less concerned about fitting into the world

Okay, b*tches, and I mean that in the best possible sense of the word, Latinos Unidos Appreciation week is cerrado for business. It only gets half the week, since I can't seem to appreciate it without getting all woe is me on all y'all.

Here are some things that have kept me from going over the edge this week:

1) Message from my friend RR, excerpted in its entirety here:
Subject: Boston
Body Text: This city smells bad.

2) Excellent advice from the excellent maisnon about taking a break from hyperanalytical decision-making:

"Sounds impossible, but everytime you find your mind drifting to it, shut that shit down."

3) The TWOP Tubey Awards. Some of these are hilarious:

Best Hell Yeah! Moment of 2004-2005 Season:
Crossfire- Jon Stewart bitch slaps Tucker Carlson on his own show

Biggest WTF Moment of the 2004-2005 Season:
Alias- I am not Michael Vaughn

Most Ludicrous Plotline of the 2004-2005 Season:
Lost- Kate robs a bank to steal a little toy airplane

(and my personal favorite... this one's for you, j)
Best Performance by an Inanimate Object in the 2004-2005 Season:
The God Machine (The Daily Show)

4) I made lemon cheesecake with gingerbread crust. Pictures forthcoming.

5) An article in the NYT debunking the claim that punching a shark in the nose is a good way to stave off an attack. I had never heard this advice before to begin with, but there is a quote in the piece that had me in stitches for quite some time:

"If you miss the snout, its mouth is unfortunately very close by," said R. Aiden Martin, a zoologist and director of the Reefquest Center for Shark Research in British Columbia.

6) Abhi's love letter to samosas. My mom doesn't make very good samosas, but now that I eat them from restaurants, they are growing on me. Count on Abhi to work a Lord of the Rings reference into a piece about an Indian appetizer.

7) Last night, I was reasoning (or rationalizing) something out, and I wound up coming up with- There's only one thing worse than not pursuing something you truly want: giving up if you fail at your first attempt. This afternoon, I checked my voicemail, and W had left a message saying, "Dude, I say, go for it. If no one ever tried again after they failed once, a lot of movie producers would be out of business." See, that's why I lurve me my W.

8) Listening to Nine Inch Nails' Only- something about a song that morose and nihilistic is strangely comforting. Or absurd. Either way, it works.

9) The bomb-diggity of bombtastic commenters. Seriously.