december 13 196 hey, this is kind of cool. hidden text. well, let me say here that the Amazon Hurricane shot herself in the foot the other day. Calls were placed and news stories were finished that were not supposed to. And the Princess was spitting mad. I was just glad the flak missed me.

this is the day your life will surely change Can you have any idea how hard it is to search for lyrics from a song by a band called "The The"? Just think on it. The closest I could get is the link above. Anyway. Here's a shortie. Just a couple of things I'm thinking about. Happy Hanukkah! Talk about missing the cultural point: American kids are being hyped on the media for putting together Christmas packages for the kids in Afghanistan. Can we try this again? They're Muslim. They don't do Christmas. Hello? An actress noted in our magazine that Edie Brickell is "old school" music. Oy. So this is how you age. I have a new exercise bike. I am using it twice a day, half an hour a day. It cost enough that the novelty is not permitted to wear off for at least a year. So far, it's not too bad. I'll be happier if I see results. Hum. We shall see. Hollywood composers are insane! What big babies. I'm working on an article for the Reporter and all we need from these people are two thoughts: What their favorite original song of the year from a movie was, and what song they think will win the Oscar. Everybody needs this explained in great detail for reasons I can't fathom. And my editor, while a nice person for giving me the assignment, has largely let me blunder around in the dark. So they released the Bin Laden "smoking Howitzer" tape. Big deal. Do you think if somebody had jumped in front of the camera and said "Yanno, it was me who done it. Bin baby didn't have the balls to go through with it. And I'm from Malaysia!" the U.S. would have said "Oops, sorry, didn't mean to bomb the country into tiny pieces. We'll head home now." The tape, like most things, is a mirror -- you see what you want to. As I've said for a while, it doesn't much matter if he gave orders or not -- probably those 19 yokels organized it on their own, having been inspired by his teachings/rantings. Meanwhile, all of this has led to secret military tribunals, which galls the hell out of me. "Go fight, young soldier, for the constitutional rights we're now revoking back home!" I keep having dreams that really piss me off, because I'm having a fantastic love life in them and then wake up and I'm not. Not wanting to jinx anything but ... there could be a (non-fiction) book deal in my near future. Holding breath until contracts are signed. Say no more, say no more. A guy at work and I had a lengthy discussion of the positive and negative effects of Bert and Ernie on our lives. I have no idea how this conversation got started. However, he very effectively imitates Ernie saying, "Hey, Bert!" so now whenever he passes me by, I get a hearty, "Hey, Bert!" Pure goofiness is at a premium in my life. Must remember: More goof. My favorite first family sent me a card of the kids. Here are The Gerard chilluns, and they are too adorable for words. I love this picture. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.