Where you can write back and forth on actual paper? I would like to find a French pen pal so that I can practice and also, I think it would be fun. Does it seem too creepy? Hmm. I’m going to try to find a good website, one where I can find an old-fashioned pen and paper pen pal of my own. The last time I had one, I think I was in the second grade and the other girl lived just across town. But still.

In other news, I’m reading the book, “The Secret,” which does contain mostly sensational hocus pocus and overall malarky, but there are some seriously good nuggets one can extract. It’s all about positive thinking and the laws of attraction. Even though the book design is atrocious and distracting, and I recommend skipping the chapter on money (bogus), it’s worth a flip through and possibly a skim-through and possibly a quick read next time you’re at the book store.

I’m also reading a book on Argentina out of the Culture Shock series, but I’m only about 20 pages deep, so I will have to see how I feel about it. I’m kind of obsessed with Argentina right now, not quite sure why but I figured I’d read about it a bit, and didn’t want to just flip through a Lonely Planet full of info. on restaurants and hotels. Any one have a better book suggestion?

In a month I am starting guitar lessons for the first time in my life. My musical past is limited to a 3-month clarinet stint in the fourth grade. I’m looking forward to learning how to play an instrument and hopefully how to read music. I’m going to take a group lesson for beginning beginners at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Everyone has amazing things to say about this “Chicago institution” so I’m perty darn excited. I don’t know the first thing about what I’m delving into here and that’s fun. Every year, I make an attempt to learn something new. An instrument was supposed to be last year’s thing and so I’m running a bit behind schedule. If I can manage to start learning how to play guitar and start studying a foreign language (thank you, Rosetta Stone) all in the same year, well then 2008 is going to be pretty pivotal.