People have been making wine for thousands of years, and they've learned a few tricks along the way. Keep the following in mind as you make your own wine for the first time: Use very clean equipment to prevent bacteria from spoiling your wine. Keep your first ferment covered but allow for ventilation. Keep the secondary fermentation air-free. Keep all bottles full, to minimize oxygen in the bottle. Keep red wines in dark bottles so they don't lose their appearance. Make wines too dry instead of too sweet: you can add sugar later. Taste the wine at intervals to make sure the process is going well. Avoiding these common pitfalls can help ensure your success. Do not: Sell your wine, since this is illegal. Let vinegar flies come in contact with your wine. Use metal vessels. Use tools or containers made out of resinous wood, as they can spoil the wine's flavor. Try to speed up fermentation by turning up the temperature. Filter without a reason or too soon. Store your wine in unsterilized jars or bottles. Bottle your wine before it has finished fermenting.

Summary: Learn the tricks that lead to successful wine-making. Know what to avoid with home wine-making.

If you use a cell phone, it usually takes about 5 seconds or so for the call to start. Keep this information in mind and call ahead. If you find that one station never picks up your calls, but a different one will, on occasion, spend more time with the latter station. Some radio programs are extremely popular, like morning shows. Research to see if there are any call-in contests on the weekdays or after the morning traffic. This might sound a bit far-fetched and expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Purchase a pay as you go phone and only use it to call DJs. Program your phone to have the radio station on speed dial. As you dial the initial call on your phone, make another call on your spare phone. Lots of radio station prizes are for two tickets. If you have a friend or partner that you were planning to take to an event, then ask if they'd be interested in helping you. Two people have an increased chance of winning. Check the station's website and register to be a VIP, registered user, etc. Don't forget to opt in. You aren't restricted to winning on the air. More radio stations are also doing web based giveaways of the same prizes given away on the air.

Summary: Learn the "delay" of your phone. Decipher which radio stations answer. Get an extra phone. Ask a friend to help. Research the program.

Not the facade you put on before you walk into any given group of people, not even the image you give your family, or your closest friends. Get alone and meditate on you. Who are you when you're alone? If it sparks your interest, try meditating. It can reduce your stress levels to enable better mental clarity. This may enable you to see yourself in a clearer manner. Everyday we see images of what is "okay." It changes constantly (which proves it doesn't really exist). To be you, you must give up trying to live up to some non-existent standard. There's no more being a prep or a jock or a hipster and there's just being. Labels are the way society defines us. There's no more carrying that Coach purse because it says "Coach" on it. You need a better reason than that! Throw away your aspirations of fitting into any select group, clique, or social class. If the genuine you is what they are looking for, they will come calling later, when you have established your true identity. Unfortunately, in today's world we're so bombarded with what society expects of us that sometimes we don't even know who we are. We spend years (sometimes decades, sometimes entire lifetimes) molding ourselves to fit someone else's idea of who we should be, burying who we really are under layers of fluff and masks. Take a minute to write down what actually feels like you. It can be things you do, things you are, or things you think -- it could be anything, so long as it's true. When you have a list of a dozen or so things (as simple as "I am happier in flip flops" or "I seek adventure above all else"), post it somewhere you'll run into it often. Then, when you go to make a comment or when you're reviewing your day, you can see if your behavior is in line with you who really are. Odds are you'll come up with some things you do/say/think that aren't true to you. We may not always like where we come from, but there is no escaping the influence our history has on who and what we are. Many people spend a lot of time and effort escaping their past, such as changing the spelling of their names to sound more politically correct, or giving other people too much power to reshape them culturally. Where do you come from? After all, your parents shaped you greatly and your grandparents shaped them. Think about the following: Your upbringing. What do you remember most vividly about it? How was it different than most people's? Your location. How did that shape you? What hobbies and personality traits do you have because of it? Your likes and dislikes. How many of them are shared with your family? How many do you have because of your family? It's a natural human inclination to strive to be surrounded by people...even when those people drain us. But to really be genuine, to rediscover a you that is happy and natural, those people that leave you exhausted after interacting with them have to be cut out. That's all there is to it. Give yourself thirty seconds to think about it and you'll know exactly who they are. There are people in the world that just aren't good for us. It's hard to cut them out, especially when we feel like we're being cruel. But it's important not to view this behavior as selfish. Sure, it's in your best interest -- but if you don't act in your best interest, no one will. You're not being selfish, you're being logical. Forget all the hyped up latest trends unless they fit the genuine you. They last a matter of months -- why would you want to cycle through identities that quickly? Look at your own style and preferences. If a T-shirt and jeans are you, fanfrickin'tastic. It's easy to think we're honest and sincere -- but in order to function tactfully and appropriately with others, it seems like we've inserted mind games into everyday interactions. That little white lie we tell Gina about how people actually like her, how we hint at asking for something from a friend because we think it's bad manners to ask for too many favors, etc. We're not being us -- we're being who people think we should be. Gotta cut that out. The two main sticklers are people-pleasing and avoidance. If you find yourself sacrificing your happiness to please others, that first one describes you. And if you avoid saying or doing things simply because they'd be frowned upon or they might be potentially embarrassing, that's the second. Those little voices inside our heads stopping us aren't us -- they're a part of us that's very much so taught and inorganic.
Summary: Spend some time self-indulgently thinking about who you really are. Let go of what society says is acceptable. Make a list of truths about yourself. Think about your own family history and culture. Fire your toxic friends. Quit the games now.