Sayonara Saddam

Just read they're going to hang Saddam Hussein within the next four hours. It's going to be videotaped and I thought, no way would I watch that, someone dying. This after watching an NY Times video of James Brown lying in state so I could see him lying in state.

I guess I'm not so bothered by dead embalmed people. But watching someone die, even someone as evil as Saddam Hussein? No thank you.

In other news, it's going to be another banner New Years Eve for me. I'll be spending it with my cat. I may order Chinese food and watch The Big Lebowski. Or not.

The only really fun New Years I've had were in high school when I would go with my friend Hazel to visit the Dutch hippies she grew up with in Jamaica Plain. We'd do First Night stuff, like contra dancing with a bunch of strangers, then stop by their place to eat cheese fondue and these tasty fritters.

The Dutch family once had Pete Seeger play at a birthday party and occasionally harbored people who were running from the law. Once when we got to the house there was nobody home save a verrrry sketchy man on their sofa. I tried to pretend he was like someone from that nice family from Running on Empty but he was clearly a freak.

The family also had a trapeze in their attic, which is where Hazel and I would sleep (in the attic, not on the trapeze), after going to the highest point in the Arnold Arboretum to watch the old year fade away and the new one come in.

I don't know why, but nothing has matched that since.