The New Year's of my life have been a mixed bunch. Unique in their own way, but none have yet included a party of the proportions I'm hoping for this time. I'm willing to bet though, that I'll eventually end up being with my family, not drinking as much as I'd like to, and having to endurre the eternal argument about whose watch has the right time.
What am I hoping for? I hope that I don't make it home until January 4. I'd expect this anyway, because the millennium bug will ruin the chances of public transport actually working. I'd like to see riots in the street. I want public utilities to crash. I want the second coming of the Messiah. I want every man and his three-legged dog on the streets celebrating, coz fuck it, we're finished with the nineties, and about to enter the noughties.
I want time to stand still for a few seconds to allow me to savour the knowledge of a new millennium, the dawning of the age of Pisces, a chance for the world to leave behind the mistakes of the 20th century and embark upon a new era of human understanding.
As if. Once all the fireworks have died down, and we're shaking off the remnants of our three day hangover, we will still all be plagued with the bitching and complaining which is part of human nature.
So what will make New Year's 2000 so special for me? Maybe I'll finally resolve to quit smoking and become a better person. Maybe you'll promise to be nicer to your parents, to actually do more study, to get in touch with that old friend from high school.
I know what will make it special. The same thing that makes every New Years special - the chance to start afresh, the possibilities of the coming year, the solidarity you feel with the people next door, and the quick reflection upon your own mortality.
2000 does bring with it the possibility of our technological dependent society disintegrating into anarchy. Admit it - you're secretly hoping for it aren't you? I am. I'm hoping that we'll all realise how caught up we are in surviving in a modern society and return to true humanity, not "how much money can I get?" but "how would my money better serve others?".
Maybe we'll all revert to some sort of neo-Luddite society, where we are not ruining our planet with our petrol-guzzling road habits, one where we hold onto manufactured goods , and recycle them, rather than throwing them onto ever growing garbage dumps. Quite possibly, when our computers, and our microwaves and our radio clock alarms don't work anymore, we'll realise just how unnecessary they really are.
It may be wishful thinking - but then, isn't New Year's the moment at which we make resolutions we don't keep?
© 1999 The Archangel Cameo
