TRYING NOT TO BE TOO UNHAPPY ABOUT IT, OR...DAY 330

I found my Christmas card list from last year. And the last two years. The last 17 years, in fact. This after I had decided it was lost for good and I should try to reconstruct it from last year's cards received, my e-mail address book etc. My Christmas card system is systematic to the point of being brutal. I guess it would have been 1990 I bought a cheapo tablet at Happy Harry's for about two dollars. It was coloured lined paper. Every year I made a list in column form, one for cards, one for gifts. This is how it works:

If you sent me a generic winter holiday card in the last two years, you will get a card from me unless I am REALLY pissed off at you. This does not apply to charities, commercial institutions etc. If you are a bIood relative, if I like you a lot or if I feel a real need to share something with you, you will get a card regardless of whether you have sent me one recently. At my highest point I had over 90 people on my list, ranging from my current housemate to my best friend from high school to my 85-yearold grandmother. I send more cards in even-numbered years than in odd-numbered ones. Two years ago, an even-numered year, there were about 63 people on my list. This year it will be about 60 but for the first time in years I will have someone in Australia to send a card to.