Things That Have Made Me Laugh Recently

1. While watching another atrocious countdown show on E! (and one day someone will have to explain to me why E! is one of the few English-language channels I can get here), they showed a clip from one of those dating shows that starts off with a man or a woman, and three or four members of the opposite sex, where people get kicked off over the course of the date until it’s a one-to-one match – apparently, this usually happens after much writhing around in hot tubs and things like that.

As a side note, who really goes on these shows? I mean, have you ever seen a couple, married or otherwise, lovingly coo “oh…we met on Elimidate…”

So anyway, it was down to two women who were vying for one guy, and apparently the smack talk started flowing freely. This then dissolved into one woman throwing her drink on the other. The throw-ee came back with the following gem:

“Is your welfare check going to pay for my dry cleaning, you crack whore from Long Beach???”

You really just can’t make that stuff up. I snorted. I can admit that.

2. I realized that the 5-minute loop of music (or should I say “Muzak®”) that plays incessantly in the hotel lobby is a version of “Ebony and Ivory”. Oh, the irony.

3. S and I decided to actually go down to the restaurant in the hotel to get some dinner last night, instead of just ordering room service. There was a guy downstairs doing face painting for little kids. Don’t really know what the occasion was, but there you go. As we were leaving, S noticed that he was working on something and went to go see what it was. Apparently, he was painting our portrait while we were sitting there having dinner. You’ll have to use your imagination a smidge, because S looks like something from “The Elephant Man”, and I look like I belong in a Bon Jovi video from the “Slippery When Wet” era. That, or like the lost member of KISS. I also look as though someone stuck an air hose in my shirt. He gave us this master work, painted on the bottom of a tissue box, and it is now resting safely in my suitcase.
Who says you can’t find great art at a bargain price??

Stef – since you’ve been turning into quite the art expert these days, what do you think?? Do you think it could fetch a pretty penny at home?

TL is arriving in town shortly, S and I are going to go meet him for lunch, and he is heading back to the hotel to collapse. I can’t say I blame him – the flights from Paris to here are kind of brutal and involve a 7-hour overnight layover in Dubai, with no nice little hotel voucher. S and I are happy because it gives us both the day to continue working before he gets into high gear. We’ve been watching “Pride and Prejudice” and are determined to finish it up tonight, before the proverbial storm hits.

I’m going to be really bummed out when she leaves, let me tell you.