Last year vs. this year

This is what I was doing a year ago:

I was partying it up in Taipei with two of my favorite people, waiting for the fireworks at Taipei 101. Also partying and waiting for the fireworks were 800,000 Asians, every single one of whom I bumped into, was accidentally groped by, or otherwise awkwardly interacted with during the course of the evening. Consider the following:

That is the Taipei metro on new years eve. I would never recommend it to anyone with any amount of claustrophobia issues. We only survived because Dave was a foot taller than everyone else, so we relied on him acting as a periscope.

So, last year was super exciting. This year, we briefly considered going to NYC to watch the ball drop, but since I haven't quite recovered from last year (see the above picture), we decided to play it low-key. We will be welcoming 2012 by eating this:

And also these, which I've made before and were specifically requested by Dave:

(Side note: If you are thinking, "Who is this person who cooks actual food? What has happened to the scowling, ramen noodle-cooking Meredith we know and love?", then do not be alarmed. It's just that I cook now. In fact, I've basically transformed into a domestic goddess. Or something.)

We will then be watching Community and playing Blockus and Jenga untill midnight, when we'll use pan lids as cymbals and make an appropriate amount of noise.

Bottom line: yes, we are lame-o people who stay in on New Years. But I'm going to enjoy the crap out of it.

Happy 2012 to all, and to all a good night!

out of focus

While trolling the interwebs, I came across this picture today:

(from dooce.com)

I immediately liked it, because it reminded me of being a (blind as a bat) kid at Christmas time. I remember standing out in the street looking at the house after the lights had all been put up, or sitting in the darkened front room with the decorated tree all lit up, and I'd slip my glasses down my nose and enjoy the lights. I thought I was so much luckier that people with good eyesight because I could see the lights in a way they couldn't. They could only see the lights in focus, but I, I had this extra option. I could see the lights as blurry, glowing orbs, all the colors overlapping and twinkling. It was so magical.