This “no internet till noon” business is killing me. I swear the minutes between 11:40 am and 12:00 pm have begun to pass more slowly. It is NOT an illusion or some Einsteinian relativity thing. It’s just. too. slow!

(Good for productivity, though…)

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While I don’t know anything about Le Clezio, the man who today won the Nobel for literature, I liked what French President Sarkozy had to say about him:

“A child in Mauritius and Nigeria, a teenager in Nice, a nomad of the American and African deserts, Jean-Marie Le Clezio is a citizen of the world, the son of all continents and cultures,” Sarkozy said. “A great traveler, he embodies the influence of France, its culture and its values in a globalized world.”

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I don’t normally take much interest in high fashion, because it’s usually too concept-y and not very practical (or attractive). But last night I channel surfed right onto Project Runway, and I was blown away by Leanne’s collection for Fashion Week. Really gorgeous lines and colors. I’d love to own/wear that stuff. (Also would love to look that good wearing it…)

Tonight, two girls boarded two planes headed for two boys in two states. One couple is engaged to be married. The other is split up. And yet perhaps the “broken” couple is just as close as the other.

I thought of these two girls as I drove home tonight. Their excitement, their true emotions, and the way their relationships have unfolded these past few years. How is it that they have moved along such separate but parallel paths?

It’s as if they are both walking along the same river, but on opposite sides.

I have this bad habit. It’s an urge to find something — anything — “productive” that I can do instead of what I should be doing. Usually I try to resist this urge, but that’s when things start popping out at me. Things that need doing. Things that can be done quickly — so quickly! — that it’s silly to put them off for even another second, despite the fact that I have that other thing (WRITING) that I should be doing.

So I do the quick thing. And the other quick thing. And the third quick thing that, I know I know, is the third, but really, it’s quicker than the other two!

Suddenly my whole day has flown by, lost to quick things.

Today was just such a day. I started off well, putting in several hours of writing-related work this morning. Then I got the munchies. Then I needed to do dishes. Then I had to make lunch. Then I had to take out the trash. Then I had to go to the bank. And then… I had to redesign my blog!

So there you have it. I’m a compulsive cleaner, room-rearranger, and blog-redesigner. It’s sad — oh so sad — but true. And as the Borg say, “resistance is futile.”

But I did accomplish a few things I’ve been hankering to do:

• SIMPLIFY. I want the pictures and the words to stand out. I think they do now. Also, there are less crazy colors, so Albert will stop telling me something is pink, or yellow, when it is clearly orange, or tan. White looks white on every screen.

• Strong “branding.” This is probably because I’ve now been brainwashed by worked at a design firm for over a year. PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW MY NAME, gosh darn it.

• LINKS! Thanks to the Better Blogroll plugin for WordPress, I can now feature five random links in my sidebar. Meaning I’m not responsible for the order in which they appear, nor who’s on or off the list at any given time — i.e., I CAN’T HURT ANYONE’S FEELINGS. God forbid.

Since I wasted much of my afternoon but can now cross all those things off my to-do list, I’m going to call today a wash. Maybe tonight will be more productive. Or maybe I’ll just watch TV until our flag football game…

dinner rolls and canned pineapple chunks. Because that’s what we had for dinner.

Um, yeah.

In an interesting turn of events, Ike brought winds of up to 60 mph HERE, to CINCINNATI, and knocked out our power for about six hours.

Yaaaay candles!

This TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson (about creativity and education) is one of the most entertaining and brilliant things I’ve seen all year.

I don’t think I was freaked out until I read this article. Thanks a lot, Alex.

I don’t feel like giving a full review, but let me just say that (a) I loved the movie Blood Diamond, and (b) I bawled my eyes out. Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly were all masterful. And the writing was excellent.

3 out of 5 ex-boyfriends polled say that I prefer to be in a constant state of crisis. Maybe I just give a shit.

My heart always told me that people are inherently good. My experiences suggest otherwise. But what about you, Mr. Archer? In your long career as a journalist, would you say that people are mostly good?

No. I’d say they’re just people.

Exactly. It is what they do that makes them good or bad. A moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life.

Sometimes I wonder, will God ever forgive us for what we’ve done to each other? Then I look around and I realize, God left this place a long time ago.

Blown. Is. Mind.

Partnership

It’s not a fairytale, exactly, but maybe it’s better. Maybe it’s the real thing.