Day 1, Smile 1: Thankfully, there was no Y211.

...or not. Again. Remember when this used to be a big deal? I would really hate to have been one of those people who celebrated the turn of a century, let alone an entire millenium* in their basement huddled around cans of beans and filtered water. I remember 2000. I was 11, going on 12, knew everything, and had a completely uncontrollable urge to dash outside. There were fireworks and drunken reveling in my neighborhood**, much as their always was. Nothing special. And now I can't help but think that if a plane had crashed out of the sky right then, I'd have been toast because I went outside. I've always been a curious one. People consistently have a habit of not rewarding my curiosity, whether by being boring or via flaming jet...though I suppose that wouldn't really be boring***.

* I remember the people on TV making a huge deal out of a woman who was going to have lived in three centuries. She was born in the latelatelate 1800's, managed to not get polio, shove off Hitler, the Great Depression and more than likely several bears in order to survive until the year 2000. This was an absolutely huge deal, that she lived in portions of three centuries. Think of the incredibly small amount of people who have likely done that. Now remember that all of us are going to need to live 981 more years to see the year 3000. My point? You'd have been a grand fool to not celebrate 2000. You'll never see anything like it again.

**So I know everybody has a special memory pertaining to the bus stop. Each and every one of you probably used a bus stop traveling to school for a really ridiculously long time. You remember something special. In my case, I remember being able to lay there on the concrete and be absolutely certain I could see the curvature of the Earth. Absolutely ridiculous? Yes. But I spent a lot of time alone at the bus stop.

*** You know what's NEVER boring? Footnotes. You will giggle at them.

Anyway, I think you should have a fabulous new year and show people my blog so you aren't the only crazy man on the internet reading it. As for me, you can put it on record: I smiled today because the world didn't come to an end. I'm starting small.

-Eli