Women (and Men) of Indiscriminate Age
Last night I had the TV on as I was tidying up my desk area at home. This is the auxilliary television - the one with rabbit ears that we inherited from parents. This meant that I was limited to broadcast shows. the horror! And there was much horror to be had. I found myself with choices ranging from Britney's show to The RobAndAmberGetMarried Special. I ended up leaving the set tuned to the WB, on some post-Dawson program that could more easily fade into the background of my papersorting.

When I did pay attention to the show, it took me a while to figure out that some of the actors were supposed to be high-schoolers and the other actors were supposed to be their parents. Here's the thing, though: to me, ALL of the actors look between 25-35. It would have taken me the entire episode to figure out which were supposed to be which.
Had I tried.
Which I did not.

This much was made clear to me from the beginning:
This show must not be aimed at my demographic.
In fact, with Ms. Mars gone until fall, ALL OF TUESDAY NIGHT is not aimed at my demographic.
posted by JJ at 11:14 PM
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One-Sided
Happy hiatuses to the bloggers taking breaks, but hurry back - when you're all deleted, it's like I'm talking to myself.

chemaccino: Bad was when that stupid lady hit me yesterday - a car bumpin' is not my idea of fun, and since the accident, I get shaken up more easily
chemaccino: people! please! learn to drive!
the brake pedal! employ it!
...
chemaccino: On the very good side, the wedding planning is going smoothly.
chemaccino: It's so ...boring.
chemaccino: Like, it's nice that I get to choose whatever invitation style I want, but there's only so much I can take
...
chemaccino: But there are some very VERY exciting parts, like when we opened the gifts from the engagement party his parents hosted last weekend, and we received a Cuisinart.
...
chemaccino: yeah!
chemaccino: Beau tried it out the night we got home.
...
chemaccino: he made artichoke dip. yum!
...
chemaccino: And the other night, I finally broke in the hand mixer I got at Christmas, as well as the mini-Springforms my aunt gave me at the engagement party my parents hosted. I made little Duncan Hines cakes.
...
chemaccino: they are about the size of oversized muffins.
chemaccino: Thay are a little dry, so when I had one last night, I poured some Razzmatazz (raspberry liqueur) on it.
...
chemaccino: and used artichoke dip as frosting.
chemaccino: ok, that's a lie.
...
chemaccino: Yeah, I agree with you about the all the engagement/shower/wedding thing, though.
chemaccino: There's a lot about planning a wedding that makes me feel like the whole exercise is a crash-course in consumerism.
...
chemaccino: Are you KIDDING? FOUR showers for ONE person?
...
chemaccino: Yeah- If I had to got to that many showers, I think I'd just give them showerheads I bought at yard sales.
chemaccino: or, like, one of those showerheads with an ex-president on them.
chemaccino: "Happy wedding, here's Reagan spitting on you."
...
chemaccino: I think the gift-giving culture should shift focus. I think people should have showers for college graduation instead of weddings, because that's when people tend to move out of the house these days.
...
chemaccino: I think registering for particular home improvements is very cool - it seems so pro-community. As if everyone is chipping in to build those cabinets.
...
chemaccino: yeah. It is interesting, when reading weblogs, to think about how one-sided a story is, and how limited the reader's understanding of the situation is - limited by the perspective of the writer as well as the talent or effort the writer puts towards telling the story.
...
chemaccino: I think I seem whiny online. I noticed recently that all my posts lately have been so whiny. Whiny is boring. I bore myself.
chemaccino: But then I had that exchange with my friend about that puzzle, which was SO boring, I think it's funny.
...
chemaccino: I've been meaning to write about the little cakes I made, but I rarely have time at work and when I get home at night, I don't want to be all creative - I just want to surf the web, or not be at a computer at all.
...
chemaccino: I have my parents' castoff. I'll get a laptop, eventually. That will be super nice, because I can sit on the couch with it.
posted by JJ at 3:58 PM
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Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill to Be Nerdily Nerdy Puzzle Nerds
Today: Self-Referential Puzzle
NERD WARNING: SPOILERS
NON-NERD DISCLAIMER: You don't have to look at the puzzle referred to in the text to enjoy the post.

Jill: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~propp/kitty
Jill: I think I figured it out.
Jack: ummm
Jack: this is weird.
Jack: whats your answer
Jill: really?
Jill: you don't want to try?
Jack: no
Jack: it makes my brain hurt
Jill: use x=3
Jill: and try making 1,2, 3 = False
Jill: and 4=True
Jill: it's like an LSAT puzzle thingie
Jack: oh i'm no good at those
Jack: heh
Jill: and #9=False
Jill: now fill out the rest
Jill: it works, doesn't it?
Jill: FFFTTFFFFF
Jack: why can't you just say x=7
Jack: and 7 is the only true statement
Jill: I tried that.
Jack: actually 8 would be true too
Jack: but whatever
Jack: ok if x=7 then
Jack: 1 is false
Jill: no, you can’t do your x=7 thing because of question #4 i think
Jack: so 4 is true
Jack: so what?
Jack: x is the number of a true statement
Jack: 7 is true
Jack: x = 7
Jack: circular, but it works
Jill: yeah, but what about the rest of the question?
Jack: what about it
Jack: 5 is false
Jack: 6 is false
Jack: 7 is true
Jack: 8 is false
Jack: 9 is false
Jack: 10 is false
Jack: 4 and 7 are true
Jack: x=7
Jill: that makes #3 True
Jack: ok
Jack: so 3 is true and 4 is false
Jill: what about #9 then?
Jack: ok
Jack: 3, 7, and 9 are true
Jack: oh fuck
posted by JJ at 7:20 AM
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grumblegrumblegrumble
On my drive home from work, I got rear-ended.
yes, again.
yes, by a 20-year-old girl driving mommy's car
again.
The big difference is that she hit me at about 5mph, as opposed to my previous incident, when a 20-year-old girl hit me at somewhere around 55mph. So. As for today's bump, I'm okay, she's okay, the car's ok. I just wish I could affect her insurance premiums.
posted by JJ at 9:05 PM
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The drive took an hour longer with the traffic
Well, Beau and I are back safe and sound from our second round of parentally-hosted engagement parties. It went well - I gained the approval of his parents' friends. Also, we received some lovely gifts.
At this very moment, I'm sitting on the couch, using Beau's computer while he sits on the other end of the couch, playing the guitar, singing "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.
Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.
posted by JJ at 10:20 PM
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And that's whycome Shakespeare was so awesome
In a bizarre twist, events in my life have coincided with the latest H*R 'toon.
That is to say, yesterday I awoke at 4:30am to my own dry, hacking cough. I'm pretty certain I swallowed a bug. It's such an awful sensation, and disturbing to think that while I slept, a bug crawled/flew in. I didn't try to freeze it, but I *did* try to drown it with Fruit2O. It felt like it was lodged in my esophagus for most of the day. Eventually, my body took care of as best I can tell, so I guess the good times aren't over, after all.
posted by JJ at 12:14 AM
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It isn't over until... well, I don't know when, but it isn't over yet.
Last Monday I was too dizzy to go to work. At first, I thought I was too dizzy to drive, and Beau said he could drive me to work, but then I decided that it wouldn't be worth it, because how would I function? I had been dizzy over the weekend, but not quite like this. I took a sick day, and saw my RNP in the afternoon. She decided I had an ear infection, and gave me a prescription for Zithromax. Zithromax, if you don't know, is an antibiotic that you take once a day for three days and it keeps working for the whole 10 days. Zithromax also comes in some very sexy marketing packaging. I mean, sexy for an ear infection antibiotic.

So here I am at day 7 of Days Of Our Antibiotics, and I guess it's doing its job? I wasn't dizzy until Friday afternoon, and it only lasted a few hours. There have been a few times when my ear felt clogged. If you are finding reading this to be boring, imagine how bored I am of having this lingering problem. Of course, I stopped taking the anti-b's the dermatologist had put me on, and I don't know if I'm going to go back on. I think I may call her office. I really don't like the notion of taking antibiotics on an ongoing basis - it seems like a bad idea.

In other news, this weekend I don't have to go anywhere or do anything, and it's been grand, GRAND, I TELL YOU! Yesterday I cleaned up some of the 3-week-old mess from unpacking summer clothes and packing up winter clothes, and for dinner, Beau and I made farfalle and broccoli in a cheese sauce with side Caesar salads, garlic bread, and a bottle of Lindeman's Riesling which turned out to be quite tasty. This morning I suprised Beau with a big brunch: cappuccino, Orangina, fruit salad, scrambled eggs with cheddar and cilantro, french toast, and crescent rolls (aka poor man's croissants). Doesn't that make you wish you were my fiancee?
On tap for today: call Mom and maybe return all the cans and bottles we've accumulated. Oooh, and maybe some plant shopping at the nursery if it clears up a little.
posted by JJ at 12:14 PM
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