The Last New Years EVER!

So, if the Mayans were right, we've got just under one year to go before who knows what is going to happen. Which of course means, THIS IS THE LAST NEW YEARS EVE EVER!

Or it means this:

I mean, doesn't this all sound a bit familiar? Does anyone remember December 31st 1999? I do, I was baking cookies with my Mom and we were avoiding Uncle Bill's phone calls because he had just bought a 30 acre farm so he and his family could watch the Armageddon happen from the safety of their new compound (Uncle Bill doesn't know a thing about farming, I think that's an important bit of information in order to understand the nature of this gentleman). I remember thinking briefly, as a teenager decorating cookies to be consumed at midnight, that maybe all of society would collapse, maybe we'll all be fighting each other for food, or deciding who to eat first. Then I remember deciding that I didn't like thinking those things, so I would redirect my attentions elsewhere and cross that bridge when and if I came to it.

As it turns out, that sort of mentality is how I deal with most everything in my life. I'm not a worrier by nature I don't get worked up over much anything. I was scheduled to teach a class in September of 12 junior-high school kids. When I arrived for the first day of class, there were 28. That class was huge, and I was terrified, but at ten minutes before you start teaching the last thing you want to do is worry about how many roles you have to assign and what play could have possibly ever been written for that many kids to perform in under twenty minutes, so we just went with it, played some theater games and really had a great time.

Conversely, this also means that if I smell conflict anywhere near me I ignore it. I ignore it real hard. For instance, if you were a jerk in a public place and called me a bitch really loudly I would pretend I didn't hear you. If you came up to where I was sitting and said, "Hey, bitch, I don't think you heard me!" I would probably look up "surprised" and say, "I'm sorry, sir, what?" Then I would probably politely excuse myself to the bathroom and escape out the window and feel really bad that I had clearly done something so horrible to make a stranger think I was a bitch. Ridiculous? Oh yes, absolutely. Conflict averted? You betcha. This is a particularly strange way of dealing with conflict, considering my chosen profession of acting is pretty much entirely based on getting yourself into and out of conflicts smoothly. There is no drama without conflict. Yeah, I'm working on it.

So, on this very last new years eve, I'll be donating a performance for a fundraiser, getting some delicious mac and cheese and trying to catch up with the ESMF by midnight for a cheesy smooch. I have nothing extravagant planned, but I think I'll be spending it with friends I love dearly in the places I love most, just as I would were it the actual last new years eve ever.

Oh yes, and in 2012 I will try a little harder to face conflict a bit more head on. Maybe. I really just don't like it though. It makes me uncomfortable. I'd rather just avoid it all together by being impossible to have a beef with me. So maybe I'll do that.