IT'S FOR REAL NOW: HAPPY NEW MILLENNIUM!

The new millennium is upon us. The real millennium. Or so we're told by the purists and even a few common scolds who chastised last year's millennium celebrations as being premature.

All right, we'll concede they have a point. It is true, strictly speaking, that the new millennium doesn't start until the year 2001, which arrives tonight at midnight. Still, it was entirely proper that last year ushered in the special celebrations that ensued, inasmuch as it was the first time in 900 years that the year didn't begin with the numeral 1. And it must be conceded that the killjoys couldn't, despite all their efforts, succeed in killing lots of good, clean fun.

The pundits are calling this one the "Reallennium." Fine. As for us, we're delighted not to have to read stories about last year's much-feared Y2K bugaboo, surely one of the most colossal, over-hyped non-stories ever.

Happy New Year!