I never knew Wes Craven went to Wheaton College. The Wheaton College here in Illinois, that is. Huh. So it seems that a person not only can learn from their own mistakes, but also from those committed by established news persons for network stations.

Some other things I have learned:

• Do not iron a piece of clothing on a glass tabletop.
• Do not mess around with a guy leaning against the glass tabletop on which ironing occurred.
• Use care when reading by candlelight, especially when the candle is sitting on a book that is resting on the bed on which you are lying.
• Put the antenna down on your car when going through a $3 car wash.
• Seriously, save that document after writing some lines of brilliance - or crap - because auto-save may not kick-in at the right time.
• Pop cans explode in the trunk of a car on both very hot and very cold days. Remember this and the fear that someone is shooting at you on the I290 will be lessened (somewhat, depending on where and at what time the driving on the 290 is being conducted).

What’s a lanai?

I received a message from a concerned reader wondering if I had any intentions of writing a few words “in tribute” of the recently passed Ms. Estelle Getty. I do not believe I am the proper person to write these eulogizing words, especially when my first thoughts after hearing of her death were not externally-focused feelings of sympathy amd empathy, but rather internally concentrated thoughts of woe-is-me and I-pity-my-plight. I couldn’t help but feel this was yet another reminder of the aging process and that as one ages, the people we know or recognize or relate to on some level will die more frequently and what feels shocking and tragic in youth becomes expected and accepted and with a nod of the head we turn the page…

In the past few weeks both the Smashing Pumpkins (a former musical group) and the original Die Hard movie experienced 20th anniversaries. Are these constant reminders necessary in our highly age-ist society - are not the arteries clogging, the organs failing, the skin loosening, the girth growing, the face falling, the mind blanking enough to keep us alert to the fact that youth and immortality cannot be bought -no matter what the 90210 surgeons taunt with a smirk of the lips and scalpel in hand? Why can’t I safely peruse the Internet without reading comments trashing Cameron Diaz as being too “haggardly” to play the lead character opposite Ashton Kutcher? Or how 30 is too old to appear on So You Think You Can Dance (this season is so very weak - dance class recital goes national) or how a new and younger crops of actors and singers have replaced the “older” Hillary Duffs (not quite 21) and Jessica Simpsons (28 ) - damn you High School Musical.

But back to the topic of Ms. Estelle Getty. I shall briefly open up the comment section before the spamm- ing bots infuse the blog with their self-serving “p’s”: porn, poker and penile enhancement related website URLs. No, thanks. Google satisfies my needs just fine.

(Is it really 6 AM?? Between blogging and Nancy Drew computer gaming time is surely sucked from my very own private lifetime movie. Carson Kressley - come on now, who really does look good naked?)
CP, if you will…

Stuck at a red-light, I found myself staring at an Italian restaurant. Painted on their front window was a map of Italy. I fixated on the map and thought, “Yes, it really does resemble a boot. A boot with a cuff.” Not unlike the boot belonging to Puss. Don’t know the story, just picture the cover art of Puss ‘n’ Boots in my mind.