January 1, 2013

Okay. First things first...

HAPPY 2013!!!

Okay, you can take out the cotton balls out of your ears now! I'm done screaming!

So, this is the first day of 2013! How is it for you all? I imagine that some of us might be a smidgen hung over today after partaking in your New Years Eve celebrations (which I hope were done responsibly, might I add). Some of us have likely already broken our New Years Resolutions (I know I've been guilty of breaking my resolutions twelve hours after making them, which is largely why I never make them). And, some of us are looking forward to having a brand new year of opportunities. It's a clean slate for all of us, and I'm sure that we're all looking forward to having a fresh start.

Now, for this particular year, the changes to the blog are going to be very little in comparison to last year. Last year, I changed the look, the font (several times), and a few of the theme days. This upcoming year will see hardly any changes. The blog looks more professional than it did the year before (though I still love my little hand-drawn logo of 2011), I finally found a font that looks great (Palatino Linotype, in case you were wondering), and I think that I'm very content with the theme days that I have going on right now. I may temporarily change them as the year progresses, but for the most part, I'm happy with the way this blog looks now.

And, I am also happy to report that between January 2012 and January 2013, this blog's page views have doubled! Again, thank you, thank you, thank you! I keep saying that this blog would not be possible without your love and support! Here's hoping that 2013 is the best year yet!

So, today is January 1, and since the new year kicks off on a Tuesday this year, it's the perfect day to have a Tuesday Timeline entry. But as you may have seen from the title, this Tuesday Timeline has a twist to it.

Before we get into that, let's do the things we usually do on a Tuesday Timeline, beginning with celebrity birthdays! I would imagine that for some of these famous faces, they were the first babies born in a brand new year! Celebrating a New Years Day birthday are Charlie Munger, Pat Heywood, Vernon L. Smith, Ty Hardin, Joseph Koo, Norman Yemm, Frank Langella, Al Hunt, Country Joe McDonald, Larry Clark, Jimmy Hart, Max Azria, Stephanie Faracy, Sheila McCarthy, Grandmaster Flash, Dave Silk, Michael Seibert, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gorsha Sur, Spencer Tunick, Nicolle Dickson, Melissa DiMarco, Verne Troyer, Kimberly Page, Chris Potter, Becky Kellar-Duke, Eden Riegel, Calum Davenport, Jeff Carter, and Chris Collins.

And, here are some of the interesting events that took place on January 1 in the past.

45 B.C. - The Julian Calendar takes into effect for the first time

42 B.C. - The Roman Senate posthumously defies Julius Caesar

404 – Christian monk Telemachus is torn to pieces by an angry Roman mob for his efforts in trying to stop a gladiator fight in the public arena in Rome

1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II

1502 – The Portuguese explore the area that would later be called Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1752 – Betsy Ross, the seamstress that created the American flag, is born

1772 – The first traveler's cheques go on sale in London, England, and were able to be used in 90 cities all across Europe

1773 – John Newton leads a sermon that first uses the hymn “1 Chronicles 17:16-17” - later retitled “Amazing Grace”

1776 – The city of Norfolk, Virginia is burned to the ground during the American Revolutionary War

1800 – The Dutch East India Company is dissolved

1801 – The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi

1804 – French rule ends in the country of Haiti, which becomes the second independent nation within North America (after the United States in 1776)

1808 – The importation of slaves into the United States is banned

1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands

1845 – The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn, New York is completed

1847 – The world's first “Mercy” hospital is founded by the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1860 – The first Polish postage stamp is issued

1863 – The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory

1885 – Twenty-five different nations adopt Sir Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time

1890 – The first Tournament of Roses Parade is held in Pasadena, California

1892 – Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States

1898 – New York City annexes The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens into the Greater City of New York (Staten Island would join four weeks later)

1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba

1902 – The first ever Rose Bowl is held in Pasadena, California

1908 – The first ball-dropping ceremony in Times Square takes place

1912 – The Republic of China is established

1932 – The United States Post Office issues a set of a dozen stamps commemorating the 200^th birthday of George Washington

1934 – Alcatraz Island officially becomes a federal prison in the United States

1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by 26 nations

1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946 takes into effect, converting all British citizens into Canadian citizens, including William Lyon Mackenzie King

1954 – NBC makes the first coast-to-coast NTSC broadcast

1962 – The United States Navy SEALs is established

1966 – A mass transit strike in New York City begins, lasting almost two weeks

1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned from American television

1978 – Air India Flight 855 crashes into the sea off the shores of Bombay, India, killing 213

1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community

1983 – The Internet is created following the ARPANET changing to using the Internet Protocol

1984 – AT&T is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a direct result of the settlement of the 1974 U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the company

1985 – VH1 debuts on the same day that Ernie Wise makes the first British mobile phone call

1986 – Portugal and Spain are admitted into the European Community

1992 – Russia is officially formed

1994 – Actor Cesar Romero passes away the same day that the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect

1997 – Zaire joins the World Trade Organization

1999 – The Euro is introduced in 11 countries

2001 – Actor Ray Walston passes away at the age of 86

2002 – Taiwan joins the World Trade Organization

2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board

2012 – Kim Jong-un is declared the new official Supreme leader of North Korea

(Holy heck, January 1 was a huge day in history!)

So you see my dilemma. With so much going on in the world on the first day of the Gregorian calendar, how could I narrow it down to just ONE feature?

That's why for today's Tuesday Timeline, the date we're going to be featuring is...

TODAY!

Yes, you're reading this correctly. The Tuesday Timeline date is January 1, 2013!

You see...I thought it would be kind of silly to celebrate the birth of a new year by flashing back in time to a past event. A new year is supposed to have high hopes for the future...a brand new start in creating a brand new you.

So, for today, I thought that I would talk about my experiences as we enter the first day of a brand new year, and how I'm feeling about it.

Admittedly, I was never one who looked forward to a new year. For the last few years, I've basically been relegated to watching the ball drop on Times Square (a regular event since 1908, remember) on television munching on rippled chips and dip, and lamenting the fact that Dick Clark and his guests were the only people I would be spending the night with.

This year I can't even make the claim that I'm hanging out with Dick Clark, as he's been gone for eight months. Instead I get the perky host of American Idol, a Black-Eyed Pea, and Jenny McCarthy.

Be still my beating heart.

Unlike other years though, I'm suddenly okay with that.

Let's face it, New Years Eve parties are completely overrated. You end up spending more money than you wanted to for the experience of ringing in the new year with a group of strangers. I mean, if you really wanted the balloon drop and the champagne, you could easily buy ginger ale and a ¼ pound of balloons at the dollar store and still have the same experience. And, who wants to spend all of January 1^st with a hangover the size of Texas and long-lasting nausea that an entire container of Rolaids won't fix?

(Well, okay, for some of you out there, that may be your idea of fun. I'm just being honest in that it's not exactly mine. But, hey, it's cool if you think otherwise. I'm not judging.)

I'm fine with a nice quiet evening at home. Maybe I chalk it up to getting older, but I don't need to have the experience of getting as drunk as possible to enjoy the beginning of a new year. Instead, I choose to use the experience to write in my blog about my thoughts and feelings about the future.

Oh, as I said before, I wasn't always this okay with staying home on New Years Eve. There was a time in which I was actually jealous that other people were out having fun while I was unable to. In fact, I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but ringing in the year 2009, I was in a really bad mood. Four years ago, I was in a little bit of a funk over how horrible things were, and I spent most of the day in absolute depression. I'm actually ashamed of myself to admit it, but I had a full emotional breakdown on the first day of 2009. I don't even remember why this was the case now, but back then, I was on the verge of believing that the year 2009 was going to be one of the worst years yet.

And, yet, 2009 ended up being one of my best years ever. So, I guess in retrospect, you never know what a year will hold until you actually live it.

So, as I look forward to 2013, I think to myself that I have no idea what it will have in store, so I may as well enjoy it while it lasts. And, I suppose one lesson that I have learned is that things have their peaks and valleys, and I believe that it was a good thing that I did have that breakdown four years ago. It helped me realize a lot of things about myself that I didn't like very much, and it allowed me to make some positive changes towards acceptance of myself.

I guess the only thing I regret about January 1, 2013 is that I don't have anyone special enough in my life to spend it with (well, aside from family members, that is). I still remember when Dick Clark was alive, he would kiss his wife at the end of the ball drop, and I just thought that was so fantastic. I guess a part of me kind of wishes that I had someone who would do the same with me on New Years Eve.