January 24th, 2024 – New Year’s Eve? More like New Year’s Bust!!!

Rich, it drives me nuts, but every year, people make this big deal about New Years, and every year, it just lets me down.  And to nobody’s surprise, this year was no different.

Here in Athens, instead of doing a ball drop, they have fireworks that go off over the Acropolis, and it’s supposed to be a big deal.  You know me, I don’t get all the hoopla, but the wife really wanted to see it, so I agreed to go, and let me tell ya, worst decision we’ve made since we’ve been here.

We got a hotel next to this place called Monastiraki Square, which in the day time, it’s crowded, but manageable as long as you don’t have to drive through it.

But on New Years, it was just a bunch of hooligans running around and raising hell!  They were playing loud music all night, lighting off firecrackers, climbing on things, getting the police agitated, and frankly, I think most of them probably had too much to drink, especially for how young they were.  So all we could do was just stay in our hotel room and wait it out, thanks to these turds!

Man was I miserable or what.  The kids didn’t appreciate it either, for they had had enough of it long before I did.  Boy oh boy was that little one cranky. Why, I think it was way past midnight before any of us got to sleep. Good grief!

And the worst part, we waited all night, and when it was time for the New Year, we couldn’t even see the fireworks.  It turns out we were on the wrong side of the Acropolis!  All that waiting for nothin’.

Oh, and to put a cherry on top, we all ended up getting this thing called RSV.  And because my daughter was so little, she had to go to the hospital for a few days!  I mean, first COVID, now this!!!  I should’ve known better.

The good news is that since the year started off so bad, we could only go up from here, which we managed to recover enough to throw a birthday party for my son.  It was at this place called Gymboree, and he and his friends had a blast.  Got him to run around for a few hours, which meant after he was done, he got a nice nap, and as a parent yourself, you can never complain about that!  He had a nice little cake to eat too.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of him, but he likes this guy named “Thomas the Tank Engine,” and let me tell ya, him and his friends are crazy.  Always crashing into things, always causing confusion and delay.  Luckily, nobody gets hurt in the show, but he can’t get enough of it!  He’s singing the songs, getting all the trains, and why, he even knows all their names by heart!  I can’t lie, he’s starting to impress me a little bit.

Oh, and my Packers surprised me with a playoff win as well!  Man did they put up a whoopin’ on the Cowboys!  You should’ve seen it Rich, I mean, they straight up embarrassed them!  Man, do I feel sorry for all the Cowboys fans out there…

Err, I mean.  My condolences Rich, for your Cowboys.  Look, to me, it’s almost as if I didn’t even want to win the game, and if it were up to me, we’d be playing the Eagles so we could both be rejoicing and sulking in Mike’s misery.  I guess it’s just a cruel world we live in, pitting good friends against each other.  And as much as your hurting right now, I may be feeling your pain in a few days when we play the 49ers.  I have hope but man, they’re always giving us a hard time!

All in all, it’s been a tough year so far for both of us, and ain’t that the truth!  It’s always build up, build up, build up.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Then, New Years hits and bam, it one big let down.  I suppose it has a purpose though, for one of em’ has to be the bearer of bad news in the group.  Well, we have a few more months of winter left ahead of us, so plenty of time to hunker down and recover until the Spring is here.  And I for one, can’t wait.

Until then, take care of yourself, stay safe, and whatever you do, don’t let the turkeys (or in your case, the Eagles) get you down.

-Zack

Part 12: Spring 2024