This year, only one happy New Year*

If the first hours of a new year are the indicator of how the rest of it will go, then I am set for a thrilling ride. Well, it did start with an unusual ride: inside a shopping cart, at high speeds, in wild Bangla road.

I had recently returned from India and I had no plans for the New Year. My friend Laura was taking a break in Bali and I was cat-sitting for her. Most of the people I knew were traveling for the holiday break. Maybe it would be as the previous year, when my grandma woke me up at midnight to wish me a happy new year over the phone. Then, I had walked to my balcony to watch the fireworks bursting in the island’s valley.

Then, out of the blue, El Mago called. He was organizing a small celebration at his home with the friends scattered around the island. I had not seen him or talked to him in almost five months.

So, I spent the last moments of 2013 and the beginning of this year with El Mago, Fede, and a few other friends of his; eating Indian food, which I cooked, being silly without the help of alcohol in Phuket’s red district, and dancing in a gay club with my ex-lover, who is currently into men...

This year may be, therefore, a time where I am open to the unexpected, at peace with change, and amused by the surreal nature of life.

*In 2013 I celebrated the Western New Year, the Lunar New Year and Songkran