Surviving New Year's Eve
 

In the Philippines, ushering in the New Year is always done at the risk of life, limb and property. I am happy to let everyone know that I survived my 32nd year of New Years' Eve celebrations in Manila. What a relief for me to have survived without a scratch on my life and limb. My house is still standing as well. Even if people were throwing fire crackers into our driveway all night. My car simply refused to be blown up.

My Life Force would like to thank the Chinese volunteer fire men (since Manila barely has a fire department) for their extra efforts in putting out the almost 60 fires that have razed through the city for the month of December. As of 2:30 AM January 1, 2006, they are still putting out the additional 15 fires across the city that are still raging on as I type this.

My nervous gastritis would like to thank my street neighbors for toning down on their illegal fire cracker use this year (Or maybe it was just that my house is soundproof these days and I had the cd player blaring?) So far so good. We still have electricity and no electrical lines have fallen yet even though people were using the poor lines and posts for fire cracker target practice all night.

The paranoid side of me would also like to thank my drunken neighbors and drunk policemen of the City of Manila for not putting a bullet through the roof of my house this year as they have previously tried and not often suceeded (okay they suceeded in planting one once) in doing these past years.

Allelujiah! I have ushered in the birth of a new year successfully yet again! Thank god ! There was no need to hide under the dining table this year ! (That's another very long story)

I just always get drunk and then I don't care what the other people do... :D I have two excuses to drink: my birthday and New Years. Fun stuff right there! :)

So you're not fond of new year celebrations, then Luisa ... ?

I love to celebrate new year limey. It is just that in the Philippines, the people somehow have a knack for turning what should be a wonderfully happy celebration into a sad, tragic event. And that happens every new year's eve here.

What I would love to try is celebrating a quiet new year. One that does not require me to check the fire alerts every 15 minutes nor to hide under the table because you never know what is flying through the air and hitting your GI Sheet roofing. I would also like to remain in my seat instead of jumping out everytime a fire cracker rocks the house to its foundations.

As far as I am concerned, the perfect New year celeb would include, lots of food, drinks, music and good friends and family all around.

Hmmm... sounds like Detroit.

I'll be staying in with Pete and a bottle of Glenkinchie. That'll do. :)

Wishing everyone a joyous, fun-filled, prosperous New Year, with no trips to the emergency room.

If any single one of you says "Here, hold my beer" any time in the next 24 hours I will personally be over to kick what's left of your ass.

That's how it usually starts. Remember folks it is amateur night out there, be careful!

Ditto. :D

Happy New Year everyone.http://www.cellar.org/images/moresmilies/partyguy.gif

Gosh, Luisa, hope we get to hear more from you! Your description sort of reminds me of a New year's Eve I spent in Northeastern Brazil! And, no, Wolf, ain't no one was going to get to hold my glass!

Hmmmm... speaking of, its time to put on my new blue outfit and go drink green apple martini's (I have cab fare, don't worry!)

Happy New Year, All!

Tonight is my Cellar anniversary! I joined on New Year's Eve of 2002. I was doing then pretty much what I am doing now, minus the cream puffs and trail mix. Tonight, it was "March of the Penguins" and sugar free Russell Stover candies.

Looks like I just broke 5,000 posts as well this weekend. I'm sure each of them were inspired, witty and just plain entertaining (not). Even so, what better time for me to say "Happy New Year" to all of my Cellar family.

Speaking of surviving New Year, how about Dick Clark? It takes huge cajones to sit there and let everyone see you after what he's been through. I always admired his voice and his smooth style and presentation, which has been sorely afflicted by his stroke. He's a brave sumbitch, and I say good for him tonight.

I wonder if the revelers in Brazil have ever found themselves hiding under their dining table on New Year's Eve because it sounded like World War 3 was going on out in the streets and fire trucks were running to and from in an almost endless siren wail. That's what happened to me one NYE during my teen years.

Our house was still made of wood at the time and the safest place to hide seemed to be under our circular dining table that seats 10. so there, I was, cringing with every explosion and wondering how much a kevlar helment would cost me and would i be able to have one for the next NYE.

When all the excitement was over, we had our roofing checked for any damags from firecrakers. Well, no damage from the fire crackers BUT, the handyman did find a .45 caliber bullet lodged in between the roof sheets. Guess my family literally dodged the bullet that time.

And oh... there was the time some drunk fired a bullet into the air and it ricocheted all over the 3rd floor of our newly semi-concrete built house. That's for another thread again.

It's not midnight yet here in California, but it already looks like we will have a relatively quiet time of it and no fires this year. This is due to the torrential downpour which finally arrived in the Central Valley after nearly wiping San Francisco and Santa Rosa off the map in the past few days :worried: since I was house sitting at the momster's I got to watch the spectacle, the pool rose 2 inches in 10 minutes and the streets instantly became impassible. This is actually a good thing, because we were way down on rainfall this winter and definitely needed the water in the reservoirs, but better still is the fact that nobody could start a fire on a roof or anywhere else tonight even with a blowtorch :D

We're still celebrating -- southern California. Rain all morning, slowly clearing in the afternoon, and an actually visible sunset. I wouldn't be surprised if we'd gotten two inches of rain today here in Ventura County. We fixed Hoppin' John (ad-hoc, whatdowehaveinthepantry recipe) for good fortune in the next year, in the rice cooker, and are currently nibbling chocolates and watching Pirates Of The Caribbean on video, and haven't gotten into the drinks (much) yet. Celebrating en famille.

Hmmm... Yeah, that sounds about right. We're talking a place called Recife a good 20 years ago, but the ambiance sounds quite similar. Have no idea what its like these days. I hear they locked everybody up and then had a coup then locked 'em all up again. Then some idiot from USAID got the bright idea to bring in dynamite one year. I lost track of a lot of my old friends after that...

So you folks out there in Cali are sending us your damn rain which will become a three foot blizzard by time it hits the Rockies! Whoever admitted you guys to the Union, anyhow?

I had a pleasant and mildly profitable New Years. Everyone bought the "Rose Lady" free drinks, and I cleared $75.00 while dancing the night away. Would have made more, but didn't buy enough flowers. I'd always spent previous New Year's with the Ax Murderer at different musician's gatherings, so I had no idea what to expect from my rose route tonight. I'll know to lay in lots more roses come next year!

happy 2006!! YAY!! WE all made it!! I was in bed by nine! Obviously, I am a loser and no one likes me. BUT! That's Okay!*

*am taking course in Self Acceptance, and, I think it's working!!

Happy New Year's all you hungover cellarites!

How do the other people in the bed feel about that? ;)

So now that the new year has come does that mean that the thousands of firecracker blasts will cease?

Doesnt bother me here in the states now, but Jesus H....What a pain in the ears having those go off all the time.


(thinks to self: Am I getting old?)

Since you missed all the fun, Slang, I should send you the video tape that Lu made for me of New Years Eve in Manila about 5 years ago. Truly amazing, the streets outside her house were filled with smoke from burning tires and explosives, and you can see figures staggering through the smoke like something out of Day of the Dead. Constant gunfire in the background. She almost dropped the camera while dodging a bottle rocket, but most of it is fairly clear :D

And that was the first and last time I ventured out of the house on New year's Eve. I am still amazed I survived that venture out unscathed. I remember thinking that I was never going to venture out again for any reason after that on that night. Now I take videos from the safety of the 2nd floor bedroom window :headshake

So where do you post them ????

Tonchi has a 2 hour videotape of Christmas and New year's Eve in the Philippines. Send her a PM. I am sure she will gladly send you a copy of the video I made for her. I don't have an up to date computer so I don't have the capability to post the videos for web viewing. My apologies :redface:

Before we moved out of Coatesville, we had a roofer pull 2 bullets out of our roof. He showed them to me but didn't act as if it were a very unusual occurance.

5 minutes after I posted this I got a call that a youngster had crossed the double lines on Dad sending him to the ER with a very badly busted up knee/knee-cap. He's gonna be ok but the rehab is gonna be pretty lame. Volunteer firemen and involved neighbors make all the difference. Thanks guys!

sorry to here that Griff.

New Year's day a saturn rolled off the frontage road by my house killing a couple of people. they were drunk. it was noon. guess they won't make that mistake again.

From here :(

Bruce, these numbers are completely insignificant. The boundaries of the "original" city of Manila has a population of more than 3 MILLION while "Metro Manila" counts nearly 15 MILLION. Saying that only 11 people died in the holiday celebrations this weekend is absurd! At least 11 people die from violence or absurd accidents in which they blow themselves up EVERY DAY within a 10-mile radius of Luisa's house. The statistics in that article are just about the bodies that the police "investigated". The TRUTH is that the entire police force, as well as all government employees including the Post Office and anybody resembling a public service worker is not on duty at all for the entire week before Christmas and only occasionally after that until January 3. And in addition to that, the government has a strict campaign to stifle any "negative news" about the Philippines getting out. So yes, it was a very tragic weekend in Manila, but we can only guess how bad it really was. I settle for knowing that Luisa survived.

Same here. During one town fiesta, a drunk police guy took his gun and fired into the air. I think that bullet had one of my relatives, or even my name written on it but changed its mind midstream. It came in through the roof, ricocheted off the bookshelf in the attic, slammed into the storage area shed in the same room and landed on top of my Archie comics collection.

Yep. Just another long festive holiday in the Philippines. Drunkeness and bullets go hand in hand :p

After living 32 years of my life in Manila, I have learned that the cops and the hospitals and the fire department will never get their statistics right for NYE casualties. If you must believe any statistic, believe what your eyes see. That is as accurate as it will really get. :headshake

Shit, I thought that report was pretty bad. You're saying it's much worse? :mg:

Yep. That report did not include the robberies, nationwide fires that were mostly at Charlie or Delta Alerts, firecracker related injuries, to-whom-it-may-concern bullet injuries, looting at the fire areas and the usual night time crimes that usually double or triple up in rate on NYE. :worried:

Bruce, it sounds bad to you that 3 people died and 600 (no doubt an estimate) were injured in some way, shape or form over a period of 10 days in a city of THREE MILLION? Babe, that would have happened REGARDLESS in Manila over 10 days. Another part of the statistics which were not mentioned is the huge fire in the squatter slums during that time which left 100,000 homeless and wandering the streets looking for another place to squat. A stunning 40% of the residents of Manila is technically homeless in the best of times, so without any shelter over their heads during Christmas week, they contributed significantly to the mayhem.

I got the impression from that report they were just counting the over and above casualties they blamed on the holiday. I posted that so people wouldn't think Luisa was exaggerating the danger involved by thinking a lot of people are irrationally afraid of fireworks. But, I believe her when she says it's even worse. :eek:

btw, that story was datelined Manila, but it came from a news source in Thailand, so it could have been toned down not to offend the neighbors or just using Manilas official position.

Did I mention that the government indirectly asked the media to tone down the bad news reports and stop being such bad boys? So any reports you get on the international wire may definitely be toned down by the official press corps to paint a rosey picture because the reality bites real bad :rar: