AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 15, 2005 — If you've been paying attention to prior entries, you may know that I've been reading The Diary of a Young Girl. Or should I say re-reading since everyone read this as a kid, didn't they? This is the definitive edition, though, which includes bits about Anne Frank's maturing and learning about sex.

A few times today I thought...what a difference from the attic or, even, all of The Netherlands in that time. What a difference, even, from the U.S. home front in '43 and '44.

First I woke up in my cushy bed with cool linens. I like waking up cool. I was a little fuzzy-headed, though. When I finally got up, FFP wanted something recorded later while we would be at the basketball game.

I eliminated a few things from the cache of programs so it would fit and got ready to go to the gym. Himself went separately and he left quite a bit before I finished. He said he would stop at the store for a few things.

I had a long workout...fifty minutes on the bicycle and a few other things...some reverse bicep curls and some ab work, for example. I felt good after the workout.

At home, I showered up and did a few things (like eating a couple of bowls of salad and some mazzarella cheese) and talked to a friend on the phone and it was time to go to the UT Women's basketball game. Well, time to go if we wanted a good parking place. We went into the Fast Break club and read our books and watched the UT men playing on a big TV while I drank some of the free coffee.

We headed upstairs to the pre-game and I suddenly felt really hungry. I bought a couple of bags of potato chips. (Bad, bad.) And ate them. FFP had a little upset stomach and he didn't want any.

The game was sloppy but near the end it was clear the Horns were going to win so we left. We listened to the actual end and interview on the radio while we headed to Central Market. We are having a couple of people over tomorrow to watch the Golden Globes and so we bought stuff for salads and sandwiches. We also picked up a cheap bottle of Chilean red wine and some sushi.

At home, I made the sushi my dinner. FFP had decided to have salmon he'd gotten on sale at Randall's. He cooked all that up. I put all the leftover salmon away and cleaned up the kitchen.

So it's seven o'clock and I haven't done anything 'useful' except workout and post my journal for yesterday. But, of course, I feel like reading the newspaper and watching TV. I have checked out some stocks that FFP has taken an interest in and reviewed his SEP IRA holdings. But I've spent way less than the hour on finances.

But...it's Saturday night. What the heck. I head to the bedroom with newpapers and a bottle of water.

I end up reading a bit of the newspaper, watching a little live TV (Cold Case, football) and stuff off the DVR. Sleep.

Today, looking around at the crowd of healthy-looking, well-fed (overfed?) people at the basketball game and then standing in front of the deli case at Central Market which was crowded with delicious chunks of meat and cheese we could afford to buy, thinly-sliced, thank you, I couldn't help thinking about that hiding place in The Netherlands. But, that said, Anne Frank's book isn't really about the suffering and what can (and does) happen to her so much as about adolescence, well articulated.

But still, one of my attractions in reading about eras of want is to then turn around and contrast it with your environment. Perspective. And to think that the annex was luxurious and commodious compared to where captured Jews were going, even if they survived. A wonderful place in comparison. In the short time Anne had left she no doubt looked back at it with longing. Longing to be eating rotting vegetables in hiding.

Meanwhile it's not just that I'm better off...it's that people around me with far fewer resources are better off, too. And people around the world suffer.