American Idol: Finale

I don't like Jordin. I think she's run of the mill and there's literally one of her in every high school. I think they're stroking her ego tonight. She's not that good really and that first song was pitchy and shrieky.

The radio spot this morning pretty much summed it up. "Who will win, beatboxer Blake or 17 year old Jordin?" Her whole identity is in her age. At least Blake has some originality.

I may actually have to pick up the phone tonight to vote for the first time this season.

After more thought, I think I agree with the people on TWOP. Blake will put out a much better album if he doesn't win this show. I mean, look at Chris Daughtry vs. Taylor Hicks. I'd much rather come out on the Daughtry end of that stick.

American Idol: Threepeat

The year of American Idol apathy is drawing to a close. I have actually not voted a single time this season. That's how little I care.

Tonight was pretty decent. Something bugs me about Jordan that I can't put my finger on. She's got an ok voice, but maybe it's the whole 17 thing. I just don't want her in my finale.

I'm pretty sure that early on I said that Blake reminded me of Maroon 5. If I weren't so tired and lazy at the moment, I'd search back through to find out when. Anyway, I agree with Simon that Blake takes the most chances and at least keeps us entertained. I wouldn't mind it so much if he won. I'd like to see him in the finale, but I have a sneaking suspicion he will go tomorrow.

Melinda is still vocally perfect. But I'm wearing thin with her. It's almost like she's too good and I get a little bored. She definitely has been the most consistently good, but she seems more like the Ruben Studdard type of Idol than the Carrie Underwood type. Meaning she'll win but quickly fade into obscurity. There's nothing unique or intriguing about her that will make me want to buy her record. I hope I'm wrong as I think Melinda absolutely deserves to make a living off her wonderful voice.

I'm just glad that we'll be done with them next week and can move on to my summer love, So You Think You Can Dance. If I had the power, I'd force you all to watch with me just so someone could talk to me about the show. Sadly, I'm powerless. So I'll just lay the guilt on you and ask you to watch it because you love me. (Insert sad puppy dog eyes here.)

The Long Goodbye

My favorite time of the TV year has to be season premiere month. Least favorite? Easily this week as most shows wrap up the year and head to rerun season. I hate how most shows will leave with a cliffhanger that I won't remember come September. And I hate how every stinking commercial tauts the season finale as the most shocking thing to happen EVER. So far this year, House, Lost and Heroes have all claimed to be putting forth the most amazingly incomprehensible specimen of TV programming since the invention of TV for their finales. Which means that each will likely suck.

And along with the season finales also come the inevitable series finales. Some may come out of the blue. For instance, I love the show How I Met Your Mother. I won't find out for a couple more days if it's coming back. It's had 2 great seasons, but rumor has it that some CBS execs don't exactly love it. So until then, I'm keeping it in my DVR in case it's the last episode of that wonderful show. It sits nicely next to the Robin Sparkles episode that will not be deleted until I have Season 2 dvds.

And there's the show that's had a long eventful run but must come to an end. Sometimes I watch series finales of shows I never even watched an episode of (The OC). And I'm saddened. Or I catch the last episode of a show that I liked in the early years but abandoned long before the end (Alias, Dawson's Creek).

Tonight I had to say a tortured farewell to Gilmore Girls. It's been a long 7 years. I have a very distinct emotional attachment to the show, which I actually will not discuss here as it is a little more than I would like to share with the anonymous public. Suffice to say that I loved the show for the first two seasons. I was lukewarm about Season 3, didn't watch 4, but got sucked back into Season 5 and had to catch up on what I'd missed on DVD. Then Season 6 started the decline to what was a barely tolerable Season 7. But I watched. Reluctantly. Because when you've invested that many years in the show, you feel obligated to finish it out come hell or high water. At last, it is finished. I won't deny that I'm a bit sad at it's passing. I also won't deny that I'm thankful I won't have to stare at episode titles in my DVR for weeks past their viewing wondering if I should actually go through with watching or just read the TWOP mini recap and delete. But I made it and now say a fond farewell to GG. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. There have been much better shows to come before you (SportsNight), and there will be many to follow.

Big City Life

I came home for mothers' day weekend and spent last night with the fam. My aunt and 2 cousins, my parents and my niece and I all went out to dinner and then back to the folks' house to hang. My sister showed up shortly later and we all sat and stared at each other for a while.

Yesterday was a monumental day in the Jesus Town. We got a Walgreens. We've had a CVS for a number of years, but what CVS is complete without a Walgreens less than a block away? The grand opening was yesterday, and since we're such a cool and lively bunch on Friday nights, we piled into mom's minivan for a trip to town.

If we didn't look like the biggest hillbillies in the world, I don't know who would. Since my niece gets prime seating in her car seat, I got to hang in the back with my 2 cousins (who are 15 and 17). And we went to Walgreens. On a Friday night. We're so cool.

It's funny because I was pointing out to my cousins that I know some people who don't even speak to their family and here we were entertaining ourselves with a trip to a pharmacy. I'm so glad I have a family that can dork out with me and find the joys in 5 for $10 t-shirts without feeling the need to get all gussied up and go somewhere.

My favorite part of the new store were the clearance items that said "Last chance to buy". They listed the "was" price and the "now" price and urged us to buy now before they got rid of the items. I'm still trying to figure out if the day the store opened was the "last time" to buy these items, when was the first?

Lazy Days

The boys made it back from the vet pretty much unscathed. Frosty wailed like he was going to his execution almost the entire time. There was an older woman in the waiting room who kept looking at me scornfully. Then she made a big production of pulling out her tissues and rubbing her nose. Please. If you have a cat allergy, the last place you need to be sitting is in the waiting room of the vet.

Max, on the other hand, is a chick magnet. All of the assistants at the vet loved him. And he pranced around the room rubbing on everything with that "I know I'm cool" look in his eyes. The vet said I'm a very good mom owner because I got him to lose 3 lbs over the last 6 months. He's down to a hefty 21. Doc says I'm doing everything right and that he's just going to be a big cat. The whole time he was trying to examine him, Max was doing a dead jump from the floor to the 4 foot counter and over to the chair. The vet was very impressed with his agility. Good boy. Too bad he still has a behavioral issue which the doc may think is because he is too big for the litter box. I've now got to to use a 20 gallon tub instead to see if that helps. Big cats need big toilets apparently.

Frosty hid in the carrier and wailed for 20 minutes. When he finally got out, he kept trying to blend into the background. Under the lights he had a nasty yellowish shade going on. Doc thinks that he may have bladder crystals, but is hoping it may be an infection which will clear up with an antibiotic. I get to crush pills into soft food for the next 2 weeks. Frosty loves soft food and tubbo Max won't touch the stuff. So he'll be nice and happy for the next few days. I'll just have to remember to shut off one of the feedings on the feeders, or Max will be happy eating a double portion every night.

When the vet techs were oogling Max and how big he was, I told them that my mom had a cat who could stretch out and just about hit the light switches in their house. I'm pretty sure that stretched out he's about 3 1/2 feet. Their jaws dropped and claimed that they've never heard of a cat that big. But, what can I say, we grow them big in the Jesus House.

Sunshine Day

I happen to have the day off. And I woke up this morning to discover that weather.com has lied to me once again. It had me convinced that last weekend was going to be all rainy, and it wasn't. Today it was supposed to be cloudy. Um, whatever. When I got up this morning (time is irrelevant... it's my day off), I looked out my window to a bright sunny sky. Since our pool opened last week, I decided I might as well take advantage of it to work on my tan.

Well, I'm actually hesitant to call it a "tan". Let's just put it this way, in my brand of makeup, there are approximately 20 shades to match skin tones ranging from 1 at the light end and 20 at the dark end. I'm a 2. And that's really too dark for me.

Back to the pool. I got out there and enjoyed the pool to myself for an hour or so. Then others showed up. Which, I'm not opposed to other people using the pool. It is semi-public, after all. I just didn't imagine that other people would be free on a Tuesday morning to lay by the pool. Then I remembered something. Our complex is well known for housing some high class strippers. Of course they would have the morning off.

About 15 minutes later I found myself surrounded by six strippers in their bikinis. Now, I realize that any male reader is probably thinking what a great fantasy that is. Um, not so much for us women. I haven't worn a bikini since I was about 4, and I only did so then because I wasn't smart enough then to realize what a bad idea that was. Today I was hanging poolside my jean skorts and tank, and even then I was overexposed.

Back to be being a nice shade of eccrue in the safety of my apartment.

Pop Quiz

I have this wonderful tool called the ShedEnder. It was recommended to me by a fellow cat owner who knows the pain of waking up every morning with cat hair on your clothing, your pillow, your pantyhose, etc. Oh, and don't believe the ad. You can get it at Walgreens for less than $10.

The quiz: I got busy brushing this evening and these were the results. How many cats did I brush to get this much hair? (I promise this is 100% cat hair and not the dumped out part of my Dyson which I blogged on before).

Think you know?

Are you sure?

It was 3/4 a cat. The one in front below. Granted, there is a lot of him to go around, but still, it's pretty ridiculous that you can get that much hair off of one cat. And I'm not even done with him yet. He only allows me to get so far until he tries to bite my arm off. So I have to go back later.

The boys are going to the vet tomorrow. I didn't want the vet to think I was a bad cat owner who didn't groom her cats. The white one's got some issues which I'm hoping are not serious. The other one is going just to get his shots. Hopefully the visit will not cost me an arm and a leg. Even more important, I hope it's just a run of the mill UTI and not something more serious. I know I'm adamant that the cats are not my kids, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy having them around. He's only 6, so he should have a lot more good years in him.

Wordy word words.

I got a couple of emails today from my friend Ags, all of which had a unique pattern. She was apparently bored and decided to write a couple of haikus regarding her day. She did them so well that I've challenged her to only write to me in haikus all week. Her response:

Of course I am up
to the challenge you describe.
Things are boring here.

It is so on. Hope she knows it applies to comments here as well.

American Idol: Deja Vu

I didn't like the stunt they pulled last week with not getting rid of anyone, so I'm pretending last week didn't happen. Sure, they raised a lot of money, but did you notice tonight how Ryan thanked America for donating money and thanked the celebrities for donating their time and talents. Puhlease. I'm pretty sure my feelings on celebrity-thons are well known and would take way too long to write here. There are very few things I'm extremely opinionated on, and that is one of them.

First, since I'm ignoring last week, I'll simply direct you toward an article which couldn't have been written better than if I had written it myself. He got everything from Phil's smarmy sucking up to Timberfake's delusions. Seriously. Spot on.

Now to this week. Live blogging (i.e. dvr'd but I write before I hear the comments).

Phil Blaze of Glory
I finally figured out what it is about Phil and I. I like Phil on the chorus, but cannot stand him on verses, bridges, and everything else in the song. He's got a good voice when he's belting, but he can't find a note when he's singing at a lower volume. I didn't think this was his best performance, but I didn't hate it. Parts of the song sounded like he was singing Dead or Alive. Way too many times I've predicted that he was leaving, so I'm just giving up on that.

Jordin Livin' on a Prayer
Did you catch the "oh no she didn't" moment? Bon Jovi did. In all her excitement she told him that her mom would be so jealous and that she grew up listening to him and really turned her on to his music. The look on Bon Jovi's face was priceless. Nothing is better than having someone making you feel old by telling you that their parents loved you. It reminded me of that scene in Empire Records where Rex Manning is excited that a girl is getting his autograph until the girl says, "it's for my mom. I've never even heard of you." Ok, to the performance. She was OK. She's the second best on this show. Clearly not pushing it for the top this week. Something was off the whole song.

Lakisha This Ain't a Love Song
I always love to see what advice she's going to get that she's going to completely ignore. How could be in your 20s and not have heard Bon Jovi's songs? She knew him because she saw him on Oprah? I thought for sure she'd say she knew him from his acting gigs. I'd bet good money that my parents rolled their eyes when they heard it was Bon Jovi night thinking there was no way they'd know any of the songs, but then knew at least 2 of them. (I dare them to prove me right). Eh, Bon Jovi could be wrong. I can see her going home this week. She's been pretty underwhelming recently and I could do without her. Simon thought differently and wanted to have a spectacle with her tonight. On the other hand, Kudos to costuming for giving her a slimming down outfit that didn't look like it can only be found in the big girl's section of Sears.

Blake You Give Love A Bad Name
Ooh, he's going to mess with the song? This will be interesting. Apparently Bon Jovi isn't all that thrilled either. What's up with the hair dye? Brunettes have more fun? At the start, he sounds like a version I've heard on a jukebox a few times. Here's the thing with Blake. He does a lot of beat boxing, but he also hits the parts when he is singing. So I always give him a pass. If he were a one trick pony and the singing parts were only tolerable, I might feel differently. But I've seen other singers on this show speak parts of songs, or clearly butcher several measures of the song, but pull it out in the end. At least his non-singing parts are entertaining and aren't just slow parts which you grit your teeth and bear knowing the song will pick up pace. Not my favorite rendition of this song ever, but they're always telling these kids to make it their own. Good performance in my book.

Chris Wanted Dead or Alive
Oye. He's going to kill the theme for my favorite new show of the season (Deadliest Catch). He started singing and he still bugs the bejeezus out of me. I still feel like he's the guy that got by on looks in high school, but really can't sing all that well. You know when you're in high school and theres that one guy that sings mildly well, but because he's cute and he's in YOUR high school, you think he's Elvis or something. Then you graduate and realize there's an Elvis at every high school and there's nothing particularly charming about your Elvis. And in hindsight, you realize your Elvis isn't even all that talented, but you were blinded by the thought that you knew him and he was going to make it big. Clearly the boy is still in this thing because the current high school students haven't seen the light yet.

Melinda Have a Nice Day
Her thing all season has been to sing lesser known songs. Sometimes I wish she would sing something America is going to know. I would have loved to hear her on Dead or Alive. Can't have my way every time I suppose. Nice to see she can rock it out though. I just hope she goes the way of Carrie Underwood and wins the thing with her versatility and not the way of Chris Daughtry and gets the shocker boot.

Heading home? Man, this is tough. They've had 8 hours of voting and now 2 people are leaving. I won't venture to guess if they'll do bottom 3 or just smell ya later. It really could go any way this week, and I think we might have a shocker. My gut says it will be Chris and Lakisha, but it really wouldn't surprise me if Jordin was sent packing. Since I've blocked out last week's performances, I can't remember how I think America voted last week, so this whole week is an anomaly .

A thank you from the President? Wow, this show has stooped so low.

All in the family.

About this time last year, I linked to a couple of new blogs which showed promise. They were, of course, the blogs belonging to my brother and my dad.

Yeah, I learned not to get my expectations up. After checking often to see if either of them had posted something new, I realized that it was a lost cause. Bummer, because I did enjoy reading them. I guess the men in the family are not nearly as long winded as the females.

Then, a few weeks ago, after discovering my blog, my sister decided to start her own. She kept hinting at me linking to it here. So I did so without much fanfare. I linked it on the side in the Fam Blogs section. But I didn't dedicate a post to it. I'd learned my lesson. After she brought it up to me recently, I admitted that I wasn't going to link to it until I knew she had stuck with it. And I was giving it till she got her 3rd post.

So she finally did it. It only took her 6 weeks, but she now has 4 posts up. Of course, they all have to do with my niece. Only she had first hand knowledge of most of the things, so I'm certain hers are more accurate.

So with all of the appropriate fanfare, I give you The Sis' Blog. (And in case you haven't been there in a while, yes, my mom is still blogging. In fact, she's much better at doing it lately than I am. Check her out.)