My New Year’s Eve Traditions

I’ve probably written posts before of what I do on New Year’s Eve, but I know you'd like to be reminded. Right?

Things have changed since about 2000, when I stopped joining my wife and in-laws at their annual Sushi Hell on the eve.

I blame all my back and hip troubles that I’m now experiencing, on the sushi rolling.

Be that as it may … who’s complaining, right? What's past is past.

Throughout the years, I always have taken a shower just before midnight, so I can enter the New Year as clean as I left it. I always brush my teeth, I always change my towels, I always change my toothbrush, and I always remake the bed with clean sheets.

I always shave, and I always have a fresh haircut. I fill the car’s gas tank, and I pay any outstanding bills. I try to eat some “good luck” kuro mame (Japanese sweet black beans) and noodles.

I used to stay up until midnight, but these days, I tend to fall asleep earlier. It’s easier to do that now because the sounds of fireworks and screaming aerials have diminished drastically since the new permit system has been integrated into our lives.

Not since Hawaii ushered in Y2K has there been a cacophony as loud and spectacular as that one. Standing on a high roof, I witness it and thought I was in a war zone. Honolulu looked like it was on fire.

Now, the only thing that’s burning on New Year’s Eve is my indigestion from consuming too much good food at dinner.