I find it hard to believe that just two days ago I was driving around in a convertible in 84 degree weather with my mother and my sister! Now I am back in San Francisco, where it is both cold and raining and no sunshine is expected for a few weeks!!

It was so great to see everyone in Florida. Spending time with my family makes me wonder why I don't move back to the east coast...I do not plan to ever live in Florida but I do wish I could be closer to them. I hate that I only see my cousins once a year or so...all of a sudden Max is 16 years old! He got his driver's license this week! And Ian is such a cutie - nine years old and smarter than many adults I know! And Tara's kids are adorable...Zev is the such a hyper little boy and he is so fun to play with. Josh has such a sweet disposition and carrying him in my arms was soothing. Grandpa and Gail were a ton of fun...I am so glad he found her because she is an awesome lady and she makes him a better man. It's nice to hang out with Lori and David, too. I do love my family and I wish I could see them more. One of these days I suppose I will have to make a decision about what is important to me. I mean, I know that my family is important to me but my own happiness is important, too. I suspect that as I get older the two will come closer and closer to being the same thing. At some point I will have to decide.

The audio tape my mother found...of me and Donna "doing our social studies homework" in the seventh grade is ridiculously funny. First of all, my accent is atrocious. I cannot believe that I ever talked that way but I also cannot believe I managed to lose it as much as I did. I barely recognized my own voice. In fact, if someone told me that it is not actually me talking, I would readily believe it. I was some strange little twelve year old, that's for sure. I had SEX and BOYS on the brain in a big way!! Certainly not a mature outlook on either...but from the sound of this tape, all I wanted to do was talk about boys and my limited knowledge of various sexual acts (and various acts that are nothing near sexual but at age 12 they seemed sexual). It's funny because I don't remember myself as a boy crazy kid...A boy crazy adult, yes. But I just don't think of myself as having been boy crazy in junior high. Although I do recall really loving a few of them (Jon "Babes" Trippicione, James "Speedy" Nuques or however you spell it)...Anyway, this tape is hilarious - me and Donna playing "Who would you rather...?" As in, "Who would you rather have run his fingers through your hair - Danny Geller or David Friedensohn?" (This was an actual question). Too funny. Danny Geller seems to win every time he is one of the choices for me or for Donna. Funny considering I ended up hooking up with him in college! I also seemed to have been sweet on Robert Sena...Apparently I hated Joseph Macri and David Friedensohn (though I know I secretly loved David Friedensohn because to this day I think of him as a hottie). We managed to ask some truly sick questions - who would you rather "stick his weiner up your you-know-what..." WEINER!! or, who would you rather "pee in your hair..." Then there was, who would you rather "rub it in your hair..." assuming "it" is the weiner again. I always imagined that a retrospective on my youth would reveal the interesting characteristics of a studious, engaged, funny child...maybe someone would find my old diaries, the papers I wrote for school assignments, the video tape of my spelling bee competitions, my political debates with Beth Goldstein. I never imagined that the found records of my youth would include an audiotape of me imagining sexual acts with half the boys in my seventh grade class!

I should be working on my Harvard essays right now. I have to get them all finished this weekend. I think I can do it if I focus. But I should give myself a bit of a break. After all, it's New Year's Day and I was out late last night.