10 Things Every Girl (or Guy) Should Do

...before age catches up on you. An article that I came across:

1) Be in love at least once, and at most twice. If you've never loved at all, it would seem like you've wasted your youth. However, true love never comes easy, so if a person has loved more than twice, that love would seem fake, wouldn't it?

2) Make a few good friends. They can be guys or girls.

3) Learn how to cook, and be able to make a few good dishes. The important thing here is not the art of cooking itself, but to enjoy the little pleasures of everyday life through cooking.

4) Take a little vacation every year. Take a big one every few years. You'll be able to expand your horizons this way.

5) Maintain a healthy body through exercise. It's best to pick an activity that you like, that you don't mind doing over a long period of time.

6) Make an effort to get a good education. Have a specialty or skill at hand so that you can use it to make a living and feed your family.

7) Develop a taste for reading good books. Make friends with the literary part of yourself.

8) Try to like at least one thing related to the arts. It can be music, dance, or painting--some creative project you can either be actively involved in, or just appreciate.

9) Make a habit of writing in a daily journal. This can help you enjoy your solitude, and to train you in having conversations with yourself.

10) Experience a major setback, then spring back. As long as you spring back, you'll end up being many times stronger than before. If you hadn't experienced this, you probably would never have thought how much strength you actually have.

Hope not too much was lost in translation there. Yup, I translated this news article!

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So you're from Scotland?

A family's just moved here to California from Scotland. The couple has three sons aged around 9, 11 and 13. Very cute family.

One day, my mom was to give the missus a ride. In a flash, the mother opens the door to the driver's seat and plops onto it. As you may already know, in the U.K., passengers sit on the left, while drivers sit on the right. It's the exact opposite here. Mom's amazed that Mrs. F didn't even notice the big steering wheel in front of her! The right-wheel vehicles in this country that I can think of are: the postal truck and the one giving you parking tickets. I wonder if Mrs. F would be comfortable driving those here?

Another thing: the 3 boys got a real kick out of crossing the Bay Bridge. It's because every time they see a car on their left, they'd exclaim, "Ooh, there's no driver in the seat!" All to entertain themselves of course. Same left-right principle. And when I looked to my right, I was surprised to see no driver on the left seat either! Then I understood: the car was being towed. Whew.

I heard that the kids used to walk to school in Scotland. And the whole family bikes. The parents have no driving experience at all. Also, the boys' school friends ran after the car and waved goodbye to them when it was time to leave. Very heartwarming. Reminds me of The Railway Children.

The parents are now trying to get a handle on this new concept of driving. And the kids must learn the potential differences in how American kids interact. I wonder how they would react to the kids' U.K. accents? I personally think it's amazing to talk like that. I just pray that things won't be too overwhelming for them.