The New Year

Favorite text message I've sent so far this year:

From me to my friend Naomi, who hosted the New Year's Eve party: "L. left her rockets in your bedroom...can we come pick them up?"

(You know, because in Berlin you buy so many fireworks and bottle rockets for New Year's that you just can't keep track of them all!)


Favorite conversational exchange so far:

Con, one half of a touring musical duo at a lovely New Year's Day concert organized by Sam, who also does the Sofa Salons: "So, what do you do in Berlin?"

Me: "I'm a translator."

Con: "Oh! So you can read people's thoughts."

Me: "...?"


New Year's thoughts:

It was strange, really kind of shocking, how many of the people I talked to over New Year's – all the people I talked to over New Year's? – said what an awful year 2012 had been, and how glad they were to see it go.

That always starts me wondering, why do we make it like this? Life can't possibly actually be as hard as we make it for ourselves – can it?

Anyway, 2012 is over and 2013 is off to a very good start, a lot of friends and music and laughter. Yes, I said "a lot," and the year's only four days old.

New Year's Day was a perfect, slow-paced yet social day, afternoon coffee with a bunch of friends that sprawled its way into an afternoon-long meal, then in the evening a concert, a bunch of lovely local singer-songwriters trading songs. Just the right low-key way to spend the evening after a big partying night.

As we were making our way back to the tram after the concert, one of the friends-of-a-friend who'd come along mused, "Is there some saying that expresses the idea that the whole year should be like its first day is?"

He's onto something there; in this case it definitely should.


Favorite random small moment:

Out jogging with my friend Lisa on January 2, we passed an older man, also jogging, who greeted us with a cheerful "Frohes neues Jahr!" ("Happy new year!") – this in a city where strangers always, determinedly, ignore each other in public.