Couch Tomato

Hope your birthday was good one Aikim. What exactly is the big bang theory premise? There's a block of CBS comedys that I know a lot of people watch that I have just never seen. This is one of them. Maybe I'll catch on netflix one of these days. Sorry about your friend's family. Sadly, not very surprising. TGIF

Nice photo. It just hit me that whatever he's going to be working on during the gala's old date might not actually air that night. I'm a little slow on the uptake some times. So I did watch X Factor and I thought 4 or 5 people there tonight were truly talented. Three made me choke up a little. Paula seemed rational. Simon, not such a caricature of himself and the other two judges were great. The joke auditioners seemed to know they could not sing. My only issue is that the older people who auditioned seemed like jokes. Hope they bring on some talented people over 40. Thank goodness I have uverse. I think I taped 8 shows tonight. Aikim what a big boy!! So cute. Lucky my mom watches DWTS..for some reason I don't like it while I love SYTYCD. I did ask her to call me to see Nancy Grace. Can't believe she's doing this show. I saw Chaz at the end of the show...he is very light on his feet!

So Brad Pitt is tramping all over my town for the premier of Moneyball. The premier is at the beautiful Paramount Theater where Clay did one of his Xmas shows. So I'm trying to figure out if I will watch X factor. On the one hand that girl on that commercial that they keep showing over and over is screaming and making my head hurt while they all stand and applaud. On the other hand I saw this extended clip of this one young girl and she was truly good. It's so weird to see Simon and Paula in a show that's not idol. I bet the media pits one against the other. Wonder who will win the ratings war although I guess one will end before the other begins. I guess we'll hear soon what Clay's gig is since the gala was in October. I'm really really curious.

Happy 29th Anniversary Aikim and wishing you many many more. and thanks for the daily laugh... Happy Birthday LdyJ. Scarlett LOL...

So you know how you just get busy with life and kinda lose touch with folks. I haven't seen or talked to my lurker friend in a good 5 months. Last week I just emailed her and said I miss you. We tried to plan dinner but this week too busy and I said maybe next week. Well I got on the train yesterday after work and she was on there. I felt someone come up behind me and we just hugged like fools on the train. And where's my Perusing one. I thought about her last week when I had porridge for breakfast.At my job we have the usual donuts or bagels but more usual for us is Chinese food for breakfast. Happy Saturday. Hope everyone has a good weekend. What is the format of Celebrity Apprentice (although fingers are crossed, not). Is it an elimination show where someone goes every week. And they do what... projects trying to make money?

I guess I was tired. I wrote out a whole message last night but now it's gone LOL. I guess I never sent and then my computer did updates and rebooted last night. Mostly just waved and agreed with justclay about still enjoying Clay even if I'm not as board heavy as I was years ago. Honestly I don't know exactly what else I was doing in my life but Clay stuff for a few years there. Although I would like to do a little less on the work front. LadyJ yep it can make you cranky. Have a great Wednesday.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I talked to Treenuts and she says hi to everyone. Just a very busy work schedule and she has a long commute now. This is the first year since 9/11 that I've actually watched a lot of the coverage. It's still all so shocking ten years later.

I'm glad FromClaygary as able to reschedule. I thought about that after the change of date. Well so my mom is abandoning me for Hilton Head on the same week I'm in Tahoe. Her place looks fabulous. So she'll actually be in SC during the gala weekend. Have a good weekend.

LOL

I love the idea of a singer but can't imagine he'd change the gala for a one shot gig unless it's some HUGE thing. So singing yes... but something new. But whatever it is I look forward to seeing it. I'd be the only one history in to watch CA without hearing DT's voice LOL. I love your zanyforclay name. Oh wait when is the gala? I think my mom and I will be in Tahoe. Just checked and yes the good news is that I'm already on vacation that week. The bad news, I'll be in Tahoe. However all is not lost as I'm going to Tahoe on the 3rd. So maybe I get my sister up there for the last weekend and bring my mom home. It's up in the air.

First of all ... sorry to anyone who has lost any money due to the change or who were going but now have scheduling conflicts with the new dates. Since I had a zero percent chance of going next month, things are looking up for me LOL. Very interesting to see what's up. Sticking my fingers in my ear and not listening to celebrity apprentice theories. I celebrity hate Donald Trump. It was from when he went off about Rosie. I've never seen anything like it. He went on and on and on and on and just would not shut up. I kept waiting for the "psych" but it never came. I'm not even a fan of Rosie but it was just so ugly. I'd rather imagine he's taping Amazing Race LOL. Hell I'd even tolerate Dancing with the Stars. But hopefully it's nothing that's on the air but something new. There are 1 million channels. Somebody give that man a show. Happy Shortyjill. It's my nephew's birthday today as well. He's 12!

Hope you went and that you stopped at Allora to buy a box of chocolates! It's not until November. I have the car and now I have the days off. Those chocolate would KILL my budget LOL. Lady J... you must have tomatoes growing like crazy!!

Happy Birthday Merrieeee. Hope you are having a great day. Talking myself out of working today and daydreaming about a trip to Napa. Rented the car already just in case!

In honor of labor day I will be laboring. I have to work Monday and my other job pretty much all weekend. shortyjill I haven't been to Ikea in a decade. I remember when it opened here and going was like an event. Have fun. LadyJ did you survive your day?

I'm there! And guess what I just found out. The first annual Napa film festival will take place in November. I want to go really really bad! I'm going to go for it. Looking forward to TAR. Is this the longest week ever or what. It's only Wednesday -- well at least for 52 more minutes. It feels like Clay's meaning for the word "soooooon"

JMS I KNEW someone would suggest I mosey on down to the gala. Ha ha. I will be ready for any events in 2012. Congrats to National Inclusion Project for being a part of such a big event. I'm not into sci fi either but i know how big it is. I like that this audience will learn about the organization. Treenuts, where are you? Did you get my mail? Happy anniversary Shortyjill! Shelf Life...sounds like a good story.

I GOT A RAISE! Whoo hooo. I wrote to my bosses last week because I felt like I was doing a completely different job from when I started and I didn't get the money to go along with it. And to my amazement they went beyond my expectations. When all is said and done it will be 10K more than last year. Yesterday I had Because You Loved Me of all songs and Suspicious Minds on a continuous loop for about 2 hours LOL. I just had it going in the background while I worked. Love that voice.

Good Morning. Hope everyone in the storms path are ok. Its so weird but I know a lot of the small cities the news is talking about in SC and NC (cape lookout) because I was looking up timeshare trades for my mom for October and many of these coastal cities with resorts were listed. Of course I had already heard of Myrtle Beach and the larger cities. I didn't realize they evacuated Atlantic City. My cousin in Long Island is on the move.

LOL about the dogs. Well it's 11:45 and we here in California just ended the day with, you guessed it, an earthquake. Guess we were jealous of the east coast. It gave me a start more than most. Sounds like we have some things in common Justclay.

It's so interesting to watch the news and see other people's reaction to an earthquake. We're so nonchalant about them in California. I think in my lifetime only 2 have really scare me. Glad to see there doesn't appear to be loss of life. KF... I love strong opinionated people and people with conviction. That's you on both fronts. So did anyone else watch The Social Network? I don't know anything about the real Zuckerberg but the actor's portrayal is fascinating.

I worked all weekend except for one brief trip to the marina for a walk. And it will be another busy week for me. But I'm hoping to take a couple of trips before this year is up so I don't mind. And I want to 2012 to be a lot better so I'm willing to put in the work now. Lucky, your weekend cracked me up. Your life used to be my life heee. To all the teachers, librarians and students... have fun with back to school week. My mom loses one kid tomorrow and the other one on Monday as they head back to school. For the past couple of weeks I've been listening to a lot of Clay. It's actually been awhile. The voice still moves me like few can. Hey Keepingfaith, I respect your position. I think we are all the way we are because of our experiences and the experiences of those that raised us, and the times and place where it all happened. I highlighted the above because I would hate for anyone to believe that there were NO liberal enlightened people that lived in the south. Some people I know to this day are living in the past and want nothing to do with people that aren't black and would die if their child married someone that wasn't black. Everyone is painted with one broad brush. I have relatives who would not believe that your parents were enlightened; that as soon as you got behind a closed door another face would show. I find it awful that my mom has to deal with relatives that have nasty things to say about our rainbow coalition family. They don't speak to it directly but indirectly. They are no blacker than me. So I have experience on the other end of the spectrum where despite seeing loving family members who are not black added to the family, the attitude is still a closed heart. Intermarriage doesn't solve the problem for everyone. Also reminds me of what Fear said about people she knows loving the woman who took care of them but that didn't spread to others. It's sad really. We have these conversations all the time and I'm living with a mom who is a living history as she grew up in the DEEP South with the nearest large town hundreds of miles away. It has one main road and the population decreases with every census. In 2000 the population of her home town was 2425. 80% black. 18% white. The medium income was less than 20K. We were just talking about her school experiences the other day. She fled the south at the age of 19 and by the time she was 22 she was living in a predominantly white California town with a husband and 2 kids. We moved to Oakland a few years later to a black community but our church was mostly white and most of my social activities took place there. I think the 50 years of experiences since my mom left the south explains why I am the way I am. My mom's sister's experiences were far different from hers. With regards to The Help, I have no problem believing there were Skeeters in the world in 1960. There just weren't enough of them. Still haven't seen the movie but in the book I don't remember reading a glorified south where everyone was content with their lives and the white people weren't racist. If that's the movie then yeah I'll have a problem with it but a 2 hour movie can not tell a complete story and I don't expect it to. There are people in my family that will not go see it if paid. But eh, you couldn't pay me to see some of the things they find fascinating especially on the black comedy front. I totally agree on Eyes on the Prize. I've read the book and I've seen the documentary - parts 1 and 2 - multiple times. I don't recommend anyone watching one thing thinking it will tell them everything. It's a breadth of material that tells the story. Right now along with my trashy historical fiction I'm back to absorbing everything about The Middle Passage - every perspective I can find, the enslaved, the slave master, the merchants, the rulers in America, Europe and Africa. Slavery didn't happen in a vacuum and I need to understand the period, the mindset of all involved. The 70s is also a fascinating period for me because I was old enough to remember a lot of it which took place in my own backyard. Honestly there's nothing that would shock me about black history or any other kind of history. Almost every group in this country had their own special kind of hell.

In your old age? I love documentaries and also tv shows like frontline. they are opened 3 days a month?

KAndre, your boss sounds like my mother. When she goes away next month I'm going to tear this house apart and get rid of so much stuff. I hate moving, be it office or home. My condolences KAndre and Shortyjill. Didn't know about the lawsuit. Googled it. I found it interesting. Unfortunately for her to even have a chance she should have read a page or two sooner. Funny about the chick lit. I mostly read history books but I borrowed my cousin's The Other Boleyn Girl and I swear I am for now hooked on trashy historical fiction. I want to line up all the author's books and read them until they start to sound all alike. And when my mom hits the road I will start watching full seasons of The Tudors. Did anyone see that?

One step closer to Friday!

Well I finally got half a day off work .... because my back lower molar split in half and I had to go to the dentist! So the pain that started in Napa two months ago has culminated in needing to have it totally pulled. Looks like it may be too bad even for a root canal. The only halfway decent news about this whole thing is that as of July 1 I have some sort of dental insurance. Not great insurance but at least I won't go completely broke and was able to walk into a dentist office today. Fear it is amazing how siblings will see things so differently. My sister and I have some conversations that blow my mind. I'm like where were you living? Shortyjill, I know all about stretching a dollar. LOL and I fear it would take me that long to install any sort of widget... so to kill two birds with one stone I'll post the link to your website every day so that people who are so inclined and don't have access to one at other sites can give you hits and vote at the same time. Carolina's blog - VOTING WIDGET You'll love I'm down LadyJ. My sister read it first and it has been read by me and my mom...and 3 of my cousins. We keep passing the book around. I loved it so much that I emailed the author to let her know. Anyway her name is Mishna Wolff and I think you can read like the first few pages here to see if you like it. I know it drew me in right away. So my Aunt Betty went to see The Help. Her opinion was she didn't want to see it since she lived through it. But ultimately she liked it.