Merry Happy Year

Denver, Colorado. December 31, 2015.

Denver County Courthouse

I [subject] went [verb] to the New Years Eve celebration [contextual metadata] in Denver Colorado. There were fireworks at 9pm and midnight. I got in just before 9, danced like it's 1999, and left after the old year retired.


The road leading into the city was clogged with out-of-town traffic. (It's called a mall - as in long street with shops to either side, not JC Penny next to a Macy's.) There was a mile of cars waiting to make left turns toward the mall. I went past all of them, and found plenty of free metered street parking toward the opposite end of the mall. Sucker tourists! Get stuck in traffic, why dontcha, then pay $15 for parking! I parked near the courthouse and jogged a mile to the 16th Street mall for fireworks celebrations.

9 pm fireworks

I reached 14th street when at 9:00 sharp, fireworks started. The fireworks were scheduled to run 8 minutes, so I had time to get closer and take a video of the grand finale. It was a small show, compared to something like July 4th on the Charles River in Boston, but I liked it.

The rockets' red glare

There were DJs set up along 16th street and crowds formed to dance, dance awkwardly, and look on at others instead of dancing awkwardly. There were also pail and pan drummers performing for tips.

A homeless communion celebrated near the center of the mall, as if they were a part of the show. I was surprised cops didn't mind their presence. Maybe they had VIP passes to the celebration, sponsored by American Red Cross or something. Maybe they camped out for a month in front of an Apple store and nobody thought

Dancing crowd in front of a DJ

Many homeless people joined the dancing crowds. One guy had an unopened Bailey's in one hand and his big dog on a leash in the other. He was having a great time as the music rallied for "Shots! Shots! Shots!" He looked to me gesturing if I wanted a shot of his Bailey's. Both I and the next guy he asked declined his gracious offer. We might have hurt his feelings a little bit; he was feeling like part of a great happy group and forgot his troubles in celebration, but after this gesture he seemed to realize his loneliness and separation. So he danced with more abandon, using joy to drown his sorrows.

A group of young men joined the crowd, jumping about and flailing their arms to the music. The homeless man's dog started getting agitated by the frenzied dancers. One of the newcomers had a faux fur hat dangling from his coat. As the man jumped, his hat darted in front of the dog as if it were a small rabbit, and the dog went at it. The homeless guy was too intoxicated by the social company of stranger friends to care. Yet nobody seemed bothered by the dog or his homeless master either. People were just having a good time without much objection about anything. Maybe the mellow atmosphere was maintained by the scent of Marijuana drifting through every once in a while.

One homeless woman came up to me several times to get me to dance with her. She looked like an Inuit, short with a tanned leathery face, who was at least 40 years old. She liked to be spun round. She would hold my hand raised above her head on several occasions and walk a lopsided circle underneath. It was pitiable, but I was glad to fill her time with some happiness.

An Irish looking lady in her 40s also came up to me to dance. By her red cheeks and the way she was smiling with every young man she could find, she looked like she imbibed her share of New Years merriment before having the courage to join the dancers. She laughed as I pulled some John Travolta moves on her and we danced side by side. At the end of the song, she brought her face to my ear, wished me a Happy New Year, and kissed me on the cheek. Later she would do the same with several of the other boys.

A man came up to me and danced the robot briefly. I thought he was just having fun and being friendly, but then later I saw he was with the Irish lady. Hubby didn't mind his wife going up to the young men to dance. He would kind of satellite, being friendly with the guys who his wife wanted to dance with. His presence felt a little weird, but they were both having a good time and I was glad they found their way to enjoy themselves.

There was an attractive Asian girl with a tall boyfriend on the dance floor. She kept looking around, wanting to dance her fill, but her boyfriend was one of those 'guys who don't dance'. He would try a little bit for her sake, then feel uncomfortable and just stand around. He acted like dancing 'just wasn't something he did'. Because he felt it wasn't something he was good at, he acted like he wasn't the sort of person who needed to dance to be handsome. Like, look at me I don't need to dance to have an attractive girlfriend. LOL.

But she was yearning to have her boyfriend dance like she wanted to, and have a good time like everyone else. Every once in a while he'd make some exaggerated corny dance movies in an ironic mocking way, and they'd both pretend to have fun with it. But you could tell, she wanted to dance and he felt inadequate to dance, so he pretended dancing was irrelevant to his attractiveness. Hey, man. Nobody is here to judge if you can dance tonight. It's not about looking cool. Let loose and have some fun!



I got tired of the handful of songs that repeated at the dance crowds. They can only 'see me whip and nene' so many times before they be hatin'. Having a song tell me to take steps right and left was also something I had enough of. So I came to a DJ in front of a restaurant. The music was more fun. I started dancing at the edge of the sidewalk.

About 15 minutes later, a young lady came to dance with me. She said, 'you looked like you were having so much fun that I had to come outside and join in!' I asked her who was she with? She pointed to the restaurant and said her family. In the window, a table of at least 8 people simultaneously waved. I laughed so hard! Did you come outside just to dance? Yes. That's so awesome!

I didn't know people were watching from *inside* the restaurant! LOL. I felt a little embarrassed, but by that point I had let go of my hold on my self-respect after an hour of uninhibited dancing and was just having fun. The girl danced along with me for a few minutes. She didn't have any dance moves to show me, so I just swayed a bit while making conversation. Then, her impulsive dare completed, she returned inside the diner to what I imagined would be an applause from her family audience for her bravery.

I danced for about two and a half hours up and down that street. My knees were hammered towards the end, having a hard time staying balanced as the music guided the crowd 'low, low, low". My Achilles were likewise sore and my shoulders and elbows felt tight from dancing in my long winter coat. I hadn't had a sip of water at the party and I was so thirsty that I considered drinking cold coffee out of discarded Starbucks cups.

Midnight fireworks

Fortunately, party-goers dispersed shortly after the second fireworks at midnight and I followed a gentle stampede of noise makers and hooting out of the mall. My phone GPS hinted a zig-zag'ing course to my car, where I had pie and a frozen water bottle awaiting my return. I promptly drove home to Walmart, where the lights were still on. I danced my heart out that night, and I was pooped.

After making use of my giant outhouse, Walmart, I ducked inside my car. My jacket smelled like cigarettes and weed. Fucking smokers. My tee shirt was damp and I quickly changed shirts before snuggling 'neath four layers of blanket. The night was a warm 18 F, my body was tired, and I had no trouble falling asleep.