1. I bought a season pass to Sierra at Tahoe! Zaugi has graciously offered me and M the use of her car (which has front wheel drive and chains!) whenever we head up the mountains. M and I weren�t sure what we were going to do, since both of us have rear wheel drive old collector cars that probably wouldn�t handle too well in the snow.

2. The volunteering organization to help assist Middle Easterners finally fell through after the lead person spent 6 weeks trying to coordinate with various communities and organizations� and never got any responses back.

I have the greatest idea for Christmas gifts! For all my women friends and relatives, I�m going to make them little bars of homemade soap! I bought a 5 pound block of �melt & pour� glycerin on the internet. All I have to do is add food coloring and pour into little molds (i.e. ice cube trays or muffin baking papers work in a pinch)! Later, when I get pro, I can add scent and herbs or flowers� but for now, since I�m new to the practice, I�m going to keep it simple.

I got the idea off marthastewart.com. I'm so clever.

Almost immediately after I turned 30, I re-evaluated my life and realized that certain friends needed to be purged from my life. They were �dead wood�, in a sense, and did nothing to enrich my life. They were negative and judgemental about everything and everyone; I didn�t want that in my life. This purging was a tough, emotional thought process, but it turned out splendidly. When I finally decided to �let them go�, I felt so much better. It was freeing!

I relate �letting go of friendships� to graduating from high school. At first you�re sad because you think you'll miss everyone so much. Then, about a week after graduation, you realize you don�t and think to yourself, what on earth was I thinking when I thought I�d miss these clowns?. What eventually happens is that you simply make an effort to see the friends you really care about. The rest can disappear into the atmosphere for all you care.

Same as with old, stale relationships.

(Side note: I regret going to my 10 year high school reunion. I didn�t recognize anyone; hell, I didn�t even recognize names! �Remember me? We had Biology together.� Um, no...! None of my friends went, with the exception of the one friend I went with. It might have helped to look at my high school yearbooks before going, but I misplaced them many years ago� and hadn�t cracked them open since the summer after high school graduation. Never again will I go to a high school reunion.)

Anyway, I used to take it personally that a few friends in particular were making lame excuses not to meet up with me when I came into town� and generally just demonstrating how poor of a friend they really were. Now I could care less. The moral of the story is that I found out who my real friends were.

I prefer this new way, actually. The people I want to see, I make the effort to see and vice versa. Quality over quantity is more important.

High school is over, thank God, and I never want to go back.

One more thing:

If I was a work of art, I would be Pablo Picasso's Three Musicians. I am colourful and provoking, always looking to break out of the mould and to pioneer new ways of doing things. I have a jaunty outlook and although I am a bit weird, most people have some idea what I'm about. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

Funny.