The Plot thickens

The sun may be shining in Boston today, but it is a dark day in the Bahamas. Breaking news out of Nassau right now is that yet another tragedy has befallen the Smith family. Murder- at the hands of the paparazzi.

Sugarpie, Anna Nicole's much-beloved and also oddly mangy pooch has been the victim of an accident involving a CNN van. No news yet on how Sugarpie is doing presently, or the puppy's expected prognosis. Dlisted is reporting that news of Sugarpie's death has been greatly exaggerated, although this is still uncorroborated at this time.

So please keep Sugarpie in your thoughts and prayers. That's what Anna would have wanted.

Baby Mama Drama

It's a wonder I can actually get anything done these days. I try to focus on the many tasks I have to do, both on a personal level and at work, but despite my best efforts at trying to TCB my mind keeps wondering off to "What's happening on the stand at Anna's hearing today", or "Is Britney back in rehab right now"? Clearly, I am WAY too emotionally invested in the lives of people who I don't even know. But the thing is, obviously, I feel like I do know them. We all do, some more so than others. I've seen the pictures of Britney very up-close and personal, I've listened to the more obscure tracks such as "Dear Diary", and I can even admit I watched the trainwreck that was her reality show, Chaotic. Plus now I know the who, what, when, where, and hows of Britney at all times thanks to the celebrity gossip sites that I am addicted to.

I was in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend, so now I feel like I am somehow personally connected to Anna's story. I went to the Hard Rock Casino where Anna died (for slots, poker, and the macabre), and was sitting in the same traffic snags on A1A as Howard, so basically I should be going to her funeral. My "connection" to Anna really started with her show on E. She was so open, so vulnerable, so humanly flawed with such beautiful potential. I watched wide-eyed at her hijinks and misadventures, because it seemed to me that despite her many bad decisions, she was ultimately guided and misguided by a heart of gold. Her life was turbulent and Shakespearean, and so was her death.

My friend Tim and I were texting about the important news this weekend- you know, that Britney had shaved her head- and I think what he said was really eloquent and dead-on, and really speaks to why we are so obsessed with what these celebrities are doing. He mentioned that at first he was a little dismayed that CNN had been focusing so much on Britney at the expense of coverage of the war and other global events, however, as he says-"We all need a little Britney. She's a one woman celebration of all that makes this country so doomed and fantastic". Validation! I'm not obsessively checking back on Egotastic and DListed and CNN simply for updates on whether KFed has moved for sole custody yet (which he hasn't), or if Larry Birkhead has taken the stand yet (which he has) I'm doing so to further my studies what it means to be an American. :)

aww...

nice surprise at work today, which my camera phone has not really captured exactly!

:)

About what's so nice about Valentine's Day

To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.
Karen Sunde

******

Fortune favors the brave.
Virgil

I admit it- I buy into the whole kit and caboodle; I love Valentine's Day and what it stands for. I like going into stores and seeing chocolate samplers and huge bouquets of flowers and cheesy heart-shaped anythings. I like seeing frustrated men scouring the card aisle and little kids picking out valentines to hand out in school. It is a holiday created especially to let people know how much they mean to you, and I think that is very important, and very wonderful.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need a specific day designated for expressing heartfelt emotions. But, the fact is- most of us are too busy and reticent to display our emotions that freely. It takes courage and self-reflection to be open and speak from the heart. So now Hallmark tells us when it is time to send out little tokens of your affection. However corporate or inauthentic the concept of a Hallmark holiday may seem, I don't really think it matters, what matters is that you celebrate the people who are important to you. And frankly, I think Valentine's Day comes right at the perfect time: it's mid-February, things are looking a little bleak and spring seems a long way off. The magic of Christmas is long since gone, and the hope of a new year has given way to the realities of tax season. This is a time during which the whispering of sweet nothings can truly be appreciated.

So, for all my enthusiasm for Valentines Day, how will I be spending it? Well my boyfriend is away on business, so I'll be with my friends celebrating the day by watching an apocalyptic movie about a bleak future where traditional fertility methods have failed and human relations have had to be re-defined. Together, over images of the potential futility of romantic love, we will be celebrating our friendship and the ties that bond. Sweet nothings to be heard another day...

Pina Coladas

Oh, the horror. It is the beginning of February and while it really has only been cold for approximately a week and a half, it seems like winter will never end. February may be the shortest month, but March always feels like the longest one. And March is deceivingly, cruelly cold in Massachusetts. Growing up I had this image of March being the month of crocuses and starting to go back outside without down accoutrements, but that's not really so. March is still winter for all practical purposes. The way I see it, winter has really just begun.

This all just hit me last night as I was trudging through the blistery cold on the way to the laundromat. The laundromat is about two blocks from me, but I was so cold last night I really did play with the idea of driving. It would have taken me longer to actually warm up my car and then park than it did take me to walk, but at least in my car I would have been shielded from the wind.

Then I cowered in the unheated laundromat for the next 1:15, through the washer and dryer. I sat on the slightly unsteady plastic lawn chair next to a unused large-capacity washer- hat, coat, scarf, and gloves all still on. I tried to read but it was just too cumbersome to try to flip the pages with leather gloves, so I gave that up and just sat there, trying to stay warm despite the shocking burst of cold air each time someone opened the door. I would say the low point for me was probably when I reached into the dryer to see if they would need another 8 minutes or if they were dry, and I realized that I couldn't tell because I had lost feeling in my fingers. This is the point at which I simply took out my laundry (turns out they probably could have used the extra 8 minutes) and gave up. I love my family, and I love my friends, and I love New England, but I don't know that I can take it! I know, it can be worst- at least I'm not in Michigan (snap!), but really, I'm over winter. I hit my wall. The cold cannot touch me now because until April I'm living in a vision of pina coladas and palm trees.