TMI Central

2003-03-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to sleep after reading this week's Countdown to Bliss.

I wonder if I could write a post that would make it onto Craigs' Best Of List.
Hmm...

2003-03-20T01:54:00.000-05:00

Talk about confidence!

Attention World: I look hot today

Yes, it's true. I look really hot today, much hotter than my usual cute self. I have soared about the 80th percentile of cuteness where I usally reside, to the heights of hotness. It's gone well from the time I got up (a little early), and I have to say that I have only gotten hotter as the day has progressed. My skin is brighter, my hair more lustrous, and, dare I say it, my already fine-sized breasts seem to have increased in size over night. Do not be afraid to stare. I am hot.

Should you care to ask me out when you see me around today (which you will), please do not be disappointed when in a few days we meet for drinks and I have returned to my old self. My personality, I assure you, is still pretty fucking amazing.

Is this what she meant?

You were sooooo HOT!!!

You: Hot. There's no other suitably words to describe you. Pure and simple. Scorching, on fire, sizzling....no. Pure and simple you were increadibly hot. I have not been the same since I saw you at lunch. I ache still with your memory.
Who was I. I was the poor sorry schlub who put you in my mouth where you proceeded to burn it's roof with your cheesy saucy crusty goodness. Man, it hurts.
But I got you. I ate you down good. I don't suppose I'll see you again for some hours and I'll be damned if you're ever that hot again. So take that.

Some people have so much time on their hands.
...Then there are the people (like me) who don't have the time, but are hopeless procrastinators. Damn.

2003-03-20T01:46:00.000-05:00

I didn't even know Best of Craigslist existed! Thank you, Gawker!!

For example --

Want a Snow Penis on your front Yard? - $100 (Click on link to see photos)

We are what you may call, Snow Sculpters and we are willing to make you your very own SNOWPENIS for everyone to enjoy! Be the one on your block have the largest Snow Penis! We will come to your home and get to work and for only $100 each penis you will receive One penis and two testicles. Please give us 2 hours advanced notice.

I could probably get some frat boys to do the same for free, no?

Old joke -- What is the difference between snowmen & snowwomen?

Snowballs. *snicker*

2003-03-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

At least we can still joke about it --

These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed

Source -- Scumpa

2003-03-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

Oy Gevalt!

I may have a VERY large phone bill coming my way. Seems that my computer has been using a long distance phone number [without my knowledge] to connect to the internet for the past month. Since my landline account doesn't have a specified long distance carrier, this looks very, VERY bad for me because I'm online for hours at a time. @ $4.80 or $9.60 / half an hour, you do the math. Oy vey iz mir!!

2003-03-17T23:32:00.000-05:00

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You will soon have the power to
see what has been invisible and to decipher codes that have been
impenetrable. You'll shed a belief that has been crippling your
intelligence, and you'll lose a "friend" who has been undermining
your understanding of yourself. And that's not all, Aquarius. Just
in time, you will shake yourself free of a curious numbness,
allowing you to tune in to feelings that you desperately need to
experience. And you will finally find the words to name truths
that have been dangerously fuzzy.

Source -- Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology Newsletter

2003-03-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting my little blog because my hunt for graduate school housing continues.
At this point, it looks like I'd be lucky to get a room that reminds of me the ultra-depressing hotel room in The Shawshank Redemption. Great movie.

Don't worry, I'll make up for my neglect during grad school because I'll have -NO- social life -- Public transportation ends at 5:30PM [WTF???] & I'll be living off campus without a car.

2003-03-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

*SO* cool!

Make a cyber snowflake!

Source -- B3ta

2003-03-17T12:32:00.000-05:00

People in the UK with the same name as me --

There are

1458

People with the name Tiffany.
You are like a rare bird, Lost and pecking at nuts.

Play the name game.

Source -- B3ta

2003-03-13T17:48:00.000-05:00

Shout out to the bf --

WIFI CALORIES:

Now that there is competition among WiFi/food establishments, you've got some options:

Starbucks
Food: Blueberry crumb cake & Hot Cocoa with Whipping Cream
Nutrition: 1200 calories, 64g of fat
1 hour of WiFi: $6.00
Food Cost: ~ $3.75
Total Cost: $9.75

McDonalds
Food: Cheeseburger Meal, Small Fries, Small Shake
Nutrition: 1110 calories, 40g of fat
1 hour of WiFi: Included
Food Cost: $3.99
Total Cost: $3.99

McDonald's: Better for your wallet and your waist-line.

Source -- Gawker 3.12.03

Dude, this is only going to be make FATTER!

2003-03-13T17:24:00.000-05:00

Seymour: I can't relate to 99% of humanity.

-- Ghost World

Bf thinks I'm a lot like the Enid character. He's right, I used to be... Am?

Now, I'm watching My First Mister.

The Jennifer character's angst-ridden teenager act a little extreme.
I never had tattoos nor piercings. Except for my ears. One hole each.

2003-03-13T11:13:00.000-05:00

I have been *SO* overwhelmed -- Looking for grad school housing that is located 6 hours away.
I've been neglecting friends. Forgive me.

Classes begin in less than 2 weeks & I still don't have an address! Nor am I packed. Not even a little!

Making another trip this weekend...
Wish me luck.

At the very least, I should get some pretty pictures.

2003-03-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

Is that a pen in your pocket or...

I love the description of Namiki's Nightline fountain pen --

"This is the pen," he said. On his desk was a wooden box tied with purple cord. He lifted the top and slowly unfurled a crimson cloth to reveal a black pen inlaid with seamless strips of abalone and sprinkles of gold dust. If you hold the pen vertically, the abalone slivers glint like city apartments at night, some bright, some dark. The gold dust shimmers like stars. As you turn it, the colors shift and change, constantly.

"It's a schematic city," he said gleefully. "The lights in windows change depending on who's staying up late."

Source -- New York Times
Stars in His Eyes Over a Pen
By ELAINE LOUIE

2003-03-12T10:50:00.000-05:00

Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 09:30:55 -0500
From: educator_in_chief@nobledesktop.com
Subject: From the Noble Desktop #26

Snapple Real Fact of the Month

Smelling bananas and/or apples can help you lose weight.

(Is someone verifying these facts, or is the Snapple Lady just
making them up?)

Tiffany's Real Fact of the Month -- Paying for graduate school tuition at a private educational institution will leave you very little money for food.

2003-03-11T12:33:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who has never seen the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee Sex Video???

2003-03-11T12:03:00.000-05:00

& now, a Maxim-esque guide to buying THE ring --

WANT TO MARRY THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE? HERE'S HOW NOT TO GET SCREWED ON THE RING.
--Mike Bruno 02.26.03

Setting the stone against a silver colored metal will make it look clearer than if it's against yellow gold. Only 40-something Jersey chicks and Midwest trailer trash wear yellow gold these days. Check to make sure you are neither of those and ignore yellow gold. This is not debatable.

Read the whole article -- It's funny!

2003-03-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

What the... ???

2003-03-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, I am already booked for that night, but you could go --

--- Matter/: Form ; wrote:
> From: Matter/:Form
> To: List Member
> Subject: Free Matter/:Form Pre Miami mixer with
> Tiger Beer open bar....
> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 23:46:16 -0800
>
> Hello All,
>
> Elan Akerman (Matter/:Form)
> & Stephen Grimes (Touch)
>
> Would like to invite you to a very special event we
> are planning...
> Our very first pre-Miami mixer party.
>
> Our friends at Tiger Beer have been gracious enough
> to provide us with an open bar all night long.
>
> There will also be tasty appetizers served
> throughout the night.
>
> Therefore, would you be so kind as to join us at:
> Double Happiness (173 Mott St, New York)
>
> Thursday, March 13th
> 6pm-11pm
>
> Music selections provided by
> David Hollands (Minimal Wage)
> & Special Guests...
>
> Even if you are not going to Miami,
> (neither are we), come by....
>
> We hope to see you all there.
>
> Elan & Stephen

Send back a report! With photos!

...& tell me what they mean by pre-Miami. Football?

2003-03-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Note to self -- Call Mary & wish her a Happy Birthday. March 13th.

To do list --

-- Get haircut
-- Get monthly facial
-- Lower credit card APR
-- Pick up taxes from CPA
-- Call Angela sometime this week
-- Send in monthly check for COBRA insurance
-- Celebrate belated belated [I was supposed to make it up to him on Sunday & it didn't happen due to circumstances, so now it's doubly belated] birthday with bf

2003-03-11T10:07:00.000-05:00

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
-- G. K. Chesterton

Source -- Quotes of the Day for March 11, 2003

2003-03-11T00:53:00.000-05:00

One last thing before I log off to go to sleep --

DIRTY FAN MALE
A unique recording of obsessive letters.

Source -- Gawker 3.9.03

2003-03-11T00:26:00.000-05:00

Pseudo-celebrities might just be more fun to watch than "real" ones. Though, the Anna Nicole Smith Show is SO dull!

Andrew Firestone, the great-grandson of tire entrepreneur Harvey Firestone, has been picked to be the new Bachelor. Read more about Andrew here! The third installment of the hit reality series will premiere on Wednesday, March 26, at 9/8c!

Next Episode: Wednesday, March 19, 9/8c
The Bachelor: Where Are They Now
Remember Christi, who couldn't stop crying over Aaron? And Shannon, who turned to stone when Alex told her goodbye? And what about Bob and Jamie, two well-liked guys who didn't win Trista's heart? Find out how their lives have changed and what it was really like to go through their television dating experience.

The special includes updates on Heather (from Texas), who had a pageant-like competitiveness about Aaron, Brooke, the Southern belle, and Gwen, the soft-spoken but strong woman — both nearly won Aaron's heart before he ultimately proposed to Helene Ecksterowicz. And now that Trista and Ryan are engaged, is there exciting news from our happy couple?

Other highlights include:

Follow along as Shannon meets her new boyfriend's parents for the very first time
Go wedding dress shopping with Trista and Ryan, and get the latest on their wedding plans
Witness a surprise marriage proposal for one of the former "bachelorettes."

Source -- ABC

2003-03-11T00:13:00.000-05:00

I'm really addicted to the Chicago soundtrack right now. Love it! Only thing is I keep picturing Lilith from Cheers when I hear Bebe Neuwirth sing as Velma.

Have a listen to All That Jazz.

The Daily News Daily Dish reports --

Diners waiting to check their coats for lunch at the midtown power feedery Michael's one day last week were astonished by Neuwirth's performance when she approached the restaurant's desk. One of the captains brightened and announced, "It's 'Chicago' day!" When Neuwirth asked "Why? Who's here?" — and learned that Renee Zellweger, who has a Best Actress nomination for her movie role as Roxie Hart, was also in the house, Bebe let loose a lecture on the vast superiority of live theater.

Source -- Gawker 3.10.03

2003-03-10T23:42:00.000-05:00

Another good place to eat on the upper east side -- Barking Dog on 3rd Avenue & 94th. I had a nice lunch there with Mr. T -- No, not that one, if you're even old enough to recognize the reference.

Again, bring cash because they don't take credit cards. & patience because the service is SLOW!

2003-03-10T23:23:00.000-05:00

& for the non-i-bankers --

“It’s shocking,” she says. “I’ve sent out hundreds of résumés, and I’ve only gotten one interview.” She’s far from alone...

Jane is biding her time—and paying rent on her Williamsburg studio apartment—with freelance publicity jobs. “I’ve thrown morals and taste by the wayside,” she says with a laugh. “Right now I’m representing a hip-hop-porno DVD.”

The past few months in particular—which have been marked by everything from a broken laptop to a job at another hip-hop magazine that seemed to be hers but then went to an employee inside the company—have caused Jane to reexamine her career aspirations.

Source -- Generation Hexed
By Ethan Brown

...Hip Hop Porno?

My version -- I worked at an internet company for 6 months until they realized they could get cheaper (To the tune of 10-15K) labor & laid me off. Many, many resumes later, I landed a random job by chance. 6 months later, my position turned into something that is not a "good fit" (I hate that term) for me, & I had told them 2 weeks into the job that I never want to be transferred into that particular section. I was never consulted -- I learned of my new duties during an office meeting at the same time all my new co-workers did. After MUCH AGONY (Job-wise & worse, politically), I had to quit. The people at unemployment decided that I quit without good cause (Suicidal tendencies is not good cause??), so I started living off savings. Savings from a job that paid $5K less than what I was making at my first full-time job out of college. Savings depleted by $8K because of this economic crisis we are in. A week after I quit, my world was ROCKED by a personal crisis that I am still dealing with. Many tears & many more resumes later, I am still unemployed & searching for answers. My archaic laptop died on me about a month or so later. I'm reexamining my occupational, educational & personal aspirations. Will I ever have a career? Doing what? Is grad school worth the money? Should I have children? What the *F* am I doing with my life?

I'm not even good enough for temp work --

But even menial temp jobs—such as working in the basement of Sports Illustrated, bar-coding old photo negatives—have been hard to come by. And forget about jobs in industries that Dworken would like to work in, all of which, he says, feel impossibly out of reach. “The response is ‘Great résumé, we’d love to have you, but we have 400 résumés.’ Sometimes I feel like I have a better chance of becoming the CEO of Lehman Brothers,” he adds, “than getting some of the jobs I apply for.”

Source -- Ibid

2003-03-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

Happiness != "good" education + marriage + job with fat paycheck?
Poor (Financially (Relatively, of course) & emotionally) i-bankers...

Down and Out on Wall Street
By Robert Kolker

...One out of every ten employees in the securities industry has been relieved of responsibility since April 2001; by all reports, the cutbacks continue. But now it’s not just lost jobs. Two trends are at play in the Top-Down Recession: the worst layoffs in a generation and, for those who have dodged them, the withering away of Wall Street bonuses. In 2000, the financial-services bonus pool was $19.4 billion; last year, it was $7.9 billion. The average bonus dropped from $104,600 to $48,500. Wall Street hasn’t seen a two-consecutive-year decrease in bonuses since the eighties. “What I keep hearing now is base pay of $80,000, and the bonus is eat-what-you-kill,” whispered one once-and-future investment banker at a networking session for unemployed executives in midtown. “If you don’t close a deal, you don’t get a bonus.”

...It’s a profound change in the way Wall Street people are paid—and the end, for the foreseeable future, of financial services as a bulletproof career. Investment banks that two years ago offered signing bonuses, relocation costs, and even guaranteed second-year bonuses to new M.B.A.’s, are now redefining the terms of the deal. “I talk to recruiters who’ve been at this for 30 years, and they’ve never seen anything like this,” says Tony Brown, director of staffing for Bear Stearns. “Even someone who saw the downturn in ’74—he says he’s never seen anything remotely like this. The year-end bonus has become discretionary. Now, to a student sitting on a business-school campus, that seems almost unfair. But how in the world can you expect a firm to guarantee a bonus when no one internally is guaranteed of even having a job?”

...“Try getting a date in New York when you’re unemployed,” says John, an M.B.A. who worked in Telecom and venture capital and who’s been searching for a job since spring 2001. “I met somebody for drinks yesterday at the Royalton, and it was 72 bucks.”

...Michael turns to me. “These are people who’ve basically done everything right,” he says. “They’ve gone to good schools, taken the right jobs. And not passively, either—they took risks from time to time, they did entrepreneurial things. Then this recession made them ask if they even picked the right career in the first place.”

“Sometimes,” says John, “I think the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life was being accepted by Harvard Business School.”

...Once laid off, Will would spend five hours a day with his daughter. “I mean, I don’t know one senior-level person I worked with who has a healthy marriage. They don’t spend time with their families. You can tell they don’t want to. People are very quick to say, ‘Let’s have a call on the weekend,’ or ‘Let’s cancel vacations.’ Divorce rates are relatively high, although I think some bankers don’t want to get divorced because it would be so expensive. And you know, to be honest with you, I don’t know too many happy bankers. People aren’t happy.”

...How much is he getting paid? “My base is $125,000. I don’t know the bonus. Yesterday, the guy who runs my group said, ‘We’re gonna give people their bonus numbers this week, and they’re gonna be terrible. And it’s for two reasons. One, business is down. And two, because we can.’ I’ll probably make $350,000, maybe less. I probably need to make at least $300,000 in total, pretax, to break even.”

A few days later, I catch up with Will on the phone. He’s seething.

“I totally got fucked,” he says. “I got $100,000, and I was expecting more than double that. It’s bullshit. It’s basically a quarter of what I got last year. I’m only making $200,000 a year. It’s the same as I got my first year out of business school. I’m paying to work here now.”

Source -- Gawker 3.10.03

2003-03-08T00:50:00.000-05:00

Great burger place on the upper east side -- J.G. Melon

I liked the melon themed decor, too.

Bring cash because they don't take credit cards.

2003-03-08T00:17:00.000-05:00

I also need someone to improve my ice skating (forward) & teach me how to skate backwards.

You haven't seen me recently because I've been a little overwhelmed by my 2 week job & looking for housing near grad school. The school itself is 6 hours away -- It should really be more helpful in terms of housing for out-of-town students. I should really be asleep -now- since I need to wake up in a mere 3.5 hours & we're planning on driving there & back in one day. & I need to stop at an ATM before leaving the city.

The bf loaded me up with all kinds of goodies for the journey --

-- A lovely hunk of cheese & a lovely hunk of foie gras from Citarella
-- A bunch of seedless, green grapes from Citarella
-- A loaf of handmade Sourdough bread from Orwasher's
-- A pound of dried cranberries
-- A bag of peanuts for Daddie
-- Two bags of Japanese crackers for Mommie

Mommie likes that bf is so detailed in his taking care of me. In fact, Mommie & Daddie seem to have decided they like bf -- I snuck him into dinner with us earlier this week. Unannounced! My parents aren't so keen on meeting any of my bfs until it's really, really, REALLY serious.

Bf & I looked at some Asscher cut diamonds today, too.
He knows better than to surprise me...

At first, Mr. Mendelis goofily tried depositing the platinum band with an Asscher-cut diamond (one-plus carats) in a hole on a miniature golf course; sadly, Ms. Neumann’s game was not up to par that day. Next he thought he might slip her the ring while dropping 160 feet at 45 m.p.h. on the Big Shot, a free-fall ride atop the Stratosphere Hotel. Alas, there was a metal detector at the entrance. "It’s jewelry," she heard him stage-whisper to the security guards.

"I’m thinking, ‘Fucking bin Laden!" Ms. Neumann said. "He ruined this for me."

Source -- Observer
This column ran on page 12 in the 3/10/2003 edition of The New York Observer.

2003-03-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Bf & I have looked at a lot of engagement rings. This weekend, we discovered Peter Storm's "Floating Diamonds".
I want something timeless, but slightly different... Unique.

I would like to avoid the whole Tiffany cliché, but we might go that route... We'd be assured of quality, & service around the world -- I don't plan on living in Manhattan for the rest of my life.

2003-03-04T12:07:00.000-05:00

Maybe I have dysthymia --

Dysthymia is a milder, chronic form of depression. It may periodically have episodes of major depression superimposed upon it. When this occurs, it is known as "double depression".

Woe...

2003-03-04T11:44:00.000-05:00

I need to read more. I read a review of The Illusion of Conscious Will by Daniel M. Wegner awhlie back & it sounds interesting --

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality.
Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will---those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

In high school, I was supposed to read The Great Gatsby. I started off with a little help from Cliff, but by mid-book, the story piqued my interest. Such an eloquent ending --

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--"

I bought myself another copy, but I haven't started reading, yet.

2003-03-04T11:24:00.000-05:00

I don't care much for the visuals, but I'm loving the sound of All The Things She Said by t.A.T.u.

Say it with me: teenage lesbian Russian pop stars... The duo’s English-language debut (they’ve already sold over a million records in Russia) is pure marketing genius: lyrics about forbidden lesbian love (“They say it’s my fault, but I want her so much”) over slick electro-pop beats and overproduced rock guitars, and a booklet full of photos of the nubile young girls holding each other and looking at the camera longingly. Pop the CD in your computer and you can watch the two girls (Lena Katina and Julia Volkova) making out in the rain wearing schoolgirl uniforms in their first video.

2003-03-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

Someone please teach me how to --

- Play poker
- Bake bread
- How to juggle
- Write Chinese
- How to develop film
- Drive a stick shift car
- Improve my tennis game
- Improve my chess game
- Improve my frisbee game
- Become a computer geek
- Speak French &/or German
- Manage my retirement funds

Any volunteers? Anyone? Anyone?

2003-03-04T11:03:00.000-05:00

Hello, my name is Tiffany & I am a hypochondriac.

If anything about my physical self is a little off, I go into a panicked frenzy. Which is not to say that I camp out in the doctor's office -- I'm more afraid of what I'd catch sitting in the waiting room.
Another reason I hate taking public transportation. All those germs. *shudder*

In the past several years, I have convinced myself that I will be diagnosed with mad cow disease any day now...

Unfortunately, several years ago, I convinced myself that something was nothing -- That I'm just a hypochondriac -- It turned out to be a pretty horrible something.
We caught it & took care of it. Just need to be careful...

2003-03-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

This just in from the bf -- Today is national pancake day.
I don't know about you, but 2 is enough for any meal.

I'm more of a french toast girl. Better yet -- 2 eggs easy over, home fries & toast with butter & jam. Yummy.
Don't forget the fresh OJ & tea with milk.

2003-03-04T10:35:00.000-05:00

Last night, the bf & I wasted 2 hours watching Married by America --

...the series' couples meet for the very first time and get engaged!

This groundbreaking series follows five singles who put their trust in the American viewing public to play matchmaker. These men and women and their potential spouses are successful in every aspect of their lives -- EXCEPT at finding a mate by conventional means.

The contestants are generally attractive people with careers. They claim to be "unlucky in love". What makes them think getting married to someone they've never seen nor spent any time with will solve their problems? Has any couple from any of these reality matchmaking shows gotten married? If the Joe Millionaire, Who Wants to be a Princess & Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire girls were in it for money &/or fame, these men & women are definitely in it for fame with a capital F. Desperately.

What's worse is the show is BORING. *snore* I would have been more amused watching a rerun of Sports Night.

The audience doesn't really get to know the contestants. The questions that are asked are DULL -- The first girl's father asked the potential mates if they could accept that his daughter adores her cat. Since this is a Fox network show, I half-expected one of the guys to make a crass pussy joke. Nope.

I also don't understand how the picking works. Seems like the potential spouses can only be picked once. Doesn't that mean the last contestant has to take the leftovers that no one else's family or friends picked? The first girl's friends & family picked very rugged, macho-looking men for her. I think those men are out of the running now. The last girl will have to consider the Prince William look-alike who claims to be a "Wall Street executive" at the tender age of 25. Unless your daddie owns the company [& even then it's not guaranteed], you're probably not an "executive" -- Like someone calling himself an office manager when his sole duty is to make sure the copy room's water cooler is always full. Or like the 23 year old boys on MTV that call themselves "consultants" because they haven't formed a career, yet. If ever. (Not that I should be one to talk!)

2003-03-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

LIVE'S LOOKING FOR AN AMERICAN CO-HOST!

“Live with Regis and Kelly” announces the American Co-Host Search. If you've been dreaming of becoming a television star or hosting your own show, then, this could be your big break! LIVE is looking for the next American Co-Host! The winner will have the chance to co-host with Regis on Wednesday, April 16th PLUS they’ll get at least $10,000 to work exclusively with Buena Vista Television for six months on the development of possible television projects, followed by an arrangement for a one-year contract with television agency NS Bienstock.

I want to be on TV!

Imagine it -- Live with Regis "Big Daddy" & Tiffany. Better yet -- Live with Kelly & Tiffany.

I think I'd be good on a sitcom -- Like Seinfeld or Will & Grace.

2003-03-04T00:13:00.000-05:00

I just spent the past hour fiddling with a subscription feature so you can add your email address & get notified whenever this site is updated. Try it out!

Now I'm off to bed... Again.

2003-03-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

Speaking of "literacy standards are under threat" --

The English-to-12-Year-Old-AOLer Translator

This translator will take what you write in it and turn it into the manner a 12-year-old AOLer would write it. Type in what you want translated and then click the button.

Source -- Scumpa

2003-03-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

Joke for the day --

An old man lived alone in Alabama.

He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His
only
son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a
letter
to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Bubba,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant
my
potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a
garden
plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would
dig
the plot for me.
Love, Dad

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake dad, Don't dig up that garden - that's where I buried
the
bodies! Love, Bubba

At 4 A.M. the next morning, FBI agents and local police showed up and
dug up
the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old
man
and left. A couple of days later, the old man received another letter
from
his son.

Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. It's the best I could do under the
circumstances.
Love, Bubba

Source -- Scumpa

2003-03-03T15:22:00.000-05:00

From: "Zagat Survey Announcements"
Subject: Bloomingdale's ranks No. 1 for popularity
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 14:59:22 -0500 (EST)

What's the most popular store in New York City?
Bloomingdale's ranked No. 1 for popularity, with 20% of our surveyors calling it the "quintessential NYC store." That said, 69% of surveyors still prefer boutique shopping.

I can't remember the last time I bought anything in Bloomingdale's or Macy's.

2003-03-03T15:06:00.000-05:00

OUCH!

Staffer's goof at Cornell University sends welcoming e-mail to hundreds of rejected students
Fri Feb 28, 8:02 AM ET

ITHACA, New York - Cornell University mistakenly sent out an e-mail message welcoming hundreds of students it had previously rejected.

The mistake happened Wednesday when a clerical staff member miscoded a message meant only for students who had applied early and been accepted.

As a result of the error, the e-mail was sent to 1,700 students, including nearly 550 high school seniors that the Ivy League school in upstate Ithaca had rejected in December.

Source -- The Square

2003-03-03T14:02:00.000-05:00

I am not pleased. I went to get a fresh pair of undies for my shower. What do I find in the drawer? Another cleaning lady casualty -- I pull out a pair of silk & lace panties with a diagonal tear that is at least 2 inches wide.

Previous casualties --

- 2 pairs of granny underwear for that time of the month
- 2 bras
- 1 pair of stockings
- 1 of my favorite J. Crew sweaters
- Misc. other items I can't recall right now

Don't even ask about bf's glassware.

2003-03-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 05:55:07 -0500
From: quotationoftheday_request@yahoo.ca (Quote of the day editor)
Subject: Quote of the day for March 1, 2003

"If a chemical weapon follows you home, try to act casual."

- from a parody of the U.S. Government's emergency planning web site,
found at http://www.idlewords.com/chemical.html.

Submitted by: IT Manager
Feb. 28, 2003

2003-03-03T12:40:00.000-05:00

Shout out to Seliot --

The allure of pi.

Source -- Scumpa

Now, I'm off to call my doctor for a referral, & then wash my hair...

2003-03-03T12:34:00.000-05:00

This just in from the bf --

Just a a little note to say how lucky and fortunate I am to have you in my life.
I love you very much!
And
Appreciate all that you do for me.

Tea Time!
My water is boiling...

2003-03-03T12:18:00.000-05:00

Pack my bags, NOW!

Swiss City Tops World Poll While Africa Struggles
By Jason Hopps

LONDON (Reuters) - The Swiss city of Zurich edged out Vancouver, Canada, and the Austrian capital of Vienna to top a quality of life survey published on Monday...
Auckland, Copenhagen, the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich and the Swiss capital, Berne, all tied for fifth spot.
...In a related survey also by Mercer, Luxembourg scored the highest for personal safety, followed closely by Berne, Geneva, Helsinki, Singapore and Zurich.

2003-03-03T11:56:00.000-05:00

Girl baffles teacher with SMS essay
Sun Mar 2, 9:13 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - An English essay written by a teenager in text messaging short-hand has reignited concern among teachers that literacy standards are under threat.

Y tchr say dat? She no thnk dat txt msg is gr8? IMHO, she h8 it!

2003-03-03T11:50:00.000-05:00

This is for my bf. Wheee!! :)

2003-03-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

Based on a recent issue of Time Out New York, bf & I went to Artie's Delicatessen for dinner last night.

I had the chopped liver appetizer -- Good portion with salad. No bread, though.
I followed with their combination plate -- 3 pierogis, stuffed cabbage & 1 latke. The pierogis were good, I don't think I care much for stuffed cabbage in general & the latke was a tad small.

Not bad, but we won't be going back.

2003-03-03T10:55:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or is that Zoloft TV commercial with the round, bouncy thing really cute?

2003-03-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

Cornell just beat Yale in hockey -- 3 to 0.

We're off to get ice cream now!

Good night.

2003-03-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

Sometime this month, I will go to the Whitney to see --

Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio
For the past two decades, the New York architects and artists Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio have drawn on installation art, time-based media, and architecture to redefine attitudes toward the body, the city, and everyday spaces. This exhibition presents an astonishing range of their site-specific installations, video works, performance pieces, and buildings. Diller + Scofidio’s work crosses all media boundaries to explore how technology defines identity, how rituals can offer either imprisonment or liberation, and how we can build devices that allow us to be at home in an ever more artificial and confusing world.

While I'm there, I will also check out --

Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin: Listening Post
Listening Post is a biorhythmic visual and sonic response to the content, magnitude, and immediacy of virtual communication. This collaborative multimedia installation is composed of a suspended grid of more than two hundred small electronic screens that display fragments of texts culled in real time from thousands of unrestricted Internet chat rooms, bulletin boards and other public forums. Dissociating the communication from its conventional on-screen presence, the project presents the texts according to the frequency of randomly selected words, topics emerging and changing from hour to hour and day to day. A coordinated audio component alternates between musical passages and sections that vocalize certain messages, underscoring the text on the screens.

First Exposure
The Kids Are Alright: Photographs by Ryan McGinley
Ryan McGinley’s (b. 1977) large-scale color photographs of his friends and lovers demonstrate an obsessive fascination for recording every activity, no matter how intimate or seemingly insignificant. His subjects—most in their twenties—form part of the youth culture of New York’s Lower East Side. Working in the tradition of artists who focus the camera on their own generation, McGinley adds new energy to the genre with these images that are charged with spontaneity, candor, and exuberance.

2003-03-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

This might be interesting -- Chic Clicks: Creativity and Commerce in Contemporary Fashion Photography
by Ulrich Lehmann (Editor), Jessica Morgan (Editor), Gilles Lipovetsky

Book Description
Nan Goldin shoots campaigns for Prada, David LaChapelle does Camel cigarette ads, and Jurgen Teller got his start photographing models in "i-D", "W", and "The Face". The debate between aesthetic images and commercial pressure has perhaps never been so relevant and complex as it is today, with the increasing commercialization of the art world, the not insignificant exploratory aspects of fashion photography, and our constantly expanding realm of visual references. To study these tensions and overlaps, "Chic Clicks" invited some 40 photographers to present both their free work and their published editorials from fashion magazines and advertising campaigns.

2003-03-01T21:01:00.000-05:00

Saw the Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman exhibit at the Met yesterday.
Now, that's a Renaissance man!

The first comprehensive survey of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings ever presented in America, this international loan exhibition brings together nearly 120 works of extraordinary beauty by one of the great masters of all time. Even in an era of boundless scientific discovery and technological invention, and of sublime artistic and humanistic achievement, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) stands as a supreme icon in Western consciousness—the very embodiment of the universal Renaissance genius. The exhibition surveys Leonardo's staggering contribution as an artist, scientist, theorist, and teacher.

What are you waiting for??? Go now!!

2003-03-01T20:28:00.000-05:00

& now, my review of last week's New York Times Magazine -- Fashions of the Times, Part 2 / Spring 2003 --

-- Great photos of Eve
For the cover, I would have had her arm moved over [to her right], just a smidge, to define her hand & finger more.
-- Do you think Chanel could have dressed the girls to look as if they would even consider surfing instead of just carrying Chanel surfboards for their lazy-ass boyfriends [or just status]?
I'm surprised those 2 waifs were even strong enough to carry those boards!
-- I much prefer the Louis Vuitton, Takashi Murakami collection to the Stephen Sprouse, Graffiti collection.
I need a good everyday bag like the Musette Tango Bag or the Large Vavin Shoulder Tote. The Medium Ellipse is also interesting.
-- I want that creature in the Helmut Lang surf wersuit skeleton. In blue. Or maybe green.
-- The latest Versace model looks like a 22 year old clone of Donatella, no?

-- Seer Suckers By ISAAC MIZRAHI

In a reading once with the great ayurvedic astrologer Chakrapani Ullal, I was told to wear diamonds, saying they would have a very positive effect on the quality of my life. I had a private chuckle over that, thinking diamonds would have a positive effect on anyone's life, and I did nothing about it. Sometime later, my friend Maira Kalman went to see him, and he told her that she should wear a yellow sapphire ring that was bigger than four karats and that she should start wearing the ring on any given Thursday. Maira got her ring, and a few Thursdays later she told me the quality of her life had improved threefold. Everything just got better in general, she said. She was more content than ever, and it was because of the ring. She even went so far as to say that if she removed the ring for any period of time, things started going sour.

Just think what that 2.6 cushion cut solitaire from Chopard would do for me! Unfortunately, the bf didn't care for the $65K price tag. I didn't care for our saleslady. At all.

-- An Unfinished Woman By MARY TANNEN

Want to know about eye makeup? The princess quotes from Talitha Getty, the wife of J. Paul Jr., who uses kohl obtained in Marrakesh, traditionally kept in an ivory bottle and applied with an ivory stick. Talitha, one of the princess's friends whose photos adorn the book, affects a blase attitude toward beauty: ''With a good man, a woman doesn't need treatments, health foods, vitamins, or anything . . . not at first.''

The bf made me promise him one thing -- Not to wear any makeup on our wedding day. Or at the very least just keep it to a minimum [regardless of whether I apply it myself or have it done professionally] -- Pink lipstick, not the blood red shades that I prefer.
Almost every boyfriend I've had has preferred me without makeup. At most, minimally. My friends (female & male) agree.
Personally, I like a very classic look -- Black eyeliner, light shadow & rich burgundy lipstick combination. Spicy oriental parfum.

''Natural is really for the birds,'' she says.

-- JOY! Swiss Festival

-- Beauty and the Beast By TIM BLANKS
I love Guy Bourdin's photographs.

The exigencies of his private life suggest both masochism and sadism were bedfellows. His first wife was possibly a suicide; his second hanged herself. One girlfriend slashed her wrists. (She lived.) Another fell out of a tree. (She died.) Death came early for him, too (from cancer in 1991, at 62), and by then, his story had taken on a truly tragic tinge -- Chekhov or Gogol, maybe. (He loved his black Russians.) ''Guy wanted to be abandoned at the end, because that's what life's all about,'' Kosak claims. ''You're abandoned by your mother and your family. You have no friends, and you die alone in your bed. And even in death, you're being used and abused.''

...Bourdin was an autodidact whose encyclopedic knowledge of art and literature would have ensured his familiarity with one of the first tenets of tragedy: the hero is complicit in his own downfall. So even the posthumous abuse he suffered was largely self-inflicted. Bourdin left his estate in a horrendous tax situation, paralyzing his legacy. Equally damaging was his unfathomable attitude toward his own work while he was alive. Unlike his peers Helmut Newton and Deborah Turbeville, who polished their reputations with coffee-table compilations and exhibitions, Bourdin said no to books, prints for collectors (no matter how powerful or insistent they might be) and interviews explaining himself. He even refused the Grand Prix National de la Photographie when it was offered to him. By the time he died, he'd guaranteed himself a degree of anonymity that was absolutely perverse for someone who, at his career peak not much more than a decade earlier, was probably the most idolized photographer in fashion. The death of his reputation was just one more suicide.

...So what is it that we see when we look at these pictures now? The taboos that Bourdin probed have been shattered (all of them, bar the notion of 10-year-olds in full makeup), but the thrill of the perverse still resonates in his photographs, and the power of his obsessions overwhelms. Couple them with a how-did-he-do-that? awe, and Bourdin makes more sense now than he did 20 years ago, in exactly the same way that Warhol's art and Hitchcock's movies grow in stature over time. Like them, Bourdin had a scarily acute understanding of the heart of darkness that pulsates under society's glossy exterior.

...In his introduction to ''Exhibit A,'' Luc Sante writes, ''For Bourdin, beauty never appeared without its accomplices death, filth and laughter.'' This unholy alliance was something so deeply felt by Bourdin that it makes it very unlikely his work will ever be duplicated, even by his spiritual children, the Davids of darkness, LaChapelle and Lynch.

2003-03-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

One month later... That's it???

TMICentral
Site Summary

VISITS

Total 380
Average Per Day 17
Average Visit Length 3:19
Last Hour 0
Today 13
This Week 118

2003-03-01T12:50:00.000-05:00

Ali G -- Sacha Baron Cohen

Must investigate when I have more time later...

2003-03-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

Brunch:

-- Red seedless grapes
-- Sharp cheddar cheese
-- Orwasher's handmade bread -- Sourdough
-- Jasmine & white tea from Ten Ren
-- Lindt Lindor Truffles

No Atkins diet for me, thank you very much.
I love my carbs.

2003-02-27T12:45:00.000-05:00

The problem with being hyper self-aware is... well, being hyper self-aware -- Not to be confused with being hyper self-doubting.
Sometimes, I just want to act without premeditation. Do whatever comes to mind & feels good.
I'm so aware of motivations & consequences. I want to let my hair down.

Know what I mean?

2003-02-26T22:50:00.000-05:00

Off to bed now...
My less than 8 hours/day job is exhausting me!!

2003-02-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

The Phantom of the Opera is not my favorite musical (Les Mis is), but I don't hate it.
So, when the bf's old high school friend & her husband invited us to join them in front row seats, we accepted.
(Besides, the bf bought the tickets for us before asking if I wanted to see the show.)

The good thing about having a poor memory is that you can enjoy something again because you forgot most of your experience the first time.
I had seen Phantom already in 1997. Did this stop me from getting all weepy by the end? No. & I dislike crying in front of others, especially if I'm not very close to the others.

Am I really such a sappy romantic at heart?

From: Yinni
Subject: RE: TMI Central
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 11:27:45 +0800

...I've read through your posts, it made me feel like going back to
those old NY days...FAR from where i am now...

how long we haven't really talked? you haven't changed much,
still a dreamy type... sensitive
inside... I still like you. :)

...anyway, I'm
truly happy for you for the stage where you are standing now, it
came a long way but you are there now. BTW, may I ask, is this
current bf the one you dated the first? the dentist one?

take care
Yinni

The bf & I did share something new that evening, though -- Shula's Steakhouse, New York City.
THAT was a good piece o' meat, boy! I ordered the 32 oz prime rib & finished most of it! Yeah, baby! You just keep that rabbit food to yourself, you hear me??

Shula's bread is also incredibly soft. Go. Tell me how you like it. Better yet, take me with you!

2003-02-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

Monique Brown was an editor at Black Enterprise magazine when Jaime McKenzie, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, took her to that masterpiece of progressive African-American thought: Chris Rock’s Pootie Tang. "I thought that taking a senior Black Enterprise executive to see such a ghetto movie was a hilarious thing to do!" Mr. McKenzie said.

Source -- Countdown to Bliss
by Anna Jane Grossman
This column ran on page 10 in the 3/3/2003 edition of The New York Observer

I haven't seen this masterpiece, yet, but I will -- I'm a huge Chris Rock fan.
At the moment, I'm waiting to see Cradle 2 the Grave starring Jet Li & DMX -- It opens this week!

2003-02-26T17:10:00.000-05:00

Tee Hee --

February 23, 2003
Show Me the Monkey
By WILLIAM NORWICH

I was 11 when I first read about Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish's famous ''Monkey Dinner'' in Newport, R.I., at the turn of the last century. Everyone who was anyone on the New York-Newport social axis was there to meet Prince del Drago. After all, a title was in their midst. The guests assembled and anxiously awaited the princely arrival. When at last the guest of honor, in full dress and decorations, was escorted into dinner, surprise! Prince del Drago was a monkey, a real live social climber. How embarrassing, especially for those who might have claimed to already know his highness.

Source -- The New York Times

2003-02-26T16:46:00.000-05:00

From: Bernard Roy
Subject: Upcoming cafe philo

Hi everyone,

Our next cafe philo will take place this Thursday, February 27 at 6:30 at Bamiyan Restaurant (corner of Third Avenue and 26th Street). Our topic will be:

The Value of Fantasy

I fantasize about owning several of these --

Takashi Murakami's Louis Vuitton bag

The "bag of the moment" is Takashi Murakami's limited edition Louis Vuitton and because they're impossible to get, everyone wants one. Eve was sporting one at Fashion Week, and that appears to have heightened the frenzy. Ah, the power of a luxury brand to make people completely revise their fashion sense. No UES socialite would be caught dead wearing space creatures and cherry blossoms—unless it's Vuitton, darling. [NYT]

Source -- Gawker 2.24.03

Or perhaps I should repress my poverty status --
(The following is not meant to make fun of the very serious traumas discussed in the article.)

February 23, 2003
Repress Yourself
By LAUREN SLATER

...A study done by H.J. Eysenck in 1952, a study that still causes some embarrassment to the field, found that psychotherapy in general helped no more, no less, than the slow passing of time. As for insight, no one has yet demonstrably proved that it is linked to recovery. What actually does help is anyone's best guess -- probably some sort of fire, directly under your behind -- and what leads to relief? Maybe love and work, maybe medicine. Maybe repression.

...They found that those patients who had high anxiety and low defensiveness -- in other words, those patients who had a lift-the-lid approach to their experience, thinking about it, worrying about it, processing it -- had a far poorer outcome than their stiff-lipped counterparts. Specifically, of the stiff-lipped stylers, only 7 percent developed post-traumatic stress disorder seven months after the infarction, compared with 19 percent of the voluble ones.

The Israeli study hypothesizes at one point that repression may work as a coping style because those who ignore have a uniquely adaptive perceptual style. Repressors, others posit, may be protected by their presuppositions regarding -- and subsequent perceptions of -- stressful events, meaning that where you see a conflagration, they see a campfire, where you see a downpour, they see a drizzle. Still other researchers suggest that repressors are good at repressing because they can manipulate their attention, swiveling it away from the burned body or the hurting heart, and if that fails, they believe that they can cope with what befalls them. They think they're competent, those with the buttoned-up backs. Whether they really are or are not competent is not the issue; repressors, Ginzburg suggests, think they are, and anyone who has ever read ''The Little Engine That Could'' knows the power of thinking positively when it comes to making it over the mountain.

...the girls who measured higher on repression scales, these were the repressors, and they also had fewer internalizing symptoms like depression and anxiety and fewer externalizing symptoms like hostility and acting out. They were better-adjusted.Tocqueville saw our narcissism, our puritanism, but he also saw the romanticism that lies at the core of this country. We believe that the human spirit is at its best when it expresses; the individualism that Tocqueville described in his book ''Democracy in America'' rests on the right, if not the need, to articulate your unique internal state. Repression, therefore, would be considered anti-American, antediluvian, anti-art and terribly Teutonic. At its very American best, the self is revealed through pen and paint and talk. Tocqueville saw that this was the case. So did Emerson and Thoreau and of course Whitman, who upheld the ideas of transcendentalism, singing the soul, letting it all out.

Source -- The New York Times

2003-02-26T16:31:00.000-05:00

I should get more invitations like this --

--- Andy wrote:

> Samedi Gras 2002 was such an overwhelming success
> that I have decided
> to bring the custom with me to my new home in scenic
> Hell's Kitchen.
>
> Stop by any time after 8PM on Saturday, March 1 (a
> week from
> yesterday). Yes, that is the last Saturday before
> Ash Wednesday. I
> will serve a very healthy vegetarian casserole for
> dinner, but like
> last year, the main course will be sundaes. And not
> just any sundaes,
> but the sundaes to end all sundaes.

> You bring toppings. I'll have ice cream ready.
> RSVP.

I'll be there with sauces for other people. I hope someone is bringing the sprinkles, whipped cream & cherries.
I love those ultra-artificial cherries!!

2003-02-26T16:27:00.000-05:00

Why didn't anyone tell me how ridiculous my blog used to look in that big-ass font??? I didn't realize how large the font appeared on other machines until I checked my blog from another computer (The text size looked reasonable on my bf's laptop -- Where I executed initial design & most of my blogging) recently.

Font size decreased.
Thanks a lot for your help, people! Not.

When I began this new blog, my posts were sporadic because my ancient laptop at home died on me. I was limited to blogging on the bf's machine.
Then bf bought me a laptop to take with me to graduate school -- To enhance my studies (Not detract from them by endless blogging!).

As luck would have it, I was offered a 1-2 week job which began this Monday.
So, I've been there instead of here. Just in case you were wondering.

2003-02-23T18:08:00.000-05:00

Ernie wrote --

February 20, 2003
"How I Met My Man"

So yeah. I scoured the internet for a possible boyfriend and he ends up living ten minutes away from me. Life is weird like that.

Talk about weird -- When I was dating boyfriend one, current bf was living in the same building at the same time -- West End Towers near Lincoln Center!!
Current bf & I weren't fated to meet until 6 years later, after both of us had moved out.

2003-02-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

For our first date, bf took me to see Amélie -- Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain at the Paris theater next to Bergdorf Goodman.

Audrey Tautou's current film is À la folie... pas du tout (He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not).

Plot Summary --

Angelique, a young student, is in love with a married doctor. We see her attempts to make him leave his pregnant wife, but he does not appear for meetings or finally the booked journey to Florence. Then the movie is turned back to the beginning, and the view changes: We are now following the view of the doctor instead of Angeliques. And things look quite different now...

Summary written by Benjamin Stello

2003-02-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

From: bf
Subject: Young Americans

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently was approached by an Iraqi newspaper reporter and accusingly asked "Isn't it true that only 13 percent of young Americans can locate Iraq on a map?"

Secretary Powell stopped, turned, and stated "Yes, it's true. But, unfortunately for you, all 13 percent are United States Marines."

-- Source Unknown

2003-02-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

I went to Henri Bendel's on Thursday afternoon.
Judging by the main floor, you wouldn't think we were in an economic crisis.

Super high end cosmetics are inelastic goods in Manhattan?

2003-02-23T17:10:00.000-05:00

I might just be a female cad --

At 28, a brief, doomed first marriage thrusts him back into Bachelor Hell. A journalist as eager to make it in Manhattan as with its female population, our emotionally myopic hero can never seem to tell if the woman in front of him is too crazy or too sane, until she gets too close. Falling out of love as often as he falls in, he vows more than once to clean up his act, only to relapse into another bender of beauties, blow-offs and bad behavior -- all in desperate pursuit of the woman who can redeem him.

-- Book Description -- Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor by Rick Marin
(Though I preferred the review in The Wall Street Journal -- Couldn't find it online (free) to quote. If anyone wants to share their WSJ.com subscription, let me know.)

I'm trying this whole new thing [again] -- Stop running from relationships...

* I completely -wrecked- the most pivotal [intimate] relationship of my life which lasted from September 1994 through May 1997. I will never forgive myself for that one.
* I had a prolonged [by -my- choice, not his] & turbulent engagement to boyfriend three from December 1997 through most of 2000. I couldn't go through with the marriage.
* In June of 2001, I moved in with my fifth (For approximately three months each, I dated a dentist (end of 1997) & an industrial designer (end of 2000)) long-term (anything over a month) boyfriend after a month together. We lived together for 5 months before I walked away.

In December of 2002, I met my current bf -- #6. What a journey the past year has been! We've definitely seen our share of extreme highs & extreme lows.

I've been trying to clean up my act since I lost boyfriend one. I need to stop running for the wrong reasons. I need to stop being my own worst enemy.
Besides, (as current bf jokingly points out) with all the [material] crap I've accumulated as a semi-professional pack rat, it's pretty difficult for me to keep moving.

I have learned so much through my relationships -- To love, to trust, to share... I am so grateful.
Boyfriend one was so monumental in shaping who I am [for the better] in relationships.
Additionally, I have been extremely fortunate to have been given another (& another &...) chance at building something good, lasting & true...

2003-02-22T12:56:00.000-05:00

I was a late bloomer. I went to a small (Less than 200 students in my graduating class with a graduating rate of over 90%) high school & didn't know many people outside of that arena. My purity score during my junior year was 97 out of 100 -- Most of my friends had similar scores. Most of us have lost our halos since junior year of college.

I took the classic 500 question purity test on paper. Here is an internet version.
What's YOUR score?

I'll retake the test one day when I'm on a fast modem connection...

2003-02-21T17:19:00.000-05:00

Time & Date

Okay, so there's like this Japanese guy, right. And he has this Web site where he tells you the time by drawing it on scraps of paper. Oh, hell you can't even explain it in words.

Source -- The Black Table

2003-02-21T17:07:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, bf & I went to see First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot & The Birth of Photography @ the International Center of Photography.

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) is widely recognized as one of the inventors of photography, and the one who perfected the negative-positive process.

I am currently drinking LOTS of Ten Ren white tea with Jasmine pearls -- Personal mix.
Need to go to Ito En on Madison Avenue again.

2003-02-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm at the bottom of my U-curve.
...I *hope* this is the bottom!
I've had a very difficult 5 months.

As it turns out, by the time we get to be our grandmother's age, we'll be happier anyway. That's because happiness over any given lifetime looks like a big U-curve. "You start out thinking that you're going to conquer the world," says Oswald. "Then you discover that it's tough out there and become dissatisfied. Happiness levels tend to bottom out around 30. Eventually, after 5 or 10 years, you come to terms with yourself. You learn to control your aspirations. After you've done that, it's easier to get steadily happier again."

-- How To Lead a Rich Life
( Revised and Updated for a Poor Economy )

Other interesting points --

...What does all that income and spending add up to? A lot of nothing, it turns out. One of the more shocking measures of our "prosperity" is the fact that the United States spends more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything. In other words, the receptacles of our waste cost more than all of the goods consumed by nearly half of the world's nations.

The cost of our wealth to other societies and the environment has been well documented. But the greatest toll might be on ourselves. Between 1970 and 1999, the average American family received a 16% raise ( adjusted for inflation ), while the percentage of people who described themselves as "very happy" fell from 36% to 29%. We are better paid, better fed, and better educated than ever. Yet the divorce rate has doubled, the teen-suicide rate has tripled, and depression has soared in the past 30 years. The conclusion is inescapable: Our lifestyles are packed with more stuff, but we lead emptier lives. We're consuming more but enjoying it less.

...Status has an even bigger effect on lifespan than smoking. A pair of economists documented this phenomenon in a famous study of Academy Award winners. Oscar winners live at least three years longer than Oscar nominees. The gold statue, it seems, is literally a life pass. ( As if Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts need another perk! )

...The most intensely held values of the Influentials can be grouped into three themes: strong relationships ( with family, spouse or romantic partner, friends, and broader connections ); personal integrity ( honesty, authenticity, being true to yourself ); and exploration ( not adventure so much as knowledge, learning, open-mindedness, and creativity ). At the bottom of the list of priorities? Impressing others, wealth, looking good, status, and power.

The Influentials don't preoccupy themselves with keeping up. They're more concerned with keeping fresh. The focus is on "learning, experimenting, and creating in every aspect of life," says Keller. That's true of travel, fitness, even technology. When it comes to acquiring stuff, says Berry, "the key criteria is what's going to be engaging and interesting rather than accumulating badges and status symbols."

...Connections are the ultimate renewable resource and the truest form of wealth. They don't go away when Wall Street goes south. So if you want to invest in your future, Berry urges, don't just shift more money into your 401( k ). Be sure to look at how engaged you are in your work. Ask yourself, What have I learned today? And if you don't like the answer, put yourself in a position to learn new things. Go to a meeting. It's simple, but it's the main way for connecting with people and opening up new doors. Also, spice up your leisure time. Don't live a one-track life. The average Influential is connected to seven groups or communities, which is twice as many as the average professional or affluent person. That means that they have better information, they're more interesting, and they have a deeply satisfying sense of connection.

(See? I don't just sit around & watch trash television all day!)

2003-02-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

Will this (see comments) work for me, too?

Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire

I am ashamed to admit that I was glued to Evan Marriott as Joe Millionaire. I can't wait to see the other women's reactions when they find out that Joe Millionaire is Joe Construction Worker.
His parents look like they got bank, though. Did you see their house in the finale??

I'm becoming a reality TV junkie! Help!!
It's like watching Jerry Springer with a plot line.

Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire

If I had known the bf was going to watch The Bachelorette finale alone on Wednesday, I would have stayed over to watch it with him.
I didn't think he was into it. I wasn't really into it since I had not been following the show.

Anyone else think that Trista could pass as Jenny Garth's older sister?

Bf loved the sprawling mansion they gave Trista to play in... I can imagine our phone conversations now (We actually discussed this last night on the way to dinner -- I'm not insanely paranoid) --

Phone Call 1 --
Bf: Honey, ABC picked me to be the next Bachelor!
Me: Haven't you been dating -me- for the past year??
Bf: Yes! I'm not looking for anyone else -- I love you. I just want to live rent free in a mansion! Wheee!!

Phone Call 3 --
Me: HOW COULD YOU PICK THAT UGLY-ASS SLUT, JANICE?
Bf: Well, I had to keep 8 girls & the others had bad attitudes...
Me: She wants to have a real relationship with you, DOOFUS!

Phone Call 5 --
Me: HOW COULD YOU KISS THAT SOPHIA CHICK?
Bf: It just looked like I kissed her! The angle of the camera...
Me: You only like her because she's a professional model! You simply -cannot- resist models, can you?!

Phone Call 7 --
Bf: We're going to South Beach for the weekend.
Me: Why are you still talking to me?
Bf: Honey, you're THE ONE for me. Sweetie, I don't want anyone else.

Phone Call 9 --
Me: What's the matter? Can't have serious conversations with your model chick?
Bf: For your information, that model is a chemical engineer!
Me: Right, & you were sitting in that hot tub with her & those other hoochie mommas for medicinal & therapeutic reasions, right?

Phone Call 9 --
Me: So, are you married to a model, yet? Living out your ultimate fantasy?
Bf: No, we didn't have enough in common but we -had- to make it look like we might get engaged for sweeps week.
Me: Poor baby, they -forced- you to grope that size 2 girl? ...Good enough to swap bodily fluids but not to marry, huh?
Bf: I didn't mean to hurt you. It just happened. Doing the show has only proven to me how much you really mean to me.
Me: Uh-huh. Right.

Maybe we should apply for Temptation Island 3 --

The provocative unscripted series TEMPTATION ISLAND returns, following four unmarried couples from across the United States, who will travel to an exotic locale to put their relationships to the ultimate test. Once they arrive, 15 eligible men and 15 eligible women will join the couples in their island adventure. The couples are then separated and spend an exhilarating two-week period choosing dream dates from the pool of fantasy singles. Over this period, they will each get the opportunity to answer questions about themselves and one another, and to find out if what they think they want is actually what they do want.

TEMPTATION ISLAND 3 is looking for unmarried couples and singles, aged 21-35, with no children, who are seeking to challenge the bonds of love and trust.

You can bet big money that bf is going to keep me far, FAR away from any Manhattan/Greenwich blond i-banker boys who rowed (crew) for their Ivy League alma maters.

Did I mention -- Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire Joe Millionaire?

2003-02-21T12:58:00.000-05:00

*LUST* *LUST* *LUST*

Garrard

*DROOL*

2003-02-20T14:05:00.000-05:00

The massive puddles & piles of snow make for an urban obstacle course, but the weather outside is wonderful.

I just came home to drop off the bucket to clean the cats this weekend.
Anyone have good advice on cat bathing?
(Cats don't like water & ours are not completely declawed.)

2003-02-19T19:50:00.000-05:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!

Magic 8 Ball: Spongebob

But where is Patrick StarFish?!?

2003-02-19T19:25:00.000-05:00

Bad news -- The Fellowship Committee wrote to notify me that they cannot offer me money to work overseas.

Worse news -- The Department of Labor wrote to notify me that I am being declined for unemployment insurance benefits.
My last day on the job was Dec 6th of 2002. I've been living off savings since then...
After 403b contributions, I had approximately $4K pre-tax for nine months of work (read: NIGHTMARE (& an extremely poor paying one, at that!)). Subtract another $3K for current year's IRA contribution.
COBRA (health insurance) is costing me over $300 per month. You do the math.

Did I mention the $40K I need for graduate school?
Or the $30K debt I still owe my parents for my undergraduate years?
Yeah.

2003-02-19T19:14:00.000-05:00

Eleventh Reason To Thank Your Lucky Stars That You're Not My Boyfriend --

I'm a decent cook, but I don't clean.
Or do laundry. ...Unless you really, really want shrunken sweaters & tightie pinkies (as opposed to tightie whities).

2003-02-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Ari's list --

Ten Reasons To Thank Your Lucky Stars That You're Not My Boyfriend --

1. I need to be fed. Constantly.
2. I am -cranky- when I'm hungry.
3. My back always needs massaging.
4. Most of my underwear is cotton & I -rarely- wear thongs. (Why is this a bad thing?)
5. I don't shave as much as I should.
6. My friends are predominantly male, smart as hell & funny.
7. I need a lot of attention.
8. I'm too blunt sometimes, question everything & speak my mind.
9. It's difficult to earn my trust.
10. Sex is not a priority.

This post was written on the Fujitsu Lifebook that my 1 year+ bf just gave me (2 hours ago) for my birthday.
I thank my lucky stars.

2003-02-19T14:22:00.000-05:00

This sounds cool & geeky -- Just my type of thing!

From: Joe

On Sun, 19 Jan 2003, David R wrote:

> I just saw a very funny staged reading of a play called _String
Fever_,
> involving romance, string theory, the biological clock, and Iceland.
> It's only 90 minutes long, stars Cynthia Nixon of Sex in the City,
and
> is very much worth seeing. It's going to be an actual play from
about
> Feb. 26 to March 23 at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, 549 W. 52 St.,
near
> 11th Ave., call (212) 247-4982 for information.

2003-02-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

We're not trying to be trendy -- Really!

Bf told me a couple of months ago that he went to look at engagement rings several times over the course of 2002...

Love in the Time of Bush
by Anna Jane Grossman

Dow is down, Love is up

Remember the days when single people were lording it over this town with their strappy sandals and $10 cocktails and saucy cynicism? No more. This Valentine’s Day, it’s a cold, cold time to be alone. For better or worse, Manhattan has gone marriage mad. Whether love really has come to town—or whether the cruel combination of frigid serial dating and a scary economy has simply driven New Yorkers to give up and say ‘I Do" when they don’t—the betrothal business is booming.

..."Dating just seems really stagnant now, instead of marriage seeming stagnant," said Rick Marin, author of Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor, who’s marrying lifestyle consultant Ilene Rosensweig.

"If you’re getting married, then it means you found true love," said Ms. Rosenswieg, "and that’s a new status thing."

Source -- This column ran on page 1 in the 2/17/2003 edition of The New York Observer.

What's wrong with $12 (inflation) cocktails & saucy cynicism? I still rather enjoy both, thank you very much!

...Further in the newspaper -- A voice of truth --

You Say ‘Toledo,’ I Say ‘Libido!’ Two Cuban Lovebirds Tell All

by Simon Doonan

Valentine’s Day is as good a time as any to contemplate the horrible dearth of happy unions in this unromantic, materialistic city of ours. Admit it: Even the depressive, weepy duos in The Hours are more happily conjoined than the average Manhattan couple. On Feb. 14, the majority of Manhattanites are far more likely to take out a hit on their S.O. (significant other) than buy him/her a gift. Don’t eat the chocolates in that heart-shaped box! Strychnine! Ricin!

..."Happy couples grow together," she said, "like vines with knotty bits." But what about your individuality? "You have to melt," replied Mr. Toledo, whose stupendously beautiful artwork can be seen all over this season’s Nordstrom fashion ads. "You can’t worry about your individuality."

Et voilà! Manhattanites with their insane focus on me! me! me! are doomed to an unmerged, conflicted isolation. It’s not their fault: The prevailing developmental notions of the second half of the 20th century encouraged people to move as far away from their parents as possible and embrace the treacherous cult of "independence" and the even sillier concept of physical and psychological Personal Space. The result? Many people in New York are unable to even yield to a date, never mind fall in love. Those of you who do make the scary leap into marriage spend the rest of your lives resisting the tendency to merge while defending your tragically precious "space" with any means available.

Source -- This column ran on page 23 in the 12/23/2002 edition of The New York Observer.

2003-02-18T14:37:00.000-05:00

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008H2N8/

Like, WTF?!

Richard

For that price, I want Prince William to deliver it to my doorstep!

2003-02-18T13:33:00.000-05:00

Huge snowball fight

I just got an email from someone proposing a huge snowball fight in Central Park at 5 PM today in the Columbus Circle promenade. "IM people. Call people on their cell phones. Text them. Bring your kids. Grab people on the streets." I can't help but remember that opening scene from Gangs of New York, but if perchance you're interested, email this guy with questions: san2_18_03@hotmail.com. (Or, I assume, just show up.)

Source -- Gawker 2.18.03

2003-02-18T13:29:00.000-05:00

'Joe Millionaire' Chooses Zora on Finale

"Joe Millionaire" concluded with Evan Marriott asking Zora, not Sarah, to go steady. She said yes, and they toasted their future with a glass of champagne.

Then they scored a million dollars from the show the "shocking twist" viewers had been promised for days.

...There, after acknowledging regrets over Marriott's grand deception, she told him, "the good news is, I really was turned off by the fact that you inherited all that money.

The million dollar "twist" was not so shocking. Unintentionally finding someone who is [sincerely] turned off by a huge inheritance is very shocking.

Zora really sounds like an angel, especially in this day & age of media mud slinging. Especially on the FOX network.

I'm glad she got $500K (If she & Evan split the million equally. (Which is only $250K post tax, my bf, Mr. Finance, points out.))

Sarah didn't win any money from FOX, but I predict a surge in the sales of her film "Novices in Knots" & foot-fetish video, "Dirty Soled Dolls". What do you think?

2003-02-18T13:01:00.000-05:00

There is a -beautiful- building across the street from my bf's apartment. Lovely architecture, -exquisite- details. However, since it is such an old building, there is an air conditioning unit protruding from each window. The snowstorm of 2003 delivered a perfect patch of snow to the top of each unit -- Like a paintbrush in the hands of a careful artist. Pretty.

Wish I had my camera. Kodak moment.

2003-02-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Today on The Other Half (Talk show on television -- All men, unlike The View's all female ensemble) --

A divorced man could be the man of your dreams. He's been there, done that & is not afraid of commitment/marriage.
Statistics -- 50% of marriages end in divorce & 75% of men remarry within 5 years.

How to Marry a Divorced Man by Leslie Fram --

Specific questions for gauging his emotional availability: Is he recycled goods or a keeper?
Tips on how to deal with the X in your lives: minimize, minimize, minimize.
Practical information about the legal and financial implications of his divorce: Will your hard-earned paycheck go toward his kids' braces?
Strategies for helping him shed his unresolved issues, rebuilding his capacity to love again -- and making him yours.

2003-02-17T14:07:00.000-05:00

Bf in background watching the Food Network while I test blog links --

Me: Oh, it's the Naked Chef. ...I don't think he's so great.
Bf: I don't think he's so naked!

Good point. What's up wit dat??

2003-02-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

8:30AM this morning --

Me in bed: What are you doing?
Bf in doorway: I'm going to shower. It's 8:30 & I'm supposed to meet David at 9, but I don't see how we're going to move anything in this snow.
Me: Haven't you spoken to him, yet?
Bf: He hasn't called me.
Me: Why don't you call him? The phone works both ways, you know...
Bf: ... Smartass. *Picks up his pillow from next to me & smothers me with it*

9:15 AM this morning. Bf has just gotten off the phone with David, who is over 50 years old --

Bf: Oh, you'll like this. David wants to go --
Me: *excited* Ghetto sledding?!
Bf: Yes, he wants to go sledding.
Me: Really?? Does he have a sled?
Bf: No, he's just going to use cardboard.
Me: He really does want to go ghetto sledding?!? Dude, that's hilarious!!

Ah, the joys of urban living. *grin*

Snowstorm 2003. Love it. The streets are quiet & covered in clean snow.

2003-02-17T00:55:00.000-05:00

A shout out to my fellow soul searcher & blogger buddy, Seliot.

Isn't anyone tryin to find me?
Won't someone please take me home
It's a damn cold night
Trying to figure out this life
Wont you take me by the hand
take me somewhere new
I dont know who you are
but I'm, I'm with you

-- Avril Lavigne, I'm With You

What I need is passion. Focus & direction. ...& some toilet paper -- Bf & I ran out this morning & forgot to get more during our afternoon outing. But I digress.

Bf thinks I should go into teaching. He knows how much I love learning & lively debates. ...& whole summers free to play! He might be onto something -- In the past, I have pictured myself as an absent-minded but well-intentioned nutty professor...

2003-02-17T00:29:00.000-05:00

On Valentine's Day, bf & I tried Michael's -- I'd been wanting to go for months. We had a great waiter & the best duck entree, but Norma's in Le Parker Meridian is still at the top of our list for brunch. & yes, we have seen people order the $6 (each) Krispie Kremes. In fact, we saw a table of four order a whole basket of them.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for bf's birthday. Today, I finally convinced him to schedule the massage I bought him last year at The Peninsula. He's a good boy -- Doesn't want me to spend any money on him because I don't make any. ...& soon, I shall be in great(er) debt due to more higher edumacation.

At least I'll have pretty notes. I went to buy some moss rose ink for my Waterman Phileas (My first fountain pen -- Comfortable, but one of my least favorite in design from the brand) & he offered to get me a MontBlanc Meisterstuck (his preference) fountain pen or a Aurora Talentum (my preference) fountain pen. I chose a red Talentum since I heard that MontBlanc's quality has gone down in recent years. I already had a MontBlanc ballpoint & was not impressed -- The rollerball is nice, though.

2003-02-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

The last two weekends with bf have been great, even though we haven't been doing anything particularly extraordinary -- No fancy dinners, luxurious vacations, etc. Perhaps a better indicator of our potential together -- We still enjoy each other's company in the context of everyday life. Some highlights --

1. Sharing Emack & Bolio's ice cream & root beer. The DJ was playing a Jamaican cover of one of my favorite songs -- Tracy Chapman's Baby Can I Hold You.

But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time you'd be mine

Bf actually recognized it & starting humming/singing the song with me. When we first started dating, I told him how I really wanted to see Tracy Chapman at the Beacon several years ago, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me. He said he would have gone with me -- He's a fan, too. I guess he wasn't just saying that to impress me. Yay!

2. We were at BlockBuster's looking for videos to rent. Last month, if you heard a blond boy suggest Good Girl, & heard a girl respond accompanied by the same blond boy mocking her, "Noooooo, Girl Girl!" That was probably us. I'm such not the Jennifer Aniston fan. Nor Brad Pitt.

This month's routine begins with blond boy asking, "Breast Men?" followed by both quietly & simultaneously (again, the boy in a mocking manner) screaming, "That's not what you think it is!"

Well, we're entertained. So there! Who asked you, anyway??

3. Bf offered to see Deliver Us from Eva with me, AND he enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm a huge LL Cool J fan -- I loved him in Deep Blue Sea, too.

Sharing, caring & good old-fashioned, affectionate teasing. That's what it's all about, people.

This might just work. We're starting to feel like a normal couple again. We might even return stronger!

We're not giving up without a good try. We're very, very good together sometimes.

2003-02-16T22:50:00.000-05:00

Although I've been looking forward to the return of sandals & short skirts season, I'm very excited about this tonight's sn*wstorm!

*GLEE*

Maybe I can convince bf to go out & build a snowman in the park with me.

2003-02-16T21:15:00.000-05:00

My prediction for Joe Millionaire finale -- Paul, the butler, is really the $50 millionaire.

2003-02-15T00:06:00.000-05:00

All Harvard, All the Time --

Harvard Personals Just Can't Be Matched

By Peter Carlson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Attention, men! Are you looking for women? Are you looking for beautiful women? Are you looking for beautiful, intelligent, graceful, sensuous single women who have "Grace Kelly-type looks" or "Michelle Pfeiffer-type good looks" or the "high cheekbones of Lady Di" or the "high cheekbones of Renee Russo" or the "stunning passionate eyes of Renee Russo"?

Well, I know where you can find these women. At Harvard.

To be specific, you can find them in the personal ads of Harvard Magazine, the official alumni publication of Harvard University.

...My first thought was: Why the heck didn't I apply to Harvard?

My second thought was: Well, never mind what my second thought was.

My third thought was: Do other Ivy League alumni mags have ads like this?

I asked the Ivy Leaguers, who are thick on the ground here at The Post, to loan me their alumni mags. None came close to Harvard's. The December issue of Yale's alumni mag had one lonely personal ad:

"NYC attorney, MIT grad, Catholic, 64. Dark brown hair, seeks educated, conservative woman. Loves the city, Poconos, and hates Alan Greenspan."

Which raises the question: Does a loathing for Alan Greenspan arouse the smoldering passions of Yale women?

Source -- Gawker 2.13.03

2003-02-14T23:24:00.000-05:00

YES!!

Everyone has the perverse mentality that a date evokes images of true love. A phone call from the member of the opposite sex is not a plea for physical contact or for true love. It may just be a call of hunger. ...we completely forget that spending time with someone you don't know can be fun, rewarding, and could even lead to the big "F" - friendship. We don't live in a Seinfeld-esque world. Dates can just be learning experiences.

Source -- Paul -- Fifteen Minutes: Blind Date: An FM Social Experiment

Most of my friends are male & too many times when I go out with one or more of them to enjoy a meal together as platonic friends, my parents think I'm cheating on my bf. My parents are so imaginative that they think I am sleeping around! ...Not that they think I'm attractive (physically & especially personality-wise) enough to string along that many bfs at one time! In fact, they are often surprised when I can keep one bf at a time for more than a month, although I'm usually the one who ends the relationships. Where is the logic??

2003-02-13T13:50:00.000-05:00

Anyone read this?

Harvard MBA Rachel Greenwald's THE PROGRAM: How to Find a Husband After 35: Fifteen Action Steps Using Marketing Tactics Learned at Harvard Business School, presenting an "innovative marketing program designed to help older women find a husband," based in part on serminers she conducts, to Nancy Miller at Ballantine, with Zachary Schisgal editing, in a major deal for high six-figures, for publication in January 2004, by Amanda Urban at ICM (world).

Source -- Gawker 2.13.03