Each and every year since I was about 17, I can remember being shackled by the "Happy New Year" phrase. January 1st is usually spent resting and sleeping, but once I return to civilization, I am expected to say something like, "Happy New Year" or "How was your break?" or "Welcome Back!". Well guess what? I'm drawing my line in the sand this year, and I refuse to be forced to say any of those cliches. It's a vicious cycle, and if you do it once, you have to keep it up until Martin Luther King Day. So all I will be saying to people is "good morning" or "hello", and if they say "Happy New Year" to me, I will say thank you, and then the awkward silence will surely come after that, but that's really not my problem. The madness has to stop somewhere, and 2008 is as good of a time as ever to stop it.

Other musings:

-According to one of my favorite writers, Conan O'Brien will struggle in his return to the air without writers way more than Leno, Letterman, Daly etc, and I do believe I will check this out tonight at 12:30am.

-As I was buying the new Wu-Tang Clan CD on Monday, I realized that it had been EXACTLY 15 years since I bought my first Wu-Tang product. It was New Year's Eve 1992, when I bought a Wu-Tang maxi-single. On one side was "Protect Ya Neck" and on the other side was "M.E.T.H.O.D. Man", and I got in the car with my boy Cliff, and we proceeded to pump that song in his Geo Tracker. Time does indeed fly.

M.E.T.H.O.D. Man - Wu-Tang Clan
For those of you who have not heard this particular version of the song, you must endure a minute-long interlude of various forms of torture before the song begins. I assure you that, and the song are very child and work friendly.