Stuck in Between 2004 & 2005...
For me... the New Year started off a bit disjointed. For the first time ever, I fell asleep “right before” 2005 was traditionally welcomed in by the Ball dropping in New York City's Times Square.
It seemed like one minute I was watching TV — 10:45 PM Friday December 31, 2004 — and the next minute it was 12:20 AM Saturday January 1, 2005. I awoke to my cousin's voice leaving a message on my answering machine.
I was visibly shaken and bewildered as I experienced the first pangs of disappointment of “not” bringing in the New Year in real time. I felt as if I were stuck someplace in between 2004 and 2005 and that the New Year was somehow tainted. At the same time I realized how nuts this was, but could not shake the feeling of disappointment even the next morning when I got up!
I awoke with the same feeling of disappointment on Saturday morning. I had no clue what to do, but realized there must be a video of the Ball dropping somewhere on the Internet. I began Googling every keyword phrase I could think and finally found a live video on the MSN website at: Click to welcome in New Year 2005 — Times Square, New York City.
The nice thing about this is that you can watch it as many times as you want, as well as, getting a front-row seat to see exactly what goes on.
Check it out for yourself! (IF the video does not start automatically, just click on the Ball in the right-hand panel.
I got to see General Collin Powell and New York City's Mayor Bloomberg push the globe-like switch and the multi-colored crystal ball start its sixty-second descent into 2005. It was awesome. I don't remember the ball changing colors in previous years. Did it?
As the countdown reached 10 seconds the crowd went nuts joining in the countdown. As silly as this sounds, even watching the ball drop almost 12 hours after the fact, I felt the same excitement and anticipation of the brand new year and receiving yet another chance to start over!
Happy New Year 2005!