Chinese New Year Excitement

By Romeo Kontsas

The fuse was lit, and now we were all just waiting for the familiar firework sound, but instead, we got more than we could have ever asked for.

My friends and I decided to meet at Gerald Yang’s (12) house to celebrate Chinese New Year with food and fireworks. After finishing our delicious food, we eventually made our way to his backyard, where the fireworks were waiting for us. We started off with the usual routine of starting off small and making our way to the biggest. We had a lot of fun (and horror) throwing around small fireworks that you light in your hand and seeing how far or high we could throw them. 

As we were finishing off all the smaller fireworks, I came across a cylindrically shaped firework that was pretty small in size. Not being too worried about the sound or impact of the firework because of its small size, I lit it in my hand and threw my first bomb. After what felt like an eternity, the fuse was finally up, and then it happened. The sound and vibration I felt was a record high from a single firework. It made the ground beneath my feet vibrate so that I felt it throughout my body. The sound deafened every other sound beside me, and all of us covered our ears. My friends and I all looked at each other and were baffled at the potency of this little thing. 

One of my good friends Braden Abrams (12), said it the best, “It was like a flashbang we were so disoriented and surprised at what had just happened.” 

We all nodded at each other in unison to this remark because that was what it truly felt like. After our first experience with this firework, the fun did not stop. With the remaining few that we had, we would try to throw it and then line up a pose to match the timing of the bang, although unsuccessful, it brought us a lot of joy.

After throwing a few more of the fireworks, we moved on to bigger and more grandiose fireworks that were more in line with everyone's expectations for the evening. However, the little “bombs” that we threw were definitely the highlight of the night and what we would remember when reflecting on our last Chinese New Year together.