nyc, the second city and 2005 new york city has always had this mystique to me, home of "here is new york," the book and the photographs. home of the algonquin and almost every glitzy magazine, broadsheet, broadcast station and internet site. central park really does indeed have its share of hoboes with imaginary friends.

chicago, where i live, is always compared to the big apple, "but cleaner." HA! i am one of those mightily irked when city officials and businesses exercise our apparent inferiority complex - by staging our own ball drop, for one, at one of the hyatt towers downtown. sheesh. even anita padilla, the NBC reporter who was sent to the scene, dryly commented, "and there drops the new york city ball. our turn, in 56 minutes. stay tuned."

ahahaha - it's not yet christmas, but i'm already thinking of the new year. we don't compare to california, whose beautiful san francisco and poppy los angeles compete for attention. simple seattle smiles and lets loose firecrackers usually from the space needle. everyone forgets about hawaii when its their turn; and you wonder why they always go, "hey." the new year is four hours old by the time it reaches them.

one hour west of hawaii is another island nation, kiribati, the christmas islands, the first-ever country to greet the new year. they'd have already moved on to january 2.   ¶ 12/20/2004 03:40:00 PM