WTF: Spears addition

Today’s not really news, but apparently easier to stomach than Iraq headline:
Britney’s 16 yr old sister Jamie Lynn is preggers.

The Spears’ Family is officially a multi-car pile-up traffic accident for the world to ogle and waste their time one (me included). I’m actually sad (well sad mixed with slightly judgmental) for Jamie Lynn. She is 16, a Nickelodeon role model/star for the tween set and unfortunately the baby sister of Poptart (God I love that word!) Britney. This turn of events for Lil’Spears is not a good no matter how you spin it or how much OK Magazine pays you for the story. Add to that her sister’s major paparazzi porn f-ed up life and this situation will soon be eclipsing all the other non-news of celebrity airheads. Obviously Jamie Lynn is set for money and childcare, but what little privacy or career she had is probably going bye-bye forever.

I'm sure thousands upon thousands of teens have sex and get pregnant every year, so in that the Lil’Spears has company. Here is my nastier judgey part, not many of those millions are also major tween stars with their own lines of toys, clothes and a major influence over young women in the US. Now after realizing, “Hey, this is jacked up.” Lil’Spears tells kids to just say no to pre-marital sex! It’s not he premarital sex part that’s the problem, at least not in my little moral oral mind. The real problem is that Lil’Spears is 16 AND apparently didn’t learn the whole Birth Control lesson from her big sister. She is lucky she didn’t get crotch crickets or some other fun STD along with the pregnancy.

Merry Christmas Entertainment News Providers! You are set well past New Years with this Spears family antics. Now let’s hope something better or at least more socially relevant comes along in 2008!

Guilty TV Pleasure...I'm such a Geek!

I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm excited for a cheesy reality show that is a revival of on of mu childhood favorites. American Gladiators! I used to religiously watch that show in it's 1990's heyday. The strange costumes, silly challenges and the massive obstacle course just enthralled me...but then I got older and ostensibly cooler (relatively speaking of course) and the show disappeared. Now I may have to watch at least the first few episodes just for flash back geek giggles. Hulk Hogan (I also loved the WWF shows when I was a kid) is host, the Gladiators are still crazy huge and I'm sure the cheese will be there in bulk. This just reinforces what a major geek I am.

Christmas Music from Outer Space!

I found a link to an unusual Christmas Song as I was clicking away at random entertainment blogs. The song was described as half Christmas card/half intergallactic cry for help. Chiron Beta Prime may well become a holiday staple, if for no other reason than it makes me giggle! Enjoy!

Bacon Cookies?

I am a big fan of bacon, but I'm very sceptical about a Bacon Chocolate-Chip Cookie with Maple Glaze. I mean sweet and savory are usually a good combo, but does bacon really make the cookies better, or just ever so slightly more artery clogging. I think it's fair to say I will not be adding these to my Christmas Cookie catalogue anytime soon. How about you?

Music Makes the Holidays Better!

I love Christmas…and actually Hanukkah (primarily the Dreidel song)...music. I’m sure there is some bastion of Kwanzaa songs somewhere, but I have yet to hear any of it in stores or on the radio. Most songs and artists I can deal with, I may not buy the Mariah Carey Christmas CD, but a few of the songs are passable as background music for the Holidays. Of course this time of year makes me embrace my favorites and dread the other tripe and crap variations of holiday classics.

My all time favorite CD, the one I force my family to listen to so much that my Mom has to commander the CD changer is John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. Oh my God that CD is fantastic! So many memories of Christmas past and enjoyable tunes for Christmas Present and Future to enjoy! I also hit the Mannheim Steamroller CD’s pretty hard, nothing beats often trippy (Carol of the Bells anyone?) electronica and orchestral takes on Christmas. An added bonus is it drives my Brother’s nuts, so it’s got to be played if for no other reason than perverse sibling antagonism over the Holidays.

Mind you I now start my annual dread of my all time least favorite song…Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. THIS SONG NEEDS TO GO AWAY!!! My own Grandmother, may she rest in peace, had a love hate relationship with the song. Her dark and ribald sense of humor got a kick out of a song about a drunken Grandma getting taken down by Santa, but on the other hand she was a Grandma and thought the song lacked some level of respect. I hate this song. It’s inane and crueler in nature than I’m ok with this time of year. It also gets stuck in my head. Even as I type this blog, the chorus of the song is playing in my head and I am not okay with that!

As always I’m on the look out for good Holiday music. This year it was a lot of old school 50’s and 60’s swing interpretations by Sinatra and others. Plus of course the Chipmunk Song, a song I forgot I loved until I heard it again. My wish for all is happy listening to Holiday or whatever music you’d like this year…and if you can go out and buy John Denver and the Muppets: A chirtsmas Together, I figure all of humanity should listen to that one.

Politics and Religion Don't Mix!

Is it just me, or do others find the strange fixation with Mitt Romney vs. Mike Huckabee and the Christian vs. Mormon media discourse a bit odd? Until Nightline and CNN and a few others ran stories fueled by the Mitt Romney Religion speech I had no idea flocks or Evangelicals try to save Mormon souls or how many people feel Mormons are a cult. I also had no idea that many Evangelicals do not consider Mormon’s Christians at all. The Mormon Faith is shrouded in secrecy about a lot of their tenets and I guess their founding is a bit suspect to many, but still they are big fans of JC. I’m sure a few even sport WWJD do bracelets along with any WWJSD beliefs they have. The strange media and campaign twists this whole discussion has caused seems fascinating to me. Huckabee is now, “The Christian Candidate” and playing up his past as a Baptist minister. Romney has been forced to make speeches reminding people he is religious and a peachy keen candidate and that the Mormon element is minimal.

Personally, I have never met and unfriendly or crazy Mormon. I’ve had a number of Mormon friends and encounters with Mormons and none of them have ever tried to convert me or acted in any way but pleasant and upstanding. Most don’t drink and are family oriented and they amaze me with their ability to avoid caffeine, which is the only substance I can check off as an addiction for me. I’ve had more unpleasant encounters with Evangelicals trying to convert me or attack my belief system and twisting some hateful language in my direction for my refusal to bend to their will.

Mind you neither Huckabee nor Romney holds a snow balls chance of ever getting my vote. They are Republicans, and not the kind cooperative Republican I could support. On the petty this-shouldn't-really-matter-but-it-does side, could you imagine a President Huckabee without giggling jut a little? Plus Ken Doll hair Romney has more going against him then people fear of Mormons…he has Ken Doll hair and his wife is Barbie and he is totally getting B**ch slapped for flip flopping on immigration and abortion. Hopefully neither of these men make it to the big show…but then again maybe Hillary or Obama would have an easier time beating them than Mayor 911. Man I wish we could move past the primaries already, this election feels like it’s been going on forever!

STRESS Take 2

I have stress, plenty of it as I have ranted before, but I realized that really none of my stress is Holiday related. At least not directly Holiday related. I love the time that starts with Thanksgiving leads to Christmas and wraps up with New Years! I love getting people presents, attending parties, getting Christmas Cards (but never writing them…I should work on that) and of course going back to the frosty lily pad of WI to be with family. My Christmas shopping is down to just minor stuff, my flight is booked and was only kind of expensive in stead of killer, I have a nice manageable amount of Holiday parties to attend, presents to look forward too and best of all every member of the Frogger Family will be home…and that is a rare event indeed! I'm starting to think this makes me an oddity at this time of year when almost everyone else is deep in Holiday heck.

Did I mention that I still have stress, and plenty of it? Yet somehow the Holiday’s do not mess with my head all that much. Buying presents does highlight the BIGGEST stressor, but I’ve found that can be dealt with too. Other aspects of my life mess with my stresses a lot more than the Holidays. A few years ago I had the honest discussion with myself…why are you stressing over the Holidays? You can’t make stress just go poof, but you can reframe it, so over the Holidays I just reframe it! Stress is life, but this brief window of time in life is supposed to highlight love, giving, thankfulness and family, so I focus on that and it helps put the stress in perspective. Let’s face it; all of my stressors will be around for a while, so freaking out at this moment will just add to their power. I’m no Super Zen FroggerGirl and I fail at this positive thinking sometimes, but that’s to be expected, because I’m human and we are equally good at failing as we are at succeeding. So long as I keep trying that means I’m moving forward and that eventually some stress will fade and other will come-up.

Now the key for me is just remembering to keep this frame of mind when the Holidays are over. I think I can do that, but there will surely be lapses thanks to good old human nature! There are times I wish this kind of thing wasn't so exhausting!

Would this work?

As I have said before I have a fondness for advice columns. They are my daily news guilty pleasure, akin to the horoscope for daily fun with a dash of usefulness if your open to let it in. A a staple of the advice column is the single women complaint columns. You know what I'm talking about because they are in everything from Savage Love to Dear Abby...the painful, "Where are the decent men" letters or my favorite letters the, "I'm so fantastic, yet I can't seem to find anyone who appreciated my fantasticness! What to do?"

Now, on more than one occasion as a response the single woman dating complaints letter, Dear Margo has given a piece of advice that seems very quaint, old school, and would have worked a decade ago...maybe...but would probably not work now. If you want to meet quality men go to a hardware store on a Friday night. Ummm, maybe it's just me, but I would feel VERY sketchy if I went to troll for guys in a hardware store. For one thing, why the hell waste my Friday night in a Home Depot? I have no real home improvement needs myself and feel that any contrived guy trolling is counter productive and not really helpful for me. Another issue is a lot of guys in a hardware store are married picking up supplies for weekend work. According to Dear Margo there are loads of single male homeowners trying to find Ms. Right in the hardware store. Apparently Margo is NOT living in the DC metropolitan area. Maybe in Iowa this tactic works, but I think it's odd advice.

BTW, despite the Frog Pond reference FroggerGirl didn't write this letter. I may have moments of lament over my single status, but so far I've been able to deal with it without writing Dear Margo...plus the author is like 4 years younger than me. If she thinks it's tough now, just wait a few years! ;-)

Why do I let TV bother me?

This is a question that keeps me up at night…in the figurative sense, "Why do I let TV bother me?". I watch programs and then I wonder, “Why do I let them stress me out or depress me?” Most of programs are scripted TV, so it’s totally imagined fake people acting out scenarios, or it’s Oprah or a silly reality program, that probably should be taken with a grain of salt before I let it impact my psyche.

Last night is a perfect example: Grey’s Anatomy. WTF people, this season had better get back on track after the WGA Strike, because I am not as attached to the show so far this season as I was in Season 1-3. I still love the idea and my fond memories of Grey’s past keep me tuning in, but this season has felt more like it was toying with my emotions (and Yes, I realize TV is an inanimate object/presence that cannot be targeting specifically me, I’m not completely crazy). It’s a sign of good TV when people get absorbed and believe these actors, but if a show messes with me too much I have to stop watching. ER was a casualty of this phenomenon. Too much useless blood and drama (bed hopping) made it impossible for me to watch with any devotion. Any characters I liked died or left so the show fell off my radar.

Last night’s Grey’s was a blood and depression fest. I spent most of the episode hoping to NOT see blood and ick mixed with the emotional angst. Overall, I was pleased that some of the story lines I was most pissy about had some resolution (George and Izzie anyone?) but overall I am still nervous that after loosing Addison and some of the other characters loosing focus this show could drive me away (or start seriously sucking)…and I don’t want that. For as much as TV shouldn’t control me, I still love this show and can forgive it messing with my head a little…so long as happiness or positive story lines occur at least once in a while. My fingers are crossed for the rest of the season!

Painful (literally) life lessons

I have decided I must have a masochistic streak buried deep in my subconscious. I seem to have an innate ability to harm myself, usually in minor ways, due to actions that I just don’t think through or seem to happen. Maybe I need to apply some Buddhist Mindfulness into my world. I have in the past year and a half sliced my hand open and needed stitches while slicing a bagel, which to be fair was not as stupid as it sounds, and was very uncomfortable. I have messed up any number of muscles and joints thanks to not paying attention while walking/exercising. I almost killed myself in heels in my work bathroom more than once thanks to marble floors…well the list goes on and there is a lot of stupid/thoughtless incidents not worth the prolonged chronicle.

This week’s edition…I had to get gussied up for a professional situation and the only way my suit slacks (or trousers, take your pick) looked right was in a certain pair of very cute, perfectly deep red, pointy toed, a bit too high for comfort stiletto heels. They looked fabulous, but by the time I had been in them for the few hours of my professional engagement, well, my feet hated me. Lovely blisters and painful calf muscles complained for days. I have no one to blame but myself, but damn it those shoes made the whole outfit! A smarter person would have found a better way to make the outfit work, or maybe had the foresight to get the trousers hemmed…but in this case I did not have said foresight to think the situation through. This will now be added to my mental list of Self-Inflicted Things to be Avoided! Maybe one day the lessons on the list will stick and I’ll stop inflicting harm…but I doubt it if it's Cute Shoes vs. Unsatisfactory Outfit, the shoes always win.