motherboard melting down?

this is not a euphemism for anything. something is not rotten in the state of "my" laptop. and girl oh girl is it worrying.

i am so sorry that i have been neglecting neurotic-ah. i think that i am in a little panic mode trying to launch my fall classes, make like condi rice and mediate bad roommate relations [tense, unsustainable peace here in my home right now], garden, and catch up on "project runway" missed episodes. and jasmine needs a lot of love and grooming these days as she spends a little too much time making like madeline and chasing squirrels in our backyard. the catch here is that when my big, long-haired girl tramps through the brambles, she gets so many little green things in her locks. i dread having a dreaded dog. it is not very canadian.

but, this morning, i had a sweet note from my dear joan and was reminded why i write for the five of you. and yesterday i wrote a private email to madeline's handler to which she replied that she laughed aloud and blew her "i'm so working here at my desk" cover. so, even though my mother claims that she is not going to read my blog any more, the show must go on.

speaking of my mutha, here's one to amuse:

the other day i rang my mother to get her take on the horror in lebanon. she then told me how a relative of my parents' pals was visiting her family at their summer home in lebanon, and had to be evacuated. (they made it out and safely to BWI and my parents didn't need to go in and scoop them up or anything.) so, then we got into discussions of violence and war and total madness. and then my mother cut me off with her hilarious and inappropriate observations. she said, "what i am really worried about is christie."

huh? i replied, totally bemused.

she then went on about how awful it is that christie brinkley's husband was running around on her with a little girl and that he was some big coca cola dealer.

and then mutha went even further fretting over david letterman's recent loss. one of his drivers left his racecar team for the andretti's car. and my mother lamented, "and you know, dave takes those things so personally." the conversation trailed off there.

and i am pretty sure that yesterday when in another conversation we returned to this subject about philandering again, my mother offered some advice on how it doesn't matter what you look like, men will cat around. i lost some of what she was saying when she tried to tell me a story about two married men with five children who went to poland. at that point, and i think that we were headed into something about central european naughtiness, i inadvertently hung up on her. my mom must have continued telling the story into the telephone for a good bit because i kept calling back and it was so engaged for a long time. when i finally got her on the line, she told me that she got the message and that she got the hint.
right.

and last night i learned that britney was obligated to fire her poolboy because the dude was having too much fun with k-fed chilling next to the chlorine.

and thank goodness that lance bass is in a stable relationship.

so i cast around looking for other signs of hope. yesterday, i served on a panel in which i heard a young woman went on and on about the local gardens she has worked to develop in our nearby neighboring town, ypsilanti. check out the work of these folks: growing hope

got to bounce off to work.