How to spend New Year’s Eve by yourself without crying

Posted on December 31, 2010 by admin

Growing up, the New Year’s Eve parties were always at my house which is probably why I much prefer to spend the occasion at home even if it means by myself. For a few years recently I have spent NYE with friends at their homes. There is nothing more boring than sitting around looking at each other for six hours and knowing you can’t leave until at least a respectable amount of time after midnight has passed. This year I am doing NYE alone and after last year have come up with the solution to have a nice NYE all by yourself. No pressure, no annoying drunk people, and you control the entire evening.

Ingredient 1: Have lots of good food on hand

If you’re not a cook, hit the freezer section of your local grocery store and get anything from mini pizza bagels to jalapeno poppers. I like to pull a nice expensive cheese and some quality crackers or small loaf of fresh bread from the deli area. But nothing is better than bacon wrapped water chestnuts with a sweet dipping sauce. Get a can of drained whole water chestnuts, a package of bacon, some toothpicks, and a pre-made dipping sauce. Wrap a water chestnut with bacon and skewer it with a toothpick. Throw them in the microwave until the bacon is cooked to your liking and have your way with the dip.

Ingredient 2: Alcohol

Even if you’re by yourself, you’re not drinking alone. There are millions of people popping champagne around the world. Buy the ingredients for your favorite mixed drink, make sure you have lots of ice on hand, and chill a nice glass or two. This year I’m going with Pear Vodka Tonics. The pear infused Grey Goose not only smells wonderful but it goes down nicely with a bubbly tonic. It’s expensive, but you’re worth it.

Ingredient 3: The proper NYE countdown show

Several of the shows you see on NYE are pre-taped and likely lip synched. Make sure you find a live countdown show to get you through that last hour or you will feel utterly disconnected from the universe. Although I’m not a huge Ryan Seacrest fan, you can see the ball drop in real time on his Dick Clark show. Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper are fairly entertaining on CNN as well.

Ingredient 4: Someone to call at midnight

I have lots of family members that enjoy staying home on NYE as well. I usually get calls from them whenever it hits midnight in their time zone. But since I am currently in Hawaii, this means I would have to wake them up at 4AM if I wanted to talk to them at midnight my time. I’m not that mean. However, I do have some married friends on Oahu that I can call or at least text at midnight. If they’re still awake, they’ll answer the phone. It helps to talk to a live human being as the clock strikes midnight.

Ingredient 5: The internet

The real-time aspect of Twitter is a great way to feel connected even if you’re by yourself on NYE. Facebook is okay too, but it’s likely not lots of your friends are going to be online unless they’re alone like you. I like Twitter for NYE because you can read immediate posts on a live stream and comment right along with people. Sometimes you even get a shout back from people who reply to your tweets or retweet your witty quip.

So if you stuff your face, drink enough, and somehow stay connected to the rest of the world you can easily get through a comfortable NYE by yourself. There’s nothing wrong with being alone. It’s just like any other night. Happy New Year!

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How to get rid of loud hall dwellers

Posted on December 26, 2010 by admin

I’ve been living in a place that is a semi-run down hotel/long term rental and have nicknamed the room next door as the “Asshole Suite.” It’s a 2-bedroom unit that inevitably gets booked by a loud ass family that has other relatives staying in the same hotel. The kids have their run of the hallways and the adults go in and out of rooms, slamming doors and making lots of noise. Unfortunately outside my own door is the elevator which has a large empty area perfect for congregating. Over the last three weekends the unit I speak of has been filled with a different family of the same style — “Loud and Annoying.”

Since I am quite passive aggressive, I have been playing with several ideas to try and calm the annoying storm outside my door. I’ve thought about sliding a note under the door when they’re gone. I’ve thought about giving stink eye every time I leave my unit. Hell, I’ve even  thought about getting a neon sign that says “Shut the fuck up!” and hang it from the window I have between my space and the hallway. Until yesterday the only thing I’ve done is tried to scream “Shut up!” or “Shhhh” or “Be quiet!” like someone with Tourette’s and hope they’d hear me and get the hint. This has not worked.

But today I hopefully figured it out. At first I loaded up that “mosquito” sound that businesses would play to annoy teenagers. Aside from being quite loudly pitched and even though my speakers were facing right out the window, nobody seemed to notice. It wasn’t until I broke out the classical music that things made a turn for the better.

I love classical music so playing it loudly is somewhat thrilling. Add in the fact that it would likely annoy the shit out of the type of people that are in the hallways and it’s a passive agressive’s dream come true. Within seconds of cranking up Chabrier’s Espana, someone shook my door as if to tell me to turn it down. Within three minutes, there was no more speaking. As of this writing it has been an hour and nobody has even passed by my door.

Let’s hope the hint has been gotten. But the good news is that I have hours and hours of lovely classical music at my finger tips through my Rhapsody account. And the best part is that can people in the hallway really complain that someone inside their own unit is making too much noise and bothering THEM? No. If it’s bothering you, get the fuck inside your own unit. If you still hear it, then complain.

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How to deal with deadline-induced anger

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Friends of mine recently gambled with health insurance. Their company-sponsored plan was due for renewal but they wanted to find a cheaper alternative. The problem was that they waited until five days before the deadline to start shopping around.

As they, and I, discovered, the brochure price on health plans really means nothing. Your final price is based on your current and past health. But since a decision deadline loomed, my friends gambled on the new plan before getting a final quote and passed on the company-sponsored plan. This meant they would have to wait until next year’s enrollment period to get back on the company plan if they changed their minds.

The quote for the new plan came back and was almost double what the brochure “starting” price had stated. They were furious. I would have been furious too. However all the furor was placed on the insurance company that misrepresented their pricing. True, the pricing scheme seems like a scammy bait-and-switch.

However if my friends had gotten this quote prior to the decision-making deadline they might not have been so infuriated. In fact they might have brushed it off with a simple “Forget them!” and decided to stay with their company plan. It might have been a non-issue.

I like to call the anger they experienced “deadline-induced.” Basically it’s the anger that comes from a deadline affecting a decision that goes awry.

When you make a decision you try to have as much information as possible. Sometimes you have to estimate relevant information. If you’ve done your research, you probably have a good idea of the possible outcomes and a feel for what will actually happen. But if you haven’t spent enough time researching you might get caught with your pants down because your information or your best guess is wrong. When the timeline is not in your control, it’s easy to place the blame somewhere besides yourself.

But when a decision has no deadline, you have all the time in the world to gather information and make a decision. Then if your decision goes wrong, it’s much easier to blame yourself. The decision and the timeline were both in your control. Taking the blame for your mistake is more palpable.

Whenever a decision timeline is not in your control, I suggest trying to get as much control as possible. By this I mean start your decision making process as early as possible. My friends probably knew they had until a certain date to make a decision, but they ignored it until absolutely necessary. Then it became a “Honey, why don’t we see if we can get this cheaper somewhere else just in case.” If they had gathered other insurance quotes earlier, their decision would have been without gamble, and more in their control.

Think about the times that you have had deadline-induced anger. Would you have benefited from starting your decision making process earlier? Did you blame someone else for your poor decision?

The thing to learn from all this is that time runs out whether we like it or not, so give yourself as much time as possible and start immediately.

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