Today, I woke up to important news from Capitol Hill - the bill to overhaul the intelligence was finally approved in the House. This is when I decided my shabby, barely furnished, yet cozy apartment needs an overhaul too - I worked diligently all day: cleaned up our balkony, cleaned the huge window screens of our living room, tidied up the wardrobes, ironed the laundry, and changed the decorative pillow configuration: the huge ones on the ground; the smaller, elegant ones on the sofa (they are my favorite combination-creme and dark brown)....Previously, all my pillows were enjoying a trepid harmony on the sofa. Also, as I felt somewhat inspired by my overhauling efforts (the weather was simply beautiful outside!), I turned on my favorite jazz CD- "As Time Goes By". I realized the absurdity of my inspirational extravaganza with the song "April in Paris" (Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Armstrong). "December in DC" could be a more faithful rendition in my case:) And now that I found a job, we will not be able to go to Turkey to see our parents...Duh. So much for "New Year in Istanbul". As Hegel would have noted, I am stuck in the "here and now" of the choices I made....Did I mention I love my new hair! My all time favorite in 28 years. What was I thinking?...I wish Nilay had not returned to Turkey..I guess this will be the last of her articles from the Puslu Kitalar Atlasi. I discovered her corner only recently. I feel we have a lot in common, and I look forward to her second article from Istanbul. She has a powerful way of telling how she feels (see, for instance her last article from America, you need to use the drop-down window and select the article Sehnaz'in Ardindan), and I associate with what she says. As a writer who made it to the United States, and back to Istanbul, I wonder how different she feels.