Saturday, January 06, 2007
Happy New Year 2007!
It's late already but still I wanna greet you all a very happy new year! I had a very memorable new year's eve and I want to share it with you.
I thought I'd never make it to Times Square on the 31st because the day before that, my stomach was churning badly and I was throwing up everything I put in my mouth (probably because the night before, I drank beer with an empty stomach). It seemed that I wouldn't get any better. To my amazement, it calmed down after eating a [iece of bread (thanks Jeff for the wonderful suggestion!). And so that Saturday afternoon, me and my friends in NJ went to NY to see a glimpse on what'll be in store on the new year's eve.
It was so nice to see the grand city again. I love the feeling of coming out from the train station the first time and seeing the busy city with all those big signs and buildings in front of me. I think I will never get tired of visiting NY. Though, I could not see myself living there and I could just be a tourist forever. There were a lot of people as expected. Rockefeller was packed, people are gathered around the huge Christmas tree, taking pictures and watching the ice skating rink. People were staring up where the 2007 sign is sitting on Times Square, taking pictures. There was a stage already standing up on the middle of the street. I approached one person who seemed to be an organizer and I asked what time do we have to be there the next day to witness the ball drop. She said the streets will be closed at 30pm. I was already analyzing what time do we have to get up to be there on time. I also thought to myself, my stomach should behave properly or else I will miss it and will be left alone soaking with tears. And so that night, I went to bed early and did not drink!
I was excited more than ever. At 130, we were already at the Penn Station. Ian bought us a dozen of Krispy Kreme for baon and the group dropped by at Starbucks. Let the fun begin! It was really a battle. The street was already jampacked when we got there in Times Square. There were barriers standing on the sides of the street but there were still vehicles passing though almost not moving. We squeezed in through the crowd and tried to settle for what it seemed a best spot. When we thought we can settle already, the policemen threw out the crowd. They said there'll be a bag inspection and we were asked to circle around the block in order to get back in. To make the long story short, we all got exhausted from running and trying to beat the crowd and we lost the spot that we liked. But the spot that we ended up was not so bad at all. We can still see the ball and we're in front of the MTV building. And so, streets were closed and it started to get dark. The TSA's were giving away souvenir items like Chevy hats, Discover card scarfs and balloons. The crowd turned to color red.
We all got excited again when the first confetti fell on the strike of 7pm. Every hour from then on, there were countdowns and confetti. In between those hours, we just entertained ourselves by dancing to the music, taking pictures, watching the big screens, the people inside the MTV building and the crowd. Read this, there were barriers used for entrance / exit on every block, right? And there were cops guarding them. We learned that (in general) once you leave, you cannot go back. Yes people, you cannot pee. But of course, guys can get away with it. Wanna know how? They just go to the phone booth with their bottles, huddle and go one by one. Don't forget to check out for roving cops or else bye Times Square, hello jail. I was laughing upon seeing several bottles of Coke and Snapple filled up with yellow fluid under the phone booths. Oopss, another thing, watch out for chu-chus. One poor tourist guy was caught because of a couple of chu-chus. As in they called the officer and pointed at the man. Poor guy talaga! And the chu-chu's were even laughing at him. As for the group, some of us were not able to hold it and so they left with no other choice than to exit. They cannot go back anymore and ended up in one of the streets that were opened but not in Times Square. Whew! Buti na lang, I didn't drink coffee.
It was getting cold, so we tried to squeeze in to the center. Three hours, 2 hours, 1 hour to go. One minute to go, the ball started to drop...countdown...the crowd was getting wilder and wilder, shouting 10..9..3..2..1...Happy New Year!!! I got teary-eyed watching the fireworks, the lights, the crowd. I whispered to myself, 'Happy New Year, mom, dad, Rayms...'. I always get teary-eyed during new year, I don't know why. And then, a familiar song was played, and we all sang with it.
Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it,
New york, New York
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New Yooork...tan tan tana nan tan...
posted @ 2:01 AM
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Saturday, January 06, 2007
Happy New Year 2007!
It's late already but still I wanna greet you all a very happy new year! I had a very memorable new year's eve and I want to share it with you.
I thought I'd never make it to Times Square on the 31st because the day before that, my stomach was churning badly and I was throwing up everything I put in my mouth (probably because the night before, I drank beer with an empty stomach). It seemed that I wouldn't get any better. To my amazement, it calmed down after eating a [iece of bread (thanks Jeff for the wonderful suggestion!). And so that Saturday afternoon, me and my friends in NJ went to NY to see a glimpse on what'll be in store on the new year's eve.
It was so nice to see the grand city again. I love the feeling of coming out from the train station the first time and seeing the busy city with all those big signs and buildings in front of me. I think I will never get tired of visiting NY. Though, I could not see myself living there and I could just be a tourist forever. There were a lot of people as expected. Rockefeller was packed, people are gathered around the huge Christmas tree, taking pictures and watching the ice skating rink. People were staring up where the 2007 sign is sitting on Times Square, taking pictures. There was a stage already standing up on the middle of the street. I approached one person who seemed to be an organizer and I asked what time do we have to be there the next day to witness the ball drop. She said the streets will be closed at 30pm. I was already analyzing what time do we have to get up to be there on time. I also thought to myself, my stomach should behave properly or else I will miss it and will be left alone soaking with tears. And so that night, I went to bed early and did not drink!
I was excited more than ever. At 130, we were already at the Penn Station. Ian bought us a dozen of Krispy Kreme for baon and the group dropped by at Starbucks. Let the fun begin! It was really a battle. The street was already jampacked when we got there in Times Square. There were barriers standing on the sides of the street but there were still vehicles passing though almost not moving. We squeezed in through the crowd and tried to settle for what it seemed a best spot. When we thought we can settle already, the policemen threw out the crowd. They said there'll be a bag inspection and we were asked to circle around the block in order to get back in. To make the long story short, we all got exhausted from running and trying to beat the crowd and we lost the spot that we liked. But the spot that we ended up was not so bad at all. We can still see the ball and we're in front of the MTV building. And so, streets were closed and it started to get dark. The TSA's were giving away souvenir items like Chevy hats, Discover card scarfs and balloons. The crowd turned to color red.
We all got excited again when the first confetti fell on the strike of 7pm. Every hour from then on, there were countdowns and confetti. In between those hours, we just entertained ourselves by dancing to the music, taking pictures, watching the big screens, the people inside the MTV building and the crowd. Read this, there were barriers used for entrance / exit on every block, right? And there were cops guarding them. We learned that (in general) once you leave, you cannot go back. Yes people, you cannot pee. But of course, guys can get away with it. Wanna know how? They just go to the phone booth with their bottles, huddle and go one by one. Don't forget to check out for roving cops or else bye Times Square, hello jail. I was laughing upon seeing several bottles of Coke and Snapple filled up with yellow fluid under the phone booths. Oopss, another thing, watch out for chu-chus. One poor tourist guy was caught because of a couple of chu-chus. As in they called the officer and pointed at the man. Poor guy talaga! And the chu-chu's were even laughing at him. As for the group, some of us were not able to hold it and so they left with no other choice than to exit. They cannot go back anymore and ended up in one of the streets that were opened but not in Times Square. Whew! Buti na lang, I didn't drink coffee.
It was getting cold, so we tried to squeeze in to the center. Three hours, 2 hours, 1 hour to go. One minute to go, the ball started to drop...countdown...the crowd was getting wilder and wilder, shouting 10..9..3..2..1...Happy New Year!!! I got teary-eyed watching the fireworks, the lights, the crowd. I whispered to myself, 'Happy New Year, mom, dad, Rayms...'. I always get teary-eyed during new year, I don't know why. And then, a familiar song was played, and we all sang with it.
Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it,
New york, New York
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New Yooork...tan tan tana nan tan...
posted @ 2:01 AM
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