Happy new year, I guess?

December 31, 2013 7:05 AM

As one of the first to cross the Magic Line, from the land of Easterstralia where the many-legs grow, let me tell you: the ant-lords are harsh but fair. All praise the myrmiform cabal (there is no cabal) of 2014! Thanks for being here, again, and as always, for another diurnal rotation. Y'all are rocks, and islands.
posted by nonspecialist to MetaFilter-Related at 7:05 AM (223 comments total)

Greetings time traveller! Is it true what they say, that the global financial crisis is over? And does everyone say "myrmiform" over there? Is it supposed to be "myriform"? If so, what does that mean? I just want to be prepared.

I'm visiting an old friend later for NYE and will have to make my way through a haze of fireworks-wielding children in the process. Because the Netherlands is where we sound out the year with the mass purchase and deployment of minor explosives. Wish me luck!

Have a nice NYE and a fantastic 2014, everyone.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 7:12 AM on December 31, 2013 [11 favorites]

Aaaaaaaaaaah sometimes time zones freak me RIGHT THE FUCK OUT.

That said, I hope this year is a wonderful one for everyone and that things go well and we all live happily ever after. Very best wishes MeFites!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:17 AM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

No member is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every member is a piece of the site,
A part of the Blue.
If a member be deleted away by life,
MeFi is the less.
As well as if a FPP were.
As well as if a comment of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any poster's* disabling diminishes me,
Because I am involved in MeFitery,
And therefore never send to know for whom the favorite clicks;
It clicks for thee.

*Well, except for that guy who really asked for it.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:18 AM on December 31, 2013 [19 favorites]

It will always be 1997 to the part of me that has to hand-write the date.
posted by troika at 7:19 AM on December 31, 2013 [13 favorites]

Without another party hosted by Jamie Kennedy, what's the point of any of this? The new year tastes like ash without Kennedy to ring it in.
posted by Think_Long at 7:19 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

с наступающим!
posted by griphus at 7:20 AM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Happy early/on-time/belated New Year's to you all. May the coming year be kind to us all and interesting without being *interesting*, iykwim.
posted by rtha at 7:25 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

May the best of 2013 be the worst of 2014, and may you either receive your heart's desire or realize you didn't want it as much as you thought.
posted by Mooski at 7:28 AM on December 31, 2013 [14 favorites]

A very happy New Year to Europe-Hard-Mode!
posted by Slackermagee at 7:28 AM on December 31, 2013

Its about 9:30 am here in Chicago, and moms in the region have already started sending out texts and FB messages warning people to be careful, since we're getting a snowstorm tonight.

I hope all of you folks have happy and safe celebrations! 2014, let's do this!
posted by Fig at 7:35 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Happy new year, all and sundry!

Today I shall be preparing three pies (apple, lemon chiffon, and black bottom rum) to take to the annual shindig put on by long time friends. The party is always themed and costumed; this year it is Film Noir. I didn't have time this year to go all out on costuming but my hair is nice and long so at lest I'll be appropriately coiffed once the hot rollers come out.


Auld lang syne, indeed!
posted by cooker girl at 7:50 AM on December 31, 2013

For this NYE, I have fireworks.

Oh, how I have missed fireworks.

So, yeah, Happy New Year all... though I haven't made it there just yet...
posted by pompomtom at 7:53 AM on December 31, 2013

I am neither rock nor island, though possibly a little teapot.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:55 AM on December 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

Have a happy [and safe!] New Year!

[And please don't drink and drive]
posted by Renoroc at 7:57 AM on December 31, 2013

Happy putting up of the new calendar day! Whoopee, I can't wait to mark all the birthdays!
posted by h00py at 7:57 AM on December 31, 2013

Glad to be called a rock as I am usually said to be dumber than a rock. Thanks for the promotion.

13 hours to lose the last 10lbs on my 2013 resolution. Also to be nicer, so Happy New Year everyone!
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:02 AM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Without being too name-drippy, I'm thrilled to ring in the New Year with someone known as the Science Guy. I'll see if I can get him to drop in this thread.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:07 AM on December 31, 2013 [7 favorites]

All praise New Year's Day! The one holiday a year I have kept to myself. Easter, Mother's Day, my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas are spent somewhere else. The summer holidays are filled with barbecues. But New Year's Day, I turn down all invitations and we stay home. We eat what we want. We stay in pajamas all day if we want. It's a good way to bring in the new year, and I encourage it for anyone who's in the same boat.

From misterussell and myself, wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014!

(JohnnyGunn just reminded me that I have 13 hours left to learn how to juggle. Bring me three chainsaws!)
posted by kimberussell at 8:09 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Without being too name-drippy, I'm thrilled to ring in the New Year with someone known as the Science Guy. I'll see if I can get him to drop in this thread.

Oh my gosh that would be amazing! At the risk of being too gushy, hello sir! My best friend is an elementary school science teacher and you are her hero.

I respect that he may not see this. Still worth it!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:11 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

[And please don't drink and drive]

One of the things I love best about this night is that it's a friend's birthday, and she always throws a party, and...it's downstairs! She used to live across town, and so going to her party (and getting home) involved the annoying thing where we would have to decide about driving, or taking the bus, or trying to get cabs. Boo. And now she lives so close I don't even have to put on shoes if I don't feel like it. Though I do, because it's a fancy party and it would be weird if I showed up in my socks and slippers.
posted by rtha at 8:14 AM on December 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

Even though it's still New Year's Eve here in NYC, I'm just going to wish everyone a happy new year now because I'll likely be too drunk to do it later.

(Also, I meant to misspell "drunk." Damn autocorrect.)
posted by bookwibble at 8:14 AM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

You sad bastards, souls fused into the internet. None of you have realized that you all died back in December of 2012, do you?
posted by charred husk at 8:16 AM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

(JohnnyGunn just reminded me that I have 13 hours left to learn how to juggle. Bring me three chainsaws!)

You can learn to juggle, and JohnnyGunn can lose those last 10 lbs right quick...two birds, one trip to the ER on New Year's Eve!
posted by drlith at 8:17 AM on December 31, 2013 [10 favorites]

I don't have a damn thing planned, and can't even just pop up the street to the local bar because the last time I did that on new year's I broke my damn foot and I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT AGAIN. So it may just be a night of TV and going to bed.

2013 was kind of meh anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:25 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

None of you have realized that you all died back in December of 2012, do you?

Sigh. We prefer apotheosis, thank you very much.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:37 AM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

Oh my gosh that would be amazing!

Nigh on brilliant, you might say.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:41 AM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

Doesn't everyone have their own rock island?
posted by Wolfdog at 8:42 AM on December 31, 2013

I have a bunch of fireworks, a small boy, 4 ear candles, and just closed on an overgrown 15 acre farm full of wild pigs that have to go. Nobody is going to have a better time than me and my boy. "Free pork," he says.

There is some disturbing book about wild pigs and little boys that I can't quite recall. And why does he want my glasses? His vision is fine.

This has been a year of misery and I'd like to thank the community for being funny and sharp.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:42 AM on December 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

"Here's to the New Year. May she be a damn sight better than the old one, and may we all be home before she's over."
— Col. Sherman T. Potter, M*A*S*H, "A War for All Seasons"
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:53 AM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Happy New Year to all you people. I would say something heartfelt but it always comes out sounding silly. This is a good place and I'm glad it is here.
posted by sciencegeek at 9:01 AM on December 31, 2013 [10 favorites]

Without another party hosted by Jamie Kennedy, what's the point of any of this? The new year tastes like ash without Kennedy to ring it in.

I checked the KDOC schedule to see what's up and it's Seinfeld and Community to ring in the new year.

They're just chicken! CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP CHEEP
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 9:18 AM on December 31, 2013

For this New Year's eve a bottle of Poof is chilling, which is something altogether else than Boop or Poom. Like, wetter and sparklier.
Happy New Year to you all!
posted by Namlit at 9:22 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love your food. Bloomin' Onion, Alice Springs Chicken, Kookaburra Wings. Fair dunkum, that's good tucker!
posted by Tanizaki at 9:37 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Happy New Year to everyone, even though it's not 8:30pm here yet!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:44 AM on December 31, 2013

What sciencegeek said.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 9:49 AM on December 31, 2013

Tanizaki reminded me: in addition to this exciting new experience, 2013 also brought me "going to Outback Steakhouse with actual Australians" (which, it now occurs to me, could be a good CAH card).
posted by EvaDestruction at 10:36 AM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Here's to a sparkling fresh new year
Abrim with friends and laughter
May your days be ever filled with joy
But skip the hangovers after
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:43 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

I do enjoy you people ever so much. Not even noon here in Los Angeles but Happy New Year all the same to you lot.
posted by Sophie1 at 10:48 AM on December 31, 2013

Happy new year from Bashkortostan!

Let's hope it's a kinder, gentler world to live in in 2014. Love and hugs to everyone!
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 10:54 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Speaking of time zones, I just watched a short video about the mounting exasperation you get when you try to get computers to work with time zones. It's fun in a nerd-ragey kind of way.
posted by benito.strauss at 10:55 AM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Next year in Jerusalem! Oi, wait, I am already here... well, hope you can make it next year, rock on and await further instructions eh.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:32 AM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

On the off chance that the Science Guy sees this, I reiterate my suggestion that he team up with Neil deGrasse Tyson and fight crime.

Science crime.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2013 [15 favorites]

I'd say that I feel exactly like sciencegeek except--whew, here I go--I'm gonna risk sounding silly anyway.

I may just be a lurker here but MeFites' words have made me think, smile, laugh, cry, explore, empathize and just feel like a goddamn human being capable of being Not A Shit or feeling anything at all, really, while stuck in the muck of what's been more or less a decade-long depression. This new year, I may finally, finally be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Here's to you and the power of your words.
posted by Wonton Cruelty at 11:55 AM on December 31, 2013 [15 favorites]

Spent the last hour, before it closed for the day, in the new Library of Birmingham. Today's trip and previous visits. Really, there are few, if any, more life-affirming places than a library. I spend a lot of time in them; resolving in 2014 to spend even more time in libraries.
posted by Wordshore at 12:05 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

I just watched a short video about the mounting exasperation you get when you try to get computers to work with time zones.

....I want to buy that kid the world's biggest beer.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:23 PM on December 31, 2013

Sigh. We prefer apotheosis, thank you very much.

Oh my Gourd, no! It's all about the Apocolocyntosis for me. Roll on midnight, Cinderella-stylee! Happy New Year, fellow Mefites!
posted by comealongpole at 12:29 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

We just had a NYE brunch with old friends and it was the best of times. May your New Year be happy and bright, full of joy and happiness for you and your loved ones. I love this place.
posted by arcticseal at 12:54 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

2013 was not a great year for me in many ways, and I am not sad to see it go. As arbitrary as it feels to me to look at the New Year as a "fresh start" (very little changes except some numbers on a calendar) I am very much hoping that 2014 is a better year for me and for everyone else.

Here's hoping that in 2014 our hands are extended in friendship and not in want or in anger. And that we all take steps towards success - however we choose to define it.
posted by nubs at 1:01 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Two hours left of 2013 here in Norway. A pretty rubbish year that ended on a potential upswing with news of a probable new job.

Here's hoping 2014 will be better!
posted by knapah at 1:06 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

As soon as my wife gets home from work, we're going to put the kids in their jammies and drive down to a lake in the middle of the woods in Brown County, Indiana where grandma and grandpa live. We will eat pizza, drink pop, the kids will watch movies and we will talk long into the night. Shortly after midnight, I will step out onto their deck, where it is always quiet in the winter, and look at the water, the woods and the stars to greet the new year as I have in many years past.

It's my favorite night of the year.
posted by double block and bleed at 1:18 PM on December 31, 2013 [13 favorites]

Y'all are making feel kinda bad about New Year's Eve "meh" policy.

But I'll take the opportunity to say that I love you guys, every last one of you.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Without being too name-drippy, I'm thrilled to ring in the New Year with someone known as the Science Guy. I'll see if I can get him to drop in this thread.


Does he ever wear a deerstalker cab? Because either he has a very kind doppelgänger who was in DC a couple of weeks ago, or I missed out on the best chance ever to tell him how much his show meant to me and how much I love his approach towards science and education now. Basically I'm very jealous and I hope you (all of you out there, really) have a fabulous 2014!
posted by jetlagaddict at 1:30 PM on December 31, 2013

2013 was a cray cray year.

New church. (yay!)

New job. (Yay!)

New apartment (thanks to an apartment fire) (.....uh, yay?)

New grandbaby (our third, but first granddaughter and first for my son and daughter in law...) (YAY!!!!!)

(those last three in about a four or so week period, whew...)

And to top it all off, all of the above as I am going through...."the change." ( uh, ok, yay, whatever.)

Onward and forward into 2014!

(And yay science guy, he was so much help back when I homeschooled back in the Nineties. Thank him for me!)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:55 PM on December 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Please Alia, don't change. We have enough problems around here and granddaughter will notice the horns. And you'll frighten the bunnies who look up to you.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:14 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Look at these fuckers. Look at how young they were.
posted by octobersurprise at 2:19 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Another year and I just came home from literally emptying my bank account and paying the taxes on my house and car, so I get to keep them for another year. That completed task has oddly enough cheered me right up. Happy New Year! If Atropos, Clothos and Lachesis are kind, perhaps it will be okay. All I ask for nowadays is peace and calm. 2013 was not terrible! Nothing completely unrectifiably awfully horrible happened to me and mine! It was relatively peaceful! That's the first time in six years I've been able to say that so I'll take another one like it and I wish the same or, hopefully, way better, for all of you.
posted by mygothlaundry at 2:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

To those of us who have already passed over into a new year, we on the left coast of the US will arrive in our own sweet time, thankyewverymuch, because we're just like that. Save us some canapes, ok? Oh and happy new year; I ♥ you all!
posted by Lynsey at 2:26 PM on December 31, 2013

Been reducing beef stock from Christmas prime rib all day, which I roasted again with some veg in the morning, for French onion soup. It wasn't tasty enough, so I put in a bit of marmite. Now reducing onions.

Made sour cream apple pie. Using Jacques Pepin's Maman's pie crust recipe.

If I had a science question, it would be why did my soap from pork lard precipitate water? I have made soap from veg oils and store bought lard, but this time I tried to render pork lard from the farm, and then when I made soap it had a layer of water or oil ??? on top. It was still soap, however.

What happened to that pork soap?

St. Alia: all I can tell you is dress in layers and keep fans in every room of the house.

Anyway, I welcome our Nye overlords! And Happy New Year to you all!
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 2:26 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

After all the shit that's gone down in the past year, it seems like a lot of people are feeling this on New Year's Eve.


Of course, now it's time to party like it's 1099.





HAIL ANTS
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:36 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

First time in a long time that "Happy New Year!" didn't taste like ashes in my mouth.

My jaw dropped as fireworks lit the sky above my house--but it wasn't because they were gorgeous (although they were). It was because at that moment I was checking within myself how I felt, and what I felt then was emphatically not terrible. There was no niggling "hehehe you stupid fool why are you even bothering to hope" inner voice snickering. There was no smug silence sitting heavy in my head like a boulder, radiating complete confidence that I was trash, just ABSOLUTE GARBAGE. My god, is this what being alive feels like? No wonder some people don't want to die.

(That said, I don't think I'm really an 'onwards and forwards!' sort of person [but of course it is okay if you are!]. I'm more like, what the hell is going on I'm muddling through?? I AM MUDDLING THROUGH. YAY!)
posted by Wonton Cruelty at 2:56 PM on December 31, 2013 [12 favorites]

Those of you for whom it's already 2014 - has the Google Doodle changed?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:05 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

2013 was fucking heinous and there is in actual fact no possible way that 2014 could be worse so there is that at least to look forward to.

ALSO it occurs to me that every new year's for the past 3 (4?) years I have been SICK AND ON METAFILTER and I hold you all personally responsible. Especially for that one year I was poxed and angrily smeared with oatmeal.
posted by elizardbits at 3:07 PM on December 31, 2013 [6 favorites]

Gonna be on a farm lighting firecrackers and feasting vegan style when the New Year comes in here. Champagne's getting popped and poured for everybody.

Y'all are making feel kinda bad about New Year's Eve "meh" policy.

But I'll take the opportunity to say that I love you guys, every last one of you.

Ivan Fyodorovich, for what it's worth, you've got a glass raised to you here.

Viva beginnings. Love you guys.
posted by rue72 at 3:18 PM on December 31, 2013

EmpressCallipygos: It hasn't for me but I'm on a tablet. Do Google Doodles even show up on a device like this? I can't imagine why they wouldn't.

there is in actual fact no possible way that 2014 could be worse

And here is a temptress, tempting fate. I am agog at the bravery with which you wrote these words.
posted by Wonton Cruelty at 3:20 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

EmpressC, the google doodle is the numbers 2, 0, 1 and 4 on a dancefloor, with a disco ball spinning, speakers pumping, and the dancefloor lights changing colours. Poor old 3 is off to one side, dripping sweat.

Can you go to www.google.com.au?
posted by malibustacey9999 at 3:22 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Happy 2014 to all.
posted by Cranberry at 3:22 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Here 'tis.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 3:26 PM on December 31, 2013

::::uploading apple cream pie to Elizardbits to avoid curse::::
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 3:27 PM on December 31, 2013

> But I'll take the opportunity to say that I love you guys, every last one of you.

We're waiting for eyeballkid with the view from the other side of the aisle...
posted by languagehat at 3:29 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I'll be ringing in the new year with Star Trek and my dog who is so afraid of fireworks that I had to table party plans in his honor. Also the pot of chili I made! And the absolutely BRILLIANT historical fiction thing I've been slowly hacking away at since Christmas Eve.

Speaking of, I got it on the recommendation of a mefite, and I can't find the thread where it was mentioned. Searching "Hild" reveals only Martin Wisse talking about it, so THANKS MARTIN WISSE OF 2014.
posted by Sara C. at 3:32 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

there is in actual fact no possible way that 2014 could be worse

You want to tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 3:35 PM on December 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

YEAH BRING IT ON 2014 I WILL FUCK YOU UP
posted by elizardbits at 3:39 PM on December 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

Also yes while you guys were talking about me in that other Metatalk I was READING ACTUAL BOOKS. With words and everything. No pictures.

And every character's name is something like Aeosdjjdskmcxffgifu, too, so.

I think I just won 2013, guys.
posted by Sara C. at 3:41 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

I'M WITH YOU, ELIZARDBITS! YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS, 2014? GET SOME!

¡QAPLA'!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 3:42 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thank you, malibustacey9999! Although I think I prefer the version I imagined from your description. My number 4 was a blond for some reason.
posted by Wonton Cruelty at 3:45 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hey wait that rhymed it even has a meter and everything
posted by Wonton Cruelty at 3:46 PM on December 31, 2013

What happened to that pork soap?

I washed my mouth out with it. All of it.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:47 PM on December 31, 2013

2014 is pretty good so far, you guys.

It's not raining, it's nice and warm, and there is bacon.
posted by nonspecialist at 3:56 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

i have jam in my hair and behind my ear so things are proceeding as usual
posted by elizardbits at 4:00 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy New Year from my little corner of London, where we're doing it properly--by which I mean watching the fireworks on TV while all safe and warm at home with our cats instead of being in the middle of huge crowds being rained on. Yes I am old SHUT UP.

Part of the fireworks involved bits of Gary Numan and Queen. I am inordinately pleased by this.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:03 PM on December 31, 2013 [9 favorites]

Happy New Year from Belfast! Trivial Pursuit and cheap Cava abound. Good luck in 2014 everyone.
posted by billiebee at 4:04 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

They blew up Gary Numan?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:08 PM on December 31, 2013 [8 favorites]

You've never heard such affectless synth-pop complaining.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:11 PM on December 31, 2013

Oh my Gourd, no! It's all about the Apocolocyntosis for me.

Marry me.
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 4:11 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Happy 2014, also from London!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 4:21 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Good grief - the amount of fireworks that have just gone off this last 22 minutes in south Birmingham (UK) has been something else. Like Eid, Bonfire Night, Christmas and Warwickshire winning the Cricket County Championship all rolled into one.

And then some.

So, 2014; here we are. Happy new year, and READ MORE BOOKS IN 2014. Just ... READ. You'll be the better for it.

Love to all in this quite unique, smart and often very funny community,
@wordshore
posted by Wordshore at 4:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

I was poxed and angrily smeared with oatmeal.

Do you know how much they charge to deliver tar and feathers?
posted by arcticseal at 4:32 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Celebrated New Year's Eve with the Big 18wk Ultrasound to check out mah fetus this morning. We already knew from genetic testing that she's a she, but it was still pretty amazing to see her in all her skeletal glory. The ultrasound tech wasn't too amused by "I assume the terrifying skull like apparition is her face?" but it was indeed her face and it and all the rest of her anatomical structures are present and accounted for.

2014 will bring her arrival into the outside world, so basically best year ever. Our little family will finally all be here!
posted by sonika at 4:32 PM on December 31, 2013 [13 favorites]

That's terrific news, sonika; all best wishes for a boring, complication-free pregnancy and delivery.

Excelsior, you guys -- and onward to 2014. Happy New Year!
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:53 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

but is she a squirtle or a bulbasaur or a charmander
posted by elizardbits at 4:58 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

any of those would be adorable but charmanders get so obnoxious when they evolve I have to hope it's not one of those.

They are terrible teens!
posted by winna at 5:08 PM on December 31, 2013

Judging by her behavior on the ultrasound, she's a wigglepotamus.
posted by sonika at 5:12 PM on December 31, 2013

She's got great taste in parents.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:14 PM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

perhaps she is a jigglypuff.

when she is awake and moving about do you feel overpoweringly sleepy? she may be singing the song of the jigglypuffs.
posted by winna at 5:15 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

WIGGLYTUFF
posted by elizardbits at 5:15 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Kid's gonna be called MeTa, right?
posted by Namlit at 5:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Happy Year of the Horse!

(I have completed my annual ritual of the phone consultation with my mother over how to prepare kimchi mandu for the New Year's rice cake and mandu soup. This year we have decided I should omit raw egg from the mandu filling, but add some chopped garlic chives.)
posted by needled at 5:29 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Happy New Year Mefi. Watched the London fireworks at a family party, away from the rain. According to the bbc " the chimes of Big Ben signalled a multi-sensory" firework show with peach-flavoured snow and edible banana confetti for crowds packing the banks of the River Thames. I didn't see any on the tv though. Bring on 2014.
posted by marienbad at 5:33 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Living in the Times Square neighborhood. Had a little party just now in my tiny Hell's Kitchen apartment. Am this moment completely stoned on champagne and feeling totally joyous! *hic

Will stagger up to the rooftop in the near midnight and watch the ball drop from a near distance.

Only hoping there is no dirty bomb or any act of terrorism. I worry terribly about that every year and it's such a relief the hour after the one or two million revelers in the 'hood have yeehaed it home. May there be more peace in the world.

May there be peace. Please.

In the meantime, while I can still type, I love you all SO much! My Mefi friends are very dear to my heart. MetaFilter is an amazing cyber city. My fave. Happy New Year! May this be a fantastic year for each of you and for the entire planet, our planet, we all share together. Big hugs and love.
posted by nickyskye at 5:58 PM on December 31, 2013 [10 favorites]

when she is awake and moving about do you feel overpoweringly sleepy?

OMGYES. I've been so much more exhausted this time around than I was with my son. I've been blaming it on "second pregnancy" and/or "I am an old now" but jigglypuff makes so much more SENSE.
posted by sonika at 6:22 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Happy New Year from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Can't believe I'm still here, lurking on MeFi, after all these years.
posted by prolific at 6:24 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

May you find happiness, or at least relief, in 2014. Thanks, you guys. Happy New Year.
posted by Toekneesan at 6:43 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cheers to one and all. Let's kick 2014 in the ass, people!
posted by tonycpsu at 6:52 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Just half-watched Up with The Boy and his newly pregnant wife, that's nice. No going Out, as daughter-in-law had emergency dental surgery this morning.

There was a lot of unpleasantness that came to a head in 2013, but it looks like 2014 will be better, and I may not, after all, be borken. Thanks for being here, MeFi & all you MeFites. 4 hours til 2014. I'll raise a glass to y'all.
posted by theora55 at 7:03 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

We'll be dropping a gee-tar on Beale Street in Memphis tonight. Well, not me, but some Memphibians will. Happy New Year from the Deep South!
posted by raisingsand at 7:07 PM on December 31, 2013

On New Year's Day
by Marge Piercy

Bless this house under the pitch pines
where the cardinal flashes and the kestrels hover
crying, where I live and work with my lover
Woody and my cats, where the birds gather
in winter to be fed and the squirrel dines
from the squirrel-proof feeder. Keep our water
bubbling up clear. Protect us from the fire's
long teeth and the lashing of the hurricanes
and the government. Please, no foreign wars.
Keep this house from termites and the bane
of quarreling past what can be sweetly healed.
Keep our cats from hunters and savage dogs.
Watch with care over Woody splitting logs
and mostly keep us from our sharpening fear
as we skate over the ice of the new year.

The gudrun household is sending Mefites our best New Years wishes for smooth skating in 2014.
posted by gudrun at 7:10 PM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

Happy new year! Just think, next year we'll be watching the 2015 MetaTalk thread update in real time on our google glass heads up displays.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:48 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

We opted for a quiet night in after the hectic festivities of Christmas. We've watched "Don't be afraid of the dark", which was pretty good considering I'm a scaredy cat and hate horror movies. Also, it's snowing steadily now outside our window, which is magical.
posted by arcticseal at 7:49 PM on December 31, 2013

I'm just doing a whole Doctor Who festival and being done with it. Last year I was with some friends in Moab, and we all got excited when we realized "hey, we're in mountain time so we can watch the ball drop on TV and still go to bed early! AWESOME!" And the year before that I broke my foot.

The hell with New Year's Eve celebrating at midnight. Ten pm is about perfect.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:31 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

h00py: Happy putting up of the new calendar day! Whoopee, I can't wait to mark all the birthdays!

Hah, tricked you! My calendar started in December 2013! And I don't ever add birthdays! (That's what Facebook is for, right?)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:36 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Happy New Years to those who are in the new year! The kiddo is asleep, there's a dog resting on my feet, and the adults are watching a RuPaul's Drag Race marathon, thanks to Netflix UK through a Chrome proxy addon. The bubbly is waiting until finish off this java stout (milder than a Red Bull mixed drink). [FYI: my drag name would be Miss Direction, and I'd be a master of slight-of-hand]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:45 PM on December 31, 2013

It's hot chocolate, cats, and a marathon of Newsradio here. (I am not Doobie Keebler.) Happy New Year!
posted by julen at 8:58 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy New Year, east coast US people!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:00 PM on December 31, 2013

Where I am tonight has seen an unpleasant family argument leaving those involved in bed early and me, semi-innocent bystander, to be kind of anxious and bummed-out.

So, congrats to those of you an hour ahead of me who will undoubtedly be reporting in any second now ... I hope the year looks better on that side and I will arrive to join you in 59 minutes.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:01 PM on December 31, 2013

Toasting with a shrub mocktail, Cheesits, and Idris Elba in a jaeger suit: whoooo 2014 looking good
posted by jetlagaddict at 9:06 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Happy new year to all you fabulous folks! And to the rest of you, well, I guess you deserve some happiness too.
posted by blurker at 9:10 PM on December 31, 2013

(well, and happy new year to everybody else too, whether it's reached you yet or not. May 2014 be a hell of a lot better.)
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:14 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

Protip: When you are my age, take a nap about 9pm. And have someone wake you about 11:30 with bubbly and cheese. Happy New Year, you scamps.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 9:22 PM on December 31, 2013

It's 9:15pm here, which means I had time to set off the smoke alarm one last time in 2013.

I'm sure I'll fall asleep soon after the smoke clears, so Happy New Year to all. I'm looking forward to lots of lively [U.S. Politics Filter] discussions in 2014 and lots of new comedy discoveries. (Extra special thanks to glinn for the Superego tip!)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:28 PM on December 31, 2013

WHERE THE HELL IS BILL NYE ALREADY?!
posted by XhaustedProphet at 9:38 PM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

Happy new year!
posted by Joey Michaels at 9:52 PM on December 31, 2013

It's turning midnight now in Austin, so Happy New Year y'all! It's wonderful to be sitting quietly at home with you, my dear internets friends. The cats say, Hi and moar happy nue yeerz.

Hey you kids with the fireworks GET OFF MY LAWN!!1!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:00 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:05 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy new year, MeFites! I haven't been around much this year, but I'm always grateful to have y'all to share cyberspace with.

May you have many wondrous discoveries, plentiful happy adventures, and very few encounters with enraged wolverines in 2014.
posted by batmonkey at 10:28 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy New Year, everyone!!!
posted by zarq at 10:30 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy new year you filthy animals! May this year be better than the last one!!!!
posted by Carillon at 10:44 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ah, after nineteen New Years I cannot really find it in myself to be excited any more. But - happy new year, folks.
posted by undue influence at 10:49 PM on December 31, 2013

First fact discovered this year: 2014 is the year Keanu Reaves turns fifty. So, there you go :)
posted by Wordshore at 10:55 PM on December 31, 2013

Happy New Year! I'm really happy I'm not in Time's Square, but I've already seen more public displays of tonguing than I wanted to. I'm trying to not look at you, Jenny McCarthy and Donny Wahlberg.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:02 PM on December 31, 2013

HAOOY BEW YEAR TWO HOURS AOG I AM DRUNK
posted by klangklangston at 11:05 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Happy New Year from the Mountain Time Zone

2014 is the year Keanu Reaves turns fifty

Whoa
posted by nubs at 11:05 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

"First fact discovered this year: 2014 is the year Keanu Reeves turns fifty. So, there you go :)"

I'd forgotten that he and I were the same age.

I apologize on behalf of my entire cohort.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:07 PM on December 31, 2013

After 43 planetary go-rounds, I'm delighted to still be here to greet another. Also immensely grateful that my friends and loved ones are here too (offer valid where applicable).

Happy new year, everybody. Be safe, be happy, be well. And the same wishes to everybody you love.
posted by Lexica at 11:08 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Meh, he's only one of 8,984 people identified on Wikipedia as being born in 1964.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:08 PM on December 31, 2013

Hey, happy New Year! Let's remember that restraining order and 2014 will be a great year!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:13 PM on December 31, 2013

Ah, after nineteen New Years I cannot really find it in myself to be excited any more.

oh my god that's adorable
posted by elizardbits at 11:25 PM on December 31, 2013 [24 favorites]

Guess who's back?
2013 was so shitty for me that I just jumped into my time machine and jumped to now.
Hopefully, and I got a great feeling about this, that 2014 will be awesome. It's off to a great start.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 11:30 PM on December 31, 2013 [2 favorites]

There's half an hour left in 2013, and I just spilled prosecco all over the carpet and then sat in it.

HURRY UP 2014 THERE'S NO TELLING WHAT THIS DUMB YEAR WILL TO DO ME NEXT
posted by Sara C. at 11:31 PM on December 31, 2013 [5 favorites]

"Ah, after nineteen New Years I cannot really find it in myself to be excited any more."

I think you're mistaken about this. If you're presently nineteen, then this should be your twentieth New Year's, not your nineteenth. So this is my fiftieth and I'm 49.

Thirty years ago, I was nineteen on New Year's Eve/New Year's. I was visiting my parents for the holidays and so was hanging out with my mom (then 37) and my sister (then 9), my dad went to bed early.

This is memorable for me for some reason because my mom was all future-shocked at midnight, saying how she'd read 1984 when she was young and so for her 1984 was THE FUTURE and she was now living in THE FUTURE. (Three weeks later Apple's famous 1984 advertisement aired during the Super Bowl.)

Also that night, MTV premiered at midnight the video for Van Halen's first single from their new album 1984, titled Jump. That was a big deal to me at the time.

That was exactly thirty years ago, man. Thirty years.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:42 PM on December 31, 2013 [3 favorites]

Prosecco? Ha. There are two cats currently sitting and licking their asses at me.

This is not an omen. I refuse to believe this is an omen.

(oh who am i kidding, 2014 will be a year of cat-ass like every other year of my life)
posted by Lexica at 11:43 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

A Bellini sounds really good right now.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:45 PM on December 31, 2013

That was exactly thirty years ago, man. Thirty years.

calm down grampy vanya
posted by elizardbits at 11:48 PM on December 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

I just saw a thing on tumblr about how, as of 2014, Ashlee Simpson, Mean Girls, and Pimp My Ride are all TEN YEARS AGO.

This means we are at most five years away from ironic retro enjoyment of Paris Hilton.
posted by Sara C. at 11:51 PM on December 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Happy new year from the pnw, y'all. You're all right.
posted by wallabear at 12:02 AM on January 1, 2014

Merry happy new year!
posted by Artw at 12:09 AM on January 1, 2014

Whoa. St. Alia is a werewolf.
posted by XMLicious at 12:32 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

happy new everything

I found myself listening to Barclay James Harvest when the local midnight hit -- how the hell did that happen?
posted by philip-random at 12:42 AM on January 1, 2014

Happy New Year we got home safely and now I am watching Clue on Netflix because it is the best tomorrow I will be so hungover.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 12:46 AM on January 1, 2014

i had a giant, racous, drunken, chilli and cornbread fest with people i love, i got books and bourbon and strange art. im absurdly happy.
posted by PinkMoose at 1:06 AM on January 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

My friend's birthday/NYE party went swimmingly and now we're helping clean up and I cannot wait to get these fucking boots off. Happy New Year to you all.
posted by rtha at 1:40 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret
Or life is yours to miss

No other road
No other way
No day but today.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:55 AM on January 1, 2014

I just got home after drinking champagne (okay, Prosecco) and dancing all night to local heroes Queer as Funk. 2014 is off to a good start. I would like to embrace all of Metafilter and its blueness in a giant hug, and then be reminded of this in the morning when I eventually wake up and find myself sober.
posted by jokeefe at 2:19 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

C'mon, catch up! It's 9.16pm on New Years Day.

It's hot. Still 29 degrees Celsius according to the weather app thingy, but much hotter inside the house than outside. No wind at all to send a cooling breeze through. Kids have gone to bed with a damp towel in place of a top sheet. And our windows are wide open, all the better to hear the bats squeak incessantly and keep us awake until the kookaburras start at about 5.30am, m'dear.

Did the traditional roast today... that is, a family picnic in the local park where we all bloody roasted because it was so hot (upwards of 35C, I think?). The resident redhead spent most of the time playing musical chairs with the sun (and I somehow still ended up with more freckles despite my sun-dodging).

And I'm still loving the start of 2014, still optimistic it will be a vast improvement on 2013 (and 2012), and I hope the next 364 days will be as relaxed as today was for us.

May it be the best year of your life, fellow Mefites. Love y'all.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 2:25 AM on January 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

> "Ah, after nineteen New Years I cannot really find it in myself to be excited any more."

This is my eightieth and you can bet I cranked up the biggest monitor and watched all 11:23 minutes of the London fireworks--twice! I wish all of you a choice New Year, full of serendipitous delights and simple, steady happiness at work and at home. May your friends love you, your team win this season and your travels never leave you with a head cold. If we make it through, let's all meet up again right here next year.
posted by Anitanola at 3:11 AM on January 1, 2014 [23 favorites]

We opened what turned out to be the worst champagne carbonated semi-sweet white wine in all of Creation, dumped it in the toilet, and drank water and watched Bones for three hours before going to bed. Am now watching Super Why because my daughter had some sort of unspecified nightmare. Happy 2014, y'all!
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:29 AM on January 1, 2014

Whoa. St. Alia is a werewolf.

Change Doge??

(and it's spelled wow)
posted by Namlit at 3:40 AM on January 1, 2014

Bonne année!
Szczęśliwego nowego roku!
Frohes Neues!

Traditionally, I am off to the movies on the first of each year. Any recs?
posted by travelwithcats at 4:13 AM on January 1, 2014

I had a bad stomach, a great dinner, and spent NYE with someone I'm excited about (and who's happily asleep next to me). Happy new year and may today's hangover be short-lived, Mefites!

Happy 2014, also from London!

Didn't even throw a shindig for your European voters? Hope you're enjoying your time in the city!
posted by ersatz at 4:30 AM on January 1, 2014

For those of us here in Japan, 2014 is already 22 hours old. And better than all of 2013 combined, cause 2013 was just a huge fucking bummer of a year all around. No one can argue with that. It can only get better in 2014, unless it gets worse. This has been flapjax at midnite, wishing you all a spectaculocious evening and a lifetime of comfortable, quality underwear, cause in the end that's what's most important. That and your mother. Call your mother. If your mother is dead, call someone else's mother. And stay away from frozen pizza, that's just a bad idea all around.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:56 AM on January 1, 2014 [7 favorites]

Happy New Year! Long life, good health, and much happiness to you all! 2013 kicked my butt all over town, but after a good night's sleep and a ton of homemade French onion soup, I'm ready to give 2014 some hell! Bring it on!
posted by Diagonalize at 5:24 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

aaaaaaaWWWWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:47 AM on January 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Wife and I had a nice time hanging out with a couple of friends, eating dessert and playing board games and bullshitting about sundry things and then doing our own arbitrary countdown when it looked like it was about midnight. My resolution this morning is to get more sleep than I did this morning.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:06 AM on January 1, 2014

(and it's spelled wow)

You clearly do not spend enough time watching Keanu Reeves movies.
posted by XMLicious at 7:32 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

My resolution this morning is to get more sleep than I did this morning.

Retroactive resolutions are the best kind.
posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 7:46 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I watched the Pratt steam whistles with a small knot of Mefites in the cold, after burgers and beers jammed into a cozy banquette. The boyfriend and I are sleeping in. It is a lovely start to '14. Peace, love and chocolate to everyone!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:23 AM on January 1, 2014 [5 favorites]

For the first year in almost a decade, I wasn't singing the symphony's NYE gala, so I actually got to spend time with my family! We went to a friend's house and played board, dice, and card games, and sipped our way through a Glenmorangie 10 sampler, and let the kids mostly put themselves to bed when they wound down. Left the big one there, in fact.

And then this morning I forgot to turn my alarm off, so it woke me up at five minutes of seven, and then i realized I needed to pee so I rolled out of bed to go do that, and the little kid came running into my room yelling "IT'S MORNING TIME! YAY! YAY! IT'S MORNING TIME AGAIN!" so now I am playing trains and reading books about trains and watching a TV show about trains and asking Friend Lamp very sincerely and sweetly where Caitlin Train is and I have a headache and want to go back to bed. But apart from the headache, 2014 is OK so far.
posted by KathrynT at 8:37 AM on January 1, 2014 [8 favorites]

Scotch is the best for getting kids to put themselves to bed
posted by XMLicious at 8:40 AM on January 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

Particularly if your standards are low for what "putting themselves to bed" actually means.
posted by KathrynT at 8:43 AM on January 1, 2014 [10 favorites]

Happy New Year we got home safely and now I am watching Clue on Netflix because it is the best tomorrow I will be so hungover.

Prognostication verified!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 8:54 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

What, nobody watched The Irony of Fate? What kind of Russians are you people? Here, enjoy, and с новым годом!
posted by languagehat at 8:55 AM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

New Year's rice cake and mandu soup successfully prepared and consumed! As usual, I fail at the artistic presentation of the soup.

This year's beef broth was declared an undisputed success. As for the mandu filling, mr. needled found it well-balanced, while I thought it could have used a bit less tofu.

And as in past years, I made too much filling, despite promises to make less next year, and will have to spend the rest of the day making and par-steaming mandu to freeze. Not measuring and just tossing ingredients together based on whether it looks right or because I got tired of chopping things no doubt contributes to this.

This year's kimchi mandu filling ingredient list:
ground beef
ground pork
tofu
chopped kimchi
chopped parboiled bean sprouts
chopped garlic chives
chopped green onions
chopped onion
dash of soy sauce

(ingredients from last year omitted this year: raw egg, sesame oil)
posted by needled at 9:21 AM on January 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Yay, 2014! My last significant act of 2013 was to make up a baklava cocktail. TAKE THAT, SHITTY YEAR THAT'S NOW OVER.

(My first significant act of 2014 is going to be drinking a lot of water and coffee to make up for the consequences of my last act of 2013.)
posted by WidgetAlley at 9:39 AM on January 1, 2014

Languagehat's comment reminded me that the best language for wishing people Happy New Year is Russian, because it's pronounced "s'novim godom". Yep, it starts with "snow", like any good new year.

С Новым Годом, everyone!

/I want that baklava cocktail recipe.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:55 AM on January 1, 2014

Happy belated New Years. Bouilliabaisse with a nice gewurtztraminer, some of BC's finest, a bottle of Veuve, and a really awesome guy made for a hell of a night.

Here's to 2014 being a lot better than 2013. Actually hell, I'd settle for 2014 just not being a feculent sinkhole of awful.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:34 AM on January 1, 2014

Spent NYE for the first (of many?) times with Mefites and it was pretty rad! A totally empty train even promptly arrived to take me home after, which is basically a New Year's miracle. Happy 2014, everyone!
posted by mlle valentine at 10:34 AM on January 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

oh yeah and prosciutto wrapped melon at 3am because that's just how we roll
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:45 AM on January 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Oh food talk, I love you.
posted by klangklangston at 12:22 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Hell, I saved my big food stuff for New Year's Day. I'll be putting the collard greens on in about a half hour and the hoppin' john a short while after that. I had to go with canned black-eyed peas this year, but the collard greens came from a local farm and should be gooooood.

The irony of the above statement is that I grew up in New England and not a single member of my family even going back ten generations has ever lived anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line .
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:33 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

There are 53 Wednesdays in 2014!

It's shaping up to be a GREAT year!
posted by mazola at 12:42 PM on January 1, 2014

klang, my recipe is easy. Couple heads of fennel, 4-6 onions, 12-16 tomatoes. All rough chopped/quartered, roasted until golden. Put in pot, add water to cover, add bonito flake. Simmer until stock is flavourful and golden, strain through a fine strainer, reserve.

Sweat some thinly sliced fennel with vidalia onion and rather a lot of garlic in olive oil. Deglaze with white wine and Pernod, add a hefty pinch of saffron, flame off excess alcohol. Add some tomato paste, add strained broth. Simmer until tomato paste is cooked. Add whatever fish you like to use (I usually go for shrimp, mussels, some sort of whitefish that breaks apart easily, and some other more solid fish. Whatever you like), in order of cooking time. (Except the breakapart fish; add that first and break it up as it cooks to add body). Add some cubed boiled potatoes (yeah okay some people in France don't think potatoes are right in bouilliabaisse and those people are what I like to call wrong).

(Also obviously adjust quantities depending on how many people you're serving. A dozen shrimp, a fillet each of sole and tilapia, and about 3/4lb mussels was about perfect for the two of us, but we were hungry.)

Garnish with some fennel fronds and a slug of nice olive oil. Serve with a hunk of grilled bread. Last night I varied slightly, sweated the onions &c with ras el hanout, which gave a great added dimension of flavour. (Again the French might scoff at that addition, but fuck 'em, it tasted divine). Classic accompaniment is rouille, but I prefer the cleaner fattiness of the olive oil.

I suggest gewurtz or riesling to accompany.

For now I'm going over to Empress' house to nom collard greens and hopefully steal the ham hock and gnaw on it in a corner somewhere.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 12:49 PM on January 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm outta ham hocks, alas. I'm making do with bacon. (I do have a mega-trip to the Magic Store In Sunset Park coming on and will need to stock up on that then.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:00 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

well then you're going to be out of bacon soon too

is there cornbread

i hope there's cornbread
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:01 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I had sunflower cornbread recently-- regular cornbread but with about 1/2 c ground sunflower seeds in there with the cornmeal and flour and God help me I am never going back. I think I'll make some to go with my Hoppin' John tonight.
posted by WidgetAlley at 1:12 PM on January 1, 2014

OK, so, exactly how cruel would it be to make all this delicious food when my 7 year old can't eat it? Asking for, uh, a friend.
posted by KathrynT at 1:14 PM on January 1, 2014

It's just me, fffm, so there may be a cornbread biscuit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:28 PM on January 1, 2014

mrzarquon is visiting us, and yesterday we were heading out to the store to acquire ingredients for his hot buttered rum batter - for all you vegans out there, please know that it should actually be called "hot Earth Balance bourbon" batter, and it is fucking delicious - and gingerbeer said "Don't forget to get bacon, honey, or you'll be sad tomorrow when there's no bacon for breakfast." She does not eat bacon, and this is one way I know she loves me, reminding me to get bacon so I would not be sad this morning. Afternoon. Whatever. And I am not sad!
posted by rtha at 1:29 PM on January 1, 2014 [8 favorites]

I had sunflower cornbread recently-- regular cornbread but with about 1/2 c ground sunflower seeds in there with the cornmeal and flour and God help me I am never going back.

A piece of regular cornbread with sunflower seed butter spread on it is similarly fabulous.
posted by XMLicious at 1:33 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

celebrated with friends in their new farmhouse; awoke in the morning with the dawn and took walk outside on the frost crunchy ground. so far, so good.
posted by sciencegeek at 1:35 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

"mrzarquon is visiting us,"

Aww, when are y'all getting down to LA? I'll take you to a whiskey bar that's pretty nice. Chris should come too.
posted by klangklangston at 1:38 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I am finally just now getting around to making latkes.

I hereby declare 2014 the year where I celebrate holidays however the fuck I want.
posted by Sara C. at 1:39 PM on January 1, 2014 [5 favorites]

New Year's Eve in Nashville, at an Old Crow Medicine Show concert. What a fantastic show. The rest of downtown Nashville on new year's is kind of a shit show, but that concert was so worth it.

Now in the back seat on the looong ass ride back north. Virginia just goes on forever.
posted by ActionPopulated at 3:09 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Last night, Gentleman Caller & I saw Patti Smith and Dean Wareham at First Night Boston. Patti was endearing and unpretentious, telling stories about H.P. Lovecraft's grave and her girl-crush on Jennifer Lawrence between thrillingly emotional songs. I may have cried during "Beneath the Southern Cross", but I'll never say for sure.

Today I ate pancakes, slept a ton, and ripped Horses, Easter, and the first Suicide album to MP3. 2014 is looking a lot like 1977, and that's a good thing.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:18 PM on January 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Pictures, Greg nog!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:32 PM on January 1, 2014

Edna Mode would be scandalized, Greg. :)
posted by zarq at 4:39 PM on January 1, 2014

This morning, my Boy woke up before dawn.

I awoke to the odd sensation of being tucked in. Tiny little hands pushing the blankets all around me. Started remembering things from when I was 4. I feigned sleep and was mummified by the time he was done with me. It was a great way to start the year.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:20 PM on January 1, 2014 [7 favorites]

I went to a small party at an artist's house who I knew before because I sold him his supplies back then. His daughter moved in to the house after he died, and she had a few people over for NYE. I ended up at this party as a plus one(and kid) of my friend and her family, and I immediately recognized the artist's work all over the walls and counters when I got there. I considered this guy my friend, and I had heard about his death, and I'm glad I ended up there last night. Everyone was great, the kids had a ball. I was up too late, and drove home with one headlight out (sober).
posted by lakersfan1222 at 5:37 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I spend a lot of time in them; resolving in 2014 to spend even more time in libraries.

Good plan. I wrote up my list of libraries I went to last year which was just slightly more libraries than I'd been to in 2012. So, I am declaring victory.

Went to the neighborhood party last night in my special sweater and it was a great time and we could have a few drinks and walk home in the wee hours as the light snow was falling. Tried to go to "our place" for breakfast (well whatever it is that you eat if it's noon and you've just gotten up) but they're not open today so we found a new diner and by the time we got there they were out of maple syrup, hash browns, bacon and almost out of white toast so we had poutine and some chicken parm and a cajun burger that couldn't be beat. Home to coffee (and some Quonsed chocolate) and singing/playing songs from Grease on the ukulele and then Jim/n_o_d headed back down to MA before the snows and here I am eating carrots at work.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:54 PM on January 1, 2014 [6 favorites]

Excellent night, then
posted by lakersfan1222 at 6:01 PM on January 1, 2014

(well whatever it is that you eat if it's noon and you've just gotten up)

Noon is far too early for breakfast. That's more like a midnight snack.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:24 PM on January 1, 2014

capey1 capey2

That cape is *terrific*!
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:32 PM on January 1, 2014

Greg Nog: "capey1 capey2"

new net-crush for 2014 (sorry Whelk, you've been superceded)
posted by Lexica at 6:40 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

(gasp.omg.kilt)
posted by kimberussell at 6:40 PM on January 1, 2014

..and now I've actually looked at the pictures..

holy crap greg nog is teh hotnezz
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:42 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Happy New Year a day late. Hope you're all healthy because I hate this cold so much.

And, as the song that's been stuck in my head since the first bad weather we got this year reminds me - be careful out there - the ice of Boston is muddy and reflects no light be it day or night and I slip on it every time.

(By which I mean less "Here's to another goddamn New Year!" and more "Gladys, girl, I love you but, oh, GET A LIFE!")
posted by maryr at 7:03 PM on January 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

Magnificent cape, and magnificent cape-wearer!
posted by rtha at 7:05 PM on January 1, 2014

Snow goddamn!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:13 PM on January 1, 2014

I am pleased that my mental picture of Greg Nog looking like Howard Keel is mostly correct except for the hair color.
posted by winna at 8:22 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

However, the real Greg is not eight feet tall and followed by a train of Maine Coon cats though so it is not entirely the same.
:(
posted by winna at 8:25 PM on January 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

I missed out on the polar bear swim on account of being miserably called into work on New Year's Day, so I am about to turn off the heat and take a cold shower while I empty a forty down the drain in tribute.
posted by invitapriore at 8:27 PM on January 1, 2014

Happy New Year from Alabama! My parents and I were all in bed before eleven last night, and I fell asleep to the sound of amateur pyrotechnics. I have high hopes for this year. It'll be an adventure.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:44 PM on January 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Late to the party, but a very Happy New Year to all.
posted by scottymac at 11:07 PM on January 1, 2014

Even later, but wishing all of you a happy, safe and prosperous New Year.
posted by Gelatin at 2:20 AM on January 2, 2014

Damnit Greg you're the only person who could pull that off and come out looking like a dashing highwayman.

I may be forced to buy a gaudier, more colorful kilt and cape just to keep up.
posted by The Whelk at 5:09 AM on January 2, 2014

I wrote up my list of libraries I went to last year which was just slightly more libraries than I'd been to in 2012. So, I am declaring victory.

Yes!

Seeing people regularly ask online, even today, how they can help public libraries. The easiest, most direct, and win-win way, is ... just use your local or nearest one. Visit it. Take your family. Use the services and resources in it. Checkout the programs. Browse sections you wouldn't normally browse. Borrow things. It helps the library, as it notches up any footfall and circulation metrics they maintain. And it helps you, because hey, concentrated source of knowledge and information access all in one place.

So, on this second day of 2014, if you've still got a gap on your resolutions list and you're looking for something to do that's free or very cheap at the point of use, safe, helps you, is interesting, is fun, gets you out of the house, can provide solutions to issues and problems, helps your community, and helps provide a bit more equality and opportunity through access to knowledge, then consider adding:

Use my library more.

... to your resolution list.
posted by Wordshore at 6:09 AM on January 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

Wordshore, you just reminded/inspired me to renew my library card. One of my only resolutions is to read more this year, so it fit nicely with the theme.

A pell-mell inter-terminal sprint was the only thing that saved me from spending New Year's Eve in O'Hare, and so was especially grateful to be at home with my man and the pets, eating good food and drinking decent prosecco. I got up early yesterday and went out to buy bagels and lox, which we ate while watching the Doctor Who Christmas episode. Several hours of sloth later, I put on pants and went to the bar around the corner to watch MSU win the Rose Bowl (!), which was followed by cheesesteaks from Dalessandro's and the new episode of Sherlock. It was a pretty damn decent way to start the new year and I hope there are more days like it (or at least more days with an equivalent emotional valence) in 2014.
posted by coppermoss at 7:49 AM on January 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Greg Nog: "This morning, for the traditional New Year's Day polar bear plunge, I went with mefites notsnot and likeatoaster to a nearby river, "


Man, that was a lot of fun! When Greg said they were going, I said I'd tag along and "maybe" go in. Once we got there and started using the Cape of Socialability to meet people, there was no way I was *not* going in.

(there was a skin of ice on the leeward parts of the river. Warmer after the plunge than during. Yikes!)
posted by notsnot at 8:06 AM on January 2, 2014

feckless fecal fear mongering: "holy crap greg nog is teh hotnezz"

Yeah, the beard is like a multiplier on his cape. Dashing bastard!
posted by notsnot at 8:09 AM on January 2, 2014

One of the reasons I'm disappointed that I didn't get to go is that I've been horrifying my girlfriend with my willingness to enter successively more frigid bodies of water (last summer this culminated in being the only person swimming in a certain beach on the Pacific who was not either wearing a wetsuit or being a sea lion) and this was the natural next step. I figure I'll do it next year, and then it's on to Europa, I don't give a damn what the monolith says.
posted by invitapriore at 8:12 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the beard is like a multiplier on his cape. Dashing bastard!

I usually hate beards and I tend to think capes are worn by twee neo-pagans who've just barely grown out of the Hot Topic stage.

but this greg nog motherfucker makes all that shit work
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:17 AM on January 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

i almost hate myself for doing this

MetaFilter: this greg nog motherfucker makes all that shit work


almost
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:18 AM on January 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

We were in the airport on the way home and discussing my festive whiskers. I said that I could moonlight as a department store Santa given the fullness of my beard.

To which the reply from Mrs A. was "No, you don't have the nose". I was crestfallen.
posted by arcticseal at 2:43 PM on January 2, 2014

Belatedly, but sincerely, I hug you all.
Happy New Year!
posted by From Bklyn at 8:38 PM on January 2, 2014

Getting ready to go home, pretty sure the EAST COAST BLIZZADAGA is gonna delay my flight.

Also I woke up with a head cold cause my voice has dropped to Dean Winchester levels.
posted by The Whelk at 10:39 PM on January 2, 2014