New Year's Day 2009

Just like last year, and the year before that, our neighborhood started New Year's celebration early--about 30 minutes early. With all the expensive fireworks going off on our street, you'd think that there wasn't a global financial crisis going on right now.


This year though, something was different...it was raining. It wasn't a strong downpour, just a slight drizzle, but it didn't deter people from setting off their fireworks. It was raining just last Christmas Day, and now it was raining at the start of the year 2009 as well--I hate rain...what gives?

I was hoping that the rain would somehow wash away the smoke emitted by the fireworks, but no such luck. Unlike last year when the smoke cleared off after a short time, this year was probably the worst in terms of pollution--2 hours later, our street looked like it was firebombed; I couldn't even see the homes of our neighbors, and all that smoke made some of the streetlamps look like the ones in the poster of The Exorcist.

Despite all that, I always remain optimistic at the start of each year, and this one's no exception. Have a Happy New Year, everyone!