Well, here's one:

You are Pope St. Pius X. You'd rather be right than
newfangled.


Which Twentieth Century Pope Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Actually, I'm an old-fashioned Rite I Episcopalian, so I'm not up on my recent Catholic history. Nonetheless, I think I'm pleased with this result. I'm certainly not surprised.

Yips! er, I mean Slice o' Cake to The Irish Elk.

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By the way, I meant to mention that the last thing I want is for Kathy to come home to a blog empty of all sound save the chirp of a lonely cricket, so if there's any particular topic that you Cake-Lovers would like me to ramble on about, well, feel free to drop a comment and let me know.

Posted by: Robert at 12:15 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Jay Tea over at Wizbang is ruminating on the lessons that can, and perhaps should be learned from schoolyard scuffles.

This reminds me of the single genuine fight I ever got into in school. I was in seventh grade (at Eisenhower Middle School in San Antonio, for those of you keeping score). There was a guy a grade behind me who took the same bus home, so we generally had to hang around in the same area of the bus stop after school. He was a nasty bastard - hyper-aggressive and a real bully.

One afternoon, I somehow got on his bad side and he started going for me. You have to understand that I was a flabby, scrawny and (at the same time) slightly chunky kid with thick glasses. I don't think he really expected any resistance. Nonetheless, for whatever reason, something snapped off in me: when he started shoving me around, I hauled off and slugged him. To this day, I remember the round-eyed look of wonder that sat on his face for an instant. Then the battle light flamed up and he came for me again.

As it turned out, the kid was aggressive but very wild. He sent haymakers all over the place, only a few of which got anywhere near me. In the meantime, I managed to land several solid shots to his face, eventually bloodying his nose. After a time, he closed in and we fell down in a clinch. I dunno what would have happened next, because at that point the bus stop monitor appeared and broke it up. She then marched us off to the vice principal's office, where it was explained to me that the punishment for fighting was a paddling (this was in, lessee, about 1977 or so). I was given a permission slip to take home for my parents to sign and dismissed back to the bus.

When I got home, I explained to the 'rents what had happened. They told me that I'd done exactly the right thing, but that the rules were the rules and I had to go ahead and take the punishment.

The next day, I remember that I was in Mr. Gillespie's history class when word came down from the office that they were ready for me. As I left the room, I could hear the whispering all around me.

When I got to the VP, he again explained why I was being punished and asked me if I was sorry. I said yes I was, but that I had only been defending myself and that I'd probably do it again if I had to. He nodded and proceeded to have me empty my back pockets and lean over a chair as he reached round for his paddle.

Well, I can't really recall now whether it hurt very much. I don't think so. But here's the thing - I only got one swat. That was it. The other kid, so I was told, got the max of six. And because he was a perpetual troublemaker, I'd go bail the VP hit him harder than me.

Personally, I think I learned an awful lot about character and consequences from that little episode, all of it to the good. I doubt very much that anyone would take away similarly useful wisdom in this day and age.

Posted by: Robert at 12:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I might be on thin ground with this.

Maybe the first rule of plot implausibility is that you don't talk about plot implausibility.

Then again, although I've seen this film several times, I've never actually seen the very end of it, so perhaps there's some big chunk of explanation that I've simply missed.

But not knowing what the hell I'm talking about has never barred me from opining before, so I don't really see why it should start now.

So here goes:

I can see where, if coming out of a bar and spotting two guys beating the crap out of each other, I would be intrigued. And I can see where, once I got an idea of what was going on, I might be tempted to join in - writers as diverse as Hemingway and Wodehouse have written about the sublime meaning of boxing. And once I joined in, if one of the ring-leaders started serving up helpings of dorm room bull session anti-Establishment cant, I might be inclined to listen to them. My crew coach in college was a past-master at this kind of thing. And once I started listening to said cant from said ring-leader, yes, I can see how I might eventually be converted into an econo-terrorism zealot.

But if I come out of that bar and see one guy beating the crap out of himself? Well.....I don't think I'm going to look on him as potential Fuhrer material. Know what I mean?

Just saying.

Posted by: Robert at 07:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Kathy and I have a long tradition of pinching memes from each other. So here is one served up courtesy of the Impenetrable One:

The following all begin with 'In your lifetime, have you....'

1. ...ridden on a rollercoaster? I rode on a semi-grownup one on my recent trip to the Dark Lord Mickey's Kingdom. That was plenty for me. I am not fond of being frightened.

2. ...performed (in any area of the arts) onstage? I was in various piano recitals and competitions as a kid, the last ones being during my high school years. While in law school, I played Lysander in Midsummer Night's Dream and Jimmy Farrell in John Synge's Playboy of the Western World in productions at the Missus' college. I would also include the various trials, hearings, moot courts and mock trials that I've done, since oral legal advocacy is as much stagecraft as it is anything else.

3. ...planted a garden? "Planted a garden?" they ask! As if I can get myself to shut up about it......

4. ...ever had to reformat your hard drive due to a virus/spyware? I only vaguely know what this means, so the answer is no.

5. ...written a book? A poem? A song? I've written various poems and songs, mostly in light comic verse, all for private consumption. And I wrote a very laborious minuet in the style of Haydn once that, if nothing else, convinced me that I really have no talent for musical composition.

6. ...sang karaoke? As I've said at my own site, the story that, dressed in a tunic and chains, I had to get on a table in the middle of the Missus' college dining hall and sing along to Madonna's "Like A Virgin" at the top of my voice has been taken badly out of context.

7. ...been interviewed by a local TV station/newspaper? Nobody actually seeks out my opinion on anything, so instead I force it on them. Prior to blogging, I used to do a goodish bit of letter-to-the-editor writing and even had one published in The Wall Street Journal a year or two ago.

8. ...witnessed a tornado/earthquake/hurricane first-hand? I've been through a couple of hurricanes, although they were usually tropical storms by the time they got to my neck of the woods. The only gen-u-ine hurricane battering I experienced was when I was a junior at the People's Glorious Soviet of Middltetown, CT and Hurricane Gloria came rolling up the Connecticut River. On the other hand, my brother was a medical student in Charleston, SC when Hurricane Hugo hit it head on and had to work in the hospital all the way through it.

As for tornados, I've never actually seen one other than a couple of waterspouts. Every now and again I think it would be cool to take one of those storm-chaser tours to try and get a look at a Tornado Alley Special.

Earthquake? Nope, and I'm not sure that I'd want to. The sensation of having the ground shake under your feet, I'm told, is horrifying.

9. ...participated in a photo scavenger hunt? Nope - don't know what that means.

10. ...traveled to another country? Canada (New Brunswick) and Mexico (Texas border region) several times. And I lived in London for a year after college.

Posted by: Robert at 02:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yes, it is I, Robbo the Llamabutcher, trying my very first test post here at the House O' Cake-Eating.

Even if you don't click over to our digs as Kathy says, you probably at least recognize my name by now. Just by way of adding in a few more biographical details, I'm a forty year old lawyer living outside of Dee Cee in Northern Virginia along with my wife of (almost) twelve years and our three little girls (known in the Blogsphere as the "Llama-ettes"). I blog occassionally about politics, but more and more prefer to ramble about culture - high, low and throat. (Steve, my partner in Llamadom, is more of the political guy. He's also in charge of the photoshopping.)

As a matter of fact, Kathy and I first met on-line when we discovered we shared the mutual opinion that Emma Woodhouse was a more satisfying Jane Austen heroine than Lizzie Bennett.

[Insert sound of daemonic cackling here.]

Oh, this is going to be fun.......

Posted by: Robert at 11:04 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Allrighty kids.

You'll undoubtedly have noticed that I haven't had much to say over the past couple of days. I have a serious case of the blogmutes settling in and instead of forcing you to suffer through it, I've decided to take the rest of the week off. There is no point in writing what, undoubtedly, would be crap just for the sake of keeping this thing up and running.

And besides, I've got other stuff to do. Around the house, and here, as well. I can no longer put one particular task off: I must transfer the archives from the old Blogspot home to this one. This task will take some time. Actually having to come up with content in the meanwhile? Well, that sort of puts a damper on getting the basics done.

I know. You're undoubtedly heartbroken, right? You, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, are afraid you will not know what to do with yourselves and are wondering if you're going to be forced to resort to surfing Asian Lesbian pr0n, like you did before you found The Cake Eater Chronicles.

Well, have no fear my children. I have lined up a few guest bloggers to entertain and enlighten you.

I may regret my choices later, but I am handing the keys to the kingdom over to my dear pals Robert and Steve, aka The Llamabutchers and to The Goddess of All Things Bloggy, and another dear pal,Sadie, who despite her busy schedule, has promised to drop by later this week. Between the three of them they should keep the lights running on this production and they should have a good time running amok in my playground while I'm away from the keyboard.

Besides, as an added bonus, this will be good for Mom. She tells me she never clicks over whenever I include a link. Which is a habit I'm trying to disabuse her of, but she does it nonetheless. I feel she's missing out on some good stuff, so, instead of forcing Mohammed to come to the mountain, well, I'm bringing the mountain to Mohammed.

{Kath checks pockets for her keys. Nope. Not there. She remembers that she handed them over already. She says, "good" and moves on to other things}

Have a great rest of the week, kids and I'll see you on Monday!

Posted by: Kathy at 10:31 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I don't suppose you could links up at the same time to some of the aforedescribed Asian materials? Just in case we get bored while waiting? Just asking.

Posted by: RP at May 25, 2005 12:29 PM (LlPKh)

2 D'oh. That was "put links up".

Posted by: RP at May 25, 2005 12:30 PM (LlPKh)

3 Enjoy the breather dearie! I shudder to think what will come to pass in your absence

Posted by: silk at May 25, 2005 04:10 PM (KDoVK)

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Once again Tuesday has rolled around, hence once again it's time for the Demystifying Divas and The Men's Club to enlighten y'all about a few things.

This week's topic was inspired by one, in my humble opinion, particularly annoying Yes song: which is better to have---a broken heart or a lonely heart?

Now, whomever wrote this song for Yes came to the conclusion that, indeed, it was better to be the owner of a lonely heart, rather than a broken heart. Much better than... This is the first time I've actually read the lyrics to this tune, and I have to say I have no idea what their reasoning behind this bit of advice is. I've never been able to understand the words when they sang them, so I don't know why I was thinking I would be enlightened when I read them, but hey, I'm a hopeful girl that way. Alas, they have not provided any enlightenment. So, I suppose I must actually work at this post and come up with my own conclusion. Bastards.

{Goes back and reads the lyrics again}

It seems, upon a second reading, that if you have a lonely heart, somehow, you seem to have control over your fate. You can make the choice not to be lonely, whereas if your heart is broken, well, you're pretty much screwed. Hmmph. Basically, this gets back to an old Shakespearean theme: is it better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all?

I would have to say, yes, it is better to have loved and lost, because at least then you know what you're missing. The thought of going through that all again may terrify you, but at least you've risked something. You've gone out and made choices and are living with the ramifications of those choices. You've been brave before and you can be brave again, because you know what love feels like---and on its good days, it's a pretty nice thing. But if you think loneliness is the best option, well, you may, like the song says, realize you have control over your fate. You may realize that you don't have to let it get to you, you can insert Oprah's message of EMPOWERMENT here, yadda, yadda yadda, ad nauseam, ad infinitum.

But...

Let's be honest, kids. How many people do you know who seem to have a serious attachment to being lonely? They've made loneliness into their mate and they talk about loneliness the way some women and men talk about their significant others. Because those people are out there. I'm sure you've met a few: single women and men who constantly bemoan how if only I could meet the right person and then never actually get off their ass to do something about it. You invite them out, you introduce them to someone you think they'll get along with, hoping against hope that this will get them to quit their bitching, or at least move to a new stage of bitching, and five minutes later---POOF!---they've hit the self-destruct button and are back at your side, bitching and moaning again, about how that person wasn't right for them, what were you thinking, etc. They have run back to their ever faithful mate: loneliness. These are the people, in my experience, who have the ideal mate all laid out in their mind and they won't settle for anything but that, while they know, somewhere in the back of their mind, that said ideal mate simply does not exist in reality. They set the bar too high for any mere mortal to pass over.

In other words: there are people out there for whom loneliness is their drug of choice and, boy are they ever addicted to it. Instead of falling off and having to get back on, they prefer never to get on the horse in the first place. They've decided that while getting on the horse is ideal, and something they really should do, they prefer to turn the horse into a unicorn: a mythical creature that can and will never be caught. It's more comfortable for them. And that's fine and dandy. I just wish the few friends of mine who are like this would quit bitching about the damn horse, because it gets so boring to have to listen to it.

But, you don't have to take my word for it. You can go and read what the other Disarming and Demystifying Divas have written on the topic. Make sure to give a warm welcome to Pammy, one of our Red Hat Divas, who has joined in this week. If you'd like to flip the coin and see what the males have to say, you can go over and read what the Air Marshal, The Wiz, Stigmata (who's filling in for our beloved, but dead as a doornail and subsequently flushed down the toity Puffster) and Phin have coughed up.

UPDATE: Serendipity

Posted by: Kathy at 09:58 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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1 "there are people out there for whom loneliness is their drug of choice..." In those dozen words you have spoken volumes. I think I'm inspired to have t-shirts made for a couple I know: "Loneliness, my DRUG of choice" ; )

Posted by: Chrissy at May 24, 2005 10:10 AM (P5kQX)

2 The "better to have loved and lost" comment always reminds me of the following exchange in Men in Black: Jay: You know what they say. It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Kay: Try it. I'm with Kay, man. I don't mean to sit around talking about the salt in my wounds, and shite like that - but anyone who says it is better to have loved and lost, etc., has actually never done it. (In my opinion.) It's too facile, too easy to say. I loved and lost. Not for good - no. I hope to find a mate, and I am not addicted to loneliness, but damn. That loved-and-lost thing was a tornado of agony, and I'm not ashamed to say it. Took me years to get my bearings again.

Posted by: red at May 24, 2005 11:00 AM (qxKkx)

3 Awesome topic, by the way ... I am reading all the posts, and they're all so thought-provoking. Miss Lonelyhearts here, signing off ...

Posted by: red at May 24, 2005 11:15 AM (qxKkx)

4 I, too, have been in the tornado of agony (which is a great way of putting it), yet I'm going to disagree with you. A broken heart is better than a lonely heart. If for no other reason than you've actually got some experience under your belt. It's better to have loved than lost, etc. may be a cliche, but there's a reason why cliches become cliches---highly annoying little things they are---and it's because there is truth to them. It's just my opinion, but there's definitely truth to this one.

Posted by: Kathy at May 24, 2005 12:42 PM (cgZvM)

5 I have to agree with you on the experiance thing. Whatever may come after with the breakup part, there should always be moments you would never want to trade if it really was love?

Posted by: silk at May 24, 2005 12:56 PM (KDoVK)

6 Kathy - I hear what you're saying, and believe me - dear friends have told me the same thing. My experience, though, has taught me a different lesson. I went to go see one of my favorite Irish poetesses read once - and she said something which really resonated with me. She said, (in her lovely soft brogue) "Ya know, people say to me all the time that suffering is an ennobling thing." There was a pause, and then she said, "Not always." I guess the suffering I went through in letting go of this one guy was not good for me. It left me deeply shaken, and wounded. I've recovered, but not 100%. So I guess i think that now I believe that a broken heart is not "always" better than a lonely heart. I can have a happy life even with my lonely heart ... but a broken heart has the potential to kill joy. For good. I've been working on that, and I've definitely gotten better at letting stuff go, yadda yadda ... but I don't know how much more I can change in that respect. Back to my tornado. ha. No, the tornado passed by some years ago - but it left a heckuvalotta damage in its wake.

Posted by: red at May 24, 2005 01:34 PM (qxKkx)

7 "there are people out there for whom loneliness is their drug of choice" If I send one of these people to you would you beat him into submission? Or at least belittle him to the point he realizes his bid for sympathy isn't ever going to work?

Posted by: phin at May 24, 2005 01:50 PM (Xvpen)

8 I am SO glad to hear that you find that Yes song incredibly annoying as well. Heh. Phin seems particularly masochistic today, don't you think? Oh - I am in a comments section - thank you for not quoting the Yes song, and as always, the Goddess of Snark drives her point home with eloquence;-)

Posted by: sadie at May 24, 2005 02:57 PM (zZMHN)

9 Having sat in divorce court today (see my post on it), I think I would prefer to have the heart that doesn't find itself dragged through a nasty divorce proceeding. By the way, I was there professionally on another case, not there for personal reasons.

Posted by: RP at May 24, 2005 03:54 PM (LlPKh)

10 Red, I surely do empathize with your comments. As for the lonely aspect, on the other side of that, you have people who will just not accept that you're okay alone. Maybe it's not a situation that makes you jump for joy, but your life isn't a pit of worthlessness either. Some people, in my experience, just can't seem to accept that. (yes, it's a personal peeve of mine, says the nearly 42 year old spinster )

Posted by: Ith at May 24, 2005 06:47 PM (nt+rp)

11 "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was meant to be an ironic song. The lyrics describe the point of view of a person who has had his heart broken, and in his emotional pain wishes he had never found love because maybe that way he wouldn't have felt the pain of a broken heart. The person is trying to get his nerve up to take the chance to love again, and is debating whether it is worth the risk. The true moral of the song is that loves requires taking a chance, and that sometimes taking a chance means you lose... but also that the risk is worth it.

Posted by: JohnClif at May 24, 2005 07:24 PM (EMfoz)

12 Glad I found your blog!

Posted by: Lisa Chau at May 26, 2005 12:22 AM (jIBy/)

13 Ok. I'll say it. I like that 'Yes' song. I've got the original plus 4 different versions of the Max Graham remix to listen to in my car. So I guess I deserve to get my heart broken, right? As for the breaking of hearts.. well, I seem to have managed to get my heart broken by girls that were, in retrospect, not worthy of my love. Which is a double kick-in-the-nuts, really. moral of the story: don't settle for second best!

Posted by: Si at June 22, 2005 04:10 PM (XHbsv)

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But just in case she doesn't know...

...Arianna, darling, hotlinking is considered to be a big boo-boo in the blogosphere. It's stealing, plain and simple. I realize you're probably shelling out a small fortune for hosting, but, sheesh. One would think you could probably afford to host your own images instead of stealing from a non-profit organization's blog.

Madame Sadie---from whom I found out about this---our freshly minted law school graduate, is wondering what sort of compensation would be in order.

I don't know, but after reading The Huffington Post's Terms of ServiceI got the distinct feeling that there's some Beverly Hills law firm just waiting for someone to steal from Arianna so they can take part in a We live to crush the little people smackdown. (Christ. Honestly. Who gets lawyers to write Terms of Service? For a freaking blog? I know you're just dying to spend your ex's money, Arianna, but really...how bourgeoise can you get?) So, really, turnabout would seem to be fair play, wouldn't it?

If you want a real blog that doesn't endorse thievery, read this one instead of Arianna's.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:22 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Ever heard of the Reduced Shakespeare Company? They can reduce Hamlet from an hours-long play to a performance of less than thirty seconds.

Well, I'm going to do that with my Revenge of the Sith review.

Actually the husband's going to do it for you. Here's what he said when we left the theater yeseterday:

Well, it took him two and three quarters movies to get back, but he got there.

Yeah. I had to steal it. Those of you who have seen it know what I'm talking about. Those of you who haven't---well, that's probably all you wanted to know, right?

If you want more---because you're a greedy bastard that way---well, take the jump for some observations. There are spoilers involved. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 11:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Here's a list of what's annoying me in a mild sort of way about living in Cake Eater Land this weekend.

1. It's been raining cats and dogs here for the past couple of weeks. I am annoyed with our sunless state. I am also annoyed that the new landlord has yet to purchase a lawn mower because the lawn looks like crap. Well, let me amend that: the lawn always looks like crap, but now it looks like overgrown crap in the few spots where there's actually grass. My current nickname for the lawn is "The Savannah." I fully expect that Marlin Perkins and Jim will show up soon to film an episode of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom because the grass is so tall that there's probably some interesting wildlife in there.

And there's a profusion of dandelions, too. Woot!

I am also annoyed that the new landlord has yet to tell me what I can and cannot do in regards to my plantings. With the Great White Hunter-exlandlord and Tweedledumb, anything you wanted to do that made things look nicer, well, they were for it---as long as you didn't expect them to pay for it. Hence I have a nice little landscaped flower bed full of lilies and hostas. I always border this with impatiens, because a. they're colorful and b. they're one of the few annuals that do well here in the Hinterlands. I also put out some pots on the front porch, as well, and when we had the roof of the garage as our deck, the husband built me some flower boxes and I filled them with pots of pansies and petunias. Well, since the deck is no longer stable enough for the average sized human to walk on, I have to rely on these other areas to satisfy my gardening jones. I have no idea if I'm going to be allowed to do these things this year. We'll just have to see.

And no, the man has not called the plumber to see what's wrong with my dishwasher, either.

2. The church that resides across the street from us has once again allowed clubs from the local high school to use their circular drive for fundraising car washes.

Sigh.

So, it seems we're back to being subjected to shouts of, "CAR WASH!" every Friday and Saturday afternoon. They shout this at cars who are going above thirty mph and who are prevented from stopping by the laws of physics and traffic. So, these drivers---may God smite them---honk their horns, repeatedly, to show appreciation.

Said honking gets quite annoying when the eighteen-wheelers that barrel through the neighborhood to avoid traffic on Hwy. 100 join in on the action.

This, of course, says nothing about how scantily clad these teenagers are. They bare their young bodies in a barely decent sort of way in an attempt to bring in customers. Yes, I know, it's a car wash. They're going to be dressed in swimsuits and the like. Ok, that's all well and good until you see what these kids do. One of the more popular ways to bring in customers is to hold a large poster directly over the midsection of your body to make it appear to drivers that you're naked. They've apparently learned that sex sells. (Hmmm. I wonder where they got that one?) I've never once seen a faculty advisor tell these kids to knock it off, either. It makes me feel like they're hooking for funds to support the marching band or the swim club or the track and field club, etc. One, I suppose, could also make comments about the luring of pedophiles if one was so inclined.

Surprisingly enough, the pastor of this church, when I've spoken with him in the past regarding this, has no issues with this behavior. Neither does he mind that all of this behavior is happening in his church parking lot. Apparently being concerned with "community involvement" is more important than the prostitution of children for extra-curricular activities funding. Yay for the Lutherans! They've got their priorities in the right place!

3. The obnoxious Cake Eater neighbor is weaseling his way into our lives. Even more than he's already done so.

I cannot tell you what it is about this guy that sets me off. He just bugs me. There is something there that not only makes me dislike him, but creeps me out as well. And most people don't creep me out. He does. In a I-don't-want-to-be-alone-with-him sort of way. He's definitely a Cake Eater---someone who is concerned with conspicuous consumption strictly for the sake of Keeping Up With The Joneses---and his new area of Cake Eatery behavior takes him into the land of computers. And he's adopted the husband as his guru. He keeps buying computers---as in there are four people in their house, and they now have five laptops, two desktops and a PSP. FOR FOUR PEOPLE. Of course, the guy has absolutely no idea what the hell he's doing with all of this technology, so this is where the husband comes in. He keeps it all straight for them.

Which gets annoying when the Cake Eater neighbor calls at ten at night and expects the husband to come running to solve whatever problem has arisen now. Because we live next door, of course, in the immortal words of Martha and the Vandellas, there's nowhere to run to, there's nowhere to hide. Fortunately, the husband has no issues with saying "get bent" when this happens. But this doesn't apparently stop the Cake Eater neighbor from trying it on again and again, because the man has no familiarity with the concept of boundaries.

Furthermore...well, this is great news for the husband, but I'm leery. The man has decided to set the husband and this other guy up in a computer fixit business. He's funding it, he's got retail space for them---the works, in other words. The store opens for business on Monday. I'm happy for the husband---really I am. This is a big deal for him and I'm happy he now has the opportunity to see one of his visions come into being. That's wonderful and all that. But...

...I wish someone else who was dishing out all of this largesse. Someone who didn't give me the creeps and who didn't feel that it was all right to stick his nose into our personal business. Which he does. All the freakin' time. Sigh. Oh, well. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad. I just hope I don't blow it for the husband the next time the Cake Eater neighbor makes some suggestion about what I should be doing with my time. Because he apparently feels my life is now his business. {Shudder}

And if there are annoyances, there is, of course, also good news...

The downstairs roommate who I mentioned in this post from last week, well, he's doing wonderfully. He rested over at his girlfriend's last weekend, and he's now back at the house. He took the week off from work, but while it definitely looks like he had surgery recently, he looks pretty good, considering. Everything's good and they're thinking they got all of the cancer. I was chatting with him the other evening and he's really hoping they got all of it, because if they didn't, they'll have to operate again---and will have to remove all of his lymph nodes.

Keep your fingers crossed for him.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Let's have a little hot link on link action this morning.

• The Wiz is back from his muy importanto business trip and has posted on the bling-bling. The words "chrome" and "Craftsman" are lavished about. Go and read what he has to say.
• Some of the other Naked Villains have followed the example of their fearless Maximum Leader and they, too, have thrown their own two cents in on the jewelry thing. I must admit, I'm not all that surprised to find out that the Minister of Propaganda has his ears pierced. (He works in the film industry. If that's your story, boy, I fully expect you to stick with it.) I wonder what Madame Sadie thinks about this development and if Smallholder has suddenly gone back up in her rankings as a result.
• I'm a little hurt that no one bothered to tell me that PUFFY DIED! I would have sent flowers, I swear, but I didn't know!

  Anyway, I look forward to his reincarnation. Which I'm assuming will happen more quickly that if it had been a human who'd died, rather than a fish. Fish years being what they are and all.

• I must admit, I adore The Girl Child.

  She reminds me of someone. Hmmmm. I don't know. Who could it possibly be? Oh, yeah. That's right. It's me. Just ask the Cake Eater Mother for confirmation on that one.

• Doug doesn't quite know what to make of this development.
• Silk chats about growing up and how good things can come out of "disagreements" in bars.
• I'm a complete and utter dunce: I almost forgot to remind you to go over and take part in the Carnival of the Babewits, hosted by the most gracious WitNit.

That should keep you occupied for the time being.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Anyone else watch Quentin Tarantino's CSI last night?

Quickie review after the jump. more...

Posted by: Kathy at 12:57 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I hadn't heard about this one until the husband clued me in last night.

Billionaire developer Donald Trump has officially thrown his support behind a plan to rebuild the Twin Towers at Ground Zero in practically the same form they were in prior to the September 11 attacks with a few safety modifications.

Trump implored Governor George Pataki to discard the plans for the 'Freedom Tower' presently on the table, describing the design as 'the worst pile of crap architecture I've ever seen in my life,' according to a report published in 'Newsday.'

Wednesday, Trump held a news conference at Trump Towers on Fifth Avenue to announce his support for a 'taller, stronger, more beautiful version of the World Trade Center.'

The design, drawn up by engineer Ken Gardner and architect Herbert Belton would make the new towers one story higher than the previous ones. It would preserve the footprints of the original towers but would have improved fireproofing and more staircases and means of escape in case of emergency.
{...}

Now, I'm not Donald's biggest fan. There's way too much waste in that man's lifestyle to make me ever think that being that rich would actually be fun. (If having a billion dollars in the bank can be classified as being "F You" money, one would think that it would get you out of boring black-tie charity dinners. But noooooo. Apparently you have to go to a lot of those dinners if you're The Donald.) But, I will admit I watched season one of "The Apprentice" and while I may think that "Trump Ice" bottled water is just plain stupid, the man knows what he's talking about when it comes to business: sales, sales, sales; if you can't market it, you can't make money on it; but most importantly, if you say you're going to do something, do it, and stop fucking about in the meantime.

I appreciate that.

That's why I'm pretty darned happy he's stuck his nose in on this one. It's time they stopped fucking about and just built the buildings. Every day construction of the new Towers is halted, is one more day that goes by that tells those bastards they've won. The Towers have to be rebuilt. It's not only a matter of New York pride, but is also one that belongs to the entire nation. And it's being held up by a few prima donnas. This is where Trump's brilliance shines through: he knows he'll never actually get to build the new Towers. It'll never happen. He knows this. He's simply using his reputation to get the chosen people to work.

Trump's smart enough to know that by inserting his nose into the mix, they'll be scared enough by that prospect alone to actually get moving. Because Donald isn't exactly known for his spectacular good taste and I can see where some hoity-toity architects would get their asses in gear just to prevent his taking over the project. Trump, undoubtedly, knows this. If he has to take one for the team to get it done, he's apparently willing to turn his back into the pitch.

Good for him.

{Hat Tip: Martini Boy}

Posted by: Kathy at 10:07 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Jonathan has his review of Revenge of the Sith up.

{...}What is most satisfying about Revenge of the Sith is that it finally delivers us back to the beginning, to the Star Wars we loved; to the Star Wars we still remember after all these years. Sith and the other prequels will, happily, soon be forgotten.

Ouchie. Georgie Porgy Puddin' and Pie's going to need a band-aid.

Fear not, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, I'm assuming that he won't have any problems finding one with R2-D2 or Yoda on it in his medicine cabinet.

Posted by: Kathy at 09:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Good For Her.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- A pregnant student who was banned from graduation at her Roman Catholic high school announced her own name and walked across the stage anyway at the close of the program.

Alysha Cosby's decision prompted cheers and applause Tuesday from many of her fellow seniors at St. Jude Educational Institute.

But her mother and aunt were escorted out of the church by police after Cosby headed back to her seat.

{...}The father of Cosby's child, also a senior at the school, was allowed to participate in graduation.

{my emphasis}

Adrianne, who it seems is finally done with her thesis, says:

{...}You can fight abortion, and you can fight unwed motherhood,* but at some point (for example, the point after conception) you're going to have to choose which one is worse. Even making equal punishments for each doesn't actually work for impartial condemnation of each; as it's much easier to have an abortion without anyone knowing about it than to carry a child to term and give birth without anyone knowing about it, a pregnant girl faced with a specific punishment has the option of choosing birth and certain punishment or abortion and punishment only if discovered. And, unless I am mistaken, while traditional Catholic teaching does not approve of unwed motherhood (nor the behavior that led to it), after the fact they prefer it to abortion. Practices such as kicking pregnant girls out of school (not quite what they did in this case) and firing single mothers and potential single mothers, while they'll keep your school or company cosmetically pure-looking, will have the effect of encouraging abortion over illegitimacy. {...}

I wholeheartedly agree.

I know I have related this story before, but you'll forgive me if I choose not to spend time trolling around the archives looking for it. It's a pretty simple one: most of you will know that I went to Catholic school for twelve years. Eight years were spent at a co-ed parish grade school, and high school was an all-girls school. The policy was quite simple at the high school: if you became pregnant, you were kicked out. No appeals were allowed. Interestingly enough, to prove Adrianne's point, there was this one girl in my class who, toward the end of senior year, became pregnant and procured for herself an abortion by asking her friends to chip in and pay for it---even though she could well afford to pay for it out of her own pocket. (She didn't want her parents to find out and they would have if she hadn't spent her allowance on clothes. I know. Rough life. Guess what? I went to a school that had plenty of spoiled little girls. Go figure.) The only adverse effect she suffered was that word spread to the boys' school down the road and she couldn't find a prom date to save her life.

I still have a very hard time with this one. This rich bitch admitted, point blank, that she'd had an abortion, but no one ratted on her because a. she would deny it to the administration and b. her parents were big donors to the school, so it would be unlikely that anything would happen anyway. Plenty of wonderful, deserving girls were booted from that school, and one rich bitch got away with it and never had to pay a penalty for her behavior. I'm sure I could call up my niece---who now attends this same school---and ask her if the policy is still the same, but I suspect it is.

Moreover, the fathers of these babies were never held accountable for their actions by their respective schools. When a girl was kicked out of school, there was never a reciprocal booting at the boys' school down the road. It's a double standard that it seems is still in practice today, given the father of this girl's child was allowed to take part in graduation, rather than being banned, like she was.

I can completely understand about the setting of an example. Of having a zero-tolerance policy. Yet, let's be honest about one thing: it takes two to tango. If you're not holding the father to the same degree of responsibility that you hold the mother---particularly in this instance---what sort of example does that send to other young men? It cuts both ways. Just because you don't have irrefutable proof of his actions in the form of an expanded belly does not mean he is not culpable. In this day and age, when everyone is bleating on ad nauseam about how society is going down the crapper because of same-sex marriage, the divorce rate, the everpresent evil that is abortion, single parents, etc. one would think that it would be a good thing to be consistent and apply condemnation equally, instead of simply resorting to age-old attitudes that have never worked.

One of the reasons I always thought it was very unfair the girls were kicked out was because, while the babies were the result of premarital sex, the school seemingly ignored that these girls were nonetheless respecting the doctrine of life by seeing the pregnancies through. Their actions in this respect, to my mind at least, should have been celebrated and held up as an example of what to do should you find yourself in this situation. But it never was. The premarital sex thing was apparently the more important lesson to teach of the two. They just seemed to assume no Catholic girl would ever go and get an abortion.

Well, they were wrong, weren't they?

Posted by: Kathy at 12:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Ms. Feisty has an important question.

{...}What is the real skinny on thin women?

Which is more attractive and why: Thin Kate Moss - Gweneth Paltrow types or women with voluptuous curves?{...}

All I can really say is that no one ever stuck their head out of their car window and yelled, "NICE ASS!" at me as I walked down the street when I weighed 110 pounds. Surprisingly, ever since I gained weight, I get this all the time.

Hmmmph.

Take it for what it's worth.

Posted by: Kathy at 12:29 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 That's an "Amen" from this corner, hun! ; )

Posted by: Christina at May 19, 2005 12:54 PM (z2S93)

2 [shrug] I've always looked a stiff wind can blow me away. Can't much help that, so curves are non existant in my experience.

Posted by: Ith at May 19, 2005 02:59 PM (BR1Us)

3 On the few occasions, when out on the town with the wife, when some one said "Nice ass!" I wasn't sure if they were talking about her lovely physical attribute or making a degrading comment directed at me!

Posted by: The Wizard at May 19, 2005 05:24 PM (isqUU)

4 Just look at the reaction to Lindsay Lohan. Everyone was obsessed with her. Now she dropped about 200 lbs (from a starting weight of 110) and everyone is wondering what the hell happened.

Posted by: Kevin at May 20, 2005 12:14 AM (e7I2/)

5 My favorite example: Chicago, with bag'o'bones Zellwegger making Catherine Zeta-Jones actually look *fat* by comparison, but there was no question which one of the two was attractive.

Posted by: Adrianne Truett at May 20, 2005 08:08 AM (LyYK+)

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I present to you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, your chuckle of the day.

26 elements have been added since 1923. When will it end?

Posted by: Kathy at 11:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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WRITE something, dude.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Step away from the photoshop, Steve-o.

It's for your own good, I promise.

Although, I have to admit, I like the one with Reagan and Goldwater. Heh. I also like the new llama portrait. I always knew Robbo had the braided bun thing going on.

Posted by: Kathy at 02:07 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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