The Overrated Files

This post will be one installment of a series of things that I find to be overrated. I don’t consider myself a wholly disillusioned person--in fact, I think I have quite a rosy perspective on life a good 60% of the time. However, there are things in life that have been revered for years that I believe to be too highly valued. The first of these I’d like to discuss…New Years Eve, the Dick Clark holiday we have come to know, love, and loathe.

How many years have you spent the weeks leading up to December 31st mulling over different parties, outfits, and groups of people to spend it with so you can ring the New Year in the proper manner? This holiday has become so pressure-filled to party it up like no other night of the year that we have made it all but impossible to succeed. Each year, the anticipation of a night of popping champagne corks in some glamorous venue falls short, and I end up at a house party 15 miles outside of downtown unscrewing twist-top champagne bottles with a bunch of people I don’t know wondering “Why the hell am I ending one year and beginning another one with you people?” There are always a slew of parties that everyone wants to hit, which results in there A) needing someone to stay sober to drive the group to and fro, or B) sitting in a cab at midnight while gridlocked in New Years Eve traffic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to a few great New Year’s parties (ahem 2006-2007), but pretty much every year is a letdown. Furthermore, there’s the mandate that you find someone to kiss at midnight. Granted, if you have a significant other, a date for the night, or have even put the effort into scoping a certain someone out at whatever party you land on for the witching hour, it is still ridiculous that the night needs to culminate in a lip-lock. You either end up kissing your best friend or a stranger who has had a few too many vodka cranberries and decided to take some liberty with the opportunity. Either way, it’s not great.

Think about it…this holiday became so difficult to figure out that our country decided to create a giant ball of lights and confetti and then drop it on the masses Times Square in New York City. Oh, and that’s another thing…why would anyone ever want to stand in Times Square and watch the ball drop? To me, that seems like an incredibly claustrophobic experience. I’d rather watch it from inside a building looking down at everyone with a drink in my hand thinking “Suckers...”

Aside from the actual celebration aspect of New Years Eve and how it never seems to quite live up to the expectations in your head, another overrated aspect of this holiday is the New Year’s Resolutions. These resolutions are created, usually written down, and inevitably broken within four weeks. Nothing makes you feel more like a failure that giving up on the resolutions you were so committed to a few weeks prior. Some of the tried and true resolutions of course are: “I’m going to lose 10 pounds,” “I’m going to quit drinking,” “I’m going to help the needy.” Well folks, you might lose 10 pounds, you probably won’t quit drinking, and it’s possible you could end up volunteering as one of those bell ringers next Christmas for the Salvation Army. But let’s face it…none of that will have much to do with the fact that you resolved yourself to do it last December 31st.

In conclusion, New Years Eve is overrated. Suggested Remedy: This year, go to bed at 8pm and wake up on January 1st with the feeling that you ended your 2010 correctly…in a REM cycle.