Ahh, New Year’s Eve. A celebration of endings and new beginnings. The last party night of the year, which means it’s also the biggest party night of the year. And that’s exactly why I always get the urge to lock myself in my room and hide under my bed until January 1st arrives.

The anticipation and build-up for the evening mean it’s never as good as you expect it to be. And no matter how much planning you do and how much money you spend, New Year’s Eve always fails to be an extraordinary night. Just because it’s the last night of the calendar year, doesn’t mean it’s going to be any more fun than any of the others. Trust me.

Reason #1 I Hate New Year’s Eve: First of all, it’s essential that you plan ahead. If you don’t make your plans well in advance, you’re risking having nothing to do. Parties get booked up, your friends make other plans, and you’re stuck watching the ball drop with your parents. I don’t like planning ahead. What if I’m forced into deciding to attend a party and then something better comes along? What if, in November, I don’t know what I’m going to be in the mood to do in December?

Reason #2 I Hate New Year’s Eve: Then there’s the expense. If you want to go out, you’re going to have to spend money, and probably a lot of it. Take last year, for example. A group of my friends made plans to go to a bar. We dished out the $75 that would allow us access to an open bar, bought fancy dresses, and got all decked out for the night of our lives. When we arrived, the bar was absolutely disgusting, the food nasty, and the people incredibly sketchy. It turned out we were only allowed to drink well liquor (when we could get near the bar). It also turned out that we could have paid $10 at the door and been allowed to attend the same party and order our own drinks. As if I would drink $65 in Grey Goose. The bottom line is that bars can charge whatever they please on New Year’s Eve and people will pay it. People like me. Read More »

You’ve already got a semester of partying under your belt by the time New Years Eve rolls around. How are you going to throw the bash that everyone’s still talking about in 2010? Here are some ways to make the 2008 send-off the most memorable.

If you can travel…

Hey, if you’ve got the funds, lucky you. Hit up another country and see how they do New Years. You don’t regret it. If you’re still underage, Canadian cities can be quite the hotspot (take it from someone who spent her last <21 New Years in Montreal, after a 10-hour road strip). If you’re loaded despite being in college during the recession, head on over to Europe. Hate the cold? Sing Auld Lang Syne in Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.

Okay, those are nice ideas in a fantasy world… but let’s move onto options for those of us who can’t cough up the money for airfare.

If you want to travel but can’t afford it… Read More »

Days as a Freshman: 180

Mood: Scared

“Look, if we go out there, are you ready to deal with him?”

Justin still held the doorknob, his mouth tightening as Sasha’s knocking and yelling got louder.

“Deal with him?” I checked my watch and saw that it was close to 1 A.M. I didn’t know much about parties and drinking, but from what little I did know, I knew that past midnight, things got strange. Got out of control.

“He’s drunk. He’s gonna say things. Sasha says things.”

“What the HELL?! Open UP!”

It sounded like Sasha was throwing his entire weight against the door. I moved closer to Justin and grabbed onto his shirt without thinking. “Let just get out of here. It’s fine. We’ll deal with whatever.”

Justin looked down quickly at my fingers intertwined with the cloth of his shirt. Without saying anything, he put his free hand over mine. “Okay. Just. Ignore everything that comes out of his mouth.”

Turning the knob, Justin opened the bathroom door seconds before Sasha threw his fists against it again. A small crowd had gathered around him, watching in amused disgust as Sasha took his drunk anger out on a door that seemed only a few shards away from breaking in half. Most of the onlookers probably would have cheered if he had broken it down. Read More »

New Year’s Resolutions.

There’s really no way to put a new spin on the idea of keeping those little promises we make to ourselves right before the ball drops every January 1st. The idea of starting a new year with a clean slate is always tantalizing, but how many of us actually end up doing what we toast to doing at midnight?

Instead of dolling out general, Oprah-fied advice about keeping you resolutions, I’m gonna tell you what worked for me. Obviously, I don’t represent the majority of the population, but if someone with the willpower of -3 (read: cannot eat just one cookie or stop at first base) can keep herself on the right track with these examples, maybe you can too.

*Be Reasonable: Guaranteeing yourself that you’ll lose 50 pounds in three months or give up smoking cold turkey can be difficult promises to keep, and nothing fades away faster than a lofty promise. I say, make a timetable and take baby steps. I’ll start exercising more and go easy on the sugar, and, I will find a program or support to help me wean down my nicotine intake, are two very doable sentences. Start small, succeed, and go bigger. That’s the key.

*Keep a Journal: Writing down your daily progress towards your resolutions is a great way to keep yourself focused on your the original goal. An online blog, or even an old fashioned diary, are two techniques that will help you see the daily evolution from idea to actuality. Read More »