Day 1 of 2025, and the start of a new (yes, admittedly arbitrary) collection of years and period of time.
Happy new year!
First time ringing in the new year at a concert! A New York favorite and son, soundtrack to my early years, Billy Joel is the source of the familiar rhythms and songs of home people. Always a terrific show! First time at UBS Arena, too - and, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of food vendors, including a spot to get a falafel bowl (yay for vegetarian options!) from the halal place! The Island may sometimes veer questionably politically, but maybe diversity of diet and cuisine - and people and culture - is already subtly and firmly ingrained (fingers crossed).
The genesis of this New Year's Eve excursion was a high school friend/live music fanatic's open call to join him for this show; the plan had been to tag along with a certain Plume Chasing Friend, a Billy fan who has yet to see him in concert and has that as a lifetime bucket list item. Sissy got wind and had FOMO, so signed up to join the fun with her dude. But, as the coin fell, Lady Luck had other plans - Plume Chaser accepted his New York City-based position to be closer to home for holidays and other family affairs knowing there could and would be travel 40-75% of the time; we always knew there was an outside chance of his not being around for Christmas (let alone NYE), and the outside chance beat the odds. Plume Chaser was deployed to tend to an emergent situation right before Christmas. It was a bit of a scramble, but I found a ticket buyer amongst acquaintances to salvage the financial loss; we forged ahead and had our partially envisioned NYE (and he found some friends abroad to spend the evening and day). One of these days, hopefully I'll get to see Plume Chaser enjoy his inaugural Billy Joel concert; I promised I'd go again for that.
Billy kept us out way past the ball drop. The late night out necessitated a late morning in, that gave way to a family outing (plus Sissy's dude) for shabu shabu buffet of both satiating quantities for the belly and cleansing and replenishing foods for the body; hot pot was a perfect first meal of the year...
... plentiful vegetarian choices - noodles for longevity and health, so many different greens for wealth of all kinds. And, I succeeded in perfectly poaching my egg in my hot pot broth - set white, runny yolk! Plus, my self-composed dipping sauce was terrific; I don't know why I never did this before, but discovered today the magic of using it to toss and dress my cooked noodles. So yummy!
Sooo much food on offer. But this year, I am working on moderating. First off, by limiting myself to a single trip to the buffet, that still yielded a very full plate and bowl of generous proportions; I was full, I didn't need more, and still had room for two desserts. The lunch price was very reasonable, even if I didn't make "the most" of the food; it was enough. Secondly, with the concept of abundance, with the idea that there is, and will be, more - of everything - out there if I need it; trying to let go a little bit of the scarcity mindset that has dominated my life, and led to squirreling away in many areas that do not serve me well anymore. Not just food, but material things, work assignments, tasks. Back to food, though, healthwise, my personal results combined with family history and the recent wake up call, moderation of sugar, salt, fats seem like a no brainer. There is time, and I have an opportunity, to steer toward a healthier, more balanced future all around. There's the outline of a plan for the year ahead.
We got back to the Mothership to a beautiful first sunset of the year.
And back in the city at home, I made myself a healthy quick meal of a cold rice (more complex carbs) based bowl of black-eyed peas (to ward off evil and usher in abundance), more greens for wealth, and some of the final terrace tomatoes for color and pop, unified with random salad dressing packet from the fridge.
Good starts and good intentions!
