I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page about how annoying it is to hear someone say "It is what it is," because at the end of the day all we can do is think outside the box and figure out a way to monetize our annoyance so it impacts real Americans while staying on message.

The world looks mighty good to me . . . and I don't even like Tootsie rolls.

It looks like about twenty different scary things. I'm wondering if it's possible to see anything other than scary things---vampire bats, biting beetles, demonic face masks of serial killers---in Rorschach blots, or if that's just me.

This question makes me feel hungry and indecisive all at the same time. I was going to say Mexican or Indian, because of the greater variety of gluten-free options, but then I remembered how much I like fresh vegetables, and that the Italians also have risotto and polenta in addition to all those vegetables, cured meats, roasts, and fresh fruit desserts, so I will have to side with the majority on this one: Italian.

It is impossible to pick just one, because let's face it, ladies are good at finding out stuff.

Early role models: Harriet the Spy, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden.

TV inspirations: Veronica Mars, Laura Holt (the brains behind Remington Steele), all the Charlie's Angels, Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson, and Sam from Foyle's War.

Grown-up mystery series: Harriet Vane, Miss Marple, Stephanie Plum, and Thursday Next.

And of course, the No. 1 Lady Detective: Mma Precious Ramotswe.

I think there can be no argument that Biscuit is the cutest dog in the history of dogdom:

This is a hard one---berets, the best national anthem ever, that certain je ne sais quoi---but I'm going to have to go with steak frites. Or steak frites plus that salad with the poached egg and lardons. And a glass of rosé. Followed by a tarte tatin for dessert.

Coach Taylor and Tami Taylor; President Roslin and Admiral Adama; Sheriff Bullock and Mrs. Garrett; Tony Soprano and the one-legged Russian woman.

Oh there are so many little threads to tug that could tighten up the whole enterprise. Eat out less, buy fewer clothes/books/cute things, drink less wine, etc etc etc. While I admire the spirit of W. Hodding Carter's experiment in extreme frugality, I lack the discipline to enact my own.

I am in love with this cylon toaster oven. If only I had room for a toaster, or ate toast. Ideally the toaster would play the theme music while toasting.

#26 from Yummy Yummy. It's the only thing I've ever ordered from there (except for an occasional add-on of vietnamese potstickers). #26 is listed on the menu as pork bun, or vermicelli salad with chargrilled pork and imperial rolls. As an added bonus, when you call Yummy Yummy to order, they always answer the phone as "Hello Yummy!"

All this swine flu talk has been making me think about how much I enjoy a good pandemic. In novel form, at least. One of my favorite micro-genres of fiction is the 1918 influenza epidemic. Who knew that one little flu virus could contribute so much to literature? Some of the best:

Memories of a Catholic Girlhood, by Mary McCarthy. This is technically a memoir, not a novel, but the early scenes of McCarthy's father drawing a revolver on a conductor who tries to put the flu-stricken family off the train in the middle of a blizzard are very affecting. Both of McCarthy's parents died in the epidemic, leaving her and her siblings orphans at the mercy of stern Catholic relatives.

They Came Like Swallows, by William Maxwell. Maxwell is much beloved by writers but not nearly as wide-read as he deserves to be. One of the pivotal events of his life was the death of his mother in the 1918 influenza outbreak, an event that underlies much of his fiction. This novel has the most explicit account of it, centering around the death of Elizabeth Morison and told from the point of view of the 8-year-old Bunny, 13-year-old Robert, and her husband, James. Maxwell's characteristic mix of compassion and precision is in full force here. It's a heartbreaking novel, but also beautiful and deeply moving.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider, by Katherine Anne Porter. The title novella in this collection of three novellas by Porter deals with Miranda, a young woman working as a reporter in Denver in 1918. The backdrop of World War I looms over everything in the story (World War I itself being my other favorite micro-genre, reading Pale Horse, Pale Rider is like the double-coupon day of fiction), as Miranda is in love with Adam, a soldier about to depart for the war. She becomes stricken with influenza and much of the story is told from her fever-addled perspective. So yeah, that horse and that rider.

Other great epidemic novels that don't center around the 1918 influenza:

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There are just so many to choose from, I would probably have a different answer every day and would never be able to give only one answer. Here's what I would say today:

There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet

(I went back and re-read The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and found it really hard to choose a favorite line because they're all so good.)

Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!

(Same goes for Stanley Kunitz's The Layers: so many gems, how to choose?)

. . . for there is no place on this stone,
that does not see you. You must change your life.

(I always feel like Rilke is talking directly to me with the last line of Archaic Bust of Apollo, so much so that I always remember it as "You! You must change your life.")

It began with Soviet cigarettes. I was looking at pictures of Soviet cigarette packs and I happen to sit next to someone at work who has firsthand knowledge of Soviet cigarettes. Apparently every Soviet city had its own cigarette factory. Lucky citizens of some Soviet city got to smoke Laikas:



When I mentioned that the thought of Laika, who died all alone in an overheated spacecraft, always made me sad, my coworker asked if I knew about Belka and Strelka, a pair of dogs who went up together and survived the flight.

There was more than one space dog? This was news to me. Then we googled "Soviet space dogs" and found my new favorite wikipedia entry.

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Maira Kalman's blog for the NYT is so genius. Yesterday she had a lovely piece on democracy in action that starts with Sir Thomas More and ends with students in the Bronx voting on themes for Spectacular Friday. Also, the origins of Salisbury steak are revealed.

My friend Arie, a fellow Georgian (and current resident), paid a visit to Governor Sonny Perdew and it made the New York Times!

This is an area where I don't test well (and usually I am so good at standardized tests). My most common response to any of the questions on those tests is "it depends." I get a different profile every time I take them. Tests like the MB and Enneagram just seem to me like astrology gussied up with "science." They seem to ride on the assumption that how you feel in a certain situation is the same way that you would act in that situation, which isn't necessarily true. But so many people I know swear by them.

My most recent MB (taken this morning at a random online site): INFP, which sounds a little like me and not like me.

Whenever I take the Enneagram, I'm either a 5 with a 4 wing (known as the "iconoclast") or a 4 with a 5 wing (known as the "bohemian").

Personally, I find the big book of birthdays to be much more accurate at describing people's personalities.

January 19: The Day of Dreams and Visions

A couple of little ones all together. I'm trying very hard not to think about unreinforced masonry brick (UMB!) right now.

or maybe not an earthquake, it could be drilling work nearby. either or, whatevs.

I would say sugar, but since I put sugar in my coffee and can't stand artifical sweeteners, that would mean also giving up caffeine, which is something I would never do. I already gave up gluten and dairy (in an undisciplined, constantly falling off the wagon kind of way), I don't think I could add caffeine to the list.
I love this article in the WSJ about parents giving up Facebook for Lent, especially the part about the support group on Facebook for people giving up Facebook.