I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future. Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved Ocean Park oss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale. Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing

those Dad things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos. But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is breitling watch hat convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory. One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal -- the worst

heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died, the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune -- music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits. Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the Autumn sad sad ad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond

my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest. Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the For what you see anding corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks. Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes

during the drought. She doesn't have a streak of grey hair, her breasts remain unnaturally perky, and she has endless outfits - but Barbie is feeling miserable ahead of her 50th birthday.Not only is she accused of promoting anorexia among young girls, but her sales plunged 21 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, and for seven years she has had to deal with Bratz, a sassy rival hot on her high heels.Born Back-to-back hug arbara Millicent Robert on March 9, 1959 in Willows, Wisconsin, the 29-centimeter beauty wowed the world when she made her debut at a New York toy fair, leading to sales of 300,000 that same year.With her long legs, love of pink-tinged glamour, and

hair made for combing, she was a world away from the baby-like creatures cradled by girls of previous generations.Today she is at the center of the Mattel company empire. She has inspired dozens of fashion designers, become a presence on Facebook and MySpace, revolutionized playtime for door burst open so violently oung children - and forced untold numbers of reluctant parents to reach for their wallets.New York Fashion Week this month will fete her 50th with reallife leggy models. And there's already a special wedding dress by Vera Wang that will be on sale for $15,000. For Barbie owners, or those without that kind of money,

the same is available in miniature for $159.99 at Toys R Us in New York.Glossy publisher Assouline is putting out "Barbie" with a 500-dollar price tag and pictures of the doll wearing Prada and Karl Lagerfeld.Certainly, Barbie has no shortage of clothes. She has outfits for 108 separate gucci purses rofessions and a total of a billion items of clothing spread across the globe, according to her website.In the 1960s, she went through the Grace Kelly period, then got a hippy look in the 1970s, a business woman makeover in the 1980s, and in 1989 a Pentagon-approved military

uniform.In 1992 she ran for the White House and in 2004 she caused an uproar in the doll world by breaking up with her notably sexless partner Ken.The biggest life change for Barbie though has been the appearance of her nemesis seven years ago, the Bratz fashion dolls. The big-eyed, wild-haired cheap gucci eauties have eaten steadily into Barbie sales.Mattel last year successfully sued to prevent MGA Entertainment from making or selling Bratz, after a court ruled that its creator

had conceived of the idea whilehe was still employed by Mattel.However, the court granted a reprieve for Bratz so that the dolls can remain on sale through this yeaThen Barbie and her makers will have to brace themselves for the publication of Toy Monster: The Big, Bad World of Mattel, a book which gucci outlet romises to reveal the doll's dirty secrets, including the sexual shenanigans of her original creator, electrical engineer Jack Ryan.Halloween (AII Hallows Eve) as the name implies, is a nighttime holiday, the one night in the year when the child's world turns to pure fantasy. Children take all the

lead parts while parents and other adults play the supporting roles. Encouraged by teachers and merchants and the remembrance of the good time they had the earlier year, children (from 3 to 11 years old) cheap gucci bags tart preparing their costumes and Halloween decorations weeks ahead. Although parents help the children very much prepare the costumes, on Halloween they must pretend to be frightened by the masked visions that suddenly appear. There will be little witches in long black dresses with tall-pointed hats and magic broomsticks to carry them over the rooftops - to a neighbor's house in the next block. Ghosts in sheets run with tell-tale sneakers and half socks showing; and terrible pirates with skull and cross-bones painted on their three-cornered hats. Some carry jack-o'-lanterns but all carry bags or UNICEF boxes marked "Trick or Treat", which fill up very fast.Teenagers You lost ave their fun playing tricks that sometimes get rather rough. They throw eggs or tomatoes at passing motorists , mark up windows and windshields with hard (gxl)