Makes me wanna cuss...

It's going to be next week when I can go to Florida and see Vivian. Meaning she has to wait until next week for her transplant. Between tropical storm Ernesto and her aunt/donor just getting over a cold, they have to wait. I don't blame them. I'm glad I waited until the last minute to get tickets. In late August, you can do that. (Not so much in July or December!) I'm so glad she's getting it, even though I'm reading that a kidney transplant may not help forever and that she'll have to work hard to maintain it all her life. At least there's still going to be more of her life left.

I'm seeing Method Man at his in-store appearance at Virgin Megastore tomorrow. I used to have such a crush on him. Tough-yet-sensitive gets me, cuddly-looking men get me. I lost that crush gradually--and lost it entirely when he did that awful, short-lived sitcom with Redman--but I still kinda like his music and will still go. Why on Earth not? But what I'm really looking forward to is The Roots! What an awesome year it is for hip-hop. Finally, the grown-ups are allowed back in. I'm still bumpin' OutKast's Idlewild, too.

The race sucked, even though it was Bristol. Okay, the race was awesome, but the outcome sucked. So I'll talk about the 4400 season finale instead. OH MY GAWDS THAT WAS COOOOOOL!!! I was losing faith in the show and its writers at the beginning of this season, I admit, but my patience was rewarded! When Jordan Collier came back, I was like, "Yee-haw, now the party's started!" I think Isabelle will suffer a fate that is *worse* than death for her, at least temporarily. Shawn and Kyle seem to be coming full-circle. April's clearly wanting to shine, and not be just the screw-up little sister. Tom is a coward. Richard is a natural-born hero. And what, oh what, will Maia and Diana come back to when they return to Seattle? I hate that they're going to make me wait nine months to see. L'Ailee pointed out that we took nine months to make, but actually, my brother and I were both a month premature and perfectly healthy. So I was born impatient.

The 4400, I think, is a lot like my style of storytelling. I couldn't have come up with the premise (60 years of missing people return mysteriously, all at once, many with weird new abilities) or most of the plots, but the pace and the many plotlines bundled up together remind me of what I try to do with my fiction. When I was in seventh grade and having to read a story out loud, half the kids laughed out loud at the end, while the other half looked downright baffled. My teacher observed, "The thing about her stories is, you really have to pay attention all the way through. If you do, there's a reward for you at the end." I really liked that assessment. I've gotten versions of that ever since.

I'm PMSy and getting all the cramps but none of the action. Makes me cranky and unfocused.

I respected my egg allergies tonight and passed up ice cream for...Celestial Seasonings Tea Dreams. Rice Dream with Celestial Seasonings flavorings. The redneck woman in me wants to kick my own ass. I do feel better than I would have with the ice cream, though, and the stuff does taste good, even if the texture's a bit thin and grainy to me.

Oh, what else?

The wastes of carbon at the American Family Association want a 9/11 documentary censored for *profanity*. Ironically enough, that was the only thing that made me want to use the F-word today. (And I did, on a few select lists and in my MySpace bulletin!) I still can't believe, of all the things that went on that day, all the disturbing sounds and images, those waterheads are bent out of shape because NYC firefighters and police officers didn't say "Gosh darn it to heck!" on that horrible, horrible day.

Interesting gossip in Out magazine: Taylor Hicks may have secrets and Elton John's releasing a hip-hop CD. I'm not kidding.

China has given us pandas, firecrackers, and now...strippers at funerals. Still not kidding.

An Indiana high school principal suspended more than ten percent of the students for "inappropriate attire" on the first day of school. She wanted to send a message. I'm sure I know what the kids think her message is.

The nutrition nannies have moved on to coffee. And of course, we need to "think of the children!" I *never* take Starbucks' side in anything, but the principle of free choice is important.

After all, I freely chose a hippie ice cream alternative that I would have laughed at quite recently...