December 28th:
Just in time for New Year's Eve, learn all about how to avoid/cure a hangover. Why do greasy hamburgers work so well? And don't mix tylenol and alcohol. Your liver will thank you.

I'm pretty skeptical about most things like this, but I honestly think this place is for real -- donate old greeting cards for recycling at St. Judes Ranch.

Yes, the Raiders won the AFC West and are in the playoffs. Thank you, Santa!

December 23rd:
I made him out of clay -- virtual dreidel game.

Fabula Magazine's Top 11 Things to do now that Bush is President-Elect list just cracks me up. I can't decide if my favorite is #4 (re-read Che Guevara's "Guerilla Warfare." Out loud. To random people in the street) or #6 (join the NRA because my vote doesn't count but the 2nd Amendment just might).

December 22nd:
Yeah, I know the last time I saw a meteor shower it was simply an portent of doom (I broke my ankle the next day) but I still want to watch the Ursid meteor shower tonight.

Pregnant? Some hipmamas showed me these links where you can find out if the kid you're carrying is a boy or a girl. I tried them both with Amelia (obviously a girl) -- at the Chinese Astrology calendar (based on dates and age) I ended up with 42% chance for boy and 53% chance for a girl. At childbirth.org (based on various questions) I got a 67% chance for a girl and 33% chance for a boy.

Princess Lisa makes the most beautiful shrines (and sock monkeys!) I love them and somehow got lucky enough to receive a this gorgeous treasure box shrine from her. Isn't she amazing?

December 20th
Everything you wanted to know about Goth Hunting, except when are they in season?

December 19th:
Ooh, this is fun -- Virtual Ex. Make your ex dance, apologize, blow up, and more.

Thank Mary for the link to the Ramadan Journal. A correspondent from TIME magazine (in Cairo) is keeping a journal for the month.

Big surprise in the poll about whether or not you agree with TIME's selection for Person of the Year -- 49.6% agree, 50.1% disagree and .29% aren't sure. Guess how I voted.

Come on, read Asleep, by Banana Yoshimoto and then talk about it in my book-of-the-month forum.

December 15th:
Not only are all the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood suffering from various personality disorders and mental illnesses, but come on, they're in England. They've all got SAD and are eating too much fatty foods. But I do think it is sweet doctors in Canada care so much about the little ex-patriated Pooh...

Okay, I do think that dentists are all part of some cult, but I'm wondering about the Falun Gong. Think this is really the way to go? Even if they are?

Make some cruelty free pate. Peace to all the geese!

December 12th:
I just found taco's blogger redux and I really like it. Of course, I have no idea how I wound up there....

Get your own Chinese name. Mine came up Bai Liuxie -- dunno what Bai means, but Liu is willow tree or pleasure, and Xie is accompany. Put it all together and it means.. um..

Funny funny Brian made up his own Night Before Christmas story. I like the wife waving the charge card bit. Anyway, you can see why he likes the idea of celebrating the anti-Christmas. I'm going to get him to post his collection of "When Santa Drinks" drawings next...

I still have not heard from anyone at 22 Minutes about my Rick Mercer rant. Chickens!

December 8th, continued:

December 8th:
Magnificent! All the yinzers in Pittsburgh will be praying extra hard and lighting votives, and then thanking the heavens and hockey gods if Mario really is coming back. And if he is -- I. Am. So. There.

December 8th...
From The Ballad of John and Yoko:
Saving up your money for a rainy day
giving all your clothes to charity
Last night the wife said
Oh boy when you're dead
you don't take nothing with you
but your soul, think

December 6th:
"Canada is too cold!"

There's only a sprinkling of snow on the ground in Toronto, but I think I know how these cold Canadian aliens feel. A girl born in San Diego was not meant for this kind of weather.

December 4th:

Attention people of America! If you see this man:


DO NOT SPEAK TO HIM!

December 3rd:
Toronto police are going to start testing super-powered stun guns! Do you suppose they got the idea from the David Spade incident?

I think lots of people will be getting tiaras for Christmas, since I get so many hits from people searching for tiaras. Anyway, here's the Audrey Hepburn tiara, here's a kid's tiara, and you could also try for one like this at ebay.

Am I just too feministically aware, or is this list offensive? In particular: #4. "Being a mother is the most important purpose of women."

Purpose?!!
While I think that being a mom is probably the most important thing I will ever do, and that's true for many mothers, I don't think it's a "purpose" for being a woman. What are we -- cars, computers, brooms?

Mother Theresa was never a mother. Mary Cassatt was never a mother. Amelia Earhart was never a mother. Gertrude Stein was never a mother. Joan of Arc was never a mother. I'm sure I could think of more...

So, while all the things they did were great, they weren't the most important things they could've or should've done to fulfill their purposes.

I don't think that people need to have "purpose" or be used for things. We are human BEINGS, not human doings or human producers.

December 1st:
Dear Santa,

I hope you've had a great year! And that you and Mrs. Claus are doing fine and had some romantic time together during your hiatus.

Here is my Christmas list:

* A creamsicle iBook and an old fashioned writing desk that has a flap top and little cubby holes
* An ending to my Streetcar story
* A big kenaf or hemp journal with pockets in the cover
* A Chinese paper umbrella
* To get everyone to understand that kitties are not responsible for the decline in the songbird population
* For Sabine to stop torturing Bella quite so much
* Hideous Kinky soundtrack and The Tragically Hip's Music@Work cd
* Book: Loose Ends, A Journaling Tool for Tying up the Incomplete Details of your Life and Heart
* Book: Thunder and Lightning : Cracking Open the Writer's Craft
* A Kokopelli tattoo
* For the Raiders to go to the Superbowl
* For Rick Mercer to talk to some intelligent Americans and put them on This Hour Has 22 Minutes
* Book: Spilling Open : The Art of Becoming Yourself
* A Polaroid SX70

-- A few ideas I stole from Smoky's list:

* Smoky's: The once a day you take everyone takes the opportunity to make someone laugh.
* Smoky's: When people hear other's say "Christmas is too commercial" that you remember to say "No it's not, too may people are trying to make it commercial, but it's up to us to decide if it isor not. The TV doesn't rule our lives"
* Smoky's: For everyone to believe in Santa Claus (because, obviously, you do exist!)
* Smoky's: For everyone to take some time during the next year to really look at a sunset, sunrise, constellation, planet or meteor shower.

* Also, if there's anything you can do, I'd really like it if my country could have a president.

Love, cookies and milk,
Louise

PS. I know it's a big list.. I certainly don't expect everything (I haven't been that good), so when if you need help deciding, know that the intangibles are always the most important!