"you don't know shit because you've never been there"*

I can appreciate what these folks try to do, but sometimes they just take their zeal and go too far. TV Turnoff Week is an admirable attempt to get the American public to see how much television they actually watch. Running around turning off public TVs with TV-B-Gone remotes, however, is a little too extreme. They say that they're reclaiming public space for the public. Fair enough, but switching off the baseball/basketball/football game at the local sports bar is not a way to make much of the population sympathetic to your cause. People go to sports bars to drink and WATCH SPORTS. That's the entire point. The public space there is one dedicated to television watching. It would be like rolling into the Adbusters office with a bunch of portable TVs and turning them on.

I realize I have a pro-TV bias because of my research interests. Television studies lends itself to, well, watching television. TV Turnoff Week is not going to get me any closer to finishing my dissertation. I just wish that folks would avoid the big sweeping generalization that All TV Is Bad.

The New York Times Magazine had an interesting article this week on the complex narrative structure of much of prime time television. It is a cognitive psych take on a theory that one writer put forth in the same publication about 10 years ago: Prime time television is the new novel. Yes, that sounds just as reductionist as proclaiming All TV Is Bad, but is something to ponder.

*c'mon, you know you know that lyric (especially you, Toby...)

Friday started at 5 a.m., with a long flight on Suckwest Airlines. (Why, may I ask, is that the only carrier that has not allowed me to check in online or at the kiosk because I'm "have the same name as someone on the watch list"?) I hate their shitty service and inconvenient boarding procedure. I'll pay an extra $30 for an assigned seat.

We got the flowers (oh the flowers!) taken care of. The florist really liked my decisions, and it was quick and painless. We also got our marriage license, the cake ordered, and the menu finalized. It was a productive but stressful day with both of our mothers in tow. Saturday I had my final (!) fitting for the dress and we flew back home after an hour-long delay.

It's so nice to be at home by ourselves for a change.

declaration of teetotaling and a beauty product roundup

I feel like a heel for missing these guys last night at the Khyber, but I can feel impending illness coming on. The cure for that is not to be drinking with this fine gentleman on a school night. The last time it happened, the next morning was ugly. Anyway, this week is going to be a Sober Week, as I overdid it several times last week, and I really don't need to be gaining any beer weight this close to the wedding.

So today, I start on all the work I was supposed to do this weekend. I feel like I have already gotten off to a wonky start, since I ran out of my usual (unscented) body lotion with SPF 15, so I put on some of this Origins Calm to Your Senses Body Souffle. It has the "soothing" scents of lavender and vanilla. Instead, I now smell like Old Lady. The only way to make it more prominent would be to throw on some Estee Lauder lipstick in the white, ridged tubes. That stuff reeks of being elderly.

Now off to be meta by analyzing the statistical techniques in an article about reducing statistics anxiety in graduate students. I know how to pick 'em...

second thoughts

Yeah, maybe the wedding mix CD favor isn't the best idea after all. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve. (Damn, if only I had actually worked on making that 7 inch single as was originally planned...)

not everything is about baseball

I was hanging out with J.Mo last night, and he tells me about how he and his BF had received some movie from Netflix that has just been festering on their TV, never to be watched. J.Mo's BF then exclaimed, "This is going to become our Nashville!" in reference to the DVD that has been atop my player for almost three months.

So yeah, maybe I should watch that shit.

oh, please

A-Rod rescues a kid from being hit by a truck. On Newbury Street. In Boston. And the kid happens to say "He's my favorite Yankee!" I call bullshit. That kid probably took one look at Slappy Rodriguez and told him "Eff off, ball slapper!"

This smacks of that time when Tom Cruise was "rescuing" real-life car crash victims, folks on burning boats, etc. on a nearly-weekly basis.

take the good with the bad

The good:
1. BoSox get their rings today. I get to watch the ceremony since I don't have to be at school until 4:30. Tedy Bruschi is throwing out the first pitch
2. Wedding invitations have been sent out, which is one less thing to worry about.
3. We have settled on a honeymoon destination. Now that we have the "where," we need to figure out the "when."
4. I am obsessed with Green Day's American Idiot.

The bad:
1. I have way too much schoolwork. I just want the next three weeks to be over with quickly and painlessly.
2. When one thing gets done with this damn wedding, four other problems/tasks/issues pop up in its place.
3. The ankle is now in some sort of splint/brace contraption for the next 6 weeks. If that does not work, I may have to have surgery after the wedding.
4. I just bought the Green Day record less than a month ago. That shit has been out for at least six months. I have given up on trying to be cool anymore. Plus, now my taste in music resembles that of a 15-year-old boy.

Even in defeat, we still have our obnoxious sense of humor. Soxaholix keeps me sane.

Opening Day!

I'm wearing my BoSox sweatshirt and am waiting. Here comes six months of me and Onlybrody tiptoeing around his warped sense of reality. (Seriously, a Philly burbs born-and-bred Yankee fan? C'mon, dude...) I kid because I love.

The sad part is that I know I'm going to totally get teary-eyed during whatever bombastic intro ESPN2 throws at us.

We have to defend our World Series Championship! I can't believe I get to say that...

Let's hope this doesn't get rained out.