As the month opens, you may feel antsy and unable to settle down.

"If I go more than nine days without writing a song, I get really antsy," she says. "But I think the stress causes me to search my mind and helps me write."

The Iranians may quietly slow the addition of more centrifuges to their cascade at Natanz, in central Iran; otherwise, promoters of detente will have an uncomfortable sense that time is running out.