Ara's birthday "gathering" last night. 50 people who, this morning, couldn't tell you what they were doing if their life depended on it. Oh boy. It was cool but I really don't like big gatherings. Anything more than 3 people is too much. As for today, from work I'm going to go to the mall to try and find a gift for my niece, then at 6 go to their house. EEK! The big 0 4 for Ani! Oh yeah and happy birthday to Ara for his big 1 9.

Sitting there, away from everyone, not having to try and fit in. It felt great. I was me, and no one else mattered. If I learn this much about myself everyday, I can't even imagine how much truer I will be to myself within a few months.



So this is a fight we have to make everywhere. Which will be more important in the 21st century – our differences or our common humanity? Think about how important your differences are to you. Think about how we all organise our lives in little boxes – man, woman, British, American, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Tory, Labour, New Labour, Old Labour, up, down. We have to organise that, but somewhere along the way, we finally come to understand that our life is more than all these boxes we're in. And that if we can't reach beyond that, we'll never have a fuller life - Bill Clinton