Girlfriend #7: Jolz, Part 10 (Millennium Approaches)

Jolz and I decided we would ring in New Year 2000 together. Even though there were a large number of events planned around San Diego that night, she decided the best thing to do was stay at home. It turned out to be a wise decision. It rained that night in San Diego and the majority of affordable events were being held outdoors.

I spend most of the day leading up to midnight watching "ABC 2000." It was exciting to watch how the world was celebrating the New Year, the New Millennium. (Although I do recall a comedy bit in which Al Franken tried to explain to Peter Jennings that the new millennium didn't actually begin until 2001.)

Abed, Qued and I were watching at the time that Egypt rang in 2000. Abed said that if he had the money and could go anywhere for New Year's, he would have gone to see the pyramids. But we were dismayed that they kept showing shots of the crowd and not the pyramids.

There was also some concerns about the Y2K virus. I remember some people going all crazy because they thought everything electronic was going to shut down at midnight. I wasn't too concerned because it seemed that those in charge were taking action. I knew that my car would still run and that was all I worried about.

For the celebration at her house, Jolz bought me a "Tickle Tickle Wiggle Wiggle" stuffed toy from Walmart. If you pressed on its hand, a recording of a child's voice played: "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Welcome to the year 2000!" And then it played "Auld Lang Syne." We played that every hour on the hour as the countdowns began on TV.

Then it was Pacific Standard Time's turn. We started the countdown on the toy. Jolz and I kissed at midnight. I left pretty soon after that. I still had work to do the next day.

Nothing extraordinary happened with Y2K. I noticed a few text glitches here and there on the Internet, but nothing major. I monitored one newscast in which a reporter went to an ATM after midnight, found her balance intact and that she was able to withdraw cash. However, she pointed out that this meant she wound up ringing in the New Year waiting outside a 7-Eleven. Yes, some people had it worse than we did.

For a few years after we finally broke up, I would call Jolz' phone on New Year's Eve. If she let it go to voice mail (my number was blocked), I played the "Tickle Tickle Wiggle Wiggle" toy for the message. I'm pretty certain she always knew it was me.