All Jamie All the Time

(a book-end post)

Well, it took me about a zillion refreshes over multiple days (during which I found out a connect-seven of Scott pictures isn't nearly as uncommon as I originally suspected), but I finally got an all-Jamie banner:

And because I know you're dying to know, these pictures are from a pretty good variety of places: 10-year Disney party, our room on the Disney Dream, 10-year Disney party, Disney Magic character breakfast, Animal Kingdom (by the hippo viewing window at Pangani), FL Aquarium, and Castaway Cay/Disney Dream.

And now I can stop endlessly refreshing my own blog!

All Scott, All the Time

I just noticed that all of the pictures in the gallery at the top of the blog currently contain Scott.  I can definitively say that I have never seen this happen before!

 

Also of note: only one picture contains any sort of booze.  It seems most of the time when there is a camera-worthy occasion, there is also beer and wine.  Or a mojito.  Or a margarita.  Refresh the screen a few times and you'll see what I mean.  I guess we're both special occasion photographers and special occasion drinkers!

And in case you were wondering, the photos would be labeled "cruise, cruise, cruise, Epcot, Sea World, Studios, cruise."  Or more specifically, "Disney Wonder emergency drill, Castaway Cay/Disney Dream, Castaway Cay/Disney Dream, Epcot parking tram, Sea World penguin building, Mama Melrose's at the Studios, Disney Magic atrium."

I often find myself refreshing the blog whenever I'm blue or bored and wanting to jog happy times back into my brain, so that's why I'm so sure I've never seen this happen before.  It's like I won the Flickr slot machine or something!

Playing Games

Currently, Scott and I are sitting in the living room together, he playing some sort of shoot-'em-up game, and me playing Tetris Battle on Facebook (WHY are the rest of you not playing this game???).  His game has a steady stream of background dialog that I believe is supposed to be radio chatter, but I don't know because I generally tune it out.

Me: "I could've sworn your game just said 'Panko's been hit!' and all I could think was 'not the breadcrumbs!'

Scott: ---

Nothing, not a snort or a grunt of acknowledgement, not even a 'shut up.'  I'm not sure whether he is actively ignoring me, or genuinely didn't hear due to an XBox coma.  In case it's the former, I think I'll just sit here quietly and talk to you nice folks.

So...

If you're overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster in Japan, might I recommend two of the funniest blog posts* I've read in ages...

But Wait! Breaking News! Scott's phone just beeped and he immediately looked at it.  He's definitely not in an XBox coma...must just be ignoring me.  Good to know!  (and no, Scott, I don't think you're being rude, so don't be offended. I just think it's funny that I'm currently conversing with you in this fashion)

The Drawer of Shame and Other Assorted Oddities, over at Jennsylvania is a brilliant piece of writing about what happens when your cat eats a meat-flavored piece of string.  I dedicate this link to Mr. French and the great turkey string incident of my childhood.

Ribbed...for Her Pleasure, from A Little Pregnant has a hysterical grouping of comments from her previous blog post.  They're mostly about assvice and other stupid things people were told when pregnant or trying to become so. The comments start about halfway down the post, and you can skip the first half if you're not interested in the context. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to Tetris.

*granted, I tend to laugh a little harder when I'm trying to not be overwhelmed by sadness, but I still think these would be funny otherwise.

Out of the Loop

I'll be honest: I missed the whole Marie Claire kerfuffle a few days back. I knew something was up because I read a few random tweets about it, but I am just about at my saturation point for journalists (and I use that term loosely) saying stupid things and being fired so I tuned out.

Then one of my favorite author-bloggers took the magazine to task.

Nutshell: columnist writes ridiculously insensitive column about how fat people gross her out. Nope, I'm not oversimplifying:

"So anyway, yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room — just like I'd find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair."

And so Jenn Lancaster, author of comic memoirs such as My Fair Lazy and Such a Pretty Fat, has stepped up to the plate to offer a well-reasoned, thoughtful, humorous, and downright amazing analysis and response. It's long, and you should read every word. Here's one paragraph to set the mood:

"Here’s the thing - I’ve spent my career trying to give readers the message that they should love themselves no matter what. I’ve worked hard to set the kind of example that will help empower women to embrace who they are and what they look like. Sometimes I’m stupid and vain and I get caught up in silly things like whether or not my teeth are properly whitened, but the point is I do my best to build myself – and, by extension, other women – up and I get pissed off when some self-righteous asshole tells us we aren’t of value because we don’t fit into some arbitrary standard of beauty."

I read the rest of the post with tears in my eyes, ready to attend a Fatty Rally and wave a Cacique bra over my head with one hand while holding a Five Guys burger in the other. I read the whole thing out loud to Scott. When I finished, his response was, "I love her!" And I love her too. And I agree with Jenn's ultimate conclusion that the girl who wrote the Marie Claire piece isn't the enemy. She's got opinions, and God love her for being brave enough to share them with the world. But shame on Marie Claire. Well, I guess they won't have to focus on plus-size fashion for a while - my guess is they just lost themselves an entire demographic!

As for Jenn, I've never actually read any of her books. I've got one that I bought earlier this month and hid from myself so that I'd have something new to read on the cruise. Maybe as a thank-you to her, I'll buy another one. After all, Scott will need something to read too!

Gone Fishin'?

Is it because it's summer?

Has everyone I "know" from their blogs burned out at once?

I know my excuse - I'm learning a new job and my brain is so full of new things I stopped having thoughts of my own past "eat, sleep, drive, TV" a week ago.

Where did everyone go?

(by the way, aside from the flat spot I've developed on my forehead from banging my head into the desk, I'm really enjoying my new job. I'll tell more when I figure out how to tell what is it that I do all day!)

(and also, getting home in daylight is nice, but I had forgotten what it's like to get into a 120 degree car in long pants. ick!)

Dedication

I'd like to dedicate this Lovely Listing to Janette. See if you can figure out why!

Nope, it's not the tiger climbing the walls.

Nope, it's not the themed bathroom. (Actually if I were dedicating the listing to Scott, it would be for the bathroom. He likes turtles!)

Don't see it? OK, fourth picture down (has gravity-defying vines on the ceiling). See it now? All the way on the right? Dude! There's a ukulele right there!

Yep...that was the whole point of this entry. And now, 6 dozen unborn sugar cookies and two unborn apple pies are crying out for creation. Oh yeah, and Scott's gifts need to be wrapped. I think I'll start with the presents...

New Voices in Blogging

The Orlando Sentinel has a new interesting blog called Orlando Opinionators. Basically, movers and shakers in the community seem to have been given carte blanche to write about whatever is current.

One of the bloggers is Real Radio's own Jim Philips. His first post was poking fun at the local weather people:

Hipwader madness (HWM for short) can be seen every night on any of the local television news programs. Reporters don all manner of foul weather gear in their never-ending effort to inform the audience that it's raining outside.

At times I expect one of them to announce that after their "live shot" they will have to head to the docks and loosen the lines on the "Mary B" because the lobster pots have to be hoisted aboard. I swear I saw one of them in an advertisement for fish sticks.

May a merciful God intervene before one of these reporters sloshes into a nest of water moccasins or steps on a snapping turtle.

OK, I admit that there are some reporters that I enjoy watching outside in the rain.... and that water moccasin thing would make great TV. Otherwise, Jim is spot-on. Last week WFTV pre-empted Oprah for a one-hour special on the rain. And then ran their regular 90 minutes of local news, primarily focused on - you want to guess? - the rain! Even Kevin Oliver, the space reporter, got shoved outside without an umbrella to hold a model of the shuttle and explain why it couldn't land in that weather. Apparently rain hitting your exterior when you're coasting in at mach-2 can do serious damage. I can't really remember the specifics though - I was too distracted by the little waterfall pouring straight off Kevin's nose!

I hope he was wearing his hipwaders!

Birth of a Miracle

For anyone out there having a crisis of faith, or who just needs some inspiration or a good cry, I urge you to visit Nathan and Rick's blogs.

Nathan is the husband of Tricia, who has cystic fibrosis, and father of Gwyneth Rose, who was born very very early. Both mother and baby are going to be in the hospital for a long time, but this family (Rick is Nathan's dad) have such amazing faith that it's positively contagious. They are all also amazing writers.

Gwyneth was born 2 weeks ago, so if you're looking for a place to start, I recommend this post, followed by this one, because it catches you up on how the story started.

I [Heart] Mo

Mo Rocca amuses the heck out of me. He's always got the best quips on the various VH1 "I Love the..." shows, was a lot of fun on the short-lived Bravo game show "Things I Hate About You," and is a Daily Show alum (albeit from before I started watching). Oh yeah, he's also currently getting rave reviews as the Vice Principal in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway.

Imagine how thrilled I was when I learned that he has a news blog on AOL: Mo Rocca 180: only half as tedious as the regular news. And he even goes out into the streets of New York to interview people for little "news" videos like this one (which I tried to embed, but had widget problems. sorry).

Cankles! Ha!

This is one I'll probably be adding to my side bar, along with Waiter Rant and Rachel Lucas (thanks for that one, Janette), sometime soon when I clear off all of the ones that no longer exist or haven't been updated in the past 6 months.