"everything is amazing right now, and nobody's happy."

has everyone seen this video, of comedian louis ck on conan? i found it here, but obviously it's a copyright infringement and nbc has already taken it off youtube.

[update: here? although i don't like it so much when it's called "people in today's society take things for granted."]

also, is everyone still WATCHING GREY'S?! [again, the link has sound] because it is AWESOME.

i was in cvs today, doing my usual thing where i talk to the cashier about how i don't know how to use the credit card machine. whatever. and she goes, "you know what's the worst? the guys who are on public aid who play dumb. i'm like, i THINK they taught you how to use the cards when you GOT them." then she scoffed. and i was like, WHAT?!!?!???! on the inside, though.

i wish i reacted better to this stuff, especially since i feel like this happens to me a lot. like, i've become insta-acquaintances with this stranger just this minute, and all of a sudden, she's like, "i hate poor people!" and i'm like, oh no! now what?

i was sharing a similar story with a friend, and she passed on some advice from her dad. he said that whenever someone says something he disagrees with [on belief, i guess], he doesn't feel like he has to defend his belief. he just gives a weekly reader report. i don't quite remember this about weekly reader [although i remember weekly reader, oh yes i do], but apparently it's all stories about people that just give a little bit of information along with the story. so what i should have said was, "oh, i knew a guy on public aid once, and he was very competent at the use of his card!" and then, after my weekly reader personal story about the topic, what is she going to say? "no, you didn't, and you're a liar"? and i can be satisfied that i've said something, at least.

or, i guess i could have said, "well, i can't use it either!" or i could have punched her. i mean, come on. it must be humiliating enough to be on public aid without having to decipher an already incomprehensible credit card machine.

randy pausch also says, "don't tell people what to do. just tell them stories." and they'll know what you mean, and remember better than if you'd lectured them. not coincidentally, the video of randy pausch's last lecture is definitely my students' favorite thing that i show them - and i show them a lot of stuff. highly recomended.

pip and maria both ran marathons today - SO AWESOME and i'm so proud of them. links are to their race reports, so get excited and read them. and since we're talking about good deeds, i'd like to point out that pip made her goal with the help of a stranger who saw her running along, asked what pace she needed, and said "i'll get you there. come on." talk about a good deed, right? and of course my former teammate had it in her. i knew from experience - holla for team sports.

all googly!

i'm a top hit!


i feel proud. even though it seems like the way to get people to click on my site, then leave immediately [i'm like, stay, guys! look around!] is to name a post with lyrics from a kind of obscure indie rock song. sorry to disappoint you, google searchers.

but look! in a search that people might actually make...


are you looking for a catholic blog about faith and reason? then stay! but, apparently, beware of my sometimes-hatred for catholic bloggers.

an interesting piece on public transportation - kudos for mentions of convenience and people's assumptions of what we can and cannot do if we don't own cars. i remember overhearing a woman [with a baby in a stroller, too] asking if she could interview that day, instead of coming back the next day, because she had taken the bus [in the un-bus-friendly city where i grew up]. and, in chicago, i had a neighbor who walked with a cane who used to walk up the million steps at our non-accessible train station. and, when i scoot to my seat as the bus is already moving or climb over ice piles on the sidewalk, i think there might be other reasons that older people move to the suburbs. city life seems to demand a certain amount of health and ability to get around, especially if you're living on a budget... in a building without an elevator... commuting without a car...

a popular and important tv show.

NOBODY TOLD ME THAT DOMINIC WEST IS ON THE WIRE.

that is, nobody except kelly kapoor. [okayyyy, i know her real name. it is mindy kaling.]


well helloooo, smiley mccrinklyeyes. hey, look over here! remember when you were in all those movies we studied in shakespeare and film class? those were some good times.

i know the wire is supposed to be all serious and all. i've never watched it, and really, i feel a little jerkish being flip about cute boys in a show that's about some things that are really, seriously, both bad and true. but this is the viewpoint i was missing on the wire, as a tv show. [if you're into hetero-normativity and gender roles.]

Are you seriously not watching this show yet? Haven’t your most insufferable male friends told you this is the best thing since “The Shield”? (but girls, unlike the very good but bafflingly hot-guy-free “The Shield”, this show features dreamboat and Mona Lisa Smile alum Dominic “Black Irish, Super Babe” West).

and i promise that, if and when i watch this show, i will think of all sorts of serious things and not just dominic west.

fyi, shane west is not on the wire. i hate nicholas sparks because of one time when he was mean to my friend. ["you want to be a writer? my advice to you is to sell out and write what people want. it's the only way to be successful."] and also, blarrghhh to all his books. but my roommate in college watched a walk to remember one night, and i was all scornful for approximately two seconds before i cried and cried. and fell a little bit in love with shane west, who is older than he looks.

classy.

b: i read in an etiquette book that a gentleman should get in the cab first and scootch over - you know, so the lady doesn't have to scootch over in a dress.
j: haha, yeah, but what if the guy leaves before the girl gets in?
b: well, then you know he's just not that into you.
everyone: [general merriment]
cab driver: you laugh, but that actually happens...

NICE. [i also like to preface things like this with, "if you're into gender roles..."]

at a recent fancypants dinner, i ordered a gin gimlet, which is delicious and very, very classy. then a guy in our group [who hadn't heard my order] said, "you know what drink is classy? the gimlet." i was like, yessss. fooled them again.

i've mentioned before that it's weird to read articles about things we do - including this one that calls us all out on our facebook habit.

you all know, though, that i ALWAYS agree with the pope. okay, not really, but i like to hear him out - especially this time. sure, facebook's not the best, but i think it's a representation of something good [our desire for human community] and not something bad [gossip, or whatever]. like any form of communication or community, it has a light and a dark side. right?

on the oscars:
i love marisa tomei's dress and amy adams' necklace.
cried a little at shirley maclain's intro of anne hathaway. what is WITH these intros? they're so sweet and heartfelt. i notice, for the first time this year, how much these people consider each other a community. i love how anne cried, and how happy she was when kate winslet won. she is a classy, classy girl. [betcha she drinks gimlets.]

"well, it's not a shampoo bottle now!" - kate winslet. omg, and getting her dad to whistle from the audience. [this is a little bit of a liveblog.]
sean penn DOES lose himself in every role. it's so true!

genderize!

remember when i didn't want to get mad at freakonomics? right.

so they want to know whether mcdonalds asks you if you want a boy or girl toy.

How do you feel about these questions? McDonald’s has to balance giving detailed information about toy promotions that change every few weeks against the difficulties of training and wanting to keep the line moving. But the lawyer in me also notes that several states prohibit sex discrimination at public accommodations.

lots of comments. some of them upsetting. sigh. first of all, yes, you are discriminating if you define "girl toys" and "boy toys" [and it's easy not to], and the fact that there are girl and boy sections in toy stores and clothing stores doesn't prove non-discrimination. it proves that discrimination is pervasive.

sure, many girls want the doll and many boys want the hot wheels. but that's not all it is. i worked in the baby section of a department store, guys, and the only things that might pass for gender-neutral, even for INFANTS, were the winnie-the-pooh line of sleepers. so, people who shopped there were gender-izing their babies. probably not because the babies liked it. seriously, people would come in and be like, "umm. we don't know the sex of the baby yet." and i'd be like, "have you considered the winnie-the-pooh sleepers? otherwise, decide if your fetus likes flowers or trucks."

possible reasons for this: 1. people want strangers to know if their baby is a boy or a girl. 2. retailers want people to buy new clothes for their opposite-gender future babies. but still, how can you define what girls should be and what boys should be and then claim that you're not discriminating? how can you say that it's fine for you, or for your kids, and so it has to be fine for everyone?

sigh.

and, hey. speak from the i. and i will say, now, that i like to eat happy meals, and i've never been asked what kind of toy i want. as a child, i liked both barbies and ninja turtles, and mom usually asked for two different toys so brother and i wouldn't steal each other's... [that is, so i wouldn't steal his when mine broke. sigh.]

i'm also mad that people [again, commenters] think questions on the citizenship interview are funny. sigh. it's hard to get citizenship here, guys. and it's all so odd, anyway. it's easy to be born here [you know, for me] but hard to get in... it's easy to have a baby, but not so easy to adopt one...

anyway, i've worked out my issues. i'm mad at the commenters. freakonomics is apparently ready for all kinds of comments, but then, i guess that's the process...