Jan 01 2003
New Year
As usual, we let the old year slip away and the new one arrive without fanfare, though I was awakened around midnight by fireworks and the howling accompaniment of our neighbor, unaffectionately known to us as Cap’n Chunk (due to his build and penchant for stomping as hard as he can up and down the stairs, shaking them like a 4.2 earthquake), and his maturity-challenged buddies. They were standing up on the roof whooping and hollering unintelligibly at the top of their voices. If I were the new year, I’d turn around and leave after a greeting like that.
When I walked the dog for the first time this year, there were far more people on the street than is usual at five in the morning, which was somewhat disconcerting. And since most of them had been drinking for many hours by then, they tended to want to engage me in incoherent conversation, despite my usual dog walking appearance (completely uncaffeinated; wearing glasses; tangled hair; long black coat buttoned up over bunny pajamas and shoes with no socks) and the fact that I was walking what could be considered a dangerous dog. There were parties still going on, and empty bottles in the streets, even though this is a very rich and snotty neighborhood.
In keeping with Amy’s suggestion, I have started to think about the things I’m planning to Do for Suzy this year. When I’m in Chicago for that stupid work conference, I’m going to stay a couple of extra days to visit the Art Institute and Frank Lloyd Wright’s house, and hopefully meet up with the one and only Kelly. I’m seriously considering going to the Impressionist Landscape exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in the middle of March, too. I think that would be a good way to spend my father’s birthday (March 17). To quote Goethe: “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.”