Going from Guy Lombardo to Justin Bieber: Happy New Year, 2012!

There's a wind advisory out for my part of Minnesota tonight: 30 to 35 mph with gusts to around 50 mph. Judging from the sizzling sound I hear on the north and west walls of the house, there's occasional sleet coming down, too. Or maybe really hard snowflakes. Or freezing rain, or something else.

I watched the Waterford crystal ball drop over New York City's Times Square, about 20 minutes ago. On television, of course: I'd just as soon not stand outside for hours, this time of year. Not even in comparatively temperate places like New York City.

It's officially 2012 on the east coast now. Here in Minnesota, we've got about 40 minutes of 2011 left, as midnight sweeps across our part of the globe.

New Year's Eve on television used to be mostly about dance bands like Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians. And the big parties.

America has changed a lot since I was a teenager. The music's different, the faces on television aren't the same, and the culture's changed. I'm not happy about every change that happened. But my memory is pretty good: and I remember what 'the good old days' were like. Even if I could, I'd never want to go back.

Happy New Year, 2012!

Related posts:

• "2009: This Year Was Not Boring"
  (December 31, 2009)
• "Tuesday: New Year's Day"
  (January 2, 2008)
• "Monday: New Year's Eve"
  (January 1, 2008)
• "Sunday: Countdown to New Year's Eve"
  (December 30, 2007)
• "Friday: Countdown to the New Year"
  (December 29, 2007)