What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Whenever I hear this question, I always think of this song. My favourite version is this one, performed by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Zooey uploaded to her YouTube channel in 2011 and it has received millions of views since.

When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I spent New Year working in a nightclub. I supervised several of the bars and my shift would generally start at 7.00pm and finish at 5.00am the next day. It was hot, loud, ridiculously busy and I absolutely loved it. I got a buzz from the atmosphere, the music and the dancing – it was almost as if I were being paid to have my own little night out.

However, there seemed to be a point in my mid-twenties where my body and mind started to shudder at the thought of leaving the house on New Year’s Eve. For many years, when I was generally single, I developed my own little tradition – I would have a long bath, put on some clean jammies and I would spend the whole evening watching my Sex and the City DVD’s and drinking cheap alcohol until I fell asleep. I have no idea why I was single – surely most men would jump at the chance to spend their evening with a (rather drunk) northern, pyjama wearing numpty???

The Bloke and I haven’t been out for New Year’s Eve during our entire relationship. He doesn’t drink and we both are agreed in the fact that it is too busy, crowded and expensive, with little chance of getting to the bar, finding a seat or managing to get a taxi home, so we generally stay in with a film, the cats and an assortment of snacky treats. I did go to a karaoke party a few years ago, and I had fun, but I returned horribly drunk and spent the rest of the evening vomiting, which isn’t something that I am keen to repeat…

I sound so old…

What are your plans for New Years Eve?

You can also find me on Twitter @Suzie81blog

Procrastination Central Courtesy of YouTube.

I read a post recently by one of my favourite bloggers, Kaela, who included a fabulous video of Jimmy Fallon and The Roots performing ‘All I Want For Christmas’ on classroom instruments with Mariah Carey. Consequently, when I settled down to start doing some marking I was reminded of this and as a result have been on YouTube for nearly two hours.

The problem with YouTube is the variety of sheer fabulousness that exists in the big wide world – one brilliant video links to another, what starts as a quick ‘sneaky peak’ turns into a marathon viewing session and by the time you realise what you’re doing you’ve watched hundreds of moments of silliness, heartbreak, hilarity and genius. It’s an emotional rollercoaster.

As I’ve already wasted such a monumental amount of time I decided to make the process worthwhile by creating a ‘boredom playlist.’ You don’t have to watch all of these, but if you’re ever feeling despondant and irritable, here is a collection of some ridiculous musical based videos that I’m sure will keep you entertained. Unless you’re mature. Or sensible. Or relatively normal. Or you’ve seen them twenty times already.

Jimmy Fallon and The Roots featuring Robin Thicke: Blurred Lines on classroom instruments. (Late Night With Jimmy Fallon)

Misheard Song Lyrics (PleatedJeans)

Call Me Maybe Chatroulete (Steve Kardynal)

Living on a Prayer (with the help of a goat or two) (Miguel Rubio)

Christina Bianco Sings with Nineteen Different Voices (Christina Bianco)

Michael Buble Sings With a Fifteen Year Old Fan (Michael Buble)

Literal Version Of Total Eclipse Of the Heart (artistwithouttalent)

You can also find me on Twitter @Suzie81blog

Enjoy!