Happy 2006!

Turns out going out to dinner, playing a psychology board game, getting drunk on Celebration Ale, and watching fireworks from the roof while blowing Happy Birthday horns at pedestrians is a PERFECT New Year's Eve!

I know we're supposed to be making resolutions, but I can't think of any. It's less that I can't think of anything to improve upon, and more I can't think of anything that sounds both doable and fun. Like, I should probably not let junk mail pile up so much, but in the end my life will just not be better off because I sorted mail more often. I would like to put travel down somewhere, but funds are looking low for awhile. Reading is always good, but I'm doing that constantly anyway. I like Sally's goal of reading a book a week, and while I'm not sure I can do that, I'm curious to see what I log in at. Having a list of books I've read over the past year would be fun, too, so perhaps I'll just be a copycat. Flattery!

Perhaps a goal would be to question things more. Not necessarily in the big scope of things (though of course that's important; no reason to lose the cynic) but about lots of little things we take for granted in our daily lives. Like cashews, for instance. Think for a moment what you believe a shelled cashew looks like. Do you have an idea? Are you thinking big tough shell? Are you thinking underground? It doesn't matter, because unless you are one of the people I've thrust this knowledge upon in the past weeks or you have somehow picked this trivia up somewhere in your life, YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Are you ready for this? Let me introduce you to the cashew apple:

The apple grows on a tree and produces its seed at the bottom of the fruit. The apple is edible, but spoils quickly. The cashew is in that fibrous casing and has to be heated when removed to get rid of caustic oil that gets in it when shelled.

I mean: HONESTLY. I had no idea! Is that not the most bizarre thing you've seen?