Good grief, this is a slow afternoon.
It's still a few minutes before five (freedom!) but I
had a little break between projects and thought I'd
just get that out there.
Today's my Friday - I'm on vaca tomorrow and, unlike
last weekend, I plan to do nothing!
Can't wait.
Maybe now Ryan can stop nagging people about the
voting - Tuesday night's show generated 47.5 million
phone votes. I never understood his nagging anyway
because they always have 20-30 million votes which
seems like a lot to me - if each vote was a dollar I'd
be very happy.
First up, Ryan and the judges tried to make nice and
apologize for their behavior of the past few weeks.
They want us to believe they're not fueding, they're
one big happy "dysfunctional" family - so that
nonsense took up the first few minutes of the show.
Than, a shocker. Simon and the other judges all
apologized for the over-the-top criticism of Kat for
her version of "I Have Nothing" and said that, after
hearing it back it wasn't nearly as bad as they had
thought. I think two things are working here: One,
that they overly criticized her so that voters would
get mad and would vote like crazy for her (which we
find out later that they did), or two, they were on
auto-pilot Tuesday when they heard "Whitney" "Kat's
singing Whitney" and they didn't even listen because
they are ALWAYS averse to the kids singing Mariah or
Whitney. I did not think her performance was great,
but it is a challenging song and Kat did not sing it
as badly as the judges portrayed it on Tues.
So, I think this is what happened: "Hey, fellow
judges, here's the plan. Because Kat is up first and
the first performance of the night is always forgotten
by the end of the evening, let's trash Kat really,
really badly, then voters will get mad and respond
with lots of votes, and she won't get voted off. Then
we can apologize for it on Wednesday night. That way
we keep her in the competition."
commercial: Hey, is that Mollie Sue from the current
America's Next Top Model in the Kohl's ad with Hilary
Duff and Michelle Trachtenberg? It sure looks like
her - I was sorry when she was told to leave because
she was my fave. Screw Jade.
Andrea Bocelli sang and all I can say about that is
it's a good thing they didn't plan for the kids to
sing last night because they would have SUCKED big
time after Andrea......
Lisa Tucker was in the audience - she's on The OC
tonight apparently. Did she make the top 10? I know
she made the Top 12 - does the Top 12 go on tour or
just the Top 10? Hell, I don't know.........it was
nice to see her, she's still cute.
Down to business...Ryan calls the names and splits the
kids up into three groups of 2: the two highest-vote
getters, the two middle-vote getters, and the two
lowest-vote getters. The groups are:
KAT and CHRIS
ELLIOTT and TAYLOR
KELLIE and PARIS
Ryan sent Elliott and Taylor back to the bench, they
were the middle-vote getters. He then told Kat and
Chris they were the Highest-vote getters, so they were
safe. Which left Kellie and Paris. Exactly the two I
would have chosen for bottom two.
Paris - go sit down, you're safe.
Kellie, you're going home.
Kellie's a cute girl. Her personality is one that
some people like, some don't, but I think she's
genuine. I also think she's got a future ahead of her
that's bigger than anything she would have had in
Podunk, North Carolina so this has been a great
experience for her. She just doesn't have a strong
voice. But in the middle register of her voice she's
a pretty good country singer.
It was past time for her to leave this competition.
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Well, this one wasn't nearly as dramatic but that's
certainly OK by me - it was at least in the right
direction.
minus 3
Total 15
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What a night! We saw Kat's coochie! And her boobies!
Somebody ran over Kellie's face with a defective
tanning bed! Elliott looked almost sexy! Paris came
straight from an 80's pimp video! Taylor got bored
and fell asleep! Chris smiled and winked!
Well, love songs it may have been but most of them
were butchered by inept singing and bad choices. I
had hopes for this one, especially after the
awesomeness of last week.
Andrea Bocelli and David Foster were the
pseudo-coaches and they did OK, they seem to have a
bit of a comedy routine they do and that was
entertaining for a few seconds. I was disappointed in
some of the arranging by Foster, though. I think he
got ahead of these kids talents and tried to take them
away from their zones. I noticed this particularly
with Elliott, whose song was assily-badly arranged but
he rose above it, Kellie who should not have tried the
falsetto, and Kat's growly bits should be been left
off the stage.
Here goes:
Kat: Kat sang Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" and
she's right. It didn't really work for her because
she totally oversang the song and her weak upper
register was too obviously in play. She was crucified
by the judges because, OF COURSE, every time one of
the Idols tries to sing Whitney or Mariah they are
verbally whipped by the judges. I'll give them
Mariah, but Whitney's heyday was a decade and a half
ago and she's been a total pothead since and I don't
know if she even can carry a tune anymore. She
shouldn't be held to such a high standard that other
people don't dare sing her songs without fear of being
shot at sunrise.
OMG, funniest part of the night? Kat's dress. It was
a gorgeous lemony yellow halter dress with a long
split skirt. And we could totally see her black
panties when she did some kind of leg split and her
skirt flew open....wardrobe malfunction, indeed! Oh,
and I know they were black panties and not something
else you might be thinking because she had panty lines
under the dress. I'm sure all the guys loved her
because it was a total booby and peekaboo dress.
Second funniest part of the night was also Kat: After
the song and the judges's ripping her open and salting
the wound, Ryan said "with the volume turned down it
was a great performance"!!!! I must have missed the
context but that's hilarious.
Elliott: Elliott sang Donny Hathaway's, "A Song For
You", which is a gorgeous, difficult song to sing and
he was a delight. He obviously loves this song and
has sung it many times. I wasn't too crazy about
Foster's arrangement but he rose above it. Best
performance of the night. And he looked great. He
made Paula cry. He made me tear up a bit too. It was
a gorgeous song.
Third funniest moment: After the song and before the
numbers, Ryan called Elliott "Mr McPhee"!!!!! Hah!
(maybe he and Kat have soemthing going on we don't
know about......hmmm)
Kellie: Caveat here - "Unchained Melody" is one of my
very favorite songs, and I know it's one of Simon's
also because he's said it several times in the past.
He and I were both dreading hearing Kellie's rendition
of the song and we were not disappoined in its
assiness. It was awful and screechy and boring. She
had a speedbump in her hair which looked extremely
strange. Straight hair with her bangs in a big
backwards bump - who's her hairdresser, anyway? Goofy
hair. Bobby Hatfield: Haunting. Kellie Pickler:
BORING
A very telling moment: Paula basically told her she's
not a star, does not have star quality (in other
words, it was time for her to go home) and NO ONE in
the audience booed. That tells me that maybe
everyone's getting tired of her.
Taylor: Taylor sang "Just Once" and it sucked. Does
Taylor even want to be here any more? He looks tired
and bored. He was off-key or something weird in a few
parts and he had to reach for his notes in other
parts. I just can't like him and this song was pretty
bad.
Paris: What an idiot. Paris started us off by saying
how she's never been in love so she doesn't really
have anything to draw on and doesn't feel like she can
sing an intense love song, then she picks "The Way We
Were". A sad and haunting song about lost love and
happier times and it is a beautiful song but it's a
song meant to be sung AFTER you've experienced
something.....Paris has done this before SHE DOES NOT
CONNECT THE WORDS. Can she read? She cannot seem to
get the point that songs convey WORDS as well as
musical notes. Maybe she thinks that because she
doesn't care nobody else does either. And she
giggled/laughed through the song, which is so, so
wrong.
Her singing wasn't great either: She was straining to
reach some of the notes, and some of it was just weird
sounding. She costumed herself up again and looked
very hard-edged 80's. Her lower register was awful
and painful to listen to. Go away, Paris. She has a
musical niche in jazz where she has a lot of potential
but anything out of that niche is sucky.
Chris: Chris sang Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really
Loved A Woman" (woah-man in his southern dialect -
WOAH-man, it was pretty funny.) I thought it was
excellent but he almost always is to me. Excellent,
excellent. My bone with Chris is this: He face is
too glarey and stoney when he sings and his eyes are
too hard. He needs to soften the poser attitude. But
he smiled and winked after his performance so all is
forgiven.
So, did the judges give Kat an ass-ream because they
want the voters to keep her? Was it reverse
psychology? I wonder if they think if someone doesn't
do their best but the judges want the voters to keep
them in the competition, if they give harsh criticism
there'll be a voter backlash and voters will
pity-vote? (That sentence probably doesn't make sense
to anyone but me...)
Oh, and the mics were open during the re-cap but I
couldn't understand anything...I wonder if it was the
judges. Pretty strange the director didn't catch
that.
Best of the night: As usual, Elliott was excellent
and Chris was right up there with him. Even if
neither of these two win, which would be a travesty, I
see a future in music for Chris. I'm not sure Elliott
could sustain a musical career without being the
American Idol, though, which makes me a bit nervous
for him - he is such a beautiful singer he deserves
the recognition.
Bottom three: Kellie, Taylor, Paris
Should go: Kellie (especially when combined with last
week's horrible performance)
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Wow, I'm sure glad I don't live in Darwin, Australia
right now. I'd be afraid Monica would make mincemeat
of the town again. This is a good test for all the
rebuilding, though. The new buildings are supposed to
be stronger and better able to withstand Category 5
storms than before, so I guess we'll all know tomorrow
if it worked. Good luck, Darwin.
In weekend news, I took Friday off from work and got
the patio ready for company on Sunday. This weekend
was perfect - sunny, breezy and about 70 degrees.
Though a few gusts passed "breezy" and went right to
"windy" but that's OK, we're perfectly capable of
chasing loose paper plates, napkins and wrapping paper
down the driveway, right? And we did. Three Gorgeous
Days.
On Saturday, I just puttered back there setting out
wind chimes (no, Maime, there's never enough
windchimes!), and putting out doo-dads in the yard,
washing off the chairs and putting cushions in the
swings and the chairs. Then I read a book for awhile,
James-the-yard-guy came and mowed and edged and blew
the dust from the patio, then I moved inside and
mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors, vacuumed,
dusted and picked up. SO, just in case the weather
drastically changed, the house was relatively ready
for company, too.
Did I mention there was a birthday party at my house
yesterday? I can't remember - I know I've been hoping
for weeks for good weather so we could be outside and
that worked. If it had been nasty I don't think Mom
would have come over because it's so hard for her to
climb the stairs into the house anymore with her
arthritic knees. Anyway, the party was for 4 of my
friends who have birthdays in March, April and May.
So, we were late on one, right on with one, and very
early for two. We'll do it again in June with 3 or 4
June birthdays. Is it too early to put in a request
for nice weather?
In project news, Bro K went to Wendy's Saturday night
and picked up hamburgers and fries, and FROSTIES! Did
I say no when he brought it home? No way, I just
scarfed it down. BUT, I didn't have any birthday cake
or ice cream yesterday so that should count for
something. Except after everyone left and I was
watching Extreme Home Makeover I got hungry and found
the ice cream - but NO CAKE! I love cake - I usually
eat a big piece at the birthday parties and then if
there's any left, which there usually is, I eat 3 or 4
more. I eat till it's gone. I'm a cake-aholic.
I saved a couple of pieces for Bro K - I hope they're
gone when I get home tonight because I don't know how
firm my eat-no-cake resolve is.
Maime says we're weighing in tomorrow because I'm
worried I've been screwing around too much......maybe
she'll forget.....
Maime and I have sort of decided on this one.
We've also asked Bro S (the mentally-challenged one)
if he's interested in going with us since he's been
bugging me for weeks about taking him on vacation. I
was actually trying to figure out how I could swing
two vacations so close together and the Maime had a
light-bulb moment and said we should all go on the
cruise. duh. Makes sense to me.
I need to help him get a passport and we're off to:
New Orleans
Costa Maya, Mexico
Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala
Belize City, Belize
Cozumel, Mexico
back to New Orleans
Or somewhere else entirely!
Sounds great to me......
Does anyone really care about the so-called TomKitten?
Who decided it was news? Angelina and Brad, I'm
looking at you, too.
That's some publicity machine they have.
Actually, now that I think about it, I understand that
Lucille Ball's first pregnancy was front page news
also.....but that coincided with the same events on
her TV show, so it's understandable.
In Project News:
I have to get the chocolate brownie ice cream out of
my house.
Edited to say: I did. I ate most of it and threw about 1/5 away. In the garbage.
I can't say I'm sorry to see Ace finally be voted off
- I've been expecting it for weeks now. My big
question is "why was Pickler not in the bottom 3 last
night?"
She was horrendous on "Bewitched, Bothered and
Bewildered." She was the worst singer on Tuesday
(followed closely by Ace so I'm not bone-picking here)
and still received enough votes to launch over the
tops of Chris and Paris in number of votes, both of
whom sang much better than she did.
Oh, well, there's no understanding the voting, and I
think votefortheworse.com has targeted Kellie. Then
she does that damned "I'm sawry" thing and pouts a
little and people just rush to the phone to vote for
the poor little girl.....
Anyway, Rod Stewart sang "The Way You Look Tonight" -
he looked great and he sounded great. His fiance was
in the audience and couldn't keep her eyes off of him
- sweet.
There're seven kids left so, of course, Ryan did the
old "divide them into two groups and let the 7th
figure it out" ploy they do every year. In this case,
the two groups were Ace/Chris/Paris and
Kat/Kellie/Elliott. Two good singers and one clunker
in each group. It was left to Taylor to pick - he
tried the old fakeout for a sec by walking toward the
wrong group, almost faked out Ryan, then walked to
Kat/Kellie/Elliott - which was correct - they were all
safe.
Ryan sent Paris back to the benches, leaving Chris and
Ace on stage. Then he announced Ace was out. This
vote will hopefully wake up Chris' fans. Including me
- I didn't vote at all the past couple of weeks.
The next two to go should be Kellie and Paris. I'd
put Taylor next - I don't think Taylor will win but
he's just different enough that it's possible. After
that I couldn't choose between Elliott, Katharine or
Chris - I think they're all excellent.
Next week: Andrea Bocelli and the Great Love Songs.
With a performance on Wednesday. Should be interesting.....
I wonder if he has a new album coming out soon. Why else do this?
What a night! They finally found a niche where every
contentant actually sounds good and it made for a very
enjoyable show. Classic American Standards, "The
American Songbook", whatever you want to call it, was
an excellent theme choice. And, I enjoyed Rod
Stewart. He brought his family along, he seemed very
casual and entertaining with the kids, and I'm looking
forward to seeing him perform tonight.
There were a couple of mildly-sucky performances (I'm
looking at you Kellie and Ace), but if it had been a
regular mostly-sucky show they would not stand out -
as it is the show was so good, even minor mistakes
stand out in my mind.
Anyway, here goes:
Chris: Chris led off with "What A Wonderful World."
The song is way too familiar because so many people
have sung it, including George Huff in Season 3(?) and
George's version was smokier and more soulful. Chris
did a fine job, though, of toning down his usual
scream-style and just sat back and sang the song. I
still like the tone of his voice which was showcased
by this lovely song. Randy and Paula loved it, Simon
took credit for it (by encouraging him several times
to change his style). For his part, Chris looked
pretty comfortable, he was sans eye makeup and the
beard. I enjoyed it very much. He's not going
anywhere tonight, even though he had the disadvantage
of being up first.
Paris: OK, let me say this first - Paris sang
"Foolish Things", which is right on track with her
audition pieces which got her here in the first place.
This kind of jazz singing agrees with Paris' voice
and she should stick with it whenever she can. But
she needs to relax. In this song, her phrasing was
affected and it was disconcerting in a few spots.
However, beyond the singing is the issue I have with
Paris, which is the fact that she feels she must play
dress-up each week. Last week the Dominatrix-Paris
sang Queen. This week Real Estate Barbie-Paris sang
jazz. She was in a coral business suit, unfortunately
two sizes too big for her, and her hair was slicked
back into a Barbie-tail. It's like Halloween around
Paris every week. But, I don't think she's going into
the bottom 3 this week.
Taylor: Apparently SNL or MadTV parodied Taylor this
past weekend, because he and Ryan were talking about
it. Taylor thought it was pretty cool - I'd rather
think he'd be embarrassed when they showed how weird
and affected he is. Maybe he's just confident, I
don't know. I hate the mannerisms but I have to admit
that they seem genuine and he doesn't put them "on"
so, in that respect, I have to give him credit for
staying true to himself, as trite as that sounds.
So, he did sing. He sang "You Send Me", and he's no
Sam Cooke, but it was all right. Rod had encouraged
him to move on the stage (me: "no, no") and "perform
the song." Taylor was OK and pretty soulful, then got
spazzy toward the end. I hated that, but most people
appear to like it. blech. Simon: "It started and I
thought "lame cabaret", then "Magic!" Black magic,
maybe. I'm sure he's safe tonight, but he's in my
bottom 3.
Elliott: First things first - Elliott SMILED during
his performance! He actually seemed to have fun and
did not look like a nervous cat. He sang "It Had To
Be You" in his, per Rod, "wonderful blue-eyed soul
voice." It was, too. He was warm and his tone was
wonderful. Simon said it "lacked a degree of
personality" and I do not agree. For some reason,
Simon has never liked Elliott enough to want to keep
him around and is always pushing to get rid of him.
Personally, I think Elliott's is the clearest,
cleanest, most effortless and best voice on AI this
season. He's just not the one Simon wants to win.
Kellie: Pickler screwed up badly this week. She sang
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and, yikes, it
was terrible. It started out sweetly but she got a
full beat ahead of the music and couldn't seem to
correct herself. She was obviously pitchy and ended
up unhappy with her own performance. She has this way
of saying "I'm sawry" that makes people want to
forgive her and vote for her so she's probably in the
bottom three but not out tonight. "When all else fails
you gotta have great shoes." That could save her - she
looked good. At least she knew she "butchered" the
song - she could hear it herself.
Ace: I don't get the Ace-pimping. The judges are so
not willing to be honest about Ace's singing. It
reminds me very much of season 1 and poor old Justin
who they maneuvered to be kept in till the end because
they wanted to be sure that Kelly Clarkson won (don't
get me wrong - Kelly deserved to win. I think they
just wanted to make sure she did). Ace sang "That's
All". He was dressed like a Las Vegas blackjack
dealer, in a black suit and slicked-back ponytailed
hair and was not at all good. In fact, it was a bit
of a mess: weak in places, strong in others, nasally,
and messy. Yet they keep pimping him. I don't get
it. Ace will be in the bottom 3 this week.
Katharine: Kat sang "Someone To Watch Over Me." She
was amazingly lovely and her voice was intensely
beautiful for this song. Her phrasing was gorgeous.
I have two bones to pick with her: Her upper register
is a bit screechy and she sings like she's in the
drama club - all smiley and conscious of the camera.
The director doesn't help - he insists on getting the
camera right up into her face. I think he's in love
with her. She's not going anywhere. Simon agreed
with me - she "made the others sound like good
amateurs. She sounded like a returning pro." I'm not
so sure I'd go that far, but she sounded damned good.
My bottom 3: Ace, Taylor and Kellie
Going tonight: probably Ace.
The on-going saga continues.......yesterday I did a
great job of "less is more" when it comes to food,
until dinner. Which was leftover spaghetti and salad,
followed by chocolate brownie ice cream and three
chocolate chip cookies....and a banana.
But, unlike in the past when I'd eat till bedtime, I
didn't eat anything after 6:30. So at least I didn't
go to bed with a stomach full of chocolate and sugar.
Is it just me? Is it just Monday's?
People are in a crappy, rude mood today.
Everytime I've talked to someone today or tried to
make light conversation I was made to feel like an
INTRUDER into oh-so-much-more-important-things.
Fuck it.
That kind of attitude just pisses me off.
My theory? TOO MUCH EASTER SUGAR has turned my co-workers
into dickwads.
But I won't have any. Somebody left a packet of
Cadbury eggs by my desk this morning and I'm
studiously avoiding them. Usually, I'm the first in
line at Walgreens or Freddie's to get the 1/2 off
holiday candy - always the chocolate. But I'm not
going to do it this year.
Anyway, I feel a bit bad because I sort of went crazy
yesterday. I had just a small bowl of leftover
spaghetti for brunch and some coffee. And then late
afternoon, we went to a local steakhouse, Ringside,
and had dinner. Dad, Bro K and Bro S and myself - Mom
was going to come but she wasn't feelng up to it when the
time came for leaving. I had a New York steak,
delicious.....which was OK for a dieting person, but
the onion rings I had first weren't. And the
margarita. And the two pieces of bread - glommed
with butter. I finally realized I was full, leaving
about 1/4 of my steak and half of my garlic mashed potatoes.
So, altogether, except for the onion rings, it wasn't
so bad. And, it's not like I go there every day.
It's certainly not like I spend $200+change for dinner every
day, either. How come I always end up paying when we
do these things?
I am such a coward, I made Maime go with me for my
first weigh-in. Just like a little kid - "I don't
wanna go alooone...pleeeze?"
Anyway, Very Good News.
10-day loss - 12 pounds!
That seems like a lot but I think there are 3 main
reasons:
1. I eat what I want (for the most part) but smaller
portions.
2. I drink lots more water.
3. I do not eat 3-4 hours before bed.
I am now over halfway to my goal of losing 20 pounds!
I already know what my next goal will be but I'll wait
till I hit this one before I blurt it out.
OK. Good Job, Sunshine!
Well, that sucked.
Last night's show was a full hour long. And Queen did
not sing. That just was not fair. And it started in
the middle of The Amazing Race so I switcho-changed
for the first 1/2 hr. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss
anything of importance. (eye-roll)
Here's how it went:
Intro
yadda yadda
Filler
More Filler
Sucky Stuff
Slow process to bottom three, who were
Elliott, performance "Somebody to Love"
Ace, performance "We Will Rock You"
and Bucky!, performance "Fat Bottomed Girls"
Boom. Bucky!, you're gone.
Sucked.
I hope this does not mean that results shows from now
on are scheduled for a full hour because it's REALLY
hard to watch Ryan try to fill up that much time.
Bye-Bye, Bucky!
This certainly seems to fit right in with my recent
Project, doesn't it?
Daily extended (by Astrology.com)
This is a good time to get started with a little
maintenance work. Think of your life as a swimming
pool. Sure, it looks great now, but if you don't keep
track of the chlorine levels every single day, you
could find yourself with a green, murky lagoon on your
hands. And what about cracks in the cement? Remember
that adage: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from AI doing a
Queen-theme night, but it turned out far better than I
thought it would. It's a testament to Freddie
Mercury, though, that not one of the singers could
come close to him in voice and power, and they were almost
outclassed by some of the songs themselves.
The remaining members of Queen, including Bad
Company's Paul Rogers, were the advisors/coaches this
week and did a pretty decent job. Eeks, they're
getting old....but they can still rock.
Anyway, here goes:
Bucky!: Bucky! was first out of the gate, which is a
terrible position to be in and means he will almost
certainly be in the bottom three tonight. He sang
"Fat Bottomed Girls" and it was great. He was
energetic, raspy-voiced and happy. Bucky! has the
sweetest smile... The country-rock arrangement really
worked for him and he was one of the best of the
night. Go, Bucky!
Ace: Good God, this was awful. Ace sang "We Will
Rock You." The funny thing was that he tried to talk
Brian May into changing not only the arrangement, but
he asked to change the BEAT of the song to an army
staccato, Brian just laughed in his face and said
"This is my song, no way." The arrangement was slower
than the original version and he FORGOT THE WORDS.
Funny stuff, indeed. Paula and Simon were meh about
it and Simon said it was a complete and utter mess.
WWRY is an AGRESSIVE song and Ace took every ounce of
aggression out of it. In fact, I'd call it the "Def
Leppard version" of WWRY. Clueless choice of song.
Clueless style of singing it. I hope he goes tonite.
Kellie: Hoo-hah!!! Kellie picked "Bohemian Rhapsody",
a song Constantine butchered last year in AI. A song
that Suzie O'Neil kicked butt on last year on Rock
Star INXS (she should record and release her version).
Kellie took a different take on it. She brought the
visual: She stood on stage in all black leather with
stiletto heeled boots, wearing a long blonde wig and
lots of makeup, and as the song started the lighting
director did something really weird and lit her from
below so half her face was in shadow and she looked
like a very tired, 40 year old zombie. Creepy as hell
- Simon later said she looked like she belonged in the
"Night of the Living Dead" and I agreed. During the second
half of the song the lighting was kinder to her.
Oh, and her singing? Not really bad - the first part
was sung sweetly, and she rocked the middle but there
was just nothing outstanding about her
performance. Except for the "coochie pop"* she did on
the stage, which you had to see - it was kind of a
fast squat on the stage. Altogether about a C
performance.
Funniest thing: afterwards Simon said something about
how weird Kellie singing the song looked "on paper"
beforehand and she didn't get it - they tried to
explain and she said "it's his accent! I can't
understand him!" Simon laughed and said "likewise" to
her accent. funny stuff, that. You just can't make
up some of the Kellie stuff.
Chris: Chris sang an unknown-to-me-and-everyone-else
song called "Innuendo". He was pretty good but the
song was non-melodic and harsh. I agreed with Simon
that he lost this moment to really connect with the
audience and blow them away. He has such a good rock
voice he should have chosen a Queen song people
recognized. It would have made a huge difference.
Therefore, Simon again called the song choice
"indulgent" and I agree with him. Chris seems to be
stubborn about sticking to his box (with the
exception of last week's country choice). And, from a
fan, that's just maddening to me.
Katharine: Kat was going to sing the uptempo "Don't
Stop Me Now" and changed her mind and picked "Who
Wants to Live Forever", a very powerful ballad. Her
high notes were straining and screechy - I love this
song but she should have picked something that is sung
in her mid-range, not her upper, because she just
doesn't have it. When Freddie sang it his voice did a
natural progression between the mid and upper ranges
and was awesome - she had to work at it. I agreed
with Simon that the director and lighting director
made her look great. She may have sounded better to
the audience because she looked so fabulous, if that
makes any sense. I would not be surprised to see her
in the bottom three this week.
Elliott: Elliott chose to sing "Somebody To Love"
which is probably my favorite Queen song. And he was
EXCELLENT. Brian May was concerned because the song
is so difficult to sing with differing chord changes but was confident Elliott
could do it and he did. And, somehow, Elliott looks
better every week, less troll-like and more
attractive. Is it me? What's going on here? Elliott
was the best of the night. Also? He said he's never
heard the song before. How is that even possible???
Also, Brian said they wrote the song with Aretha
Franklin in mind - I wonder if she has ever sung it?
Taylor: Taylor chose "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
as his second choice after "We Are The Champions."
Bluntly put, it was awful. His reason for choosing
"Crazy" was so he could dance?!? Which he did. All
over the place. Back to the Tic Schtick.* I need to Google him before I make
too much fun of him because maybe he broke his back
one time in an auto accident or something. He does
the strangest back-in-the-fetal-position dancing and
hopping around I've ever seen, and he got caught up
in his performance, grabbed for the mic stand and
missed it - it went flying across the stage.
hilarious. Voice = mediocre. Paula and Randy loved
it because he "danced"- I agreed with Simon when he
said it was "ridiculous". It was growly, shouty
vocals and spazzy dancing. Best line of the night?
Simon asked Taylor after the performance when Taylor
was still jumping around: "Are you drunk tonight?"
Paris: Good gawd, Paris looked like the resident AI
dominatrix in her black leather outfit, her black
spiked heel boots, her shiny wig and black lace
fingerless gloves. Hoochie mama! This 17 year old
girl sang "The Show Must Go On" looking like a 40 year
old whore. It was very "performance" - and so wrong
for the song. She vamped, bounced, smiled and laughed
her way through one of the saddest songs ever written,
certainly the saddest song in the Queen catalog.
She's done that before - she does not relate the words
of songs to meanings. It was pretty disgusting - all
Simon could say was "I find that a litle weird." Well
said, Simon. She was very Beyond the Thunderdome.*
All theater.
Ok, here's a pet peeve of mine: These kids do not
have any idea that words in songs actually convey
meaning, and are not just vehicles to a glory note.
When it's a sad song they should act like they're
singing a sad song. When it's a happy song, that's
the time to be lively and happy.
When it's a song written by two men, one of whom was
going through a terrible divorce, and one who knew he
was dying but hadn't yet told the world, it's a sad
song. "The Show Must Go On" was written by Brian and
Freddie as each of their lives was changing forever,
and Freddie was saying that even though his heart was
breaking and he would soon be dead, he wanted Queen -
the band, the music, and the fans -to continue on when
he was gone. How hard is it to understand that
breaking hearts and death does not equate to giggles? Paris?
My bottom three: Ace, Taylor, Paris
Going Home: I have no idea. Probably Bucky! (sob) Should be Ace.
* Thanks to the Television Without Pity (TWOP) forum
posters for "Cootchie Pop" and "Beyond the Thunderdome"
and Tic Schtick. Brilliant.
As they occurred to me:
One of my pod mates is going through a phase of
clearing her throat every 20 seconds. I've counted.
What's with that? I wish she would just cough it up,
whatever it is.
____________
Maime volunteered to get lunch and I sent her off with
some money and instructions to get something
relatively healthy. She went to the foodcourt in the
Mall a couple of blocks away and brought back a yummy
chicken taco salad. I don't know where it came from
but I'm going to keep it in mind to have again.
mmm-mmm.
____________
There's an epidemic of sneezing going on around me
this week. No one is immune. First one will sneeze,
then another, then me, then it works its way around
again. No one appears to be sick - just sneezing. I
suppose the building's air ventilators are pulling in
pollen from the parks around us or something.
A-choo! and then a series of "Bless you's"
____________
In the paper today, they have instructions on making
your own marshmallow "Peeps". How cool is that? I'll
have to try it out. I saved that section of the paper.
They're apparently a million times better than the
store-bought ones. Makes sense.
Peeps!
____________
Since they moved The Amazing Race to Wednesday, I
don't think there's anything much on Tuesday nights
anymore (except AI perform.). They've squeezed TAR, AI elims.,
America's Next Top Model, and Survivor all onto Wed
and Thur. And the "After The Storm" Extreme Home
Makeover shows are on Thur also. Last one's this
week, I think.
I didn't realize how much I hated the old recliner
until it was going away. I am so looking forward to
going home tonight and seeing a new chair sitting in
its place. Plus? With all the farting that went on
in the old one ("it's the chair's fault!") it'll
probably smell better too. I shouldn't say that,
Karma'll get me. But I seldom sat in it.
There's only so much you can do when you co-own a
house - I have stuff and my brother has stuff. My
stuff usually rules because I have more and it's
nicer, but on some things I have to keep my mouth
shut. In fact, I bought the chair for him in the
first place but, when it was worn out, I left it to
him to replace it.
Anyway, Project news. Nothing to report.
Ate mac ande cheese last night with a couple of beef
hotdogs. I probably ate too much but it was pretty
good so no regrets. For tonight I have a salad in the
fridge.
I am such a dork - I can't help myself from going
online and buying stuff in smaller sizes. Last night
I bought a sundress from a really cool company with a
store on eBay. It's kind of gothic-ey, black and
purple, and may be too short. Who cares? It's
cute!!!!!!!
So, so far, three skirts, one sundress, one blouse.
All 3-4 sizes too small for me. I have my eye on
another skirt - they just need to offer it in one size
larger. It's white and silver, and is tacky as hell.
I want it. Bad.
Funyuns - two guys just walked by my desk with
Funyuns. I love those damn things. What are they
anyway? I think they're just dough with onion
seasoning but I've never checked to see if they're
actually made with real onion pieces or not - they
don't really taste real. Whatever it is they're good.
I'm sure I smelled chocolate last night after I went
to bed. It smelled like somebody was making brownies
- I didn't get up to see but I'm definitely checking
when I get home. I didn't swing through the kitchen this morning to see.
Maime has talked me out of the one week weigh-in.
She's voting for 10 days. That'll be Friday. She's
never said definitively whether she's in on this with
me or not. But we both ate salads for lunch.
She asked me if I noticed any changes yet. I'm like,
"in a week?" I'm sure it's possible for someone not
as fat as me to notice changes in a week but there's
no way in hell I can tell yet - I wear my clothes kind
of big anyway so that's no indication.
I had that salad for lunch and now I have the burps.
Cucumbers.
_______________
I'm just wasting time now and trying to look busy
because I'm actually just waiting to go home. It's
been a long day and there's still an hour left before
I can scoot out of here. There's really only one more
thing that needs to be done today and I need to hook
up with one of the building's mechanics to do it.
Hopefully, he'll get here soon.
I really need to run to the copy room to get paper
because I just emptied my printer to put paper in the
fax. Now it's almost out. I just can't win.
I didn't do much this weekend so I don't have much to
say. I sat on the patio yesterday for a couple of
hours and read the paper and completed the crossword.
That was about as ambitious as I got.
When Bro got home from work on Friday night he asked
if I wanted to go chair shopping on Saturday. I
jumped at the chance because the chair he was
replacing was his recliner. Which is falling apart.
Little screws, nuts and bolts keep falling off and I
vacuum them up (clang! bang! rattle rattle!) without
knowing they're there. Then, on Wednesday night I
noticed two springs had fallen out from the footrest
part. When the footrest was no longer working, and he
had to use a folding chair for an ottoman, he finally
decided it was time for a change.
So we went to Chair Outlet on Saturday, found a nice
Lane big man's recliner, and it's being delivered on
Tuesday.
In project news, I ate a whole Cadbury Dairy Milk
Chocolate bar on Saturday. I meant to just eat a
couple of squares and put it away and make it last,
but before I knew it I'd finished it off. You just
can't trust me with chocolate.
It'll be one week tomorrow. I feel pretty positive -
I am trying to cut down on food intake (except for
chocolate which is untrustworthy - see above) but I'm
not ready to ramp up the exercise because of arthritis
in my knees. I have to get some weight off before I
can possibly venture into exercise.
So, here's the question: Should I do a one-week
weigh-in tomorrow? Or wait another week?
I haven't decided. I'll check with Maime and see if
she's interested in doing a one-week check-up
tomorrow. If she is, then I will. If she's not, then
I probably won't. But I'm weighing on the 18th for
sure. I'm trying to be very calm and not focus on
this, because I know from my past history that dieting
can take over your life and become all you talk about
and all you think about. I don't want ANYONE to know
I'm doing this (except Maime, of course) so I'm trying
to keep a very low profile.
I am also not "depriving" myself of foods I want - I'm
just eating less of them. For instance, yesterday I
made a turkey/cheese sandwich for lunch, slowly ate
it, and discovered that I didn't want the last 1/3, so
I threw it away. I had Corn Pops for breakfast, but
instead of having it in a huge bowl, I had it in a
regular-size cereal bowl and it was plenty. I had 2
pieces of peanut-butter toast on Saturday, but instead
of BOTH butter and peanut butter which is the way I
usually have it, I just put on the peanut butter. I'm
hoping that little changes like these will make a
difference - I'm having what I want to eat but just
changing it up a little.
________________
This morning I bought a Starbucks changa bagel (which
is like an "everything" bagle), split it and put cream
cheese on the two halves as usual, ate one piece, then
discovered I didn't really want the second. I put it
in a plastic baggie thinking I'd eat it later, but
ended up throwing it out. I wouldn't have thought of
doing that before - if it's food it must be eaten,
right? Well, I'm thinking that's wrong. I actually
feel OK throwing out food.
Funny story: Pod mates usually get coffee/bagels in the mornings,
so I don't usually go over and get my own. The first time I did, I asked
for a "ganga" bagel. hee We didn't laugh about it until after we left.
I'm hoping they didn't hear it the way I said it. If they have ganga bagels
at Starbucks, they didn't give me one...........
Today is one of those days that cannot go by fast enough.
It's like time is crawling. And I just want to go
home.
I hope the weight loss thing is working, I have no
idea. And it's only been 4 days but I have an almost
insatiable urge to go weigh myself, which is so
ridiculous. I won't do it, mainly because if nothing
has happened (in four days...duh) then I might get
discouraged. And the last thing I want is to be
discouraged because this is too important to me.
Update: An hour later I ate a piece of choc cake.
It was good.
Accomplished Goal #1 = 346
Ouch.
Goal #1.5: finding the scale (after several aborted
attempts on my part asked Maime and she knew)
Goal #2: -20.
Started Tuesday April 4. Will weigh again in two
weeks to see what's happening.
Bought 2 skirts in anticipation - I can see I'm going
to have to watch that because I tend to put the cart
before the horse....
wish me luck.
Everyone seems so shocked that Mandisa was voted off
Idol, but I'm not. She has been lackluster at the
best for the last two weeks. She's not hit her lower
range and her power notes have been screechy, as well
as her song choices have been questionable at best. I
bet a lot of people have also been turned off by the
overt religious overtones of some of her comments.
And, really, choosing a GOSPEL song for her 21st
Century theme night? Let alone a relatively unknown
gospel song? dumb. dumb.
All in all, good choice, America. Better now than
later.
Bucky! was cute when he was singing along in her
shoutout, then he noticed the camera just as he was
about to bust into "...any man of mine..." - that was
funny!
Another funny moment was when Ryan said Elliott was
safe (that was a bit confusing the way he announced
it) and Taylor started to clap and caught
himself. Because it would have looked like he was
clapping for Mandisa to leave, when I'm sure he wanted
to celebrate Elliott's staying. I've read that
they're friends and have been roommates.
Bottom three were Paris (no surprise there - she and
her fans have gotten complacent and she was mediocre
in the show Tuesday), Elliott (he needs to build more
confidence in himself and he can win this whole
thing), and Mandisa.
I am confident that we'll see Mandisa put out a gospel
record soon. Any more comments about wanton
lifestyles, though, will lose her even more fans. AI
is not a pulpit.
Next week's theme: Songs from Queen. Should be interesting - I wonder who's going
try "Bohemian Rhapsody?"
Oh, man, I thought for sure Country Night would bring
out some really good performances. After last week's
lacklaster 21st century songs it looked like a sure
winner. Unfortunately, nobody really stepped up - not
even the so-called country kids, Kellie and Bucky.
Kenny Rogers was the guest host and he actually did a
pretty good job of trying to get the kids to put some
life into the songs. He particularly focused on
trying to make them understand that the words and the
story must be clear to the audience or you'll lose
their interest. He looked odd - pretty thin and very
white and not quite like himself - but he's getting
older and I haven't seen him for awhile. He sounded
just the same.
So, here goes:
Oh, one more thing I have to say: Ryan has a beard.
It's past the 5:00 shadow stage and is noticeably
beardy. Shave it off, Ryan.
Taylor: Taylor started things off with John Denver's
"Take Me Home, Country Roads". He was bleh, meh, who
cares. I think he just thought he'd breeze through it
and it showed. Karaoke, anyone? Taylor played it
safe. Good thing: Again he just sang the song
without the goofy mannerisms. Bad thing: boring
choice for him. When John Denver sang "Country
Roads", it soared under his clear tenor and gave me
goosebumps every time I heard it.
Mandisa: In a way, I had to admire her choice of
Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" because it's a really
hard song to remember the words to, but it didn't
really work for her. She was a bit rocky in the start
but finished it well, after she got about halfway
through. It was just OK. She would have been better
served to have picked Patsy Cline.
Here's what follows after the judges take care of
Mandisa: Simon and Ryan get into it like they always
do, then Simon hits him with "At least I'm not trying
to look like someone at Desperate Housewives!" Dig at
Ryan regarding the beard, Teri Hatcher and whatever's
going on there....funny stuff. It certainly shut Ryan
up. I'll have to Google to see what's going on.
Elliott: Elliott sang Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow
Never Comes", which is a very cool song. Poor Elliott
looked like he was afraid of it or something - he
clutched the mic like a scared mouse and hesitated and
wobbled his way through the song. I'm not sure what
was going on with him but he lost all confidence. Why
was he so nervous? He still did an OK job.
Paris: Each week Paris puts another nail in the hate
coffin. She sang Trisha Yearwood's (and LeAnn Rimes,
and Season 2(?) Carmen, and about a gazillion other
girl singers) "How Do I Live Without You?" I know
she picked it because it's a power ballad but I'm so
tired of it - she was hesitant with the song at first
but it picked up steam about halfway through (the
power parts. duh.) It was a good choice for Paris in
the respect of being a power ballad but it was a
horrible choice because SO MANY people have sung it
BETTER. I'd put her in the bottom three this week.
Ace: Good God, it's time for Ace to go away. It's
not that he was terrible on Keith Urban's "Tonight I
Want to Cry" but he was so blah and boring. He sang
it quiet, emotional and a bit whispery in places and
ended on his falsetto (hate!) which Randy, of course,
loved. It was OK, but not memorable.
Kellie: Crap, Kellie picked one of my hate-button
songs. I can't listen objectively to "Fancy" because
I think it's awful. I like Reba McIntyre but even she
can't make me like "Fancy." So, ignoring the words, I
just listened to Kellie and she did OK. I was hoping
that with an entire genre of songs to pick from, she
would pick a classic song to showcase her style.
Hated "Fancy", Kellie was OK but damn she could have
done so much better with a different song.
Chris: I was wondering what Chris would pick to sing
this week. As it turned out, he abandoned his
alt-rock persona for a week and went for the straight
country and dude pulled it off. He chose Keith
Urban's "Making Memories of Us" and was excellent.
The thing I like best about Chris is the TONE of his
voice, and it turns out that it's ideally suited for
progressive country. I liked it very much. He thinks
he's a bad ole rock star, but I have to say he's a
much better country singer than he thinks he is.
Katharine: Boo. Boo. I like Kat very much but I was
SO disappointed with her song choice! Kat could have
sung anything and it would have been better - she
could have chosen any song out of the Faith Hill
catalog and been great. Except for this one -
"Bringing out the Elvis in Me" is a one-woman song and
no one else should try to sing it. It's an awfully
weird song and just doesn't work for anyone but Faith.
Kat: Don't ever sing it again!!!! Nobody ever sing
it again! Remove it from the AI catalog! You think
I'm kidding? I'm not kidding!
Best thing at Kat's performance came afterwards when
she made Simon admit out loud that he hates country
music. "Go ahead, Simon, just say it," she said. hee
Ryan then admonished Simon to remember he's judging
"The Singers. Not the Song".
Bucky!: Bucky! sang "The Best I Ever Had" which I
know Vertical Horizen sang but did a more country act?
I'm not sure. It's one of those songs that I don't
hear often, and kind of forget about in between.
Bucky sang it great, he made a good effort to
enunciate (thanks, Kenny!) and the song has a pretty
melody that suited his voice. I particularly liked
that it was a quieter song than his usual choice, and
he didn't do any jumping around and "dancing" on the
stage. I actually thought he was about the best
singer tonight. Go, Bucky!
Bottom three: Ace, Katharine, Paris
(although I like Bucky! I'm well aware that he could
be in the bottom three any night, but I'm not picking
him)
Should go: Ace
We'll see what happens tomorrow night.
I think I should explain what happened to my thinking
about cruises.
I used to think cruising was sort of for losers.
People would get on and off at different ports for
just a few hours at a time, instead of immersing
themselves for a week or so in a new place.
But, then, I realized how smart it was to do it that
way.
1. You get to see a variety of cities, ports,
countries without having to pay for several
transportation legs.
2. You only have to unpack and pack once.
3. Your food and hotel costs are already taken care
of when you book your cruise.
4. You have the advantage of seeing numerous cities
and countries and THEN deciding if there's one you
want to go back to at a later time.
So, one price covers transportation, food, and your
room (and shipboard entertainment), which is 90% of
your vacation costs. Then you just need enough $$ for
some excursions and presents.
How can you lose?
I haven't actually tried it yet, but I'm looking
forward to seeing if my theory holds up.
I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I've
done it before. Several times.
I'm one of those people who have dieted time and time
again with varying degrees of short-lived success.
The first major diet was Weight Watchers, long ago in
the early '70's, and I lost over 100 pounds, and
looked fabulous. Even I thought so. Then, boom, in a
couple of years it was back. Then I went on a high
protein/low carb diet and lost about 40 pounds. Boom,
it came back. Then I joined a group here at work in a
eat sensible/exercise type diet and lost 60 pounds.
Boom, it came back. These are just the major ones that
worked relatively well... there have also been a lot
of failures.
Anyway, I want to take a cruise.
That means that I want to lose some of this godawful
weight because I know already I will be hot and
extremely uncomfortable if I don't. And I don't have
any expectations of being svelte or thin; I'm shooting
to be able to wear skirts and shorts without looking
like a Mac truck. In other words, at this moment, I'm
shooting for "plump" instead of "obese".
Another problem right now is that I'm developing a
small phobia about being on a plane. Just from the
fat standpoint - the bathrooms are too small, the
seats are too small, the aisles are too narrow, and
some of the people are appalled - you can see it on
their faces. And I've watched "Airline" enough to
know that Southwest can prohibit you from boarding or
make you buy a second ticket for your fat hips if the
ticketer thinks you're too big, and I don't know how
some of the other airlines are handling this but if it
happened to me I'd break out in tears - I'm getting
teary just writing this sentence. And I KNOW the
solution - it's just hard.
Oh my god, I am just too pathetic for words - Charles
just came up to my desk, saw my watery, teary eyes and
asked if I have allergies! Of course, I said YES, I
DO! They've been bothering me all day!! Crap, crap,
crap....I couldn't tell him I was just feeling sorry
for myself, could I?????
Criminy, it's so much work.
So, if anyone's reading this (I know Maime does
sometimes) you'll have to just put up with me because
I'm going to keep a kind of on-line journey-of-hell as
I try to lose weight yet once again.
My first goal is a big one - I have to weigh myself.
My second goal is to lose 20 pounds.
After I accomplish that, I'll set a third goal.
I heard this on the elevator this morning and it's so
true: "Today is the first Monday after "spring
forward" - so it's National Nap Day." Right on! How
can we make it a real Holiday?
Boring weekend. My plan was to uncover the patio
furniture and get stuff set out so I have my patio
back after a long winter, but guess what? It kept
raining. Everytime I thought "OK, it's dry now" it'd
start sprinking again. So, I guess I'll try again
next weekend. I did put out two new bird feeders,
both hanging on a shepherd's hook to protect them from
the ravenous squirrels. I spilled some birdseed while
filling them and those crazy birds kept eating from
the spilled seed on the patio instead of from the
feeders. If it was me I'd rather eat at the feeders
instead of off of the ground where the neighborhood
cats and squirrels could harass me.
