Confession of the week

This one is hard, even for me, to admit. Maybe it was a lack of sleep or a lack of iron or a lack of sex, but last night, when I was watching the season premiere of America's Next Top Model, I started crying when one of my favorites, Melrose, was almost eliminated.

Methinks it's time for a holiday.

A word on: Leggings

I'm being honest, gals, when I say to you: Every outfit you put on does not look better with the addition of black leggings. In fact, most outfits you put on do not look better with the addition of black leggings.

Case in point: Today at lunch, I spotted a gal wearing a stylish, grey blouse; tailored, black, knee-length, asymmetrical skirt; cowboy boots; and, you guessed it, capri-length black leggings. Not only did the leggings ruin the line of her skirt, but they made her already-average lengthed legs look short. Actually, now that I think about it, most women's legs -- unless you happen to be Christy Turlington -- look short when wearing capri-length black leggings.

Just stop it. Enough already. The end.

Celebrity Confession

So, it's common knowledge around here that I'm not a big fan of Mr. Tom Ick Cruise. It's further common knowledge that I'm a big supporter of Free Katie (er, "Kate") Holmes. And when the two collided on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair, I had to say, "Enough already."

But I must confess, damn....that Suri is one cute kid.

3 Things A Man Should Never Do On A Saturday Night

(1) Wear (fake) hipster glasses and a red bandana. Can someone say, "Makes you look like a serial killer"? (Actually, we did say that, but that's another post entirely.)

(2) Use as his pick-up line: You have such nice full lips; I'll bet that means you're a great kisser. Shall I find out?

(3) When that doesn't work, turn to above-mentioned woman's friend and say: Your lips are narrow. Does that make you a bad kisser? Shall I find out?

Forget looking like a serial killer. This guy's just a loser!

My (technological) confession

After years of technological discrimination, angst, and fear, I finally broke down this weekend and bought: a cellphone. That's right, folks. I've finally decided to enter the 1990s. It's a big step (aided by an enormous hangover on Sunday). I'll need lots of support. But I'm sure (as everyone has told me) that my entire life is about to change! Here it is. I think I'll name him "Kermit."

Two months in the world of on-line dating

2 months ago: Cute guy views your profile

1 1/2 months ago: Cute guy "hotlists" you

1 months ago: Cute guy "winks" at you

29 days ago: You wink back

15 days ago: Cute guy sends first e-mail, apologizing for taking so long, but he's been out of town

13 days ago: You e-mail back

10 days ago: Cute guy sends second e-mail

9 days ago: You e-mail back

9 days ago: Cute guy sends third e-mail

7 days ago: You e-mail back, cute guy e-mails back, you e-mail back

6 days ago: Cute guy e-mails, asking you for coffee

5 days ago: You e-mail back, saying that this week is busy, how about next week?

As of today: Nothing

Why on earth is this so difficult? I mean, all of this time and energy is all for ONE DATE that probably won't happen. With someone I've never met. With someone who isn't all that exciting to begin with. (Well, he's more exciting than the 55 year olds living in Florida who like to e-mail me.) Seriously, I'm starting to think that arranged marriages aren't that bad of an idea.

Role Model? Heiress? Just stupid?

Paris Hilton was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of drunk driving. Bravo, Paris! Nice work.

(Just one thing. If you're an heiress, don't you have a driver?)

It gets in my eyes....

Jules, you'd be so proud of me. Remember my eyeball phobia? Well, it's gone. Entirely. I just lost my contact in my eye, and gutsy me managed to fish it out without either (1) losing my baby greens; or (2) barfing.

So proud!

(Yes, this really is the most exciting thing to happen to me all week!)

Book Review -- Tete-a-Tete

Ah. The drama. The passion. The lies. The sex. That's right gals. Time for my review of Melrose Place! Er, I mean, time for my review of Tete-a-Tete by Hazel Rowley. Rowley's brand-new book is the biography of the decades-long relationship between Simone de Beauvoir (aka: The Beaver) and Jean-Paul Sartre. She starts as the two meet as students in 1929 and takes us through their deaths fifty years later. Through her detailed examination of the two -- and their ever-changing, wide circle of friends and lovers (and ex-friends and ex-lovers) -- we start to understand the evolution of the two brilliant writers and philosophers and the existential movement that swept the world in the mid 20th century. Even a person who had never heard of the two would be drawn into their unconventional and riveting story.

As an English geek and women's studies student, I've studied a wee bit of J-P S and S de B, but Rowley's in-depth, careful analysis reveals what was beneath the surface of their writings and teachings. We see the impact of the world on their philosophies and the impact of their philosophies on the world. Their non-traditional, sometimes rocky, but oddly stable relationship might seem odd to many of us, but for them it worked and it endured. Yes, it's easy to get irritated at the deception and womanizing of Jean Paul Sartre (okay, he was a genius, but what is up with some of these women?); I found myself at times sympathizing with Simone de Beauvoir's struggles to keep her most-important love going.

Rowley's research is extensive and doesn't glorify or condemn either writer. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the countless names and places and people that the two encounter, but overall it's a fairly readable and gripping biography.

Question

If your relationship didn't survive the fourth break-up/get-back-together sequence, what makes you think it will survive the fifth?

That is all.