Delete.

How pissed am I over Bush's stem cell bill veto?

Don't Save Screech's House.

...sometimes people MIND-BOGGLE me.

Remember Saved by the Bell and Screech? Well, now Screech a.k.a., the "comedian" and "actor" Dustin Diamond, wants us to pay $15 for a dumb-ass t-shirt so he can SAVE HIS HOUSE, a.k.a. MANSION.

I was watching The View (yes, really) and Dustin Diamond seriously came on the show and was all, "woe is me, help me save my house because I'm BROKE, blahblahblah." What, and the rest of us WORKING CLASS aren't broke? Why don't you just buy a house you can AFFORD like the rest of us?

For the basic story, read the article (and the scathing comments) here. Or you can read his boo-hoo side at his website (I feel dirty even linking there).

At first I was, like, what the hell? Then, for a moment, I pitied him (because he and his girlfriend lost their only child last year). Now I'm the point of, whoah! The nerve of celebrities, you know? They feel so entitled. They SCREW UP, and want us, the little people, to bail them out. The part that really burns me is how he tries to play it like HE'S the little guy getting screwed over. Um, no, you're not, guy. You got in over your head and now want to act like it's everyone else's fault.

I love this part: "'Let's face it, if he can't find the time to work on a mortgage for a famous celebrity, how will he handle the average person?'"

ENTITLEMENT.

I DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR YOU, DUSTIN DIAMOND.

The man has no pride. I mean, how embarrassing to come on national TV and BEG like a dog in a manger.

If his "situation" happened to us "normal" people, we'd be screwed. No one would bail us out. And he should be no different, because if you buy his t-shirt, don't delude yourself into thinking he cares one bit about you or would help you out of a pinch. That's the part to remember, if you start to feel sorry for or empathetic with him. One moment he's saying he's just like us; the next moment he wants to use his celebrity. I'm not buying. You have problems just like us? Then deal with them just like us. Not making any money being a stand-up comedian? Then realize YOU AREN'T FUNNY and move on. Also? Dustin Diamond doesn't get to label his OWN t-shirts "potential cult-classics." He doesn't get to be the determiner of that.

Ah, I love the smell of righteous indignation in the morning. Next thing you know, Urkel will want help paying for his yacht!

But, seriously now, kids. What a CLIFFHANGER!!! I hate those. I am biting my nails over here! Will we have to wait until next season to find out if ZACK saves the day for Screech again? Will Screech hear a lecture from Mr. Belding about the importance of saving money? Will Lisa Turtle finally go with him to the spring dance?!? Tune in next week (or year?!?), on Saved by the Bell Screech's House.

And Christ! Could people just GET OVER IT and let gay people marry ALREADY?

iTune: Get Set Go--"Wait"
iMood: aggravated

My Webcam Obsession.

During the school year, I was obsessed with watching a webcam of Pete's Pond in Africa, through National Geographic. I'd watch for elephants, zebras, crocodiles, etc. to come to the pond. It was so exciting! I know it's basically just like watching any wildlife show, but it was real time. The webcam was taken off for the rainy season, and I could no longer watch it. : (

But now National Geographic has a webcam that allows you to watch grizzly bears come to a pond in Alaska! Awesome. I haven't seen any bears yet, though. : (

There are tons of animal webcams out there. Panda bears are on the cover of National Geographic this month--so cute!--and you can watch panda beasr, cheetas, gorillas, kiwis, TIGERS, etc. webcams at the National Zoo's website. Baby tigers! I want to squeeze them.

iTunes: Sophie Milman--"Back Home to Me"
iMood: anxious

Summer Reading.

Latest novel read: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank.

The type of women who read chick-lit can relate to chick-lit, and that's why the genre is so enjoyable and popular--because there's a lot of us singletons! Although people outside the genre might think it's "silly," it's really not. Or if if it is, then I guess most Western women's lives are silly. Sometimes women need to read about people who can be them or their friends and also realize that they aren't the only ones who experience the ordinary kinds of embarrassments, failures, and heartbreaks. We can't all be Scarlett O'Hara and Jane Eyre.

Portions of The Girls' Guide made me smile--amusedly or ruefully--because I understood how the narrator felt or I've been there. The Girls' Guide isn't the most successful chick-lit out there, for me, but it's mostly enjoyable. My main problem is that two chapters threw me completely out of the novel. Most of the book is a first-person POV of the character Jane. But then there is one chapter from the first-person POV of a character who has had no presence--or even a mention--in the novel at that point, and then she--and all of the strangers she brought with her--just disappear for the rest of the novel. I was left thinking, "what just happened here?" Another chapter is a second-person POV, which I dislike anyway, that is completely random and, again, "wtf?"

Also, Jane doesn't end up with the man I prefer! Urgh! And the synopsis on the book-flap is pretty much not-at-all what the book is about!

But I think it has a good "lesson" for women. Women are always told we have to follow certain "rules" of dating, even in modern times! Jane went her own way for most of her adult life, but then she got discouraged about dating, like we all do, and started to buy into "the rules." But eventually she realizes, hello!, men prefer her just the way she is, without those silly high school games.

So, yeah, it's enjoyable, but not recommendable. Go read Bridget Jones's Diary be Helen Fielding instead.

Three latest Oprah's Book Club books read: The Meanest Thing to Say, The Best Way to Play, and The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby.

Um. I still can't quite figure out why these books are on an adult's reading list. I guess they would be good for parents to read to their children, because they do offer up some alternate solutions to dealing with problems, such as bullies.

Latest memoir read (that is also part of Oprah’s Book Club): Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir. If this book were fiction, everyone would say it’s so unbelievable! But it’s a true story, and once again truth is stranger than fiction.

Stolen Lives is a memoir of Malika Oufkir, who was adopted by the King of Morocco when she was a young girl—not because her parents were dead or because they wanted her to be adopted, but because the king wanted his daughter to grow up with Malika. The king dies and his son takes the throne and raises Malika. When she is nineteen, her real father (Malika has been living with her real parents for several years at this point) tries to stage a coup de taut and assassinate the king. The attempt fails. Malika’s father is executed for this offense, and Malika, her mother, five siblings, and two servants are then put in prison for twenty years. One of her brothers was only three-years-old at the time of their imprisonment.

This memoir has a lot of promise, but I don’t think it lives up to it. The writing is merely decent. Background isn’t given, details are inconsistent, etc.

Also? As a girl, Malika was a spoiled brat (having lots of things isn’t what makes her spoiled, it’s her attitude) and she continues to be incredibly self-absorbed as a prisoner and adult, and at times I found her irritating and unsympathetic as a narrator. She barely acknowledges the sacrifice of two faithful servants who volunteered to go into exile with the family. She also barely comments on how the rest of the family cope and feel about their imprisonment—or what happens to them when they are finally released. I think two are mentioned to have had children, but that’s it.

And she’s so vain. During their imprisonment, she comments about how one of her sisters is “letting herself go” in terms of looks (in this case, meaning she’s getting fat), and they give this girl a nickname that has to do with fatness. They barely receive any food during their imprisonment, scraps that they have to divide between nine people, and Malika makes this sister go on a diet! Isn’t that outrageous? I v. much doubt that this sister was in any way overweight.

I also found her blasé attitude toward suicide troubling. I’m not talking about the various suicide attempts of the family during their imprisonment. I’m talking about how as an eight-year-old (and later again at fourteen), pampered little princess, Malika tried to kill herself. An eight-year-old shouldn’t even know what suicide is, let alone attempt it!

Ugh. So, yes, while Malika went through a horrible ideal and is admirable for surviving it (and so are the rest of the prisoners, which she tends to forget), I don’t like her as a person all that much.

iTune: Yo-Yo Ma--"Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude"
iMood: tired