I didn't bother to take photos of our overnight stay at Novotel this year, but the countdown dinner was definitely more exciting and wilder than last year's. Last year we left the ballroom before the actual countdown to watch the city fireworks from the pool deck. This year we stayed inside the ballroom because of the lively band and the stunning, digital visuals. At 11:45 PM everybody, including the guests, children, waiters, and staff members, rose and danced round the ballroom (actually two Monet ballrooms merged as one). All the paper and plastic horns started sounding non-stop like the thousand shrill drones of war planes. At exactly 12:00 MN showers of gold and silver confetti started falling from the ceiling.

All throughout the ruckus I saw a deceased co-worker seated in an empty chair near me. I asked her what really killed her, and she replied that it was, at the root of everything, her unrequited love for a man who would not love her back. Her illness was symbolic of that issue. I asked, "What? How could you let a stupid thing like that kill you?", then quickly realized that the same thing has killed and has been killing other people whose sole objective in life is to love and be loved.

What a strange world I live in, and it is probably even stranger that I see things differently from others.