I was thinking about some old friends and wondering what happened to them, so I put their names in Google and got some info. They had a child in 2000, and I can't remember if that's the one I knew about or not -- probably not. I started thinking about how cool it would be to have an 00 birthyear -- then thought, well, people have babies when the have them -- they don't try for special dates. My mum always felt she was the product of her mother's office's Christmas party, since she was born 12/26/23. My friend Mildred was born in 1898 -- she used to say she was two years older than the century. Once I said to her, "I always know how old you are because you're 55 years older than me." She was stunned, "55 years! Oh my!" Mildred was a sculptress who worked a a young person at her family's business on the Hood Canal. At that time the place was jumping as little tour boats stopped in daily and everyone had lunch. Mildred told me they hired a waitress who was s-l-o-w and then it came to light that her philosophy was to help one person all the way through a meal before then waiting on another person. Someone showed Mildred's family how to fold the tablecloths before ironing them, and that saved a lot of time, she said. Then she got a job teaching school in a wild area -- she went home periodically, and once the person didn't meet her and she had to walk in the dark and could hear things preparing to eat her -- still that way around here, and a woman was leapt upon by a cougar...when was that...a year or two ago. There was something about a big hole, too -- a big hole she might've, but didn't, fall into in the dark -- she would've been killed. At the little school one day the students wanted to play a trick. They tacked down everything -- imagine their glee as school opened -- but Mildred had arrived early and un-tacked everything -- her joke -- but never said a word. She just looked at their eyes growing huge. At one point she reached for a ruler, but it was the only thing she hadn't un-tacked. Then she went to Paris and studied sculpture. I should keep writing, but maybe I'll add to this later...