Timothy McSweeney

I was first informed of this site from Twitter. It was then immediately placed onto my bookmarks and I have loved it every since. I am not too certain where people get these lists or they develop them, but either way, I am glad I get to read them. Here is one of my recent favorites:

Personals
From Nonpersons.

BY PETER CAMERON

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Toyota Prius seeks irritating pseudoenvironmentalist for smug attitude and poorly informed dinner-party rant on Middle Eastern oil politics.

California relocation for "fresh start" seeks disaster-prone individual for postmove loneliness and employment difficulties followed by crippling "sleep all day" depression episode.

Cringe-inducing racist remark seeks grandfather for slip of the tongue during family get-together.

Tedious recounting of last night's nonsensical dream seeks potential suitor on first date for obliteration of second-date possibility.

Surprisingly explicit and seemingly unending movie sex scene seeks family for very uncomfortable viewing moment.

I find this list funny for two reasons. Reason 1, my aunt and I were talking about how she just bought a Prius. The other day she was walking out of Whole Foods with a Starbucks Coffee and turned on her Prius, on came NPR. Be afraid, a Prius will change you. Reason 2, I have been in several uncomfortable movie moments with both my parents, and my grandparents. Not recommended, but always makes for good family conversation later down the road.

Check it out!

Just a thought

I was just walking down our little street when I passed a smoker and it hit me. Why is it that the people who probably spend the most time outside during the work day are smokers?

I know there is a lot of bad karma out there about smokers, but they are still able to skip out of the office and go outside now and then to smoke. It isn't usually questioned too severely why they are not at their desk, bosses are usually lenient to the fact that smoking breaks need to happen, and it is generally accepted by coworkers. However, as I sprinted down to the mailbox to send a letter to a client, feeling guilty for being outside, I just thought it was an interesting observation, so I slowed a little bit.

Family Dynamics

I love my family, I really do. I love that they are there to support me in whatever my decisions are (such as flying off to Thailand by myself when I was 18 for two months) and love me no matter my mistakes (making out with my brother's roomate...). However, family weekends are exhausting.

I just returned last night from a 7 hour car ride from my sister's town in up, up state New York where she is going to grad school. First off, it is really far away. I rode down with my aunt, which was fun (we repeatedly listened to Jason Mraz and REM). My mom and grandmother drove from my house in Maine. We all banded together at last for a family "girls weekend"!

The main part that is exhausting is making sure everyone is happy. This was not made any easier by the fact that NOTHING was open in my sister's town on Sunday. I know it is a holiday, but seriously? And secondly, my grandmother has rapidly aged in the short span of a year. Since my grandfather's sudden death two years ago my family's dynamics have undoubtedly changed, but my grandmother has gone from being a spunky, athletic Gma to a cranky, aching, grandmother. I love her more than anything, she is the only grandparent remaining who I have a relationship with, but, it is getting harder. We are all trying so hard to please her, we forget about everything else.

My aunt, who is 11 years older than me and 13 years younger than my mom, said something interesting in the car ride home yesterday. She said "it is interesting seeing your Mom around you and your sister because she always manages to say the wrong thing." I had to laugh, because it is so true. Remarkably my mother has been able to strike the hard balance of both being our friend and mother, however it seems more and more lately that she is speaking before thinking when it comes to our life decisions. I think it becomes difficult when mother's realize they no longer have an impact on their children's life decisions. She has done the best she could and sent her children out into the wild, but still wants a tracking device to detect when they are doing something wrong.

But I am back from the madness. Maybe it seems more intense because we all try to get as much accomplished as we can in the short times we get to spend together. We'll see what happens during the week we spend planning my sister's wedding...

One article I could not ignore

I get CNN alerts to my e-mail both on job related items as well as breaking news. I am occasionally stunned at the way people act, but I can usually pull myself away from the situation and rationalize why people act the way they do. Yesterday I received a breaking news story that I cannot stop clicking on. The headline reads "U.N.: Poor countries could pay 40 percent more for food."A 40% increase?? We are complaining about gas prices that have risen, and that only fuels our cars.

The article goes on to say that:

"'Food is no longer the cheap commodity that it once was," FAO Assistant Director-General Hafez Ghanem said. 'Rising food prices are bound to worsen the already unacceptable level of food deprivation suffered by 854 million people.'

'We are facing the risk that the number of hungry will increase by many more millions of people.'"

Even though Bush donated over 200 million dollars to the crisis last year, that is a drop in the bucket compared to how much we have spent on the war. Not to mention that is the same amount of money Iron Man raked in last weekend. Are we really becoming that ignorant and selfish in America, my sad response would be, honestly, yes. When a Hollywood action film about a man clad in an iron suit means more to us than MILLIONS of people without basic necessities such as food it should force us to have some self reflection on our priorities and obligations to the global community.

Just a thought.

When Country is Good and When it Goes Bad

I am a complete country music fan (I'm from Maine, this is not my fault). Although this is in contrast with my love for Kanye West, I find rational for my broad music tastes. Such as Tim McGraw and Nelly's duet "Over and Over Again" or The Gourds and Snoop Dogg "Gin and Juice." However, sometimes country can cross the line. Therefore, I thought I would do an example of the best and worst of this week in country music.

The Best: Taylor Swift's performance at the ACM awards. She is young, has an AMAZING voice and this was a dynamite performance. My question, how did she pull the clothes stunt off?



The Worst: Carrie Underwood on American Idol finale. I love Carrie Underwood, and especially this song. It is about Vegas, could I ask for anything more. However, what was she wearing?!?! I would suggest imediately firing the person that suggested that hideous outfit, they are giving country a bad name.

Drama Rama

I hate drama in my life. Rarely does it solve the more complex insecurities that are going on in life. I have never understood why people yearn for drama in their life and relationships. Does it make life or your relationship more real? Like you are really fighting for something? It is not that I don't fight or yell or confronts someone when I think they are in the wrong, I just don't do it very often. My ex-boyfriend always told me I was too trusting.

But, I thought I would share with you my horoscope today:

"Things are looking up, yet there's a stress that won't magically disappear. But even with too much happening, you can make time to enjoy yourself without going into denial about something important. You have an innate skill: you can stay focused in the present moment when you are passionate. Use your concentration wisely by preparing for what's coming instead of scattering your attention all over the place."

I am learning the importance of balance. Sometimes there is cause for drama, sometimes you have to give people the benefit of the doubt, sometimes you don't have the choice. That may sound passive, that sometimes you don't have a choice, but, we don't. The truth is, I need to focus. I need to focus on me. Will that cause drama, maybe. But is was also a decision I was forced to make after my current break-up. I am glad I was forced to make the choice, in the end, it was the right one to make.

Kanye West = The Brightest Star

So, as you may know, I headed to the Kanye West Glow in the Dark concert last night. All I can say is AMAZING. The concert was by far and away one of the best I have ever been to. The fact that Kanye can be on stage, by himself, for 2 hours is phenomenal. That boy got talent.

Also an amazing thing, he was able to take a space age theme and make it cool. I mean, I am not into science fiction. I don't even think I have ever been able to make it through ET, but Kanye crash landing on a mysterious planet, genius. The only annoying thing, everyone was walking around in those plastic glasses with the slits in them, don't understand that fashion choice. Kanye can rock it because, well, he's Kanye and can do whatever he wants. But, everyone else, stick to the rule "no sunglasses at night."

I think the thing I was above and beyond impressed with was how inspired I actually felt after the show. I mean, usually after exiting a concert I am content with just seeing a great performance, but Kanye's songs are not just about the entertainment value. Of course "Hey Mama" was amazing, I mean how can you not tear up a bit when Kanye is crying?

Click here to see bootlegged footage of the show. It is no match for the real thing, but its a good glimpse.