Oyéah at 3:53 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 3:53 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Most memorable NYE would be 1977 when I lived in that big old house and went out with room-mates to make appearances at seven parties and yet the New Year occurred as we were driving between #5 and #6.
posted by Rash at 4:36 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 4:36 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
New years Eve is like the 4th of July, fireworks, family but alot less shooting at the sky.
-Jak Handy
posted by clavdivs at 5:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
-Jak Handy
posted by clavdivs at 5:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
There was a man named Old Lang
And he had a billboard sign.
So when he died they named it
The Old Lang Sign.
posted by Splunge at 2:51 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
And he had a billboard sign.
So when he died they named it
The Old Lang Sign.
posted by Splunge at 2:51 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
our NYE party was not necessarily legendary, nor even baby legendary, as I had hoped. However, we woke up the next day to a phone alarm belonging to a mystery phone, left behind by a guest whose identity we had to puzzle out. There are 32 empanadas in the fridge somehow. And I thought I woke up without a hangover but now that it's Tuesday I'm realizing the hangover actually just ended ten minutes ago. So that seems like the sign of a pretty good gathering indeed.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:26 PM on January 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:26 PM on January 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
Any day you wake up to 32 bonus empanadas in the fridge is a good day.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:09 PM on January 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:09 PM on January 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
We Put Our Faith in Unexpected Empanadas.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:33 PM on January 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:33 PM on January 3, 2023 [7 favorites]
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Now it's not. It's just another day, but better because I'm experiencing it clearly and with gratitude. New Year's Day is one of those few times each year where being sober feels like a superpower. It's hard to express how much *easier* my life has become.
This is not to say that, after expressing my gratitude etc etc, I won't be sitting on the couch eating sour candy, knitting bullshit scarves, and watching Vampire Diaries. A girl's gotta have her outlets!
Here's to 2023 - onwards and upwards! So glad to be spending it with MeFites.
posted by kinsey at 4:57 AM on December 31, 2022 [21 favorites]