January 1, 2000

Welcome to my January redesign, and my first entry of the New Year. As you can see, my hair is still suffering the after effects of my New Year's Eve 'do. Luckily, I didn't have anything to drink, so I am not suffering the same fate.

I am digging this new color scheme. This is the one I originally designed for December, but then I realized it was really more January so I saved it and went with the red and green. I'm glad I saved it.

So, we're still here! Is anyone surprised really? I am laughing about all those survivalists who went and built a bunker in Montana and stockpiled canned goods and bought supplies to like, build their own power generators and shit. Aren't they feeling a little foolish? Of course, I say that, and probably the power will fail in like three days.

If you missed it, check out my remembrance of the 1990s from yesterday. I actually woke up at 6:30 yesterday for some unknown reason! I went to the grocery store at about 8:00 because we had no food in the house. It was busier than a normal weekday morning, but not crazy, and most of the people there seemed to be buying either regular groceries or party supplies. I didn't see anyone with two carts filled with bottled water anyway.

After returning from the store and putting away all the groceries, I had to run to the mall to exchange the pants I had bought for Jim to wear to the party. Did I mention we bought a new printer? We did. It's like a little slice of heaven. We also got a new answering machine and thanks for all of your recommendations. The mall was pretty crowded, but not ridiculously so. I made my exchange and also bought a little purse and some new gloves because there are HUGE sales going on right now, of course.

I came home and surfed the web for a while. Jim was reading and watching the news channels, so we rang in the New Year in various countries. I asked him when we woke up, "So this apocalypse thing...is that Eastern Standard Time?" He told me it was probably Greenwich Mean Time, which makes sense. We were relieved when that came and went.

I meant to take a nap, but with all the other stuff going on, I never really did. I finally got my shower, ironed Jim's shirt for him, and got ready. I even wore makeup, which is quite the accomplishment for me. I have somehow lost the ability to do anything with my hair. I used to know how to do it in high school, but I guess that's because I spent hours trying out various styles. Nowadays, it's strictly wash and wear. Anyway, I set it in hot rollers, took out the rollers, ran my fingers through it, pulled the top back in a clip and went. It didn't look awful. I should have pictures pretty soon so you can judge for yourselves.

As we were driving downtown, the city was setting off fireworks which was fairly unnerving. We weren't sure exactly where we were going and some streets were closed, and the fireworks going off so close made it all a bit scary. Jim said he felt like he was driving through downtown Beirut or something. We finally found a parking spot and hoofed it over to the Hotel Syracuse. As we arrived, supergush was already playing. They traded sets with another local band, which was nice because the guys in the band got to hang out with their friends a little bit instead of just playing all night.

I thought I had dressed Jim so uniquely! I figured most guys would wear a suit or even a tux, so I had Jim wear a blue dress shirt and navy pants. Turns out that the guys in the band picked the same exact outfit to coordinate their appearance. Plus, about 75% of the guys at the party were wearing the same outfit. It was a sea of blue shirts for some reason. Oh well.

We hung out and danced around, and mostly checked out the other people. It was open bar, so things got pretty interesting, although I didn't see anyone throw up. We did see a couple of drunken hookups and two drunken stumblers. Jim really did not want to be at the party, which due to some miscommunication, I didn't know until after I had purchased the nonrefundable tickets. He made it through it though. It wasn't that bad until about 20 minutes before midnight when it suddenly got really loud and really crowded. I get a little claustrophobic, and it was bothering me a little, but I just danced around to keep my mind off things. Finally it was time for the countdown and we rang in the New Year and then came home. One oddity: as soon as midnight hit, suddenly everyone was on their cell phone. What's up with that? Why was everyone suddenly struck with the need to make a phone call? Were they making sure their friends and family didn't die? I didn't get that. And man, EVERYONE was on the phone. So there you go.

One thing I wish I had done differently -- it seems that New Year's Eve is like Halloween in that you can dress really extravagantly and no one cares. So I wish I had just gone all out, with like sparklers and fireworks in my hair or something. When else do you get the opportunity to wear a flaming 2000 on your head?

Hope you all have a Happy New Year. Wing Chun brought me the second season of Oz on tape so Jim and I plan on having an Oz-a-thon today, because what better way to ring in the New Year than with man-on-man love in prison?

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You have just GOT to check out Cockeyed.com. I spent hours on that site the other day. My favorite parts are Incredible Stuff and the Europe Journal.

Here's a report about everything that did or didn't happen last night.

If you live in New York State, did you buy Millennium Lotto tickets? I did. Did you win the $100 Million prize? I didn't.

Is Social Security Y2K compliant? Not likely. It is also not likely that I will ever see any Social Security money, since it will be all gone by the time I get old enough to collect it.

Linda Tripp had plastic surgery. What - no before and after shots?

I'm sure you have all seen the various mullet websites around. Now someone is coming out with a book, and CNN is covering it. The trend to recognize the mullet is officially over now. Let us never speak of it again.

The homicide rate in Syracuse is down, but it was pretty low to begin with. Then again, I guess any homicides are too many.

Here's a story in the Syracuse newspaper about the party we attended -- rest assured I was not at the $199/head party!

This story about how people in Central New York celebrated, cracked me up because of the sections about practical jokers.

For some reason, my friend Wake asked me last night if I thought Ricky Martin was gay or straight. I replied that I think he is an android who was manufactured in a lab, and thus has no sexuality. But that's just me.