Letters From Home

23 December 2009 @ 08:01 am

roswell the artist plus some lj advisory stuff

1) Had a meeting with LJ yesterday I'll type up my notes over the weekend for a progress report.

2) Since we got an enclosed back porch Roswell and Safetypin have taken up some sort of self-imposed guard duty that involves caterwauling to be let out every morning to they can check on the status of a) the bird invasion and b) whether or not that fiendish grey stray is walking through the yard (he's a rebel, I think they're secretly in love with him.) Well, since the snow fell this has been replace by c) complaining that we've opened the wrong door, they want the one without the snow please.

Finally yesterday Safetypin mustered up the nerve and went out for about 60 seconds, decided she didn't like the snow and came back in. Half an hour later Roswell worked up the nerve and walked out. The snow -- so fascinating! It must be examined!

After some time she did what any sentient, self-aware being would do and decided to use this medium for art -- to construct a cat of snow that would explain her view of the world, her emotions, her turmoil, her essence. After she constructed her art piece, she came back in -- satisfied, but a bit aloof after her triumph. We're having showings at 5:00 and 7:00 every night until it melts, with wine and cheese and cat treats.

Here is Roswell's snow sculpture:

I think it's beautiful. I'm going to get her a beret for Xmas.

Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music: voltaire: Worf's Revenge

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kylecassidy

22 December 2009 @ 08:15 am

Evan throws an altruism boomerang

So yesterday, I got this email entitled "The world needs more Evans" and it was one of those chain letters, you know the sort, you see it on snopes.com all the time -- some kid wants to collect ten thousand post cards before he dies, a soldier requests prayers for a fallen comrade, but this one -- i knew this one was true because I'd helped start it -- someone had forwarded me a letter from Evan's mother -- you remember Evan, the kid who gave his life savings, $47.65 to City Kitties, the stray cat rescue group (Copy of Evans original heartwarming letter here.) This person was asking if I might help spread Evans altruism this holiday season by forwarding this letter to some people. How awesome that Evan's boomerang would pass by me again.

You know that person in the office who's always sending you the emails about missing people, places you should boycott, similarities between Washington D.C. and Sodom -- why not send them a copy of this -- you might see yourself on snopes.com in a week:

Subject: The World Needs More Evans

I can barely explain this, and I can't help but brag about it. Evan saved up his allowance for months and donated $46.75 to City Kitties, the cat rescue from which we got our adorable (if mischievous) Macha. He wrote them a sweet note. They posted it on their Facebook page, and it went viral. Kyle Cassidy matched Evan?s donation to City Kitties and suggested that others do the same. At last count, it had been “retweeted” (I vaguely understand that) 147 times. Bloggers are linking back to other blogs. Within hours, City Kitties received more than $400 in donations, and they are still coming. Other people have donated to rescues in Arizona, Tennessee, California, Toronto, and locations unnamed, in Evan?s honor. A woman in Austin, Texas made a video requesting donations for her local animal shelter, and credited Evan with inspiring her to take the time to do so. Sample comment from the blogs: “the world needs more Evans.” We agree. J

You can see his note here (and elsewhere!):

http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com/570781.html

http://katemckinnon.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/the-world-needs-more-evans/

http://kemidra.livejournal.com/581514.html

Forgive our bragging! We are just astounded!

Happy holidays, everyone.

Lisa, Brett, and Evan

(in other news, we have heat -- perhaps it's a reward from above or perhaps it's just competent furnace repair people.)

go be awesome.

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Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music: birds chirping

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kylecassidy

21 December 2009 @ 08:30 am

When you come in from the snow, everything seems warm.

More playing in the snow with

trillian_stars.

Supposedly the furnace guys are coming today to drag the old heater out through nine feet of snow and bring in the new one. They hope to have everything connected by Wednesday. But until then it's ... coooold in Casa del Milla but what's having no heat if not the opportunity for adventure? We got

trillian_stars' 1930 Electrola and some holiday 78 rpm records and ensconced ourselves downstairs in the Rock Star Hotel and pretended we were on vacation in a cabin in the woods. Looking out the windows all you can see is snow where it's drifted five feet up against the side of the house.

trillian_stars made gingerbread, I made chili, the cats acted like they've never been downstairs, we had hot chocolate, I worked on final edits for the kids book, which I now think should be called "A Bunny Named Swine" rather than "A Rabbit Named Swine". We piled a lot of blankets together, it was fabulous. The furnace guys are going to end our pioneer adventure, but I'm glad we had the experience.

Whether or not your home is filled with heat this year end season, I hope it's filled with love (and kittens).

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Current Location: the rock star hotel

Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music: all the faucets dripping

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cleolinda

20 December 2009 @ 05:25 pm

So I saw Avatar

So I just saw Planet of the Cat People (P.S. They're Blue) in 3-D, and then Brett the Vet and I went out for Moe's. (They have a whole salsa bar!) Short version: A large portion of my readership is going to kick my ass.

Long version: ( MASSIVE SPOILERS )

ETA: What the HELL? Hospital: Actress Brittany Murphy dies at age 32.

Tags: cameron!avatar, deaths, haters to the left, movie discussion, movies, this is going to end well

Current Music: The sound of 500 people defriending me

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kylecassidy

20 December 2009 @ 02:38 pm

lj Advisory Update inre Best Buy flash ads

A couple people wrote to ask about a new intrusive ad for Best Buy that has started running on Livejournal. I haven't seen it but apparently it takes up the whole screen and when it first started it auto-played audio (which is right up there with shooting someone's dog on my list of "thing's that it's uncool to do"). I asked LJ about it and heard back that it is indeed an official ad (some people were wondering if it was a virus or adware). They've removed the auto-play audio and added a button that is supposed to let you close it right away (rather than waiting for the animation to finish). There are no plans to stop running it as it's a big money maker. It should also not appear more than once every 24 hours.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to motivate people on the fence to upgrade to paid accounts, but I worry that people who are just starting out may be driven away because of it.

If you have questions or comments about this post them here and I'll forward them up the food chain. You may comment anonymously if you'd like.

Please repost as you see fit.

Thanks a bunch.

Your LJ user rep.

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cleolinda

19 December 2009 @ 05:46 pm

In which bitches nearly are cut

Oh my sweet God have mercy. ( I decided that I would rather not go to prison )

By the way, remember this story?

Meanwhile, on the way home from our last excursion of the day, we dropped by my grandmother's to bring her some more ornaments. On the way out, I stopped to play with a--I don't know, I guess you'd call it a banner? It kind of looks like a long flat bell pull? I don't know. She has it hanging on her front door, and it's this tan-colored strip of fabric with little decorated felt Christmas trees, edged with shiny gold rickrack. "I loved this when I was a kid," I told her, shaking it a little so the bells would jingle. "Ruth made that," my grandmother said warmly. "She really liked arts and crafts. She made all of this herself, every bit of it. Even the tassels. She sewed everything on it there--the sequins, the little ornaments, she even put the pearls on the trees. She's dead now."

I managed not to crack up until I got to the car. My mother couldn't understand why I was doubled up in the passenger seat crying with laughter. I'm not sure I understand it myself.

This year, I got pictures of it:

And now, I flop.

P.S. I still want a foot massage really, really badly.

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: appropriate responses to bad situations, are you kidding me, books, chocolate, christmas, dolls, mail, om nom nom, rants, shopping, this is going to end well, twilight, wtf

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kylecassidy

19 December 2009 @ 05:24 pm

i wonder if there's a 12 step program for this

I think I have an unhealthy obsession with Trillian Stars.

Click to Embiggen

We're going into our second week with no heat at Casa Del Milla. It's not so bad, but we're a bit worried about the pipes freezing. The furnace fix-it people are supposed to be here tuesday to put in a new unit. Until then, we run around outside with no coats on and when we come back in, it feels a lot warmer than it did when we left.

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Current Mood:

accomplished

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cleolinda

18 December 2009 @ 06:11 pm

I'm banning the word "Avatards" pre-emptively

So. Tired in a very lazy, self-indulgent way. I don't know if it's the holidays or the birthdays or what, but I've got to get over this dragginess--however pleasant it might be at the moment--at some point. I am, however, going to see Avatar on Sunday, and am working on some kind of zen meditation to rope off my EXTREME WEARINESS of the hype I've been hearing for an actual, literal year about how this will CHANGE THE WAY MOVIES ARE MADE. I don't know which way they mean, but if involves 3-D becoming the standard movie format I'm going to be pissed off, because it gives me headaches like whoa, and keep in mind that I have to balance those damn glasses on top of my real ones. I'm afraid to ask what other ways they might mean, because so far, "Huge effects spectacle with an overly familiar story and clichéd dialogue," "The nation divided into warring tribes of Fanboys and Haters," and "Would you like fries with your topless Neytiri figure?" kind of seem like business as usual.

@cleolinda: RT @flickchart: Director Michael Mann said of AVATAR: "There's before this movie, and after this movie."

@cleolinda: RT @flickchart: Spielberg quoted on AVATAR: "The last time I came out of a movie feeling that way was the first time I saw Star Wars."

@cleolinda: People, you realize now that I'm not going to be impressed unless Avatar delivers orgasms AND hot fudge sundaes. Knock it off.

@cleolinda: @jamevph The only thing more obnoxious than the hype would be if the movie actually turned out to be that good.

@cleolinda: @gorgeousnerd Oh, I mean, I'm going on Sunday, and I'm going to try to be zen about it and set all of that aside.

@cleolinda: Although I do wonder--"Doomed romance on the Titanic" is an easy sell. "Giant blue cat people do... something," I don't know.

@cleolinda: It could be the Second Coming, but I don't know how well it might actually do. Interesting to see how it shakes out.

@lilithsaintcrow: @cleolinda "Giant blue cat-love on the doomed Titanic! It's a sure thing!"

@cleolinda: @lilithsaintcrow Aw, man, giant blue cat-love screeching in the back of a Model T, do not want.

Then, from

gfrancie: I Hate James Cameron, but I Love His Movies. Yeah... that's probably going to be me Sunday afternoon, after I recover from my 3-D headache. I will hate myself for liking it after being battered with hype for TWELVE SOLID MONTHS, but I also feel like it's intellectually dishonest to blindly hate something just for the sake of hating it. Meanwhile, I don't even know if there will be anything Not to Be Spoken Of, but I wouldn't count on it. Also, I'm still not sure if The Lovely Emily and her husband were kidding about painting their faces blue or not.

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: cameron!avatar, movies, the lovely emily, titanic, twitter

Current Mood:

hungry

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kylecassidy

18 December 2009 @ 08:35 am

(no subject)

1) "and the winner is" -- cherie has judged

fivecats the winner of the short fiction contest. Whee! Send me your address and I'll ship out your autographed Boneshaker.

mcmatz wins my special auxiliary prize, send me your address for some unspecified goodies.

2) my

2xcreative project with Liz Afif is done! Now we need to figure out what to do with it. So I'm making a poll. It's 44 pages long and done up in full color, which makes it expensive to produce. *

Poll #1500598 Format for a Rabbit Named Swine
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 120

I would buy this book

View Answers

in full color professionally done for $10
119 (99.2%)

as a home-made black and white Kinkos Copy job thing for $4
0 (0.0%)

You people are sick, I wouldn't buy this.
1 (0.8%)

Here are some excerpts so you can see how ... inappropriately awesome it is.

(This makes the perfect gift if you're the sort of aunt or uncle who likes to give things like fireworks and slingshots to the nieces and nephews or if you're the sort of person who likes having books on their coffee table that make guests go "What the heck is wrong with you? Really. Were you dropped on your head as a baby or something?")

* If you work for a company that prints booklets and you're going "I can totally print those better/cheaper" -- let me know.

Current Mood:

accomplished

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kylecassidy

17 December 2009 @ 04:56 pm

someone gets it.

From City Kitties comes an amazing tail (yes tail) of a seven year old who saved up his allowance and gave everything he had, $46.75, to help homeless cats.

In Evan's honor I paypalled $46.75 to info@citykitties.org.

You can too.

And you can read City Kitties note about Evan here.

Current Mood:

grateful

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cleolinda

16 December 2009 @ 07:02 pm

Two questions

First of all: my mother and I are trying to decide on an e-book reader to get for my stepfather. His main problem is visibility--we hit on this as an alternative to large-print books, in that any book can become "large print" if you can adjust the font size. Portability is less of a factor, therefore--if one reader is larger than the other, that might actually be a bonus for us. I hear the Nook is sold out and kind of got crappy reviews along the lines of "Wait for the 2.0 version," but Mom thinks she might be able to get one anyway (she has Ways). On the other hand, the Kindle has a lot of advantages that I am vaguely aware of, but it's also got screwy DRM issues where it won't let you do things with, you know, the files you bought and paid for. So she says it would be nice to be able to have the e-books on the reader and the computer, DRM issues would be really frustrating, etc. So 1) ease of use and visibility for someone who is not a tech-head and 2) minimal DRM foolery, those are our main criteria. I know nothing about e-readers, except that I have the Stanza app on the iBella and don't ever use it. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Second:

padawansguide needs a new host for her site, the movie-focused The Costumer's Guide (where I had tons of fun a couple of years ago trying to help identify all 60+ Marie Antoinette costumes. Good times); in particular, she says, "I would like at least 5-10 GB of disk space and at least 150 or more GB of bandwidth a month. With no weird [usage] caps they don't tell you about!" We discuss a couple of options at that first link, if you have any ideas.

Third, and not a question: New trailer for Iron Man 2.

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: books, costumes, internet, iron man, movies, questions

91 comments | Leave a comment

cleolinda

15 December 2009 @ 01:18 pm

My thoughts on makeup, let me show you them

Bear with me as I lead into this, because I have some philosophical ramblings about beauty products that guys (i.e., people who do not wear makeup and may not understand the appeal of cosmetics) may find interesting.

So. I have gift cards to Sephora, and also a promotional code from their newsletter that expires today, and then three free mini lip glosses as a birthday promotion, therefore: it's economy-boosting time. My on-and-off obsession with makeup, as previously documented here, is somewhat peculiar, given that I wear very little of it. I mean, number one: I don't leave the house much. I have sensitive problem skin, so there doesn't seem to be any point in irritating it with the constant application and removal of makeup that no one's going to see, you know? What I really love is trying out different colors, because if I wear anything, it tends to be eyeshadow and lip gloss--I really need to wear foundation and concealer, but honestly, when I do, all I look like is someone very obviously wearing foundation and concealer, so I figure the flawed natural look is preferable at that point, and I'll just have fun with my favorite eyeshadow palettes (Hard Candy's Suede and Star). Hence the recent fixation on Aromaleigh, because the samples are so cheap that I can play all I want, and I'm hearing from other patrons that their face powders do a really good job of blending and disappearing, so I'm going to get samples of those and see if I can finally achieve the no-makeup makeup look ("Like you, only better!").

As for why girls--some girls--get so obsessed with makeup, even someone like me who rarely wears it, I can tell you very simply: ( Yes, but it's a badass lavender )

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: birthdays, makeup, philosophical ramblings, shopping

228 comments | Leave a comment

kylecassidy

15 December 2009 @ 10:09 am

LJ Advisory Update inre GENDER

Hey folks,
Yesterday I got an email from a user saying there was a rumor that LJ was intending to make specifying gender on one's profile mandatory. Obviously there are various reasons why people either might not want that information known, or don't fit into one of the two categories commonly seen in such questions.

I wrote to LJ immediately asking about the rumor and advising that this wasn't a good idea without user input.

This morning I heard back with the Official Word and I'd be happy if you'd repost this or link to it to spread the news:

1) There are NO plans to make users specify gender in their profiles. The current options are "male/female/unspecified", this will remain.

2) The rumor started because on the current LJ BETA version (being tested now by some users) a programming error made the field mandatory, the same programming also broke profile editing. Users reported the bug to LJ and they are fixing the code along with other bugs people are discovering.

3) There will be a note with more details from the Customer Care team in the future.

4) That's all.

Thanks to everyone who emailed to let me know about this. If there are other questions or comments, please feel free to add them here and I'll pass everything along. I'm still working with LJ on the big status report but they're busy with the final software rollout for 2009, we'll have a meeting after that.

Your LJ user rep,

Kyle

Current Mood:

accomplished

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kylecassidy

14 December 2009 @ 09:51 pm

(no subject)

We're decorating the tree and lookie what I just found.

Roswell knows what this is. She is very afraid.

Posted from mah iPhone.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: via ljapp

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cleolinda

14 December 2009 @ 08:44 pm

Hippo birdy, two me

So. Today. Thirty-one. I was depressed (not about the number itself) and that was stupid but there it is.

(Also, the day started out really crappy. "PUT HIS ASS ON THE PHONE!")

I will say, there is one thing I feel very strongly about on birthdays, and that is: it is very important that you blow out all your candles in one breath, for thus shall you have good luck all the next year! Which is why I get UTTERLY CHAGRINED when people put the same number of candles on the cake as you are years old, because when you're seven that's awesome, but when you're thirty-one, that's just basically a giant NO LUCK FOR YOU. I just don't have the lung capacity to deal with those kind of numbers, people. "Can we just get two candles in the shape of a 3 and a 1?" I asked desperately. So after I explained why I wanted fewer candles, we compromised and just put them on my piece:

( I'M A REBEL )

So it was a quiet day; we had just my grandmother over for lunch rather than any kind of Entire Family thing. I don't know. I'm just getting to be a huge baby about not wanting to do anything for my birthday--what I want to figure out is what I feel so bad about. What is it that I actually want that I'm not getting? I'm throwing myself a giant pity party, but what's the occasion? Because you can't go about fixing a problem, about getting what you want, if you don't know what that is. And I just don't know.

Anyway. I'm still slowly replacing my music collection--I might be able to recover it when I'm sure I can afford to take Betsy into the shop after Christmas shopping is done, but I'm not counting on it--so I went and bought my two favorite Pretenders songs, "Night in My Veins" and "Love Colours." Coincidentally, I got that CD for my--16th birthday? I think that's the one it was. I wore that CD to pieces, which is why I can't rip it to Lizzie now. So, fifteen years later, here we are on iTunes.

Something else I bought on a whim off eBay just happened to arrive today, and I am counting it as a birthday present to myself because it is pretty much the best thing ever. Seriously, I think opening the packet and taking it out was the only thing that made me laugh all day. I paid the princely sum of $13.13 for it, and it will be a long time before I am able to work it into The Secret Life of Dolls, but you will die, all of you will absolutely die when you see it.

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: birthdays, chez jones, dolls, ebay, mmmcake, music, om nom nom, picspam, shopping

198 comments | Leave a comment

kylecassidy

14 December 2009 @ 10:07 am

sweet barking cheese!!!

This week we'll be going over the entries in the write a story, win an autographed copy of Cherie Priest's Boneshaker novel contest. There are many awesome entries. I ought to put together a .pdf of all of them that people can download, print out, and read on the subway.

While no winner has yet been chosen, I wanted to point out the FREAKING AWESOME ILLUSTRATION OF STEAMPUNKROSWELL that

mcmatz did:

sweet barking cheese. Friend this woman. Seriously. How could this awesome have escaped me for so long? I think there will have to be a special prize for this, it was so unexpectedly awesome.

(and if anybody else wants to do steampunk roswell illustrations, I will indeed put together a .pdf of all the stories for people to download and read on the train, and I'll give out other special prizes which will likely consist of a photographic print of something.)

rock on with your bad selves

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Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music: roswell snoring

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kylecassidy

12 December 2009 @ 04:01 pm

busy time....

Yesterday I went to see Guo-Qiang's Fallen Blossoms at the Philadelphia Museum of art -- he'd set up an elaborate drawing made out of gunpowder and set alight the front of the building (more or less). There was smoke, there was fire.

then

trillian_stars and I went to XIX, high atop the Bellvue Stratford and celebrated being alive in a world where people set fire to the front of buildings and it's called art.

Then I took this photo of her with my iPhone

so that the moment couldn't entirely bleed away.

This morning I got up early and started working on book layouts -- there are two at the moment, one's my

2xcreative project which will be lovely but keeps getting knocked back by the bigger one which I hope to have done very soon.

This afternoon I skipped out on the book layouts and we went to a party at the Sketch Club where I have a piece hanging in the show (along with Rockwell Kent and N.C. Wyeth and Thoms Ekans -- fo shizzle. Right on the wall next to them) which comes down tomorrow. We had wonderful conversations with WWII vets and artists.

Tonight we're going to see Wagner's Ring (orchestral excerpts) at the Symphony which is wonderful because we get to dress up and act fabulous which we haven't done in a while.

Current Mood:

accomplished

Current Music: black sabbath: hole in the sky

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cleolinda

11 December 2009 @ 03:21 pm

This is your blogger on wine

So last night we finally decorated the tree that we got last weekend--the first thing you have to understand is that Christmas is a BIG THING in my family. Not in a religious sense--in a We Are Going to Decorate the SHIT Out of This House sense, and I love it. Of course, I loved it double-plus verygood when my mother opened a bottle of wine ("@cleolinda: Bottle of wine WOOOOOOOO"). I sucked down two glasses before she'd even made a dent in one ("@cleolinda: Second glass of wine WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"). Y'all, I need to drink every night. For real.

But before we get to the picspam, I will relay unto you a story Sister Girl told while she and her friend J. and I were in the kitchen afterwards: "YOU HAVE TO BLOG ABOUT THIS." (J.: "You haven't told her this yet? Oh, you gotta tell her this.") This past Monday, Sister Girl was minding her own business, working at Panera, you see, walking behind the registers carrying whatever it was wherever she was going-- ( The best book title Robert Ludlum never came up with )

Moving on! A Tannenbaum picspam expanded from LIVE ON THE SCENE Twitter posts last night:

( Read more... )

(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Tags: chez jones, christmas, conversations with my sister, holidays, picspam, sister girl, twilight

92 comments | Leave a comment

switchfan

11 December 2009 @ 01:54 pm

Community - my new favorite show

Don't get me wrong, The Office will always hold a special place in my heart... But lately, its been kind of hit-and-miss. Mostly because Jim hasn't been picking on Dwight much. That was always the highlight of any episode in my opinion.

Anyway - Community. 8pm, 1 hour before The Office (feel free to skip Parks and Recreation at 8:30 - I do when I can). I'm pretty sure the reason I like it so much is because, as silly as the characters are and as screwy as they act sometimes, they learn things and grow from their mistakes. And sometimes, its pretty darn funny.

For example: Shirley, the super-sweet mom type character on the show, is very upset that Jeff (the cool, witty playboy) is going to be in a fight.

Jeff - "Shirley come back, don't be mad at me!"
Shirley - "I'm not mad at you Jeff, I'm disappointed."
Jeff - "That's 'mom' for mad!"

Okay, maybe you had to be there.... or maybe you have to be a mom... but that is SO TRUE. And, speaking of moms:

"How can it be a large career
to tell other people's children about arithmetic
and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?
How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone
and narrow to be everything to someone?

No, a woman's function is laborious
because it is gigantic,

not because it is minute."

---G. K. Chesterton

Tags: quotes, tv shows

Current Location: Lookout Mountain

Current Mood:

amused

Current Music: Pedro the Lion

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