Yeah well

so there.

This Just In

AP, London, 12:47 GMT--ROWLING TAKES BOOK 7 IN A WHOLE NEW DIRECTION

Famed and pretty-haired Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has revealed that she's tired of the whole Voldemort thing. "Really, I love this kid. I can't kill him off. And his friends? Well, what's life without your friends?"

The final book will be mostly about candy and sitting around by the fire with your cat(s).

"'[title deleted to protect the innocent]' will be something butterscotchy, or maybe a nice hot chocolatey drink," the lassie is currently claiming.

"Really, who doesn't love some chocolately delight?" she smiles, and stares off out the window.

"What will happen to Voldemort?" she says, repeating a green reporter's question while the others glare at him. "Oh, I don't know, maybe a retirement home or a clerk's job at Tesco. Any ideas?"

Children the world round reacted with befuddlement, then shrugs.

"I like butterscotch," said Southhampton tike Isobel Tannings. "I can live with this."

You may finally go about your Christmas business

"A Christmas Story" was FINALLY on AMC this weekend. It's taken forever, just going to show how our country is totally going to heckville in a handbasket, if I can't see "ACS" on cable till 9 days before the birth of our Lord.

(OK, so He was really born in April, and the Roman Catholics euhemerized the date from the pagans to say "LOOK! WE have a solstice holiday too! Hey, nice tree ..." Stop trying to ruin my fun.)

Maya has arrived!

8:03 pm last night, 6 pounds even, everybody doing well! W00t!!!

Teeny little girl
Long-awaited, goopy start
What a life to come!

Congrats and mucho mucho love to Chris and Audrey.

Waiting

waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting waiting



with bated breath

The Man on the Street

If I'm walking to work at the appropriate time, I always pass the same man heading down the street. His face is slack and bespectacled; his eyes look worn, sad and empty. I could describe him further, but the things I would say have led me to wonder: How would I feel to be described in that way? To have my shape be the first thing people say to indicate who I am?

So I pass him and wonder where he's coming from and where he's going to. Today he was wearing a knit hat and jacket, which made me realize it had been a long time since I saw him last. He has the look of someone struggling through an unpleasant or meaningless life, who is only present enough anymore to drag himself through it every day. Like he's taking care of an ailing mother or wife who does nothing but Ask and Berate and Ask Some More. In fact, the sadness in his eyes seems to be more the echo of sadness, given way now to emptiness and distant memory.

I hope I'm wrong.

*snrrx*

Have you ever been so tired you feel like you've been sandwiched between two wet mattresses all day, covered in stretched-out gum, your innards drained of every iota of energy that ever might have existed inside you, like a Guinness factory after a visit by Colin Farrell?

And that's just from having a party last night. Imagine if I worked down at the docks.

Just don't spill your beer on my pants

Last week I was walking past a restaurant and heard "Southern Cross" playing. It made me think of songs that you just start singing and sit-dancing to when your friends are around, songs that make you lean toward your comrades when you sing them, songs that everyone knows the words to whether they actually liked the stuff or not. Usually they're songs you learned because your older brother and his friends were listening to them when you were a kid, or they came out when you first reeeeally liked a boy/girl in high school and that song just spoke to you, or when you were in college and had started drinking.

So I trolled friends to see what songs they thought fell into this category, and here are the results, for your jamming pleasure.

PAUL

• Roxanne
• Shout (from Animal House)
• You Spin Me Round Round

and personal favorites:

• Burning Down The House
• Don't You Forget About Me

KIRT:

• It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).
  Don't ask me to remember all those words, though. I never did get all of that, so I just mumble along and occasionally shout out something like "LEONARD BERNSTEIN!"
• Psycho Killer by Talking Heads
• Rio or Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran.

and just because it's fun to sing cheesy songs...

• Open Arms or Oh Sherrie by Journey
• Photograph or Rock of Ages by Def Leppard

When you're drinking, a lot of bad music sounds great, so this could go
on forever. I'm having fun bouncing around Wikipedia, though. Remember
"Peek-a-Boo" by Siouxsie and the Banshees?

BLAKE

• Everybody Wants to Rule the World
• In the Air Tonight
• Black Water
• Born in the USA
• Sweet Home Alabama
• American Pie (but only the chorus, I can never remember the verses)

KEV (a karaoke king of Ozzieland!)

• Come On Eileen
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Ke-San (If you are an Australian)
• Billy-Jean
• Shoop Shoop Diddy Wop Cumma Cumma Wang Dang
• Hotel California
• Summer of 69
• Living on a Prayer
• Cocaine
• Sweet Child of Mine
• You Shook Me All Night Long
• ABBA Waterloo, SOS, Rock Me, Dancing Queen, etc. etc.
• Twist and Shout
• Twistn. Shake it shake it shake shake it, Baby (the blues Brothers)
• Am I ever going to see your face again? (another Aussie classic)
• Sweet Home Alabama (if you come from there)
• Rock Lobster
• American Pie
• Jack and Diane
• Black Velvet
• We are the Champions
• 2 out of 3 aint bad
• Paradise by the Dashboard Lights
• New York New York
• I did it My Way
• Time Warp
• Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
• Imagine
• Rebel Yell & White wedding
• Raw hide
• Proud Mary
• I'm a believer
• More than a feeling
• I was made for loving you, Baby.

CHRIS H
The Golden Girls theme song is the only song I sing while
drinking with friends.

Dana
The first time I ever got drunk, I sang that "Radio Ga-Ga" song
(can't remember the exact title). It was on MTV and I sang it at the
top of my lungs over and over again, annoying everyone at the party.

JEN M
Has anyone mentioned The Devil Went Down To Georgia?
Que Sera Sera? Or S-a-t-u-r-d-a-y Night by the Bay City Rollers?

KARLA
YMCA - Village People!

And to close the night out, Blake once again
The whole 'songs to drink by' email chain has been extremely enjoyable for me....bringing up loads of old and very funny memories.

There's another one...'Memory'

Snow

Gideon stopped and looked at the tree. She didn't know what had made her put the orange donkey at the top, but there it was. "The outdoor tree," her mother had called it. "Why was that?" asked Simon. Gideon looked at him while she brushed snow off her mittens. "Maybe because it's outside," she said. "Ah," he said, never noticing the look on her face. She wondered if his glasses would steam up if she kissed him.

So tie-tie

Probably no one (of the 5 regular readers) is even checking here anymore, but here I am, tired and busy, which is good stuff. Having a Christmas party this weekend. More than 20 people! W00t!

Tidbits of the past few weeks:

• Daniel Craig is hot stuff
• Dumbledore taught Transfiguration; does that mean he was an animagus?
• Old Navy fleece is crap
• In Florida, there was a crafte faire
• Otter is on Prozac
• The other cats are not
• Cornell alumni need to vote for trustees this spring
• I'm off to buy boughs and other Noelly things.