DR: No, I don't think there's the "one" anymore. A wise, old friend used the illustration of the show Bachelor(ette) to indicate that the main person is conflicted primarily because there are so many very viable choices for a mate. If only in our real lives could we be presented with all those choices at one sitting. Since it doesn't, we'll have to make due one friendship at a time.

today: 7

How many packets of Equal in coffee, tea, cereal, fruit or cookies do you think starts being unhealthy?

Read this in an advice column:

My boyfriend of a few years (we're both in our mid-twenties) is moving back into his parents' house. His lease is up and he'll move into another place in about six months. I'm personally big on not relying on parents if you consider yourself an adult (he's not doing this out of necessity, just convenience), and I'm having a hard time respecting him because of it and am not looking forward to hanging out in his childhood bedroom. Am I being bratty about this?

-- East Coast

Do a lot of women feel this way?!?

I finally saw pictures of Julius. Though I kind of wonder why he's always in the same pose and wearing the same clothes despite different locales. Could it be that he's just a cardboard cutout?!

I'd vote for John Edwards. He has brown hair. I'm tired of old people running for President. But can we get one without an accent (not that there's anything wrong with that)?

As per New Year's resolution concerning reading:

Ask me at the end of this month whether I've finished the two books I've started:
1. The Best a Man Can Get (NOT some Promise Keepers book, heh heh; but some funny-British-Nick-Hornby-wanna-be stuff)
2. A Confederacy of Dunces

I am totally losing it! I put my ATM-and-credit-card-in-one into the machine this morning, punched in my code and amount and waited for the money. During the 15 seconds for the transaction, I noticed my credit card was missing. And I was upset over losing my credit card and wondering where the hell I lost it. Even after the money appeared out of the slot, I was still mad. I wasn't confused. I sincerely believed I had lost the credit card after getting a new MetroCard this morning. Anger dissipated only after I realized that I put said credit card into the ATM just moments before. Talk about attention deficit disorder.

Saddest thing: I was able to tape the SNL episode hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow, but it didn't have the "you don't know me !" skit.

printable New Year's resolution:

** read more books that don't have the words "for dummies" in their titles
** save money
** gain ten pounds (of not-fat, hopefully) by year's end

....thinks that friends who gather at these New Year’s celebrations are all struggling for perfection in life and art: “They are torn between their roots in whatever far-flung suburb they hail from and their reinvented lives among their city family,” he said.

Or, as Tobin Levy, another Bushwick Avenue friend, suggests, the motivation may be less profound. “What this is about,’’ she said, “is friends who don’t care what you do for a living or if you are a great success. Everyone has to pay the rent. These parties are just about the people you want to be near on the last day of the year.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/nyregion/29FEAT.html

Alas, the secret is out!

http://msnbc.com/news/825053.asp

yay! i'm not as a bad a son as i thought; or rather, i'm not the only bad son.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/23/national/23HOLI.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/22/fashion/22NOTI.html

I'm thinking, watching 15 episodes of SATC in 29 hours as a straight man isn't really "the next best thing to actually dating." It's kinda far off. Far...far....far....off. Ha ha. Just kidding. But if you're enjoying it, I say, 'what the hell?'

Made a call to the BananaRepublic.com people tonight. I ordered some stuff last night but haven't as of yet gotten an email confirmation of my order within the 24 hours the site promised. I checked my credit card debits online and noticed that they took the money already. Where the hell are my clothes?!

"Josh" picked up. I asked for the status of the order and he said it was getting ready to ship. Since I ordered a good number of articles of clothing, I wanted to find out if all of them were getting shipped at the same time. He asked that if I could wait a second, he would bring it up on the computer. (How come they always say the "computer is running a little slow tonight" when things take longer than they'd like. Are the representatives afraid of silence? I want to confront them one of these days and ask them to just chat while we wait. What's the rush?). Anyway, he took his time getting it up. And all the while, I had this feeling he was judging my order selection. He was scanning the choice of apparel, the size and color. He was basically sizing me up on the phone. And of course, the guy was gay (and worked at BR) so I do feel a little underqualified to challenge his tastes were he to disagree with mine.

I was channel surfing at 12:30 in the morning and ran across Xtreme Dating. I usually pass it but there was an Asian guy speaking. I was thinking "represent!" Dude was Korean though, but close enough. Anyway, the point of this story is not his sorry schpeel at the beginning but this show brings two ex's to the backstage to be able to tell the date stuff about him in her ear via a microphone. Their date is videotaped (obviously). The woman he's going on a date with is not Asian. But his two ex's were. Their names? Pearl and Mei !!!! How racist! They weren't FOB's or anything but come on! They could have pretended and chosen regular names knowing they are going to be on TV.

The Hip Hoptionary: The Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology by Alonzo Westbrook

Three things:

1. if we used this to play speed scrabble, i'd school all you fools.
2. entry for "ain't no shame in my game" - "statement of confidence while doing what could be perceived as a shameful act, i.e., having sex with a married man"
3. both #2 and the dictionary itself remind me of ms. hurh (in line with her baby T that says "bling bling")

It's always interesting when a straight man asks "what did you get at Banana Republic?" when they see the shopping bag. It makes me think....

A guy from India is working for me as a project manager for several of the implementations of my product. Last name Ranganayagalu. First name, longer than that. I need him to speak clearer English! Every time he calls for information (and he calls a lot because bureaucracy at my firm is heinous), I need to stop everything, press the phone as close as possible to my ear, use my finger to plug the other ear, just to understand him. It's the accent; it's the speed (fast but unintelligible due to the first thing); it's the volume (low). Am I just being a total racist or do I have high standards of quality for those who work for me? (hint: not the latter).