Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Well, I didn't know if I could convince anyone to do New Years Eve in Times Square with me, but at the last minute it all came together. We dressed warmly and prepared for some cold weather, but in the end it wasn't that bad at all. It ended up being in the mid-30s and with all of the people, it actually was somewhat warm.
We arrived around 2:45 and many blocks were already full. We were walking farther down and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As we were walking by, the police just closed the streets and moved the front barricades out in the middle of the street. That freed up a lot of room, so we hopped the back barricade while the cops were moving the front ones. We ended up being right in front of MTV between 44 and 45. That is only two blocks from where the ball drops. We couldn't have asked for a better spot.
We arrived around 2:45 and many blocks were already full. We were walking farther down and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As we were walking by, the police just closed the streets and moved the front barricades out in the middle of the street. That freed up a lot of room, so we hopped the back barricade while the cops were moving the front ones. We ended up being right in front of MTV between 44 and 45. That is only two blocks from where the ball drops. We couldn't have asked for a better spot. Once we staked out our spot, we laid out a tarp. About 20 minutes later the police came by and said everyone had to stand. We were really disappointed and thus began the 9 hours of standing. 
In the end, it wasn't too bad. We had really good company. Then every hour on the hour, we would count down the new year in another part of the world. At six, they raised the ball to the top of the pole. And for the rest of the night they had all kinds of bands and singers performing (either rehearsing or actually recording for live TV), interspersed with fun music that we just danced to. Since we were near the front, they were passing out all kinds of free stuff to wear (i.e. free advertising since we were going to be on TV).
In the end, it wasn't too bad. We had really good company. Then every hour on the hour, we would count down the new year in another part of the world. At six, they raised the ball to the top of the pole. And for the rest of the night they had all kinds of bands and singers performing (either rehearsing or actually recording for live TV), interspersed with fun music that we just danced to. Since we were near the front, they were passing out all kinds of free stuff to wear (i.e. free advertising since we were going to be on TV). Then at a minute before midnight, it all happened. The ball began to drop and the countdown began. At midnight, tons (literally) of confetti fell in Times Square. That ten minutes made the whole night worth it. It took us about an hour or so to walk home, but the night was definitely worth it. I just feel bad for the sanitation workers who had to spend the rest of the night cleaning up all of the trash left in Times Square.