Hello 2005, here's hoping you don't suck


It hasn't really hit me yet that we're now in 2005. 2005 is like a year people in the 1940's would look to thinking that by then we would have flying cars and people would pop a single pill that would equal eating a whole meal and best yet, we would press a button on our briefcases and our cars would pop out, ready to go (thank you, The Jetsons). None of this shit has happened yet, but I hear 2075 has great things coming (I bet some snarky blogger in 2075 will look back at us poor schmucks in 2005 and say the same exact things I just said).

I greeted the new year by drinking champagne out of a classy plastic cup, scratching the million or so mosquitoe bites dotting my ENTIRE FRIGGIN' BODY, getting my ass whooped at pool, drinking cheap beer, and watching a hell of an awesome rocket show. There is a tradition in the interior of Panama where families make dummies to represent the old year and then they burn those dummies at midnight in a huge bonfire. Jim and Scott (the guys that host the New Years party every year) not only arranged an awesome fireworks show, but they also made an effigy of Bush and set it on fire after midnight. Chants of burn Bush reverbrated through the air as the effigy caught fire, doubled over, and became the literal flaming Bush. After the burning of the Bush everyone went home, ready to greet the New year with a champagne and beer hangover.

The ocean was loverly being quite calm and clear, and just a tad bit cold. I swam in the ocean on January 1st, 2005 starting out the New year perfectly- in the water. Tams and I walked up and down the beach, collecting shells and interesting rocks; we talked about everything and anything, mocking the guys who would holler at us and say 'Babies, babies!' and then do the thumbs up sign (who does the thumbs up sign anymore?). We walked on and on, and when the sun got too hot and the sun burned the bottoms of our feet, we would dive into the cold water, shivering slightly and instantly cooling off.

I'm slightly darker (slightly darker = not really dark at all, it's all in my head), full of mosquitoe bites (they like white meat), full of puppy slobber (Tams has three Saint Bernard pups who are too friggin' cute), and the smell of the beach still lingers slightly on my skin. I need a shower but don't want to rinse the beach smell off my skin just yet. At night the sky would be illuminated by thousands of stars and one giant pale yellow moon; airplanes and satellites sailed by like lazy birds. The kids set off rockets, competing with the other houses lining the beach, blasting artificial stars and comets into the dark sky. It seems like the entire ocean was spread out in front of my eyes, glittering, with the ripples of waves in the horizon.

Happy 2005 folks!