Picking up from yesterday –
I asked someone why he left Times Square (someone from France, by the way! Traveled across an ocean, and still didn’t stay in Times Square proper for New Year’s).
He said that since all of the performances are meant for television, not the crowd, that you can hardly see anything. And you’re squished with no idea what’s even going on and not really being entertained… That was interesting to me.
As it got closer to midnight, I decided my best bet was the roof.
Police actually moved people farther back than the original barricades (from which you still couldn’t see the ball). I saw some people try to make a run for it and cops stop them in their tracks. It was getting serious around midnight…
In fact, I was a little worried the officers patrolling the streets all night might get antsy if someone was on a roof. But thankfully everyone started coming out on their roofs (including the people across from me). And then I was no longer worried.
I got to hear the huge countdown and see the people, but not the ball.
BUT, confetti made it over to us with no issue. It was a beautiful storm of confetti. While there were people on roofs around me (and we all shouted Happy New Year to each other), I was the only person on the specific roof where I was standing…
And it was this weird, interesting, super cool, surreal feeling to get to dance alone on this roof – with all this space, almost in this fun confetti vacuum – while technically in the company of thousands of people. As I spun around in the confetti, Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” played and it felt like the world sang along. And I just thought, “Yeah. We’re really here. I am really dancing on the rooftop of my dream apartment right smack dab in the middle of New York City, being covered by all this gorgeous confetti (with some balloons flying in to).
I always thought about watching the ball drop. I never realized there was this incredibly adjacent cool experience that I wanted… The moment I realized I could have it was the moment I got it.
Well that was priceless, original and fun to read!
Aw, Newton! That is so kind of you to say! Thanks so much!