Moxie

Confession: I have not seen any of the convention. I've been busy, TV out for awhile, then with visiting friends. I also didn't see Project Runway. Or Dancing With the Stars (when did it start??) although I picked a fantasy DWTS team on Fafarazzi.com. (Should I start a DWTS group there? If so, what should it be called? The Project Runway one is Moxilicious because of Blayne. Maybe MoxTrot?)

lmanitsud asked who I was hoping Obama's VP would be. I don't know, as none of the choices looked stellar. I think I was hoping there would be some kind of crazy fantasy-world in which a previously unknown but suddenly prominent candidate would appear. Or else all the rules would change and somehow he'd be able to pick my pretend TV boyfriend, Fareed Zakaria. (Hottest presidential ticket EVER.)

Sara, I'm sure Biden's a lovely person, but he sticks his foot in his mouth all the time and just looks like an ass. (He liked Obama because he's "so clean"??? WTF??) His speech at the convention (which, again, I haven't watched yet) allegedly redeemed him, but I think Obama is all about the hope we have for change, and Biden's like the uncle you have that's trying to do the right thing but just ends up messing it up somehow. It's like pairing a Lexus with a Ford Escort.

Also, all the carpet is gone baby gone. My cats are sneezing less already! My houseguest helped me assemble my new couch the other day. I'm hoping to paint some more this weekend. I've gotten rid of two garbage bags full of clothes. I'm going to take a huge box of books to my book club next week to foist off on my friends.

A Jim Croce moment

So I was ripping up some 20-year-old carpet* in the boys' room today. (They're on vacation with their dad, so now's my chance) I pulled up some of the hideous, disgusting carpet and then the disintegrating padding, adn what was underneath the padding? Half an empty Sweet-n-Low packet.

Freaky, no? It was a totally 80s kind of time capsule. I can just see the carpet-layer (who, incidentally, used waaaay too many nails in the tack strip. I'm going to give myself tendonitis from prying up the tack strip.) come in with his coffee (in one of those blue and white "We are happy to serve you" cups, natch, add some Sweet-N-Low, take a big swig, and pound in that tack strip until the floor said "uncle."

* Yes, it's a rental. The carpet was there when the kids' dad moved in her 15 or 16 years ago, so I'm guessing 20 years. The building changed owners a year ago, and the new owner has no idea what the apartment looks like, and since it'll be going from cheap, lame, filth-and-germ-infested carpet to decent-if-not-glamorous hardwood, I can't think they'll care that I'm doing it.

Obama-Biden

Underwhelmed.

When!

Of all the myriad things I'm waiting for right now, the one that's annoying me most at this moment is that Barack Obama knows who his running mate is, but isn't telling us. Doesn't he understand that Americans are, by nature, impatient? That's how we stole this country from the natives and made it the undulating hotbed of ingenuity and voracious sloth that it is today.

It's almost enough to make me want to sign up to get the text announcement, just so I can get it a few milliseconds faster than CNN can bring it to me.

Spanish aristocratic fashion

As my future sister-in-law said, "This was my favorite episode" this season, for sure. Daniel finally got his comeuppance ("Spanish aristocratic fashion" was the "PC File Loadletter" of this episode). Another awesome outfit from Terri (my pick to win this season, BTW). Keith teetering on the brink of disaster. And the return of Chris Marsh.

Pretzels and bier. Heh.

Let's see who's ahead in Group Moxielicious....and Kathy_B is still in the lead, but jillseattle and I are gaining on her. (Yay, Joe! 5 points for me!)

Let my Cameron go...

I'm feeling distinctly trapped today. Like a rat in a trap. And with too much work to do and not enough time in which to do it. And several annoying things have happened on top of my being trapped when I thought I was so close to the end of the tunnel.

Thank goodness it's Wednesday, and I get not only The Dan Ho Show, but also Project Runway.

Did you join the Project Runway Fantasy League yet? Join at fafarazzi.com and then join the Moxielicious group to compete against other readers. So far, Kathy_B is ahead, but I have hope that i can overtake her tonight.

Those flipping gymnasts

The Chinese female team: Yeah, I don't believe they're 14, either. And I'm horrified that they're taken from their families at the age of 3 (yes, three!) years old and sent to the training centers. Because it's so worth it to rip a child from her parents just to make them into national sports heroes.

You know, it's interesting that there's so much talk about how hard the US team is pushed, and how the parents all spend so much time and money and energy pushing the girls to train and train. ON the one hand, it seems really stressful and unnecessary and just sad for the kids. On the other hand, at least they get to have parents and not be ripped away from them at age 3. On the invisible hand (ah, that joke never gets old), no one's looking at the fact that gymnastics is just solo cheerleading, as cheerleading is now in the US.

I saw some thing on one of the demi-documentary channels a few weeks ago about modern cheerleading, and how it's sooo athletic, but mostly unregulated because it still isn't recognized as a sport by the public. But there are special cheer gyms popping up all over the country, and kids start going when they're 3. And these squads from the private gyms compete against each other. There's no "season" so they train all year long, and never really get time to rest. There are also no rules and regulations governing what's legal for the kids to do, so states can set their own regs, but most don't. So kids are doing things that would be illegal in Olympic gymnastics competitions, but they're doing them synchronized with 3 or 7 or 11 other girls at the same time.

I really wish cheerleading would be recognized as a sport, and then become an Olympic sport. For one thing, it's amazingly athletic. But for another thing, then the coaches and gyms would have to be regulated and there might not be as many injuries. At least there would be some protections for the kids.

Is anyone else getting tired of Michael Phelps? I am so! over his mother, too.

Fantasy leagues

Did you guys see Yang Wei's floor routine last night? It's as if the laws of gravity don't apply to him. (I do NOT understand why Zhou Kai got a higher score than Yang did--Yang was graceful and mature and astounding, while Zhou was flashy and charming but artless.)

And Alexander Artemev's pommel horse routine was INSANE. In the membrane.

But on to my real topic for today: Fantasy leagues.

Every end-of-summer, I feel like I should join a Fantasy Football league (for non-US people, I'm talking about American football). I used to really like football, although I paid much more attention to college football than to professional. But the whole idea of keeping track and keeping score is compelling.

The problem is that I'm totally out of touch with football. My son is so into baseball that I can tell you all kinds of things about baseball and the players ans stats and stuff I never wanted to know, but I just don't know abotu football anymore. So I can't do FF.

But! I just discovered the Project Runway Fantasy league. You go to Fafarazzi.com and pick your three contestants to be your dream team. They get points for all kinds of different things. You can adjust your team every week before the Wednesday night episode.

And it's only one hour worth of content to keep track of each week,so I know I can keep up. Anyone else want to play? I just started a special group for Ask Moxie people: http://www.fafarazzi.com/group/moxielicious So if you play, join that group so we can see how we're doing.

It's like when they recentered the SAT scores

Did you guys know that hair metal has been renamed "melodic rock?"

I don't know why I find that so funny, but I do.

Star elbow tattoos

Can someone explain this to me? I've seen tons of these lately--people with no other visible tattoos, with stars tattooed either on or slightly above their elbows.

What's the point? Does it have some hidden meaning? It makes me feel old and geeky.