This weekend I went to Tahoe with my accomplished friends.  For example, here’s a new friend we made--Scenery. Scenery made all of this:

Unfortunately, we couldn’t take Scenery home with us.

Here are my friends Matt and Su:

They recently came back from Amsterdam. They get up at 5 a.m. most mornings and work out for an hour.  They are so well-adjusted and nice that they could give Katie Couric insecurities.

Then there’s my friend Tuan, who is taking three months off work to go to Africa.

Just think about telling your co-workers that.  “Screw you guys, I’m going to Africa.  No, I won’t be checking my blackberry.  And if there’s a crisis with a project--just think of Darfur and leave me the hell alone.”

Lin is on the left. He made a baby, which is pretty cool.  Regardless of whether he followed the recipe book or just went on instinct, I’m still impressed.

Ruben, on the right, made several hundred dollars at craps and video poker.

(Note the young child with his shiny pink water bottle right next to a half-finished bottle of Guinness.  Babies and beer--that’s just how a bunch of 30somethings roll.)

Then there’s me.  I once made sangria using white zinfandel.  It tasted terrible and it was not a big success.

On the other hand, I’m two weeks into my Barber Fast, and only two weeks to go.  Why am I fasting from getting a hair cut, even though I desperately need one?  Because if I put it off for just two more weeks, I won’t have to get my hair cut again until I come back from my trip to Ireland in September, which will put the trip perfectly within my normal hair cycle.  And the only thing I have to do is suck it up for a few weeks as my hair starts getting all clumpy on the sides, kind of like Princess Leia’s do in Episode IV.  That’s a pretty solid accomplishment, right?

So, I guess in the final analysis, my friends are impressive but I can still hold my own.