What happened to New Years?

How did it happen that I was stuck on New Years Eve watching American Pie 2 while sipping left over wine from the afternoon's wine tasting?  When did I stop caring what I did on New Years Eve?  Is it just me?  I realized that quite a few of my friends were disinterested in doing something special for the evening: people who have been by my side through ten years of frantic partying and foggy hangovers.  I ended up getting slightly wasted in Stellenbosch earlier the day and getting sick of a foul pizza with shitloads of "gwa-ka-moe-lee" on it.  By six the afternoon, I was safely back at home alone, first taking a nap, then lying lazily in front of the television.  Just the vision in my head of working my way through drunken crowds, ending up in the only restaurant or lounge where there was still some space left, while making sure the girl behind you, whose sweaty boob was pressing against your back, did not burn you with her menthol cigarette, was enough for me to realize how fortunate I was to suddenly have no problem with staying at home.  Not to mention the disgusting amount of underpaid civil servants who prowl on the streets looking for their puny end of year bonus.  I heard of a girl who got arrested just outside her own house in a residential area for supposed drunken driving.  Not ecstatic about doing that again surely. 

Watching the silly little American comedy in the living room of the house I was house sitting, I wondered if a too great fuss had been made over the years about New Years Eve.  Then, while going through a sickeningly melancholic Merlot-inspired thought-road trip, I realized that I had ten years of student life behind me, and four more to go.  Where the antics of the American Pie-scoundrels used to thrill me, and I used to be able to completely associate, I now watched wearily how these fictitious characters never aged, just like me.  In appearance, yes.  In habits, no.  I felt even more weary.  Maybe it is just me who can't see what the fuss is about regarding New Years Eve.  Mostly it is because I have had New Years Eves almost every single night for the past ten years.  Lucky man?  Yes, I was, but it is time to settle down now.  I enjoyed my twenties to their maximum.  More than most people did.  "My God, I do not need New Years Eve anymore", I thought while drifting away just before midnight, relieved and content.