new years in brooklyn

I spent New Years Eve in Brooklyn with the Nelsons, some of my favorite people ever. We ate delicious food (homemade tomato soup, bread, cheese, grapes, pie...the list goes on), played games, and basically partied. About ten minutes to midnight we all put on our coats and trooped up to the park for midnight fireworks. We made it right to the edge of the park when they started and proceeded to walk down the middle of the snow and ice covered road to the middle of the park while the fireworks continued to intermittently light up the path. Someone commented that it felt a little bit like it was the end of the world and all of us there walking in the park were the only survivors making our way toward the safe zone. And it did feel like that a little bit; the feelings of unity and triumph were in the air.

But the part I remember best was right as we were entering the park it struck midnight and we all pulled out little zip lock bags full of twelve grapes we'd packed at home and began to stuff them into our mouths. We finished, then began to chew them, almost choking on the juice as it ran down our throats, then waved our zip lock bags like flags triumphantly in the air as we walked in a line into the park.

Later we threw wax to tell the future for the next year. You melt down wax in a double boiler-type way, then take a ladle and pour it into a bowl full of ice water. The idea is that whatever shape the wax takes will in some way be connected to what will happen to you in the new year. I'm still not really sure what mine looks like. Any thoughts?