�Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him.� � Samuel Johnson

I can see that, Mr. Johnson. Great name, by the way. There are some people I know who seem to only talk of hardships. Granted, we all have them now and then, interspersed with �easyships� (Barbarism), but our hardships are just so much easier to point out and talk about, aren�t they? As if we only have real news if something tragic or difficult is occurring. Which reminds me of another Mr. Johnson quote, �Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.� I used to think that one could ONLY grow from the pain and difficulties of life. Sure, they are necessary, and because of this I have greatly appreciated on some level ALL of my pain and sorrow.

But I�m noticing, at this point in my life, that there are other ways to grow as well. Those are the ones I�m working on now.

Anyway, before I go off on a thousand tangents that take us nowhere, let me give you a little update before my day off (tomorrow is my day off, for those of us who haven�t been paying attention). Last night, I saw ELVEZ at the Casbah. Before he went on, Rabbi Gimbel�s Jew Explosion had me dancing and laughing my ass off. What fun! Unfortunately, about halfway through El Vez�s performance, my cold got the best of me and I had to head out of there. It was so great to see Artist and Curious G, laugh with Spider Monkey, Mr. Ababwa and of course, Ms. Mmm, furry pants! I got a call around 1am � Spider Monkey, realizing I absquatulated, calling me LAME! Ah!!

I found out this morning that she had a little photo shoot with El Vez at the end of the night, he pointed to her pink shirt that says, �Boys are Smelly,� and she held her nose, as if avoiding a stench� I cannot WAIT to see those photos! All in good time.

Christmas Eve. I pick up my father from the airport in a matter of hours. I do NOT have a plan. I do NOT know what I�m doing, what I�m going to do, I feel deracinated without a plan. I�ll come up with something. My mother called me, invited me to dinner last night. She was pleasant on the phone. I politely declined, as I was resting for the show. She said she didn�t know what she was going to do for Christmas, �we�ll probably have dinner here, and then we�re going to have the official celebration when the rest of the family returns and Sean has a day off, which is January 1st.� WHAT? Yes, that�s right. My family is actually going to celebrate Christmas Eve on New Year�s Eve and Christmas morning on the 1st of the year!!! NO! People do NOT do that!

I told her I wouldn�t make it, but that they�d all do fine without me, it�s the baby�s first xmas, etc. etc. You know, I AM really sick. I may not be up for driving down there, sick as I am. Hmm. I need to stay home and slurp on soup, is what I need to do. And New Year�s Eve, though again, no plans as of yet, I know where I won�t be, and my mother�s house is just one of those places.

What I mean to say, is Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!! Things I�ll most likely be saying to MY family on the same day. Hee, hee. I�m back on Thursday, as I work the rest of the week after tomorrow. Next week is my glorious little vacation� I think I need to go away somewhere. Have a jolly!

-Barbarella

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