New Years 2009 – Times Square Edition!

Ryan and I (and our friend, Dan) rang in the new year with about 1 million others in Times Square. While I am happy that we did it, it was so stinky (as is much of NYC)  and  it continually rained, sleeted, and snowed.  We headed for our pen at about 2 pm, and after about an hour of claustrophobia (thousands of people should not be this close together on the sidewalk. period.), we finally flew through security into a pen, in which we stood for 8 hours! And then, it was like we were all penguins, huddling together to survive.  Whenever the cameras came by our station, people would wake up from their freeze and wave furiously, beaming with smiles. Once the cameras were off, it was back to survival.

The entertainment was mainly for the TV viewers, not the people who made the long trip, suffering from the freezing cold weather…oh yes, it’s certainly a facade that it’s a party in Times Square! At least, we were stationed in the pen that was right next to the main stage and could see a bit of the action. We managed to see J-Lo, Chris Daughtry, and a couple unfamiliar acts.

The final 3 minutes of the year produced such a massive buzz, people suddenly lit up, forgetting how frozen they had become over the last 8 hours, and began counting down. This was the most memorable part of the whole trip. Fireworks blasted off the tops of the buildings followed by one ton of confetti. It was magical and hands down the best crowd experience ever!