Happy 100th Birthday New Years Eve Ball

Who knew . . . Dec 31st, 2007 was the 100 birthday of the ball dropped in Times Square on New Years Eve?

The history of the ball is fascinating and even more so now that I stood in the cold for over 7 hours waiting to watch it take 60 seconds to descend 77 feet down the flag pole to signal the new year.  Yep, that is right over 7 hours of standing around in order to say "I have been there" and "I have seen that".

This is how I spent my time:

4pm - Met up with Karen and Kristan and Jo and Kelli.  We entered the spectator "pen" located on 7th and 45th street.  To use the word crowded would be a gross understatement.

5pm -  Experienced the first practice count down as Cape Town, South Africa celebrated the new year.  We listened to the performers and bands run through sound checks and took a few pictures of the tall buildings.  All of a sudden around 5:30 the realization sunk in that 7 hours remained until I would be able to sit down, go to the bathroom, or leave the "pen" to warm up.  I ate a few Starburst candies to distract myself.  It worked.

6pm - Experienced the second practice count down as Paris, France celebrated the new year.  We watched the ball ascend, and witnessed a few fireworks and the lighting of the ball.  Then we listened to the Bravery perform a few songs.  Karen brought along entertainment which included Time Square New Years historical trivia and electronic catchphrase.  The trivia was interesting and the catchphrase was entertaining.  After a few rounds of play I was sure we were making everyone around us either mad that we were shouting random words all at once or jealous that we didn't invite them to play along.

7pm - Experienced the third practice count down as London, England celebrated the new year. By now we were all well versed in the process of counting down.  Around 7:30 I watched hordes of people malling each other for free Pontiac foam top hats and Snapple branded mittens.  This made me smile a bit to watch the power of marketing and branding change civilized human beings into crazed animals.  I started to feel as if I was really in a pen.  What people didn't realize is that everyone who wanted a hat would get one since they had over a million hats to pass out.  And even after all this freebie frenzy my hat never met my head nor did the mittens meet my hands as I ended up placing both inside my jacket for another layer of warmth.

8pm - Experienced the fourth practice count down as Sao Paulo, Brazil rang in the new year.  I tried not to look at the countdown clock scrolling on one of the electronic billboards as it was still a bit nauseating to think about how long I had stood there and still had several more hours to go.  We played a few more games of Catchphrase and ate a few more starburst candies.  Good times were had by all and the company I was with made every minute of every hour entertaining and enjoyable - thanks ladies.

9pm - Experienced the fifth practice count down as Buenos Aires, Argentina rang in the new year.  Finally the concerts started up so we rocked out as Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, and Lighthouse performed.  We played more catchphrase and ate more starbursts.  To add to all the commotion long orange balloons with golden streamers were passed out to everyone in the crowd.  Again, picture people crawling over each other in order to get a balloon.  Humans can be very interesting and New York is  great place to experience this.

10pm - Experienced the sixth practice count down as Santiago, Chile rang in the new year.  Once I saw the count down clock with under 2 hours left I found renewed hope that I was going to make it.  We listened to a few more performers including Miley Cyrus and Kid Rock.  We ate more Starburst candies and played another couple rounds of Catchphrase.  Trust me, by now you want me on your team IF I ever play again as I know ALL the words and what clues work best and what clues are confusing.

11pm - Experienced the seventh practice count down as Halifax, Nova Scotia rang in the new year.  The noise level rose as the cheering and excitement increased due to the fact that we were one hour away.  I am sure that most people would agree with me that this was the best hour.  The end was in sight and the time was quickly approaching when the long awaited ball drop would occur.

Midnight - Experienced the official count down as I along with over a million other people in New York, New York rang in the new year.  

See for yourself, Happy New Year.