HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned - the dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.
Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees....
Happy eating to all, pass the cranberries, please.
May your stuffing be tasty, your turkey be plump.
Your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious, your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.

(this was sent to me by a friend, author unknown)

And may you have a wonderful Thanksgiving day, surrounded by those you love. I'd like to thank all of you who visit here for sharing another year with me. Have a great day!

The National Geographic Society recently took a geographic-literacy survey, the results of which were quite alarming:

(from an e-mail I received from NG)

Among 18- to 24-year-old Americans
--87% couldn't find Iraq on a map
--70% couldn't find New Jersey
--11% couldn't find the U.S.

These are 18- to 24-year-olds, not grade school kids. Eleven percent of its own citizens couldn't find the US, one of the largest countries in the world, on a map?? Before I go on and rant about the sorry state of education in this country I'm going to go take the survey myself and see if I do any better. Just because I know where the US is on a map that doesn't mean I know who's fighting over Kashmir...

OK, finished. Sheila and I took it and out of 20 questions we got 1 wrong. If you look at the results, it becomes quite clear: The US has its head up its collective ass and doesn't know what the hell is going on in the world. The Swedes, on the other hand, got it going on.

I started the laundry, but was sidetracked by the need to shovel some serious snow. Did I say we got 3 inches? Double that, please! I cleared a path to my truck, shoveled our sidewalk, stairs and deck, and surprisingly enough instead of totally knackered I feel pretty good. You know, how you felt as a kid when you came inside after sledding or making a snowman; you peel off the wet mittens, snowpants and socks, sit down at the table for the hot chocolate or grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup that your mother made for you and feel the warmth seep back into your toes, fingers and cheeks (of both varieties). I can't remember the last time I had rosey cheeks that I didn't apply myself.

Of course, ask me in a few hours how I feel, after the athritis in my shoulders flares up, and I'll probably be singing a slightly different tune...

The thrill is gone. Thankyaverymuch.

Snowy Wednesday

It's a lovely, bright day. Looks like we got a good 3 inches of snow last night and this morning. I'm sure it made the morning commute a royal PITA, but since I didn't have to drive in it, I'm happy with the snow.

We had a busy weekend. My mother was here for about ten days total, and Mary and the kids were here from Friday to Sunday. The three sisters went out and tied one on Friday night - woohoo! We had an early Thanksgiving on Saturday, courtesy of Chef Me. We're still eating the leftovers. As a matter of fact, I think I'll save some to have tomorrow. On Sunday we spent the day at my father's, celebrating his birthday. Mommy left on Monday (and that involved driving her to RI and driving right back), and I worked Sun, Mon and Tu nights. And now, a nice, quiet day. Nothing to do but...laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.

I work tomorrow night (Thanksgiving). I'm not as bummed about it now as I know I will be tomorrow. This job, and retail in general, basically sucks. But it's bringing in at least some money while I continue to look for a "real" job. I was just not made for retail - some of the customers set me off the second I see them walk through the door. And I've never seen them in my life before that moment! And if I hear one more tightass piss and moan about paying a $2.00 late fee that I know they owe I'm gonna take that "Oops I goofed!" coupon and shove it right up that tight ass. There, I feel much better now.

Gotta go start the laundry. Have a good day. :)

"Mmm...baby got back..."

There are two kinds of people in this world...Part III

Which one are you:

	or		?

I'm a Raisinet.

I'm Ozzy.

"You're Ozzy Osbourne! You're crazy, but that's how it goes. Amazingly, you manage to be both the Prince of Darkness and America's Favorite TV Dad. Don't ever change...or stop touring!"

Which Osbourne are you?

And don't forget, The Osbournes second season premieres on Tuesday, 11/26, at 10:30 on MTV! That's this Tuesday, for those of you, like me, who have no idea what the date is.

(thanks, snarkcake)

You may have noticed recently that some posts are not showing up until the following day. I apologize for that, and I wish I could offer an explanation. Blogger tells me that my page has published successfully yet, it seems to only really publish every other time. Grrr.

Quickly, Buffy is white hot and the brilliance of Joss Whedon & Co. is beyond the scope of Emmy voters. They just don't get it, and I highly doubt they ever will.

As promised, more photos from Halloween 2002. I feel I must provide some sort of disclaimer/explanation for my father's face, though. He wore the gorilla suit but knew he would be taking it off shortly after the party started (too hot!); he decided to apply an old/scary man latex face thing that he bought and wear it under the gorilla mask. This way, he would still be in costume when he took the gorilla mask off. Well, it was pretty ugly to begin with, and things just got worse after the heat of the gorilla mask...

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Tonight will be your last chance to get a gander of the Leonid meteor shower, which will not make another appearance this century.

While we're on the subject: The Brassiere - It Can Really Kill You!

Oo, time for a Manssiere, pal.

In case you were hoping to win the title this year, I should tell you to stop practicing - the World Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion has already been crowned.

Welcome back to Monday

I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning, the first of the season. I threw on a coat and ran down to the mailbox. On my way back to the house I found myself smiling (not a habit of mine in the morning). The sun was shining, the wind was gusting and the snow shone bright and white. The first snow always makes me feel good. Is that because it's pretty? Maybe. Or is it because snow is for some reason closely associated with my childhood, evoking warm, fond memories? I don't know. Whatever the reason, though, I do know that I could never live full-time in a place where it didn't snow. (within reason, of course)

Since we last spoke I managed to watch the extended version of Fellowship not once, but twice! If you asked me earlier this year if I thought the movie could be made better, I would have replied no. But they did make a better movie. A more complete film, with more fully-realized characters. If you haven't read the books I would strongly recommend seeing the extended version of the film - rent it if you like. Of the added scenes, I especially liked the Aragorn/Elrond conversation at Aragorn's mother's grave; Gandalf and Frodo's brief conversation prior to entering Moria; and all of the additions to the Lothlorien sequence, especially Galadriel's gift-giving (a scene that I think should have been left in the theatrical version since those gifts become important in the later stories). I've also watched almost all of the documentaries. Now you know where I've been keeping myself! Next up will be the actors' commentary, I think.

I've been very pleased lately with the state of my 4 (currently) favorite television shows - The Sopranos, Buffy, 24 and The West Wing. The last couple of weeks of all of these shows have given us episodes that blow everything else on TV away (of course, I don't watch anything else so I may be on rocky footing here). Will Carmela and Furio finally reveal their true feelings for each other? And why did it take them so long to lose Carmela's bad wig? Will Tony beat the ever-lovin' shit out of Paulie when he sees himself in a Revolutionary War uniform in the painting on Paulie's wall? Was Dawn really speaking to her mother's ghost? Was that some scary shit or what? And how can Spike be feeding on people, what with his newly-acquired soul and the old chip in his head? And how could they kill Jonathan?! Who survived the blast at CTU? How far is Jack willing to go, especially now that his wife is dead? Chopping off someone's head is pretty far, I suppose. How bad will President Bartlet's MS get and how quickly will it start affecting his job? Is Sam leaving for good? Is Amy less shrill this season or is it my imagination? Even so, I was thinking that we could have a be-heading trifecta if Amy were to, say, run into a bus's rearview mirror while riding her bike through town?

I guess all was fixed soon.

Apologies for the freaky formatting - I'm not sure what is going on. Hopefully all will be fixed soon.

I watched some of the documentaries on the LOTR DVD earlier tonight - interesting stuff. I'm amazed at the enormous amount of prep work that was done, even before the film was cast. I'm dying to watch the entire film and see the new footage, but I have to open the store tomorrow morning so it's early to bed for me.

Sleep tight.

I got it!!

Newsflash!

From The Onion:

Senator Mix-A-Lot Sponsors Titties-On-Glass Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC—Seeking to stem a four-year decline in freaky Yolandas throwing they titties on U.S. glass, U.S. Sen. Mix-A-Lot (B-WA) introduced sweeping new putting-'em-on-glass legislation Tuesday. "Now listen up, Uncle Sam / I wanna see soul sistas pressin' that ham / Make me say damn / I wanna rear-end 'em / So I'm callin' a Senate referendum / Bounce by the ounce don't make no fun / I'll take 'em by the ton, son," Mix-A-Lot said. "Don't hand this bill down to no committees / 'Cause Mix don't wait on monster titties / Note to my colleague Tom Daschle / That if the babies be gettin' bashful / No melons droppin' on my windshield / So get them nudie laws repealed." Mix-A-Lot then gave props to the authors of H.R. 1610, from which several key clauses were sampled.

Here's an excellent review of Sunday's episode of The Sopranos, "Whoever Did This". (spoilers, of course)

I'm New York City, the Big Apple:

New York, New York
Overwhelming to visitors, this bustling city can seem hard and imposing. With so much going on, there is an axiom that if you visit NY for a day you will see most of what you want; for a week, some of what you want; and if you live there, you will see none of it. It is a city made by people, changed in some small way by everyone who passes through it. Despite what anyone may have ever said about it, New York has shown a tremendous spirit. At their heart, New Yorkers are symbolic of the American Spirit, and have become the poster children for defiance in the face of adversity.

What US city are you? Take the quiz by Girlwithagun.

(thanks, popculturejunkmail.com)

Wow! Check out this photo of a dustcloud as it approaches a town in Australia. Quite frightening.

Once a Superfreak, always a Superfreak.

Here's a nice story: Brother and sister find each other after a 58-year separation.

God, what an idiot.

"The robber...had entered a bank in the western town with a burlap bag over his head. Bumping into bank customers on his way to the teller, he pulled out a plastic knife and a toy pistol."

I sort of feel sorry for the guy.

Hobbitty Halloween

Here they are, at last. Just a few pics from Halloween. More will be on the way when I get my photos developed. (Who knew hobbit clothes put a good 10 pounds on a person?)

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Who's going to take care of the goat now?

After 9 weeks of lead-in and set-up, something finally happened on The Sopranos last night. Boy, did something happen. (If you want to know what that something is, I can tell you in the comments so as not to spoil others) There are only 4 more episodes left to the season, so I expect there will be a lot of somethings happening in the weeks to come. Personally, I think this whole season is a set-up for the next and final season, at the end of which I think Tony will die. If David Chase sincerely intends for this story to have an ending, then I think Tony's death is the only resolution that remains true to the spirit of the show.

Hey! Eddie Izzard's headed for Broadway. Who wants to go with me?

R.I.P., Dr. Smith.

Alright, I admit it - I was eagerly (and secretly) awaiting the planned VH1 reality show featuring fabulous Liza Minelli and her freakshow of a husband, David Gest. I thought that Liza's private life could easily make for an interesting and funny show. Well, apparently Mr. Minelli is more of a freakshow than even VH1 can stand.

By-the-way, did any of you catch the video from their wedding? The kiss?? I screamed and had to turn my face away from the television. ACK!

There Are Two Kinds of People In This World...Part II

How do you eat your pancakes? For argument's sake, I'm excluding the fruit-topped variety and referring to the traditional way to serve pancakes: with butter and syrup. I know there are some who eat each pancake individually, slicing each bite off with the side of their fork. That just seems so inefficient. Here's what I do: First of all, the pancakes must be stacked. (By-the-way, this also applies to french toast) Next, I butter each pancake. Then I slice the stack, usually into 3 equal sections, depending on the size of the pancakes; I then turn the plate and slice the stack into the same number of sections but perpendicular to the original cuts. Next, I pour syrup over the top of the pile of bitesize pancake pieces, usually drenching them. Preparing the pancakes in this manner gets all the prep and cutting out of the way and allows me to shovel the pancakes into my mouth non-stop.

How about you?

"The Color of Cool"

I agree, the color blue has always had an association with hi-tech/high-quality. Except of course for the Blue Light Special.

Hello out there! I'm back. Actually, I was here all along, just majorly distracted and stressed by life and not in the mood to blog.

But things have settled down a little bit so I'll post a few things before I have to get ready for work.

(PS I have some photos from Halloween and I will post them when I get the chance.)