How did I see in the new year... well... it supposedly, according to contrived human conventions of time, takes place at exactly midnight on the last day of the old calendar year (yet another human contrivance). I take a larger point of view, which is, Mother Nature has her rhythms: lightness to darkness, then days to seasons, seasons to natural years, years to recurring ice age / not ice age (that old axial precession thing aka the earth's cyclical 26,000 year "wobble", just like a gyroscope slowing down, because that is the physical explanation for it, remember that in science class?), and all those pointing back to the evolution of planet earth back to when it was a blob of spinning red-hot gooey stuff, and thence to the evolution of the solar system, our galaxy, and the universe. In all that, there is no such thing as a "new year". Il n'existe pas.

And then, along comes man/woman, at the very very end of all this evolution and earth revolution, and with his/her fascination with time. For some, an abstract concept; for others, an obsession. A time to come out of the cave and begin hunting for food, a time to praise the sun (ancient Egypt Akhenaten days), a time to ring the church bells (medieval & dark ages), a time for sitting down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A time to gain, a time to lose; a time to rend, a time to sow; a time for love, a time for hate; a time for peace, I swear it's not too late (thank you Pete Seeger).

So, back to the question, how did I see in the new year? I smoked a really nice bowl, worked on an Oracle PL/SQL package while listening to my favorite streaming radio station, got tired, briefly pondered the meaning of life, brushed my teeth and fell asleep in bed. I live in a tiny ghost town of 50 (if they're all here, and you have to count the dogs too), so it was pretty quiet at night.