I came home from the kegger pretty toasted. "Shhh!" I giggled to myself as I slipped into my dorm room. My roommate stirred and mumbled in her sleep. Lucky for me (and her) that she slept like a rock most nights - this wasn't the first time I'd tumbled in the door at odd hours.

I slipped into bed and was just getting cozy, when my assignment floated across my brain. "Shit, shit, shit!" I sat up. My warm buzz had just become a cold sweat. I had an essay due for a history class, first thing tomorrow morning. Despite my penchant for partying, I was pretty dedicated to my homework and this was a major slip up in my book.

I sighed and heaved myself out of my nest. I grabbed my notebook and slipped out into the hall. We were to write a response to a famous male writer who'd spent his youth mired in 50's America. He was pretty sure his generation was the best. Our teacher wanted us to respond.

I'd find out in class the next day that most of my classmates responded positively to this man's challenge, but in my beer-buzzed state, I was a little more.... belligerent. Did he think he was the only who'd surmounted challenges? "Try living with the threat of nuclear war! Sure, we were kids, but growing up with Reagan as president was no picnic." My tirade flowed out of me. Finally exhausted, I went to bed.

By nothing short of a miracle, my teacher loved my piece and submitted it to an anthology the college was putting together. My assignment eventually became part of a textbook that my friends later had to read for homework. I even received an engraved paperweight from the school. I was embarrassed and I felt like a complete fraud. If a drunken toss-off could earn me that much attention, how could I ever make it happen if I were to ever really try? It had to be a fluke. I didn't write again for years. 

[Photo Credit: This is not me, nor is it a rendition of what happened that evening. However, I do find this quite eye-catching!]

[In a redoubled effort to capture consumers' attention in this sputtering economic recovery, some paint companies are hoping to distinguish their brands with names that tell a story, summon a memory or evoke an emotion -- even a dark one -- as long as they result in a sale. What they do not do is reveal the color.

"For a long time we had to connect the color name with the general color reference," said Sue Kim, the color trend and forecast specialist for the Valspar paint company. "But now," Ms. Kim added, "we're exploring color names that are a representation of your lifestyle."

Thus, Valspar, which once featured Apricot 1 through Apricot 6, now offers Weekend in the Country, a name that might put you in mind of an idyllic getaway or a Stephen Sondheim tune but that will not convey a specific hue. (For the record, it is the color of mud -- perhaps not such a great weekend after all.)

Sherwin-Williams offers Synergy. From Ace Paint comes Hey There! Benjamin Moore has Old World Romance, all names that give new meaning to the term colorblind.]

Yep, another assignment work-in-progress from my fab writing class! Those one needs some work - I'd give myself a C.

This was the best birthday of my life - not only was I in seventh grade (junior high - woo hoo!) but my cake was in the shape of a ballet slipper. The color was pink, naturally, and it was beautiful.

My girlfriends were gathered 'round. I concentrated hard, made my wish and blew out my candles in one shot. The icing was buttery and delicious - the inside was a simple vanilla. My favorite. Photos of the cake were taken before its decimation and there were even leftovers. You get to eat your leftover birthday cake the next day for breakfast in my family - a tradition I still carry out to this day.

After the picture perfect cake, it was on to the opening of presents. It was a sunny day and we were all gathered in the backyard. My parents were extra generous that year. Maybe it was because we all knew I was dangling on that precipice before becoming a teenager - there was still sunshine left in my disposition, but the grumpy hormones were looming.

One thing that still makes me laugh to this day was opening up a gift, which happened to be a pair of parachute pants. My friend Erin gasped when she saw them and exclaimed, "Wow, your parents must really love you!" These were all the rage at our school and soon I'd be able to wear a coveted pair to class.

The evening culminated in getting to go with my girlfriends (escorted by two of my patient aunts) to my first concert - Rick Springfield! I was a member of the Rick Springfield fan club and even went as far as adopting his beliefs of vegetarianism - minus pepperoni pizza. I'd go far from my crush, but I wasn't willing to to go that far!

It's been many, many years since that celebration - but I still recall it with much fondness. I hit high school and developed the request sullen attitude - but I still recall the moment my friend recognized that my parents loved me. I held it like a secret and acknowledged its truth.

[Photo Credit] 

[It used to be easy for moguls to flaunt their power. All they had to do was renovate the chalet in St. Moritz, buy the latest Gulfstream jet, lay off 5,000 employees, or marry a much younger Asian woman. By now, though, they've used up all the easy ways to distinguish themselves from the rest of us--which may be why a growing number of America's most powerful bosses have become vegan.

It shouldn't be surprising that so many CEOs are shunning meat, dairy, and eggs: It's an exclusive club. Only 1 percent of the U.S. population is vegan, partly because veganism isn't cheap: The cost comes from the value of specialty products made by speciality companies with cloying names (tofurkey, anyone?). Vegans also have to be powerful enough to even know what veganism is.]

[Breast cancer: Here, the idea is that high levels of isoflavones, active ingredients in soy that behave like estrogen in the body, may increase the risk of breast cancer. While high levels of isolated isoflavones may do so, it appears that the total mix of weak plant estrogens in soy protects the body's estrogen receptors. This protection may reduce the effects of excess estrogen exposure from such external sources as meats and dairy products from hormone-treated cows as well as artificial chemicals and industrial pollutants that act as foreign estrogens. Japanese women whose diets contain a lot of soy foods have only one-fifth the rate of breast cancer that occurs among Western women.]

[No need to panic. The research linking animal fat to heart disease and cancer are far stronger than those connecting soy to any health problems. So, if you are considering substituting soy for meat or milk, the soybean still shines in comparison.]

[Under the headline "Women flock to take horse-semen shots," we learn from The Dominion Post that "apple-infused" horse jizz, or Hoihoi tatea, is "like custard" and is a hot item at a New Zealand restaurant called Green Man Pub. The horse semen, for which the restaurant pays $300 (NZ) for 20 vials, is part of a meal of Asian duck and spring rolls that the restaurant is entering into Monteith's Beer & Wild Food Challenge.]