New Year's Day Bombs

Wifey and I aren't big celebrators of the New Year's holiday. Maybe age is catching up with us now that we have hit mid-thirties, but staying up until midnight to see a ball drop has lost all of it's appeal to me. Not that it was ever all that appealing; most of the time New Year's Eve ended up seeming like a waste of time to me.

I mean, really, all we are celebrating is buying a new calendar, right? I have no cultural or religious ties to the symbolism of a new year and nothing seems to change on that day anyway - hey, it's a holiday, stuff is closed - so I don't see the big deal.

Which makes celebrations of the new year that much more crazy to me. When, exactly, did blowing shit up become a thing for the new year? It makes even less sense than the traditional celebrations on the Fourth of July and increasingly, in my neighborhood at least, the differences between the two holidays are becoming minimal.

This year Wifey and I went to Mirakutei for dinner on New Year's Eve. We got there early and stuffed ourselves with sushi, gyoza and ramen, and were back home by 7ish. The rest of the evening was going to be for a movie and catching up on the DVR. When we got home, though, our cute little puppy was a little freaked out.

When we go places we can't bring her Misaki stays home in her crate, closed in to avoid any possible fights with the cats we can't police. She doesn't mind this at all and is usually pretty stoked to go in there (mostly because it also includes treats). And this one, she is most absolutely not shy. Not in the least. But when we got home Misaki the Shiba was super clingy.

She jumped at sounds, even little ones. She didn't want to go outside just to go to the bathroom. As you can see from the pictures she curled up to Wifey and didn't want to let go, which is something she very, very rarely does. Not this Shiba; this Shiba can take care of herself.

Then we heard the bomb go off.

No, it probably wasn't ACTUALLY a bomb, but close enough. They were going off not long after we got home and then intermittently until after 2am, so I'm sure they started while we were gone. Maybe it's because we weren't home or maybe something louder happened, or maybe it's because it makes no sense to be blowing stuff up on New Year's Eve, but Misaki did not approve at all. (And really, if the Shiba doesn't approve it should not happen. Am I right Shiba owners?) The Fourth of July doesn't bother her at all.

And aren't these fireworks/bombs kind of expensive? I don't exactly live in a neighborhood where the household incomes typically would allow for the spending of hundreds - or thousands - on this kind of crap, but I suppose it's all about priorities and some people apparently have the priority of freaking out my dog. She would never admit it, but we could tell; her normally stoic facade was cracked.

That's how when midnight came we were both laying on the floor with Misaki, skritching her ears to keep her relaxed, away from the television or even a clock. We only knew midnight had come because the blowing-shit-up people started blowing shit up at a more rapid pace. Yay - thanks drunk people with explosives!

But you know what? It was one of my better New Year's Eves. Just the three of us, cuddled up on the floor, with Misaki's Shiba purrs rumbling between Wifey and I.

Moral of the story? Ridiculous amounts of bombs being set off by drunk people celebrating random times (not midnight) are bad, and Shibas are awesome and sometimes even they need a few extra cuddles too.