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Trying to "ring" in the New Year
Sally didn't realize how quickly time was passing by until she saw the seconds ticking away on the Countdown to New Year 2004 http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/newyeara.html Web site. Her initial anxiety about her plans for her annual New Year's Eve bash being so far behind were soon allayed as she connected to the Food Network's Holiday Archives http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/et_holidays and clicked on "New Year's," where she encountered an assortment of recipe ideas for that evening's dinner, drinks and the next day's brunch.
As she intended to save herself some postage costs by emailing invitations to her friends, she scanned the sites linked from the Graphics Ring http://www.graphicsring.com/holidays/newyears.html to choose among numerous holiday-themed clip art, borders and backgrounds to adorn her invites.
Her enthusiasm, though, was cut short when she remembered how miserable she felt after her 2003 party—too debilitated to crawl over to the computer. Today, she was one year older and wiser: a quick peek at All About Hangovers http://www.all-about-hangovers.com/ provided her with sufficient facts on the causes, symptoms—as if she didn't know already—preventative measures and cures for the morning-after malady. This reminded her: since her friend, Jason, had a similar experience last year, she proceeded to telephone him…
…While Jason was tying up the phone lines looking for New Year's Eve activities. No way did he want to experience again the brutal aftereffects from last year's party at Sally's. He wanted to travel to where more culturally worthwhile things were happening—as long as the events were alcohol-free! Several years back, he had attended a "First Night" celebration downtown, and before long, he located the Web site of First Night International http://www.firstnightintl.org/. While browsing through the site, Jason found himself in sympathy with the mission to provide participating cities with culturally rich, affordable and family-friendly programs to ring in the New Year. Artists including musicians, poets, storytellers, dancers, actors, puppeteers and visual and media artists contribute to the First Night experience. Jason decided that he wanted to attend; his only dilemma was to determine which of the almost 200 cities in the US, Canada or New Zealand to travel to. Perhaps his geographically minded cousin, Carla, could help advise him, Jason felt as he logged off and dialed her number…
…Which was busy: Carla had no time for making plans for New Year's Eve herself—she only had that evening to finish the lesson plan for her middle-school students about the holiday's origins and traditions. Using her UB affiliation to access the university's databases, Carla primarily gleaned information from the "New Year Festival" article in Britannica Online http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/ugl/e-resources/eb.html and from the World Almanac Encyclopedia (part of FACTS.com, http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/e-resources/facts.html; the entry "New Year's Day") on observations of the new year by different cultures since 2000 BC. The information provided at John Shepler.com http://www.johnshepler.com/articles/newyear.html and Samuelson E-Commerce Enterprises' Holiday Origins http://www.holidayorigins.com/html/new_years_day.html supplemented her preparations for the school unit. Her friend and fellow teacher, Paul, who was planning a similar lesson at his school, could benefit from these resources, Carla thought, as she tried to call him…
…Unsuccessfully, as Paul, too, was preoccupied in his thoughts about the upcoming year. Having accidentally stumbled upon his "My 75 Resolutions for 2003" list in the back of a desk drawer and beginning to feel a wave of melancholy because of his rather disappointing results, he logged onto http://www.how-to-keep-your-new-years-resolution.com/. Here, he discovered guidelines to avoid some causes of his last year's failures: Set realistic goals; restrict the number of resolutions; plan out how to accomplish each resolution; word resolutions in more gentle, less stringent ways, and post the written list in a prominent place to provide a constant reminder. Encouraged, he felt that self-improvement was possible in 2004 after all! He picked up the phone to share these tips with his sister, Sally.
As you ring in 2004, here's hoping you don't get too many busy signals. Happy New Year and Cheers from the UB Libraries!
—Nina Cascio and Rick McRae, University Libraries