Monday, January 7, 2008

Oh, it's 2008 already?

December 31st, 2006, 11:30pm

I'm on the rooftop of the carpark complex just outside The Atria - Damansara Jaya, catching my breath after short anaerobic jog past drain and dumpster. They should make this a standard track runner training technique - half mile jogs in a dumpster.

Nothing wears you out faster than not being able to breathe.

11:45pm

A gentle night's breeze, the soothing silence and a reflective moment alone under a beautiful starlit sky - well worth the trip here, I'll say. My handphone nudges for attention. "Happy new year. May your (insert generic greeting text here)". I slip it into Drafts, to be relayed later as a reply to the next person who texts me.

Experience has taught me that it's okay not to write your own greeting texts. Nobody else does. Instead, simply mediate. Take what you recieve, and pass it on to the next person you're obligated to reply to. If everyone gets everyone else's greeting through you, you've done your job. Let the 15 cents per sms you pay be your New Year's gift to them.

I start to wonder if perhaps they settled for prefabricated greetings only because they were too busy partying to type me a real one.

11:55pm

5 minutes to midnight, and here I am alone atop a car park. "This'd make a mighty fine spot for a barbecue", I think to myself. "And a party." "With people." "Lots of people."

Just then, I hear shuffling in the distance. Shuffling and the banter of a dozen or so unruly juveniles exchanging what I presume to be dirty jokes and naughty giggles in their native tongue. Which also happens to be my native tongue, except that I'm not much good at it.

I pretend that I'd rather not have them around; that I don't mind being alone; that I don't wish I was with a certain someone right now, (or anyone I know for that matter) and that I don't care that she's out probably having some awesome (clean) fun with a certain other someone or something. It's not really working, but it's the thought that counts. Or whatever.

Five, four, three, two...one. Fireworks go off in the distance and the mob breaks into song and dance. I look around, put on a smile, and tell myself, "Well, at least I'm not alone."

I'm not a very good liar.


Exactly one year later...


December 31st, 2007, 11:30pm

I'm standing in a restaurant with 4 other guys next to 2 ladies seated at the only available table, on the only available chairs. We're just here to take a breather before charging headlong into the crowd while unloading foam aerosols over our heads and I'm guessing the staff can tell from the Snow Spray cans we have, all lined up on our table. Heck, I don't even drink.

The room feels emptier than a restaurant should feel, but only because every newly vacant table and chair gets shipped out to the porch so real customers can party under the fireworks without having to leave their beer coolers.

The air is damp and warm from underventilation and Daniel's whining. He doesn't want to be here, and given his experience two years prior in the car park just down the street, I can see why.

But I'm determined not to spend this new year alone - neither pule nor perspiration will stop me from ushering in two-thousand-and-eight with a bang.

11:45pm

I ready a short, somewhat vaunting text to let fly at the stroke of midnight : "Happy new year! From Brian @ the Curve, and NOT alone!" but just before I can put it away into my sms Drafts, the handset gives up its final beep and dies. The brilliant blue backlight fades to lifeless grey - an excellent time for a flat battery, I'll say. I think to myself, "Fine, I won't brag, then."

11.55pm

We suddenly realize watching airborne pyrotechnics through a concrete roof may prove somewhat difficult, so we ready our party sprays and make our way outside. A friend of mine takes extra precaution and keeps a firm hold on my sleeve. "Just so we don't get separated", he says. I shrug it off as a mild homosexual disposition coming out to play.

Fireworks, foam aerosols and friends - I couldn't ask for more. Everything's set - There's no way I'm going to spend this year's countdown alone now. This is gonna be awesome!

11.59pm

We wade through the crowd single file, intent on getting into the heart of the action before it all breaks loose. Halfway there, a massive ring dance spontaneously erupts like a maelstrom in the endless sea of people. A racing human train breaks off the spiraling body and ploughs straight into our puny convoy. I snicker at the comic potential and turn to make a wry comment to Daniel, only to find that he isn't behind me - he's far ahead, along with the rest of the bunch. I was last in line. Well, was. I reach for my phone, only to remember it didn't make it through an earlier greeting text. Bummer - I should have just stuck with em' prefabs.

I watch my friends fade into the thick through the impenetrable barrier of a train of dancing smugly smirking partygoers (well, it sure seemed like they were smugly smirking at the time. Along with everyone else in the crowd. And quite possibly, the universe.) and contemplate the sheer irony of this grand conspiracy.

Five, four, three, two...one. Fireworks go off directly overhead, and Snow Sprays discharge in every direction. I look around, put on a smile, and tell myself, "Well, at least I'm not alone."

As it turns out, I'm still not a very good liar.

Happy 2008.

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