I have a very good friend whose birthday is April 1st. All her life she has had to endure bad jokes, wise cracks and not-so-funny comments on this day.

She says that it's not so bad now; the foolishness just slides off, like water off a duck's back. But when she was a child, she comments, her birthday was an important day to her and everyone was taking it as a big joke.

She is a serious, somber, even you might say dour person, and I'm sure part of that is due to her being a New England Yankee. But I'm equally convinced that her outlook on life may be the result of being taken lightly when she saw it as serious, important.

After all, I'm a New England Yankee too, and you'd hardly call me serious (occasionally), somber (when the circumstances demand) and never dour (just can't keep a straight face that long). So I figure there must be other factors involved.

How do you rate yourself on the sliding scale from fun to dour? I'm an 8, sunny, upbeat and enthusiastic with storm fronts on occasion just passing through.