Happy New Year!

Well, the end of 2004 is at hand and 2005 is just around the corner. Happy New Year, Hau'oli Makahiki Hou, Gung Hee Fat Choy, Oshoogatsu Omedeto!

Lots of things have happened over 2004 and so little time to write them up. Going through a job loss, getting a new job, close friends leaving for better opportunities, births, deaths, start of new families, marriages. So many things have happened. Through all the hussle and bussle of life, it seems that during this brief moment of the year is when I tend to really reflect upon life and what has happened. Maybe it is because of my Japanese upbrining and the rituals I went through as a child during this time of year. Oh how I miss being at home with my parents on New Years. Watching the neighborhood kids popping firecrackers and other fireworks, eating good food, getting drunk on several servings of sake, eating soba noodles just before midnight, eating traditional New Years food my mom would painstakingly make 3 days before New Year Day, eating ozoni (mochi rice cake soup), and then watching Japanese New Years special programming on TV. Oh such sweet memories.

Well, have a great New Years!