We’ve gone through the first week of 2014 without anything catastrophic .. I hope! For me, I had so much going on that I couldn’t even focus on the good or the bad. I took a deep breath on Christmas and said I will be strong for me and celebrate New Years with glee (I’ve become so cheesy.. I should be arrested for it!) Anyway, with a positive thought I managed to survive New Years Eve and that too with less regrets. Sometimes the only person that can convince you is… YOU.
On New Year’s Eve I made prior plans because every year, on the 31st night, we decide to ride to see the fireworks at the iconic Burj Khalifa and every year by default we see the fireworks parked somewhere in traffic. How awesome? Not! So this year I had a few invites to parties but chose to go to Jumeirah Emirates Towers for a NYE Glow party with some cool DJs and it had a pretty good view of the fireworks so it was like killing two birds with one stone? I really wanted to be at the Atlantis where Dubai broke a world record. 400,000 fireworks and $4.5 million later, they set the world record for the largest firework display in the world. It marked the celebration of the new year along with winning the bid to host the EXPO 2020 (more about it in the next post!)
The Firework display was set in the Palm Islands, Burj Khalifa and World Islands and was the total duration of 45 minutes. It was truly spectacular but I couldn’t help but wonder the amount of smoke that went into the ozone that night and the lives that could have been saved with that kind of money… but well, my city is about bigger milestones, bigger world records and flaunting their cash so .. I guess who’s to say no? But the show was spectacular and we’ve now earned the largest firework world record too!
It was a pretty crazy night for us in general. We partied into the wee hours of the morning and then hunted for food around 4am because everything was shut, Dubai never sleeps so there was also traffic that night and we went to an open bar party which means .. well there is only one meaning to that now isn’t there! So we got home in the morning and slept till noon perhaps. New Year’s Day for us is traditionally big. Mom cooks a million dishes and our main aim is to try and fit all that into our stomachs which is particularly difficult for me.
The breakfast we had around lunch time
Our meals start with kiribath (milk rice) and condiments, fruit and homemade sweets and savouries native to Sri Lanka. We have to eat this because a) mom makes it b) its time consuming to make and mom makes it and c) its once a year and mom makes it. It is also probably the few times in a year that I eat rice based dishes. For lunch she made another 15 dishes or so which we all ate around 4pm .. and post-meal I remember lying around groaning because it was simply SO MUCH FOOD that I’m glad these meals are made only on the 1st of every year and it only comes once when you feel like a food bomb attacked you.. and in my case, kills you! (nevertheless it is also very yum!)
The lunch we had around tea time..
So the first day of the year, we spent eating, drinking and eating some more.. I just hope the rest of the year doesn’t go that way! How did your New Year go? Any resolutions? Any fun stories?
Motto for 2014!
My resolution this year is to make it a YOLO year. I started the year with a non-caring attitude and I hope to pursue that. Carefree about life so that you don’t stress. 2013 was the pinnacle of stress and 2014 shall be the opposite! -Amen.
Happy New Year!!
Stay blessed.x
-T
