What do I want for Christmas? 1. More time (to write, research, exercise, learn Cantonese) 2. More sleep (I so need this!) 3. A more interesting and better paying job 4. an IPod 5. That something really fun/stimulating/exciting/interesting will happen during my Christmas vacation. What do I need? 1. an IPod 2. more sleep 3. more time 4. more exercise (more time would definitely help here) 5. to write a book (again, more time would take care of this) Bottom line net net: what I really want and need in my life is more time to do the things I really want to do. Right now, my job is getting in the way of this. However, I need a certain amount of money, health insurance, and retirement savings (hey, I'm 50). So far I haven't figured out how to do this as a writer (poetry, mostly). I tried in the mid-90s, and just couldn't make it happen. Retirement seems like a long way off on the one hand (in terms of having all that time), but not far enough off (in terms of money and savings). I think this is called being in a Catch-22.