you don't know which page to turn to, do you?

Some people watch reality television; I prefer lurking in e-mail threads. Right now, there is a, frankly, hilarious war going on over here regarding a book club, I kid you not. Public slander, hostile takeovers, splintered factions, it has all the makings of Survivor: Netip SFBA. Of course, like most public disputes, eventually it just descends into a childish I know you are, but what am I? verbal sparring, and then loses its sensationalism. I haven't gone to this particular book club in about two years, but all this scandal is causing me to consider attending again.

Speaking of sparring, it's probably wrong to find this amusing, but I am kind of enjoying the fact that Hugo Chavez is such a thorn in the Bush administration's side. I know he has a lot of shady allies, and is far from flawless, but I'm still impressed by loose cannons that call the US on our imperialist tendencies, especially under W. I should be offended by the fact that he made a crack about Condi being politically illiterate and that he said Condi couldn't stop talking about him because she wanted to marry him. But, well... I find him funny (picture me hiding my face in shame). It's some kind of stupid, unintentional double standard on my part, because I know if some dude said such things about Condi in the US, I'd probably skewer him. Am I just that much of a sucker for a Spanish accent?

In other news, this story made me think of the following phone exchange:

Me characterized by my oldest and best friend: "You take a long time to decide to do something. You play your cards close and tight. But then, when you choose to bet on a hand, you bet, like... really, big."

My addition: "Yeah, I'm all in, and my car keys and my clothes are on the table."

To which he replies: "Yeah... so K has been seeing this therapist for as long as I can remember..."

The NY times article I cited above doesn't necessarily directly relate. But I continue to be intrigued by the thin line between madness and innovation. A telling excerpt from the article is the following:

"In recent decades, scientists have found that bipolar disorder is widely variable, and that its milder forms are marked by hypomanias, currents of mental energy and concentration that are less reckless than full-blown manic frenzies, and unspoiled, in many cases, by subsequent gloom."

Of course, the impressive part about some of these hypomaniacs is that they never actually get depressed. But I do think research, science, or indeed anything to advance an idea or a cause requires a kind of intensity that could easily be mistaken for insanity. Or maybe that just makes me feel I can put my loco tendencies to good use, someday.

Last night, while packing (not suitcases, packages), I watched The Incredibles- wtf, why am I demolished by animated characters? That was ridiculous. And it was the second time I'd seen the movie, and still, weepy mcsobster (TM J) at all the prespecificied moments. Now, contrast this with the fact that P&V often seem to forget that I'm not an XY (TM Mimosa- btw, I am quite bummed out that she's quit us indefinitely)- last weekend, they treated me to a dissertation on the term dropping the Cosby kids off at the pool including what constitutes a Rudy, a Theo, a Sondra or Denise, etc. Maybe I should have watched The Incredibles with them to demonstrate that I've got estrogen to spare... or to kick me of the habit of getting all verklempt over animated effing characters. The first time I watched Beaches, it was with a pair of guys- they were so merciless that I can never think of that movie as anything other than a comedy. There are some things I don't want tainted however. A couple of weeks back, my brother watched Lost with me, and made such fun of it that he ruined the episode for me. Excuse me, but don't mock my Naveen- even tomboys have their line in the sand.

We have to write a composition for Spanish class today, and I feel like I cheated. Our teacher asked us to type the composition, and I couldn't figure out how to put accents and other squiggly things on the letters. So I switched MS Word to the Spanish language setting. Um... so it turns out when you put it on that setting and do a spell check, it basically corrects all your mistakes and checks your grammar. Whoops.

p.s. I can't seem to stop looking through this site- I need help, and perhaps Charles Barkley does too.