AUSTIN, Texas, November 15, 2005 — I barely woke up at 7:25. I'd taken another dose of Dimetapp (well, a generic elixir of similar qualities anyway) at three.

I didn't feel too bad. My throat is still scratchy but my head doesn't hurt, it's unstuffed. I'm not blowing my nose or anything.

I get a shower and go sit in the parking lot at the barber shop. Another guy comes in, gets out of his car and sits on the stoop. I wonder if he's going to claim first spot and what I'll say if he does. When the barber comes, I help her get the stuff out of her car. He says, "Were you hiding

in your car?" I say, "No, I was sitting in my car reading the paper." He concedes the first spot though. I had decided that, if he didn't, I would leave, maybe making an appointment for Friday. (The only day she takes them.) I got my haircut, though.

How sad is it that when you retire you consider it an accomplishment to get a haircut?

I went home, ate some nonfat yogurt and cereal to add to the banana I'd eaten on the way to the barber shop. Then I took another Echinacea and drank a full glass of water.

I published my journal and working on my holiday cards until time to get ready to go to a luncheon.

I put on a suit and FFP and I went downtown. We parked at a meter near the courthouse and went to the Hirschfield-Moore house. After a bit of a wait, we got a nice tour of the downstairs from someone who helped renovate the house, had lunch and heard part of a lecture before we had to run to get to our parking meter before the meter maid did and get home for an electrician to visit. (We have a plug the remodeler's contracctor screwed up, even though it was in a room we didn't touch. We got so mad at the remodeler at the end that we dismissed all his subs.) FFP commented that it is nice to have the time to be a dilettante like this. Indeed, it is. But my head was feeling stuffy again so I swallowed some more cold and allergy elixir when we got home. I don't have to be anywhere this afternoon so if it makes me sleepy, so be it. I probably wouldn't have made it to the gym with my stuffy head so being too sleepy to go wasn't that big a deal.

I turned the TV on to the Jazz Music Channel. I sat at the dining table in a hard chair and worked on the cards. While I was working on it, the electricians came and fixed up the plug. Now, we can play the Clavinova. If, um, we knew how to play piano. (Actually, when we use it for parties we move it to the big room anyway.) I kept working on the cards. I stamped our return address on the envelopes, write 'Happy Holidays' above so it didn't look so much like junk mail with my computer-printed label affixed. I affixed the mailing label. Then I took the card and wrote something personal (or sort of anyway) on it. I stuffed them. If they were local, I left them open for FFP to put in a Ballet Austin flyer if he wanted. Otherwise, I sealed them. If they were foreign, I put them in another stack for extra stamps. I had made 214 labels. I decided to not send a few because I was unsure of the address or something. When I'd finished I put stamps on all of them. By this time, FFP had appeared out of his office and we were watching TV in the front room, which we rarely do. We continued watching TV, ate some frozen General Tsao's chicken from Costco (I wouldn't recommend it). I took some more cold/allergy medicine so I was kind of dragging.

Doing these cards certainly gives me pause. I think about all the people and where we met. A few I knew in school. Only one as far back as elementary. Some I met online. Some FFP knew before I ever met him. Some I met through some online connection. There are people I travelled with, a lot of people I met through other people, people we met through arts groups, AIDS services groups or at special wine and dine events. There are neighbors and waitpersons and relatives. A gal FFP and I met after she wrote him a fan letter. Lots of people we worked with, worked for, a few people who worked for us, people we were served by or served. There was a mailing label or two where I stopped and though "Hmmm, who is this?" and then it came back...a divorce, a name change. I've done a pretty good job of keeping the list clean, purging the lost and the deceased, correcting for name changes, getting addresses updated. I do this any time an address or name crosses my desk. While I was doing it, I was thinking that we probably know ten times as many people as we send cards to. People who just never made the database because I never had their address at hand. (And yes I could look up people in the phone book or Country Club directory and expand the list. But I'm too lazy.) There are dozens of people at the club who I know but don't send a card to. Dozens I used to work with that don't receive them. My mailing list is twice as big as the selection list when I search on XMAS=Y. Some are place holders, I've lost track of them. Some I just don't send anything to but haven't given up the info. I'm sure I won't receive a holiday mailer from all these people. And I will receive some from people I didn't contact. I may send them one when I receive these. (Note for the really tardy mailers: postal rates go up January 8.) In any case, as we receive cards I will stack the envelopes in front of my computer and check the addresses agains my database.

Not feeling well has taken a bite out of my day. Still, I have my holiday cards done. I had a goal to be the first or one of the first ones received. I'll make that.

I fell asleep watching The Ice Storm. I can never seem to watch this one until the end.