The reason my life is good

So it is the last day of the year. The day when more put-together people do end-of-year lists, the best movies they saw, the best music they listened to, their most scandalous secrets, that sort of thing. As for me, putting together lists like that would take far too much time and effort, because I'm not very good at keeping track of that kind of thing anyway. And, of course, I have way too many scandalous secrets to fit in a top ten list.

Coincidentally, it is also mine and David's 15 year anniversary. Which is pretty amazing because we are only 25, right? Going out to dinner on New Years Eve tends to be far more trouble than its worth, so we'll be going out tomorrow instead as usual. But still, as I sit here pondering my year, he is what comes to mind the most. He has shared all of my best moments of the year, and in fact is the cause of most of them. I mean, let's face it, without him I'd have starved to death years ago. (He made me french toast this morning, yummmmm.) There is that movie where Susan Sarandon says that people get married in part because we want a witness to our lives. I couldn't have a better one than him, and I only hope I give it all back to him and more, because he deserves it. And more.

So instead of a top ten list of things that don't really matter, here is a photo blog posting celebrating the handsome, funny, goofy, playful, strong and totally awesome dork that I share my life with.













I'm a lucky guy.

More vacation, a play, and a cemetary

We have sure been enjoying our vacation. Been working on various projects that always seem to get overlooked, and I am sore all over from my return to the gym. Heck, it had only been a few weeks, but boy did I lose my tone fast. My upper back is still just sore and aching. Ah well. Unlike David, I actually like the soreness, it reminds me I've been doing something good.

We also went to see a play, "Edward II" at the, er, Shakespeare Company or whatever they are called. Every time I go to see a classic play, I say a little prayer, that this will finally be the production that opens my eyes up to the glory of classical theatre. And every time, I leave disappointed. I just can't get over the fancypants language, it sounds so artificial to my ear that I have a hard time getting into it. There were some good actors in the bunch, but also a few that as soon as they had a monologue would go into their "monologue voice", which always drives me crazy. About half the company could benefit from a MissChievous school of acting lesson, which was one of the best acting lessons I ever had. Rehearsing a scene with her in the middle of the quad, I realized that if anyone walked by, they would think she was just having a conversation, while if they heard me they would know I was "acting". Point taken. It is supposed to sound real. I hate actor voice. I know in the classics there is a certain amount of that built in to the artsy language, but it is a trap! Good actors know to take it down as much as possible.

They moved the time frame to the 1930s, and made use of a fantastic costume designer. It sort of doesn't really make any sense in that time frame, kings getting thrown in dungeons and stuff, but still, I liked looking at the costumes. (Edward at one point was wearing a leather jacket like Keanu in The Matrix, and I think I spent five minutes just watching the flow of the hemline, it was awesome.) Also they used a lot of underscore music to trick you into thinking you were watching a movie. I like that trick. There were a few moments of very clever direction, but the death scene in Act II was so grotesque and gratuitous that I wished I'd walked out at intermission.

The theatre was nice though. I would like to go back and see their next play, Mary Zimmerman's take on "Jason and the Argonauts". I mean, I'd love to see the definitive answer to the question, "What exactly is an argonaut again?" I missed her "Metamorphosis" on Broadway, but my super talented and gorgeous friend Anna did another play with her (playing, I forget, Helen of Troy or a Greek goddess or something appropriate to her leggy hotness) that I saw in Princeton, and it was totally fabulous.

And also, if he make it this far reading through a blog post that pretty much no one but me cares about, I know at least one reader of my blog will be excited to hear that David and I did a geocache the other day. It was our first in like a year and a half, and we had a great time. It was a multi-cache, and took us through the Congressional Cemetery to the gravesites of people like John Phillip Sousa (who was, incidentally, born a block away from where we live now). So that was pretty fun. We kept walking by this one grave for a guy named "Andrew Jackson". At first we were like, could it be THE Andrew Jackson? But in the bottom corner it was engraved "lovingly erected by niece, Jane Doe". THE Andrew Jackson I'm sure has a big old monument somewhere erected by the government, not his niece. But I love it that this woman was so vain that she put her name on someone else's tombstone. You know, so we could all see how generous she was to do that. People are awesome.

Sweeney Todd, the not-very-nice barber of Fleet Street

So, Sweeney Todd. I wish I could just transcribe the conversation David and I had after we saw it, because we had a lot of good observations to make, but now that I've made them I've forgotten what they were. ::grin::

Short story: go see it. All musicals are worth seeing, flaws and all. Tim Burton is perhaps a better visualist than he is a storyteller, but I'm pretty sure that if you could peer into his head just for even a second you would never have to drink or do drugs again.

Longer story: I'm happy the movie is getting so many amazing reviews, because I always want every musical to be a big hit so that the studios will keep making more. But in my heart of hearts, I think the reviewers are thinking the same thing, and so are being rather generous. Full disclosure: I've never seen a production on stage, although I have seen the video of the original production. As someone who HATES watching video of live stage performances, I didn't really get into that either. However I love the story, and I think the music ties with "A Little Night Music" for my favorite Sondheim score. It is deliciously wicked, and for the most part I thought the score was well-utilized in the movie. Yes, they cut some of the best music out, and complete verses were sliced out faster than the jugulars were. But I have no problem with reconceptualization, and ultimately didn't have a problem with all the missing chorus numbers. The world of a movie musical is a tough world to build in modern times, yet having the singing seem natural is key for a movie being emotionally stirring. Moulin Rouge made it work, Chicago made it work. Heck, the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer found a *perfect* conceit to make it work for them, so we know it can happen.

I'm also generally fine with casting actors over singers. Especially for a movie, where a good voice can't save the actor in a close-up. However, I would still prefer that the actors can sing at least moderately well. In this sense, I thought Johnny Depp was surprisingly good. He isn't going to win American Idol anytime soon mind you, but still he had some very satisfying vocals. Jayne Wisner as Johanna also had a piercing soprano I found rather enjoyable, at least as far as sopranos go. But other than that, the rest ranged from unremarkable to pretty miserable. I love Alan Rickman, but, well, I'll leave it at the but.

I don't even know where to start with Helena Bonham Carter, or HBC. "Worst Pies In London" was dreadful, losing most of the humor in the song in exchange for some sight gags with cockroaches. I was all for the idea of having a less powerful, younger and sexier Mrs. Lovett, but the idea seems to have worked out about as well as Bernadette Peters in Gypsy. But at least Bernadette tore it up with "Rose's Turn". Well, to be fair, I started to warm up to HBC a little when her motherly side came out near the end with Toby. But between the too-thin singing voice and the emphasis on eye make-up over acting, I just didn't buy it. Another full disclosure is warranted. Before Tim Burton decided just to cast his girlfriend, he did audition other actresses for the part, including the one-and-only Toni Collette. Yes, she was awesome in "Muriel's Wedding", but she also gave what is probably the best performance in a musical I've ever seen on Broadway in "Wild Party", and would have still given us a younger, sexier, but also kick-ass singer Mrs. Lovett. (She was also up for Roxie in "Chicago". Will someone please make her a star already so she stops losing out these roles???) Knowing what could have been, HBC is just mostly a disappointment. They even cut her out of "Nothing's Gonna Harm You".

Was it just me, or did anyone else keep getting confused as to what Snape and Peter Pettigrew were doing in this movie?

Another miss: this is sort of a horror movie. Going over the top isn't necessarily inappropriate for a musical, except then it sort of turns into a joke. So all that blood gushing around like it were "Kill Bill" or something gets gasps, but not gasps of horror. The sound editing of the shaving was a great start, but that should just be the beginning. When the beggar woman gets caught in the shop, it should be scary when we see Sweeney come back behind her. Johanna should be freaked out when she sees him coming towards her, bloody knife in his hand like he were Jason Voorhees. Burton should have consulted with John Carpenter or something a little bit more, because there were some great opportunities for some good scary fun that were missed. (One good exception, when Toby is in the basement and realizes what he is eating, and then Scabbers I mean the Beadle falls through the ceiling, that was well done.)

Ultimately, I enjoyed the experience. I loved the look of the movie, I loved the contrast with the "By The Sea" number, oh and I definitely enjoyed Sasha Baron Cohen who took what is probably my least favorite song to listen to and made it a standout scene. And Johnny Depp on a bad day is still Johnny Depp. But where "Dreamgirls" was moving, and "Hairspray" was fun, I just wish this had at least been scarier, or wickeder, or somethinger.

One awesome lady moves on to bigger things

One of my favorite patients passed away yesterday. She had been in the hospital for several months floating around to various floors depending on which organ system was acting up at the time, but one of our nurses was floating to the ICU where she was and got to be with her. I'd spent a lot of time talking with her and her husband, holding her hand, and getting completely wrapped around her finger. She was pretty sick though, and her death wasn't a huge surprise nor do I find it as depressing as I was afraid I might. I'm pretty darn sure she is in a better place and feeling a lot better than she has been. I wish I'd been able to see her husband one last time, but he was a good guy and I'm sure he'd prepared himself for this.

I'm not sure if it is just my acceptance of death as a semi-usual event in a hospital setting, or my comfort with the idea that death is not the final event of our existence that is keeping me from getting too sad about it. Still, I'll miss her wry smile.

Believing in Santa gets you weapons of minimal destruction

Omigosh you guys, this believing stuff really works, I got way good stuff this year. You should totally try it. Just whisper "I Believe" and stuff when Santa is listening. However if Santa isn't listening, then you are probably just wasting your time, not to mention just looking foolish.

Apparently I complain about being cold a lot, because I got a bunch of stuff designed solely to keep me warm. My comfy pajama bottoms that I talked about last night (which made me so hot we had to open a window), a new thick robe, a foot heater/massager (that I'm using right now under the desk so probably my feet are currently happier than yours, you should really get one of these things) and some microwavable socks. I haven't tried the socks yet, but David did and he tells me they are terrific.

My father decided to buy all his children guns this year. Check this out and just try and tell me my sister couldn't totally kick your butt. If the end of the world ever comes, I'm totally heading to Arizona for protection. My father, redneck-wannabe that he is, is still smart enough to pay attention to actual gun laws and such and knew that handguns are currently outlawed in DC, so I missed out. However he told me, and I quote, "Hopefully Justice Roberts will do his job and get that overturned so DC residents can have their 2nd Amendment rights back." So maybe next year I will be armed and dangerous too, bwa-ha-ha! However, never one to skimp on the handing out of weapons, I still got, what would you call it, a mini-sword I guess. About two/three feet long, and autographed by the designer so I have to be good and keep the box and everything. But once we carve a nice backboard to hang it on, it will look totally fierce up on our Indiana Jones artifact wall in the bedroom. My instinct is to go out and use it and get it all weathered up, but I suppose that would destroy it's collectible value, so I'll refrain. I suspect this is my Dad's favorite Christmas ever, what with the gifting of guns and swords and, to David, a bunch of woodworking tools. The only thing that could have made it better was if someone wanted supplies to restore some old 1950's era Ford. The funny thing is that all us kids chipped in to get him a new gun this year, as he recently had one stolen. (Hope he opens that up before he reads this! lol)

For each other David and I got season passes to Six Flags. So if you come visit, we are totally taking you there. I can't wait until the park opens, I think in March or something. We've never been, but I'm sure it will be great. We even got a great Christmas deal where the season pass was the same price as a regular one day ticket. You can't beat that. Otherwise David got "me" a paper shredder, and I got "him" a dustbuster. We can be boring with presents sometimes, but we needed them! The funny thing is we went shopping last week, and I was planning on buying him a paper shredder, but then I got distracted with the dustbuster and forgot about the shredder until we'd already left the store. So that worked out nicely.

Now we have the Disney parade on TV, which is more Disney and less Christmas, but I did just see our friend Cullen, who was in the original cast of the "Saving Nemo" show (playing Nemo), so that was fun. His hair was covered, but you could still tell it looked awesome.

So we are about to leave and go see "Sweeney Todd", and then we're walking over to the White House to see the National Christmas tree. It is supposed to get up to 51 degrees today, which is A-OK with me. I have to work tomorrow, but then I have a whole week off! And I'll be going to the gym every day to start working off all this holiday fondue, fudge and banana bread.

Only losers don't believe in Santa Claus

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! I need to run to bed so Santa can come. After the fondue (made better by my salty tears of joy) and before the nog and Christmas Eve gifts (always stuff you can wear, courtesy of the McMullins, and this years is extra warm and snuggly) we watched "The Polar Express" on TV, which somehow neither of us had ever seen before. While computer animation always sort of freaks me out, I have to say I enjoyed it much more than I'd anticipated. However, since I am weird sort of idiot savant when it comes to identifying voices in cartoons and commercials, it drove me seriously nuts that Tom Hanks voiced like 14 out of the 16 characters. Also, I almost didn't get past the scene in the traincar with the misfit toys, due to the unexplainable inclusion of the clown from Poltergeist, because from my point of view a toy that is possessed by evil and tries to kill you should hardly discarded and refurbished for another unsuspecting tot, and that almost forced me to turn the movie off altogether as clowns and Christmas Do. Not. Mix.

But I digress. The point of the movie seemed to be, if you believe in Santa you get presents, and if you don't you can never hear a bell ring again. Me, I sort of like bells, so I'd better get to bed. I didn't finish my glass of nog, which is still sitting on the coffee table by the tree, so I figure Santa can enjoy that if he cares to. But I like bells. And presents. So count me as a believer.

I breathed on a Van Gogh today

Today we went to the museum of art, and not only did I get to see some Monet up close and personal (David went to point at a specific point of super awesome detail and I grabbed his hand, convinced security gates would come crashing down around us) but also got a nice holiday concert in the rotunda. Most of the songs were simple Christmas carols, which was fine by me. Especially when the soprano sitting on the floor behind us started singing along. In harmony. Four octaves about normal human range. And since I was sitting in front of her and she couldn't see my face I could smile with abandon, because I freaking love it when people do stuff like that.

Besides the normal carols, the choir also sang this one song that elevated them from above-average Lutheran church choir to ephemeral angels. I have no idea what the song was, it was all in Latin or something, but it was the kind of music where I wanted to lay down and stare at the Monet as heaven lapped at the edge of consciousness. I love Christmas.

Also we bought fondue, because that is the Christmas Eve meal of choice for champions. My favorite dippers are green apple and a nice soft french bread. This year we are adding some broccoli and mushrooms. I almost got some asparagus, but at the end of the day there are only two of us and how much can we possibly eat? I'm not positive about the mushrooms, but sometimes it is fun to live on the edge a little.

Tomorrow I have to work, but then I'm off again until Wednesday, so that is good.

Urban Ninja

God, if I'm like good and stuff, can I please get reincarnated as this guy?

How to do something stupid but hard and win my adoration

I bet there will be more links forthcoming, as I get to see everyone's "Top Ten Viral Videos" lists. But this kind of thing is crazily awesome, sort of in the same vein as the whistlers. Who has the time to figure this out?

More visitors, and some DC Christmas Cheer

We've had a few more visitors that deserve a blog mention. First up was our friend Cullen who is on tour with "Avenue Q". We haven't seen him in a few years, but like most of our long-term friends, it feels like we'd never been apart. He also has great hair. He has always had great hair, now that I think about it.

Hmmm, I needed a quick moment, but I'm over hating him for that now.

He is up for a big role in a musical that I haven't seen but everyone seems to like, so lets all send him good energy!

Then last week our friends Zane and Wendy came. Everyone calls them Zane and Wendy, but for some reason I like to call them Wayne and Zendy. I've only done this once to their faces. I honestly don't do it on purpose either, but that is how I refer to them almost every time, which started out kind of embarrassing but now just makes David laugh at me. I had to work both days they were here, so I didn't get to do any of the fun sightseeing with them, but still it was fun to hang out while I could. Our house loves having Albuquerque faces inside! Sadly we were lame and didn't get any photographic evidence of their trip.

Last night we had a nice Christmas moment. We walked over to the Botanical Gardens, which we could do because the weather is happily cooperating and staying in the low 40s, which is completely tolerable as long as the wind stays out of it. Anyway, they have this big train set up outside, which usually isn't really my thing, but somehow it was extremely compelling and I sort of lost myself staring at it, until two little kids biffed it to my left and started crying and some random crowd guy just kept making that "ohhhh!!" sound you make when you see something that hurts, but he kept making it over and over even after the parents were busy consoling the kids, so it must have been a pretty spectacular biff.

So, the moment broken, we went inside. They were supposed to have live music playing, and walking through the botanical gardens at night with Christmas music playing live sounded pretty sweet. When we get there, it turns out to be a little folk band, and they are playing some Yiddish song. (I say that without the faintest idea of what "Yiddish" actually means, but it sounds appropriate to what I was hearing.) Which, hey, I'm liberal, I'm all for including other faiths into the holiday celebrations, even if it wasn't even the dradel song, just some random thing with no words. Worse, when that song was finished, they start playing a Beatles song. Listen, I came for Christmas music, not "Eight Days A Week", ok? Anyway, the music was a big bust, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the garden, which is still totally cool. They also had these sculptures of many of the famous buildings/memorials in town made all from plants. It sounds kind of silly, and is, but in a cool way. Then we sat down because one of my favorite smells in the universe is of plants and earth and green, and this completely adorable little girl, just barely walking, entertained us by continually licking a tree. Not really licking, more like open mouthed kissing. It was so adorable that when I said to David "C'mon, you want to have kids, right?" he admitted "Maybe if ours could be like that one". Score! I'm breaking down the wall a little at a time. Thanks anonymous cute baby girl that likes to taste trees!


On the way home we stopped by the Congressional Christmas tree. Dang I love this time of year.

Another example of how Netflix rocks me out

We saw the coolest movie last night, a documentary about the International Whistlers Competition called "Pucker Up". I've seen this movie before in various forms - on the National Spelling Bee, on a Scrabble convention, etc - and the format never ceases to disappoint. You take something kind of weird that takes definite talent to compete in, and then hone in on those individuals who have spent the time and energy to, you know, care, and then cultivate their own talent. The results are freaking awesome.

The movie starts out gently poking fun at some of these guys and gals, cause, well, people who spend a lot of time whistling, and thinking and talking about whistling, are just kind of funny. One guy referred to himself as a "puculator". I'm too lazy to look it up to see if it is a real word or not, but even if it is it cracks me up. Also any documentary that includes clips from the Lawrence Welk Show deserves props. But then the competition starts and you get to hear some of the totally amazing whistling going on. It is just crazy what some people can do. It even shows this one guy doing some crazy South American-style whistling where it looks like he is just talking, but somehow he is whistling not with his lips but his throat or something whacked out, even watching him do it my brain could not conceive how those sounds were coming out of his mouth and I was sure it was just dubbed or something.

My one complaint, we get the seven dwarfs, Elvis, and even Audrey Hepburn, but no "King and I"? I wanted to whistle a happy tune dammit! (The song was actually set up perfectly, which leads me to believe someone in the Rodgers and Hammerstein estate is a stingy bastard with rights.)

Also a plus, while these guys are certainly competitive, it wasn't all cutthroat and ugly, like they applauded each other when they did well. Which means, should I ever be in town, I think it was somewhere in the South, but if I am there when the next convention happens, I'm totally going.

You should totally rent this movie, and then we can talk about how awesome it was together, and then laugh and feel sorry for everyone else who hasn't.

Fun Christmas Singing

These boys don't belt, but they can still sing.

More of Jennifer Holliday's children

Here is some sweet, sweet belting for those of you inclined towards that kind of thing.



I have no idea what this is from, but with voices like that, who cares?

Survivor, or the one that was just messed up

Things start out promisingly. The reward challenge is fun, with my two favorite players in the game doing great, and the two others sucking. At this point I don't really care who wins because I like both Todd and Amanda, but my heart is for Amanda because, well, I don't know why really, I just like her more. And she wins. The editing was a little sloppy and when she finished the puzzle it wasn't with much fanfare, so at first I thought Jeff was going to say she'd done it wrong. But she didn't, my girl totally rocked it.

Of course there is strategic sharing of food, which I always love love love. And I totally thought she made the right choice, you have to keep your biggest enemy close at this point, even though I did worry about giving him the energy to make him more competitive in the last challenge. But if she hadn't picked him, he would have plotted against her. He was acting all weird, being like "I don't know why she doesn't trust me, I've always been true to Amanda", which is sort of a bald faced lie since he tried to talk the other girls into voting for her last week, but I really think he believed it. Weird.

Denise continued to suffer from the "No one likes me and I feel so sorry for myself" disease that she must have picked up from Rupert, which really started to get on my nerves. And the other three keep talking about how hard Denise would be to beat in the end. Are you kidding? Have they ever watched Survivor before? There has never, not once ever, been a pity vote. Ask Twila, who not only deserved the pity vote but just the vote in general and still lost to lame-ass Dave by one vote.

So up comes the immunity challenge, which is different I guess so its ok, even if it isn't terribly interesting or anything. Denise tries to make a deal, which is the first interesting thing she has done in the entire game. And Amanda totally shuts her down, which is awesome, but she does it in a very smart way, saying "Don't give up on me, let's just fight it out!" Brilliant, you are not giving anything away but you are totally in it to win it and take her out. And Amanda wins the third challenge in a row. In my mind, she just won the game. I still want her to go up against Todd, because it will be more interesting, but I totally think she can beat him.

Denise is fighting, and in the worst pathetic way possible. Courtney cuts her to shreds, which was totally harsh, but sort of true. Not about the sucking at life part, which I don't believe at all, just watch her shine doing karate, and I will assume she is a totally awesome mom. But at this game, she is lame and sad and I hate that she is actively trying to make me feel sorry for her. She is also trying to make Amanda feel sorry for her, and Amanda turns out to be a sucker and starts to fall for it. Crap. And though I don't quite realize it yet, Denise just totally sabatoged Amanda.

Tribal council, Denise practically starts begging people to like her, and with an assist from Jeff Todd makes a devastating call out of Amanda. And that is it for her. She turns into a girl and gets emotional, and never recovers. I even believe Todd didn't do it on purpose, he isn't that smart, he was just really lucky.

The next day Amanda seems to have recovered. I'm hoping. They get instructions to row across the lake to some big statue to do the walk of the dead thing. Did you notice in the arial views of the statue you can see a modern city behind it? They are hardly in rural China in the middle of nowhere. There are people and tourists all around them, I bet they can hear cars from their campsite. I'm under no illusion that Survivor is really as isolated as they make it seem, but I bet this is the least isolated season they've ever had. Also weird, during the walk of the dead, it is Courtney who says the most nice things about people. I swear we are in bizzaro Survivor all of the sudden.

So final council. Amanda, who I sincerely believe to be the most deserving of the win, crashes and burns. She zeros in on the Eric vibe and tries to be "nice". WTF??? You are playing against Todd! You have to outwit him to win. PG is right, your doe eyes, as gorgeous as they are, are not enough to win this game. She needs to stand up and say "I won the last three challenges in a row. How many did Todd win? How many did Courtney win? They are great players, but I am better." Alas, she doesn't. Todd starts off weak himself, but eventually he goes there. He has always been a good talker, and he does a great job here.

So continuing the bizzaro world, I'm a little thrown by who is a good jury person and who decides to be miserable. James, who I always thought was a little, well, stupid, gets kicked off the show and then turns into this great guy. Gives a great death speech, and then shames practically everyone to follow with "I'm no Bitter Betty". Good for you dude. JR, predictably, is a Bitter Betty. Courtney is having none of it, which I actually am forced to admire her for, Amanda fuddles through, and Todd nails it. Frosti has some hurt feelings, but is ok. Eric is a little weird but fine. PG is a bitch, but that is just her, I don't even remember her question now but I don't remember it being too bad. Then sweet Jamie stands up. Clearly she was handed the mantle from Alex last season, and does the totally stupid "I'm going to ask you a totally stupid and mean spirited question and no matter what you say I'm going to repeatedly cut you off unless you can be meaner and nastier than me." Jamie, you suck. Officially. Then, Denise. Poor, sufferable Denise. I want to fast-forward. I just don't get it. These people don't just get kidnapped off the street to be on Survivor. They don't get entered by a friend. They have to actively apply and work at getting on the show. I've filled out the application, I've made a video. (My application, by the way, totally rocked out, but I'm big enough to admit my video totally sucked.) The point is, it takes a lot of work. So how can you be even partially aware of the show and not understand that THIS IS A GAME!!! This is not about self worth, this is not about the "good" guys beating the "bad" guys, this is certainly not about integrity and honesty, and THIS IS NOT ABOUT THERAPY. After fourteen or whatever seasons, I certainly have this figured out, I don't know why there always are contestants who just never get it, and it drives me bonkers. Todd nails it again. "My relationships with you are real. But I was here to play a game, and by playing the game I lied to you." Can we all say "Duh!" together now?

So Todd wins it. I have to say I'm fine with that. I still think it was Amanda's to win, but she blew the final challenge, and let Todd talk it away from her.

But then we go to the reunion show. Besides having the most ridiculous haircut imaginable, Todd also seems to be wearing lipstick which sort of freaks me out. But then he breaks cardinal rule #1: Be a gracious winner. I can't believe he was that rude to Jean-Robert, especially since he was not even being truthful. He totally voted out JR because he thought he was a threat. He wasn't just stoking his ego when he said that, it was the truth, he was worried that JR would stir things up. So to be that rude to him on TV is just pathetic. Courtney gets two votes, which is just crazy. Although I will say that I liked that Courtney wasn't taking the crap in the last tribal. She is the last person I'd ever want to hang out with, but I will give her credit for saying what she means. However, that is hardly a reason to vote for her to be the ultimate Survivor. I can only hope that a love-struck Frosti was the other person who voted for her.

JR is lame. James is awesome. Whatever my reservations about him, he gets that it is a game, and seems genuinely low key, and I respect that a lot. Denise makes me super uncomfortable. I can't say anything else without being mean, and I don't mean to be mean to her. But Survivor is supposed to be fun, it isn't supposed to make me feel like I'm on the street walking by a homeless guy and not giving him any change. You made it to fourth out of 16, could have made it to third had you, you know, actually been a good player, and I'm supposed to believe you are a victim? James wins money in some popularity contest I've never heard of, and Mark Burnett gives some more to Denise. Which, ok, that is great for her. But Twila was just as bad off, but she didn't cry about it so she got nothing. I REALLY don't like the precedent this sets.

I've not had as much fun with any show like I've loved Survivor. It is a perfect set-up, brilliantly conceived, generally well-executed, and still has Probst, the best TV host ever. And there has been a lot to enjoy this season, some fun intrigue and great game playing and some beautiful scenery footage. (Did anyone notice that in the B-footage we watched three different katydids get eaten by frogs and wasps in just this episode? I'd hate to be a katydid in China.) But I'm sorry, this is officially my nomination for worst season so far. Todd would have been eaten alive by Rich Hatch. And who knows, may be on a future All-Star episode, heh. Leslie and the wrestler and Aaron were all potentially interesting, but got voted off too early. This game really sucked for Aaron, I wish he'd had more of a chance.

I can't believe Jeff asked Eric if he was still a virgin. Talk about pandering, that is worse than all the stupid Sprint pitches he made. However, I remain a Jeff fanboy, because even when he is being a jerk he is still superfine. Also, is this the first time no one has won a car? What is up with that?

So now we have to wait for February. Superfans vs superstars. Interesting, very interesting. I wonder who they will bring back from this season? Will we get more Yao? Ozzie? There are some delicious possibilities, that is for sure. I suppose I could find out with a quick "Survivor spoilers" google search, but perhaps I'll wait, like a new parent who doesn't want to know the sex of the baby before delivery.

It always gets tough in February, when both Survivor and American Idol are on at the same time. Thank goodness for Tivo!

Survivor, or the ups and downs of power duo Todd and Amanda

This will be fast because I need some precious sleep to prepare myself for another busy day of saving lives, but I'd better say something now or I never will.

I liked the reward challenge. For example I find it fascinating that everyone gave their arrows to Courtney. Did they anticipate she would hit their names for them? Todd rocked out, which again at this stage always impresses me. Boring Denise wins, and continues her uninterrupted string of bizarre decisions. Of course you pick Courtney. But don't say "I don't want to pick PG" so she can hear you. Just say "I have to pick Todd because he did the best at the challenge and he almost won." No one can argue that logic. Well, PG would, but who cares. Instead, like before, she makes it about picking favorites. I suppose this is a remnant of being last chosen in grade school when you really do pick your teammates based on who is popular and nothing else. Too bad that working in a school environment she hasn't ever progressed beyond that.

I don't blame Amanda for being disappointed, but really, you already have photographs of yourself flying kites from the Great Wall don't you? I was hoping she would say "Oh, yeah, I did that last year already, it is so passe." But instead she acted all wounded, which made my love for her shed a tear of its own.

Todd is getting a bit too chummy with Courtney. I mean, at this point I'd want her at the end too, but you are starting to pick up some of her horribleness, and you need to knock that off dude. Them cooties are clearly contagious. So while I was hating him complaining about the food, and talking about the food, and talking more about the food, I did have to love him for talking about getting rid of Amanda. Of course I'd sort of rather she win over him, but every time he works it I have to love it.

The reward challenge was great. Denise deserves to go home now. There is no way she would win if I were on the jury and had anything to say about it. You eat whatever horribleness Jeff puts in front of you, or die trying. Only losers give up. PG, for as much as I think she is, like, you know, like, stupid as dirt, fought another hard battle. But my darling Amanda pulled it out, which of course makes me love her even more, as well as being a huge relief that she wasn't going home already.

Amanda finally started talking about getting rid of Todd, but then she didn't do anything about it, she just allowed PG to bear the burden. Lame. Fight your battles. I am very concerned for her at this point. Denise, whom I'm sure is a respectable and nice person in real life, is just completely unsuited for this game. I'd love to see her have to pick between Todd and Amanda, not for the game, but just to pick who was the coolest. I think her brain would explode, like a robot trying to find a rhyme for orange.

So Amanda missed her chance. The next challenge will be crucial for her, or else they will get rid of her. I'd love to see her manipulate it so Todd goes, but I don't think there is a way. Anyhoo, a real win for me is a Todd/Amanda showdown in the end. I love the way Todd went on about how everyone hates him. Am I just blind, because I really haven't sensed that from anyone. I mean, I'm sure they resent his power, but partly in a good way, where you stand up and say, yes, I was in control, and I owned this game, and that is why you have to vote for me because I outwitted you all. While Denise surely loves hearing him talk about everyone hating him, it isn't a seed I'd want to be planting in the jury's head, I think that was a foolish thing to say at Tribal Council. Amanda has good outwit cred too though. Even though she folded this week, it was still her that got rid of James, and was the source of Todd's power and decision making for a long time. Plus she competed in the "compete or eat" challenge, which is what sealed the deal for me with her.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. If Todd goes up against Denise and Courtney I will cry from boredom. I wonder what this jury will be like. I get so annoyed with the ones that get haughtily mad or self-righteously dramatic or the ones that are clearly aware that this is their last moment ever to be on TV and so want to make a big impression. (Yes, I'm talking to you Alex!) Not that the questions need to be softballs, but keep your misplaced emotion to yourself please.

I'll try and watch Monday night after work.

Christmas fun and more love of Kathy Griffin

I'm sitting here making some of the finishing touches on my Christmas present to my family, which is at such a level of awesomeness it will make them all weep and and be amazed that they have never received a gift that was so spectacular and wonderful and they will realize I am forever their favorite and they love me more than they ever have and all other gifts they receive will pale in comparison to my excellent taste and creativity. So if you are giving a gift to someone I am closely related to, then all I can say is, SUCKER! Too bad for you that they are going to like my present way better than yours! Neener neener!!! Bwa-ha-ha!!!

Other than being awesome, I am just being tired, because I've spent every waking moment of every day off I've had in the past two weeks working on, er, stuff, and now I've got four days of work in front of me and I'm a little pooped. We are having some fabulous Albuquerque company on Friday night, and I'm going to barely be able to say hello before running off to bed again after work which is totally crappy. Ah, well. Yesterday was actually a great day at work, despite having two patients break down in tears. One guy said "I really hope I just die tonight. I believe in God, and I know suicide is the worst sin, and I can't wash away all the good I've done in my life with that, so I just hope I die in my sleep. Tonight." I didn't say much, because, what DO you say, but also he didn't want me to say anything, he just needed someone to listen. But other than the abject depression, I'm getting much better with my actual work load and don't feel so incompetent anymore, which you might realize is a huge plus in my overall sense of happiness.

Other nurses, how many times have you done this: After work, just as I was about to start eating dinner, I suddenly realized that in my long note I wrote that I had a patient on Aspiration Precautions, when she was really on Airborne Precautions (to rule out TB). It is a dumb mistake, I don't even know how I remembered that I'd done it. But now I'm all annoyed with myself. Stupid! Stupid!

We just got some cookies in the mail from my parents-in-law, and also some honeycomb candy which is one of my favorite things ever. When I lived in Singapore they had it in candybar form, called a Violet Crumble, but I've only found them here on rare occasions in specialty stores. Of course, thanks to all the work I've been putting in on my sweet Christmas gifts, I haven't been to the gym in almost two weeks and now I'm eating Christmas cookies, it is all a bad scene at my house. Come January I'm going to be eating better and gymming more often, I swear. Well, maybe not eating better, but I do like the gym. I have a sick gym, so it is actually fun to go. Plus if I go at the right time I get curious VH-1 reality TV to watch while I'm kicking butt on the elliptical or treadmill, which is sometimes painful but other times delicious. Once Kathy Griffin was co-hosting "The View", and that was like Christmas had come early. If I ever win the lottery, I will totally use my winnings to arrange a dinner date with her, I think she is just crazy-awesome-funny. I don't get all fanboy crazy over many celebrities, like any of the celebrities I met after Boheme usually sent me into a spiral of awkward silliness (I just smiled sheepishly at Nicole Kidman, couldn't even approach Placido Domingo, and I totally insulted Dame Maggie Smith, but by accident I swear!) But Kathy Griffin seems like she would be just a normal person, not a star you had to watch out for. Besides, if I said something stupid or insulting to her she might make fun of me in her act and what could possibly be better than that?! My friend Susie is friends with Chloe Webb who is also someone I would die of embarrassed happiness if I got to meet, but I think I missed my chance with that one by moving to DC. ::sigh:: I'm not even going to discuss my friend who was tragically killed in a blog duel recently, who at one time was allegedly given heartfelt love by a somewhat tipsy Allison Janney. She is probably just a liar anyway. (My friend, not Allison Janney.)

I'm definitely watching Survivor tonight, but I probably won't get to blog about it until Tuesday, when I will also watch Sunday night's finale. Sorry to be so late with everything, especially with the finale and all, but work is work. I think most of you mock me for it anyway, but I know I can't expect all of my friends to be as enlightened as me on every subject, especially when it comes to areas of my most excellent taste. Enjoy watching Law and Order spin-off #4, or whatever it is you silly anti-reality watchers enjoy.

The Tree

Heh, leave it to Andrew Sullivan to gift me with all the delicious viral videos that I've somehow missed in years past...

Four things

1. I had a rare weekend off, but spent the entire time working on Christmas presents. Which was fun. Just didn't get much done in the relaxing department, and this next week it seems like I'm working a lot. One day I get to shadow our wound/ostomy nurse around for the day, which should be totally cool. Gory details to follow.

2. We saw Golden Compass. Oh, how I wish the religious controversy were, you know, true. They spent a lot of money on special effects, but in trying to make the religious nuts happy (which they obviously didn't do) they stripped the book of any, you know, actual meaning. The biggest reason I enjoyed the books was it made me think, I just thought it was an interesting premise. With the movie, well, there is no need for thinking. They tried to go all Lord of the Rings epic, but left out the story. Also, Nicole Kidman's monkey should be beautiful like she is, not mangy scary. Beautiful scary. There are some inherent difficulties in telling the story I guess. I didn't really like the way they visualized her reading of what the compass was telling her, but I admit I can't think of a better solution. Daniel Craig and especially Nicole Kidman have extremely difficult characters to portray, and I thought they did a good job telling the current story as well as setting up their progression to come. The girl is good anyway. And you can't go wrong with Sam Elliot. The most interesting thing about the movie is that when we saw it Saturday afternoon, and at a big popular theatre, well over half the audience was comprised of small groups of men in their thirties. Who knew that was their audience? ::grin:: The best part is the song over the closing credits, if you go you must stay and listen. The girls name is Lyra, and the song goes something like this: "Lyra, Lyyyyyyyyy-ra, her soul walks besiiiiiii-de her", only they pronounce "her" like "ha" to make it rhyme. I would pay money to see Dionne Warwick sing it on the Oscars.

3. Last night we went to a reading of a new musical. It wasn't very good, but live theatre is rarely totally without merit, and it is a work-in-progress after all. It really makes you aware of how hard it is to write a musical. Before it started this guy walks in, and both David and I see him, and it is that glint of recognition where we know we know him but don't know why, and we are struggling with that impulse of whether or not we should wave and say hi, and then I realize - it is Eric Schaeffer, the artistic director of the Signature Theatre. We can be such nerds sometimes. But he really does look like his picture!

4. Do you think my fantasy of having an Obama/McCain race is at all possible? I'm tired of all the bickering and fighting, can you imagine how with those two we could actually debate the issues they disagree on instead of just the usual self-righteous mud-slinging? McCain has really disappointed me in the past, but I still think he is the best the Republicans have to offer in the way of hope. (I still like a lot of what Ron Paul stands for, but I'm reluctant to get totally on board with anyone that ideological.)

When Survivor is good, it is finger-licking good

Is it me? Am I getting too old/jaded/whatever? This season of Survivor is just not keeping me as deliriously happy as seasons past have, and I'm having a hard time with that. The formula is still good, Jeff is still reliably authoritative, I still get chills every time he says "Previously.........on Survivor." I even still enjoy all the B footage of snakes eating bugs and stuff like that. Casting seems to have done their job, I mean when we first started there was an interesting array of people and personalities. The wrestler, the former male model, the Christian who said "I'm not very religious" but still felt sick inside performing a welcome ritual in a Buddhist temple. I mean, that crap is like, pardon the expression, manna from heaven for us reality TV fans.

But somehow this season just has not gelled together for me. From the weird special effects, to the lame team trading, somehow it has just been a little off. Which isn't to say awesome television hasn't happened at all. Todd has been thoroughly enjoyable from the beginning, and I still stand by my love of Amanda. Courtney is awful, but in that way where kidnapping victims come to love their captors I'm starting to enjoy her which sort of freaks me out but there it is. But somehow I just don't care as much this time around as I have in seasons past. Eric is nice but boring, PG is mean but boring. Somehow the stakes just aren't enough for me this time.

Anyhoo, this is all me saying that my chocolate frosted brownies stayed in the oven a minute too long and are a little bit dry. I'd still rather eat the slightly dry chocolate frosted brownies than just about anything else. I'm just saying.

So the episode. They are all giddy about getting rid of James, which they should be, because that was awesome and he could've beaten any of them. Jeff starts explaining the reward challenge, and says "you will be in teams of two" and I groan out loud. Teams? At this point in the game? Team challenges do not belong anywhere after the merge, so why do they keep doing this? I'm totally annoyed. Then Jeff says "Eric, you will be teamed...with your sister!" Well played, Probst.

I always love seeing which family members come for people. I always want there to be more significant others than family, because seeing who people choose as family is way more interesting than seeing who they were born with/from. Like the girl power season where the two lesbian couples were competing together? Awesome. This time only Denise brings her husband, and instantly she is my favorite. I am, however, absolutely fascinated with Courtney and her dad, who is apparently British. When told he has to compete in a silly maze, she goes crazy apologizing to him that he has to, like, do something, that "I didn't know you would have to do anything." What does that even mean? Wasn't the whole seeing your father thing a surprise? Too bad this isn't the season where the family members had to eat spiders and cockroaches, remember that one? I would've loved to see pansy British dad choking down a bird fetus.

Other than the introductory fun, the challenge is rather bland, but luckily Denise and her husband win. I'm still sort of high on Denise from her karate show, so I was pleased with her win. Then she has to pick two people to go with her. I always like to pause the TV when people have to make these kinds of choices, so I can think through who would be the sentimental choices, and who would be the strategic choices. As an outsider, if I were her I'd be thinking "who do I need to get chummy with, or who could I plot with, or who do I need close to me so they can't plot while I'm away" or something along those lines. She picks Todd and Amanda, which sort of surprises me and reminds me that Denise is kind of lame. She doesn't pick PG, who besides the fact that she sort of "owes" her, could also be a potential ally. She just picks the two power players, neither of whom are going to be swayed by this gesture. She picks Amanda, as she later explains to PG, "because she was stumbling around and feeling faint". WTF?? First of all, if the producers are holding back yummy footage of that, shame on you. Second, that reason is LAME. Be honest dear, and admit you just wanted to hang with the popular kids for once, it's ok, everyone wants that. Anyway, as far as I can tell, no game play goes on at all on the reward, they just eat chocolate and have a big Sprint plug which as usual makes me vomit it is so clearly about product placement and nothing else. I am however very curious about how old her daughter is, because unless she is eleven all those tears kind of weird me out. At least in the end they throw me a bone and let the losers suck chocolate cake off of their fingers. If I made a montage of awesome moments in Survivor history, that would be in there for sure.

Also interesting, was Todd's little moment of finding out his sister had a miscarriage. Apparently it is true, which totally sucks and I send my condolences. But you can't blame everyone else for being like, "yeah right." And then it happens. I love Courtney. Her Oscar speech was pure giddy, bitchy delight. I may hate her and everything she stands for, but that shit was high-larious.

The only thing particularly interesting about the immunity challenge was, what the heck happened to Eric? He was meant to be a contender, but there was just passing mention of him getting "caught up" on something, and he was suddenly in last place. What happened? Anyway, Todd and Amanda remind me again why they are my favorites, but it is PG that pulls it out, surprising herself as much as me. I may not really like her, but she is winning challenges like crazy, and I always respect that. "Outplay" does matter.

So here is where I find myself torn. I like Eric. He is the kind of guy you want to date your sister, so you know that you'll have a safe place from crazy at family gatherings. I also love strategic upsets, so when PG goes to Denise to try and get her to defect, I love the idea. But when we get right down to vote time I realize that I don't want Todd do go home, I want Eric to go home. For all his twenty two-ish insecurity, Todd has at least been reliable for fun the entire season. Eric makes goat noises and doesn't have sex. (What is Jamie going to say when she finds out he was sucking frosting from Amanda's fingers?)

When Denise votes and says "This is probably the biggest mistake I'm going to make in the game", I know it is a vote for Eric. Denise wants to rock out with the cool kids, and who can blame her? Short term, I'm very happy about it. Long term I'm getting a little nervous, because we are getting down to the end, and I'm getting nervous about the bunch we have left. Neither Denise or Courtney are acceptable as winners. PG can make a case for herself with all her recent wins, but really for me it comes down to Amanda and Todd, either of whom have earned a win. It looks like next week Amanda continues being crazy awesome and starts gunning for Todd, which is brilliant and risky, two things I love in Survivor. But still it just irks me that Courtney or Denise or both could end up in the final three. A Todd/Amanda/PG showdown would be best case scenario at this point, though I'm hardly holding my breath. That is why I love the new format of having three in the finals, because it is near impossible to stack the end with a clear winner and a clear loser like used to always happen. But I just can't see anyone voting for either Denise or Courtney, no matter how mad they might be at the leader who orchestrated their ouster. But then, Dave did beat Twilah, so you never know.

Altogether not a bad episode. I just miss the steroids the show used to be on.

The post that is all about me trying to stay awake

Tomorrow night I work my first night shift, so I'm trying to stay up late tonight to get myself ready. It is only 12:30 and I'm barely making it. I suspect I will like the slower pace of the night shift, at least the part with the fewer demands on how much I need to get done. On the other hand, I really do like being so busy I can't take lunch, because the day just goes by so much faster. I'm a little afraid tomorrow night is going to be LONG, and I'm going to resort to drastic measures such as drinking Coke or something nasty like that. (I know, you thought I was going to say coffee, but I only drink fresh coffee brewed for me by the owner of the Vietnamese coffee plantation, and even he had to douse it with half cream, I have standards you know.)

Today was a good day. I flicked urine red with blood clots at my nurse educator. Not on purpose or anything, my nurse educator is pretty rad. But I was flushing a foley catheter and it spurted when I disconnected it. Luckily she was holding a collection cup at just the right spot and it hit that instead. This is merely one example of why I wear my glasses instead of my contacts at work. You never know when a shield is going to come in handy.

It snowed today. As much as I hate everything that snow represents (i.e. coldness), I have to say that from the windows of the hospital it was really, really pretty. Then walking out to the bus it was warmer than you would have thought and again, really pretty. I think it is that I love falling snow, and snow that collects in places other than where i have to walk, as long as I'm never cold. We almost went for a walk when I got home, but it was getting mushy and that is no fun to walk around in. David got to go see the lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree tonight while I was at work, lucky dog. He said it is pretty amazing. I'll go check it out this weekend I imagine.

Dang, 12:42, I wish I typed slower. I was hoping to make it to 1am at least, but I am currently dying inside, so of to bed with me. I just hope I'm able to sleep in, because if I still wake up at 5:15, which is quite possible, then I'm really going to be messed up tomorrow night. lol

an update and a thank you

So I think I finally passed that threshold at work, where even though I am still learning lots every day, I finally had a full load this weekend and felt comfortable with that. I didn't have to hang any blood or anything terribly time consuming like that, but I still had two PEG tubes (with feedings and water boluses), a PCA, an ostomy bag, a foley that needed flushing, two bedside commodes, one who needed pain meds every two hours, one on contact isolation...well, you know how it is. But I was ok. I mean, thankfully it was a weekend so it was quieter without lots of new orders and tests and stuff. But I'm finally getting comfortable, and I like that. At one point the commode fell on the floor and made a mess, and my preceptor (who is getting bored now that I'm doing almost everything) sighed, then turned to me and said "well at least that gives you something for your blog." It always comes back to poop, doesn't it?

Thursday night I work my first night shift, and I'm looking forward to trying that out. I'm a little worried at how my body will react, especially the next day, but there is only one way to find out.

David had a great birthday on Friday. I gave him presents and we went out for Italian (his favorite) on Thursday night, and thanks to all of you who responded to my email and gave him a call or email while I was at work. He got over 60 messages, some from some very old and distant friends, from all over the country and even one from New Zealand, which was totally awesome. At one point he started singing from that Bill Finn song, "(S)He was incredibly loved, and he knew it." So kudos to all of you.

It is supposed to snow tomorrow. Not sure how I feel about that. I wish it wasn't on a work day. Also I am missing the Capitol Christmas tree lighting, which totally sucks, even though it would probably be too cold to enjoy anyway. It just gets harder to enjoy the things in this city when it gets cold. We went on a very short walk last night to look at the neighborhood Christmas decorations, which was fun but we didn't last long against that wind.

I guess this is purely an update post, instead of the more fun adventure or just funny posts. But there it is.

Also, I had a weird dream last night where I was me but also sort of Harry Potter, because there was a huge snake in the walls of my very French Quarter mansion and it was coming after us (I was with the Dursleys) and we were trying to escape and then I was hiding on the roof and was going to slice open its belly when it slithered over where I was hiding, but I woke up before that part. I have no idea where that came from.

Survivor, or the one that finally surprised me and made me super happy

I know much of the audience is probably very sad right now, but I can just take a moment to celebrate? Not even so much on the outcome, but that finally, FINALLY, we had us an interesting episode? I hate to admit it, because my love of Survivor is clear and unabashed, but I have to say this is the weakest overall season that I can remember. Even Africa had more intrigue. (Plus, T-bird!). So, on to my reactions.

I thought the tease of having the reward challenge at tribal council was a lame, even desperate move by the producers to try and make it seem like something interesting was happening when really...nothing interesting was happening. When PG won I paused the Tivo and tried to guess who she would take, who would be the sentimental choices as well as the strategic ones. She took the sentimental choices, which surprised me a bit, and made me wonder how much she had given up any chance of winning so decided just to have fun on her trip. I would have picked Todd, just to see what would happen. Or Amanda. And I'll get more to my loving worship of her later, but I am very curious as to how she comes off at camp. Does she appear to be the power player that she is, or is she just a quiet sidekick? I can't quite tell how the others perceive her.

I'm sure the reward was awesome, and is one I'd love to do myself, but for TV it was fairly dull, as most of those kind of reward challenges tend to be, it is hard to capture wonder and awe on film. The huge plus was watching Denise go all ninja for us. Like, that warmed my heart and melted my brain with giddy delight. She has been so reliably uninteresting, that watching her have a unique moment all to herself was very exciting. And I believe her when she said it was something she will remember forever, and I'm a sucker when quiet people get a moment to take the spotlight.

But on the reward, the only game playing apparently done is PG telling Denise that they could vote together and take control, and all they would have to do is get the help of...James. I am absolutely flabbergasted by her determination that James would EVER be an ally to her. They hate each other! What possibly makes her ever even dream that James would swing to be with her? I just don't get her at all.

But then it happens. Back at camp, with James continuing his "don't bite the apple" theme, how the four of them are inevitable (note, inevitable makes for boring reality television!) Amanda makes all my dreams come true and says she is ready to make an apple pie. I sort of though that Courtney and Denise might be the ones to potentially switch as they increasingly see their status lower on the totem pole than they want to be. At least Denise has seen that, I'm never sure what Courtney is thinking, although somehow she has been increasingly less annoying of late. Perhaps in her emaciated state she is simply unable to fuel her brain much anymore to get a good rant going. But regardless, it isn't her, it isn't the ever-loyal Denise, it is Amanda, the person that from the outside you would think had the least amount of desire to shake things up. Because she is in a comfy spot to get to the end, and often just getting there is what people want to do, not really thinking about what they will do when they get there. If Amanda was up against Todd and James, I think she would be in a very tough spot to win. I think anyone would be challenged to win against James. And she is the only one really thinking ahead. And for that, she gets to step up to the pedestal as far as I am concerned. Let the intrigue begin!

In her wisdom, she targets James, who fortunately loses the immunity challenge. When it comes to who I love and hate, I have to admit I have a short memory. I know James was dominating the early challenges, but really, what was the last thing he won? I'm far more impressed with Courtney, who is at least improving. But man, if I was grossed out by how thin Todd has gotten, Courtney just looks like she is about to die of starvation. You got your wish Radha, and, ick. I wonder how much muscle mass James has lost over the month. But Amanda does well, and I'm still loving her for competing last week when she could have eaten a burger instead. Eric wins, which is a high point for him in my book. He is totally likable, but I'm result oriented in my fandom, and this is something I can finally get behind him for.

Anyway, if you are still reading this, you know what happened. I loved the delicious moment when PG approached Amanda about voting for James, and Amanda was like, just let it lie, trust me, and literally gave her a wink. Heh. It was a risky strategy, particularly for Todd. Instead Amanda and maybe Denise should have gone to PG and said we want to swing with you to vote for James. PG and Eric would have gone with it, and then Todd wouldn't have been at risk. But whatever, the plan worked. Though I'd love to hear more from Eric on why he didn't vote for Todd. Had James played the Idol we would have had a tie between Todd and PG, which still would not have worked out well for Eric. But Eric is just nice, not necessarily smart.

And James. It is no secret I loved him early, and that love has been waning with each week. I'm pretty sure I would have rallied for him had he given back one of the idols to Todd. But greed always gets people in the end, and it is his own fault he became such a target. You have to win, and he just hasn't been pulling it out. In the end I was surprised by his concession speech though, I really expected him to be bitter, and he gave a great speech which admittedly makes me like him a whole lot more in retrospect.

But for me, this is Amanda's game at this point. Todd has been great, but his moves haven't been as smart as he thinks they have been. Getting rid of James was a good move for him, but he totally let Amanda take the lead, saying "I'll do whatever you guys want to do" and being all wishy-washy about it. Also his totally reactionary panic when he hears PG asked Denise to target him was not the sign of a leader. If he makes it to the end, I think he has a great shot, especially with James gone. But at this point the more he wimps out about making decisions, the more ammunition he gives to Amanda to take it from him, which of course is what I'm hoping for at this point. We haven't had many stealth players on this show. People usually reveal their strategies from the very beginning, whether they are a player (Todd, JR) or a winner (James) or a drifter (Denise, Courtney). But for Amanda to enable Todd to do everything that he has done, and then to come in at the end and take over and change up the game - that is just awesome and sweet and great entertainment for me.

So we are down to six. Does that mean next week is it? Regular show on Thursday and then finale on Sunday? It goes by so fast.