In that same album that the Nebraska pics were in, I found some horrible, horrible pictures from Times Square, New Year's Eve 1994-95. To worsen the quality, I give you pictures of pictures:

The ball.

Lots o' people.

Lots more people.

Resting my head on the back of a girl from southern Maryland. We were so packed in she didn't even notice. So this is like a year after that last picture of me--I've gone from out of control beard to goatee with Jason Newstead-style mullethawk.

The two white lines in the middle are the ends of Paul Shaffer's scarf. You can barely make him out, in a top hat. And what is this Talk Channel, with Rush, Dennis Prager, and "the Susan Powter Show"?? (Researching it led me to this crazy page about cable TV in 1994--my favorite part is the survey where people are like, "Shop from my home? Fuck no, I don't wanna do that shit!")

Anyway, I did the Times Square thing for New Year's thrice. (Coincidentally, those were the three Nebraska national champs years. As in, I did Times Square, then in the next 48 hours saw the Huskers win it all.) It's pretty fun, or at least it was to me at age 19-22. People think it's too cold but it's usually at least in the 30s, and with all those people, if anything you're too hot after all those hours. One year it was terribly cold, though. We had gone to a Letterman taping earlier that night, and they gave the studio audience hand warmers, which weren't doing much by the fifth hour standing in the cold. The key to it is getting there early--if you don't, you might be so far back where the street curves, and you literally can't see the ball. So get there at 6:00 and prepare for a 6-hour stand in your little pen which you can't return to if you chicken out and leave. One disgusting part is the "pee circles." Every time a girl had to pee, everyone would turn their backs and form a circle around her, and you know the rest. This year it should be a huge crowd with the 40-degree weather. I won't be there (I don't think). Maybe someday I'll do it again.

Note: I'm writing this on Thursday night and setting it to post a few hours before the ball drops. So if the world is currently ending or something, I'm not intentionally ignoring it. Happy New Year.