absence makes the heart grow fonder

The love theme from the Dark Crystal is playing now and I am stirred with intense longing for space mountain. O Disneyland! will I ever enjoy you again?
the sad tender notes speak of doomed love, sigh...

. . . ?

why is my stove made by 'Fridgidaire'
and my fridge made by 'Hotpoint'?

Valentines

It's stupid. I mean what people make of it, that is. (I'm not one of those bitter valentines haters because I'm jealous of other people's happiness or anything) It just seems to me that people, or at least girls, place too much stock in this one day, this holiday. Girls get all depressed if they don't have a boyfriend for Valentines, and those that have one expect so much on this day and get upset if it's not the great romantic thing they've been immagining. Guys, it seems feel bound to spend money and do things, almost more out of fear of offending than actually wanting to do all that on that particular day. It seems so contrived to me (of course it isn't all like that, lots of people are gennuine, and it's more of a good excuse to do something they would have wanted to anyway). But you certainly shouldn't need to be told by the calendar to give someone you love gifts, and what if you just really don't feel like going out to diner or whatever that day? I mean, honnestly, how can one day be an indication of ones entire love-life? Why should my not giving you a card on this day mean more than all the times I tell you I love you and give you gifts and do little things you like throughout the year? It really seems pretty stupid to me. So it's a day to celebrate love, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not the day itself which should be significant.
It's strange, even though I really value traditions and like holidays, somehow I also really view them as just another day. What is being celebrated is more important than the day on which you do that, in fact, if it's important enough to have a holiday, it's probably important enough to remember more than once a year. Why shouldn't getting together with family be as special in August as it is at Christmas? Why shouldn't we think about what we're thankfull for every day rather than just at Thanksgiving? Can every day be a holiday?

cullinary arts

I discovered the secret magical power of the toaster-oven. If you give it a piece of bread and then leave it to its own devices, when you come back it will have magically turned the pice of bread into a toast-shaped piece of charcoal with which you can then draw pictures on the kitchen counter =)

The toaster-oven is also very good for creating special effects like dense fog and smoke-veiled pub atmosphere - and its coils glow menacingly red in the dark while it makes a brooding sort of growl.