Kenneth Chin is hoping to be more lucky with love in the new year.
Thursday, he went from his home in Astoria to the center of Times Square, wrote the "dating scene of 2017" on a piece of paper and then shredded it.
"It's just been very tough meeting people," he said. "People don't seem to want to commit, and online dating has just been very impersonal."
For 11 years, the Times Square Alliance has organized Good Riddance Day leading up to the big ball drop.
"Part of the reason people celebrate New Year's is, it's not just about what we want a new beginning of but what we want to let go of," said Tim Tompkins of the Times Square Alliance.
For an hour Thursday, tourists and New Yorkers brought paid bills, mementos from failed relationships or - more typically - an idea written on a piece of paper to banish into the shredder.
Five-year old Miracle wanted to rid the world of mean people.
"I don't want mean people around here," she said.
Along with the event comes a contest. Carissa Payan, from San Diego, won the big prize, a trip to New York for New Year's Eve.
"Today, I am shredding $25,000 of debt, my husband and I both, from medical bills and student loans," she said.
She said they made a lot of little sacrifices. They sold her wedding dress and her husband's car.
The Times Square Alliance says Good Riddance Day is loosely inspired by a Latin American tradition of stuffing bad memories into dolls and then burning them to celebrate the new year.
"We're not going to do a bonfire in the middle of Times Square, but we thought we could at least pulverize things with this shredding company," Tompkins said.
Despite the freezing temperatures, the Naked Cowboy wandered into the event. He said he was shredding pants.
It's a lighthearted event, though many of the wishes are serious and sincere.
"I shredded depression because I know many people who struggle with it. I do. It runs in my family," said participant Julia Mandel. "I'm hoping that next year will be a lot better."
She said she is excited for a fresh start.