it certainly is late, isn't it?

http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/002098.html

it's called 'win a date with brad rutter'. my sympathies for the poor guy, actually, because how will he ever know if someone he meets that way is really interested in brad, and not 'brad the millionaire'? pity, really -- he certainly seemed like a nice guy, and i hope he doesn't get stuck with some sort of haute couture fashionista. not saying the potential applicants are, but hey, we know it's possible.

had an interesting experience tonight, reading over posts on a messageboard i visit from time to time. apparently one of the posters is passing themselves off as someone who they aren't. scary thing is, it's not that uncommon, and it's not the first time i've personally seen it happen. only this case was particularly disturbing. the allegations being made against the poster were incredibly disturbing, including and not limited to pedophilia and other unhappy events. the kicker? how do you know who to believe? as much as i want to believe the person making the posts, it's hard when there's so much staring you in the face.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/frau31.shtmlshtml

years ago, i was on a mailing list with a woman who told a lot of people many, many personal things about her life, things that turned out to be false. to be honest, i never believed her. why? because it seemed sometimes like she was bragging about it. but then, i'm a bit of a cynic, and i'm also a privacy buff -- i don't believe in sharing my business with the world. (this blogging thing isn't the same, because there are a lot of things that are private.) her deception destroyed the list, because no one ever felt comfortable talking again. it went from a very active list to absolutely nothing.

a lot of people think there's nothing wrong with impersonation or lies online. many people have done it, whether it be a major thing or a minor thing. something as simple as lying about a boyfriend, or a celebrity autograph. i don't bother with lying about who or what i am -- if i don't want ya'll to know something, i won't tell you. i can't see the point in lying about who we are when we're online. is it that important to someone that i claim to know something or someone i don't? i could go online claiming to be angelina jolie's cousin, but why? i'm not, and it's not going to change my life overly much if i pretend. and sooner or later, someone'll catch me in it and i'll end up looking like a total knob.

so i am what i am -- a northern girl born and bred who would rather spend my night dancing in the snow than dancing at the clubs. i'd like to say i'm a nice pigeon-toed anarchist, but let's be honest, i'm not even that interesting. that, and i'm not. (a pigeon-toed anarchist, i mean.) i read, i write, i work ... you know, all that boring stuff we do to get ourselves through the day. i can't watch 'wheel of fortune' because i scream at the tv (picture a person screaming 'it's *the world according to garp* you idiot!), i love to watch 'jeopardy' because i can usually clean up in the privacy of my home (except for some of these 'tournament of champions' questions), and i enjoy playing 'jeopardy' on my home computer (although i usually quit when i find myself starting to cheat). i had a personal life at one point, but i seem to have devoted myself to my job years ago and lost the will to party.

but hey, i'm old. i'm still on the sunny side of thirty, but i'm getting old. another year or two and i won't be able to say i'm in my mid-twenties anymore. and think of all the things left undone! i always wanted to travel the world, but except for western europe, i haven't seen much. i can answer the phone in english, french, and spanish, but that's about it. and believe it or not, i can speak correct english and use proper grammar, but it didn't seem appropriate for a blog.

and that's all ya'll will ever learn about me.

tonight's jeopardy was hot, real hot -- the first round of questions was too hard even for three of the smartest men i've ever seen on a game show

brad cleaned up again, but that wasn't what earned him my 'i'm rooting for him' button, it was that he clapped when the other players did good -- what a nice boy he is! -- although part of my heart still belongs to ken jennings, who shows more useless knowledge in one game that i will in a lifetime (and yes, i want that useless knowledge)

keeping up on the news here is a blah blah deal, nothing overly interesting happening ... top stories of the night involved saving a dog that'd gone down a cliff, and more info on the canadian parliament debates ... and i vaguely recall something about people hunting down cats, but that was during the dinner hour, where news is background noise for fifteen minutes

there was a sad tale of a busload of young bright ones in ireland that turned over, losing five young girls ... very tragic ... well wishes and prayers are for the families of the others, six of whom (as of the last update) were in critical condition ... well wishes also for the canadian oilsands workers involved in a bus accident in alberta on friday, where six workers lost their lives

one of western canada's most infamous men, robert pickton, is up to 22 murder victims ... 22! ... it seems rather amazing someone could do that much and no one really noticed ... and it's more than a little disturbing to think that pickton farms were selling pork products on the lower mainland ... of course, not a lot of detail is known, as there is a canada wide publication ban on news from the pickton trial, much like there was on the homolka/bernardo trials

speaking of which, karla's getting out this july ... she will have served twelve years in jail for her part in the kidnapping, rape and murders of three girls, one of which being her own sister ... it's also been made into a new movie ('deadly') starring that gal who plays donna on 'that 70s show' (her name escapes me, and i'm too tired to look it up) ... slated for release in late summer or early fall, apparently the movie portrays karla as a victim rather than as a co-conspirator in the crimes, something that may not sit too well with many canadians ... question now is whether or not the film would break any 'publication bans' in place (although the books already out there are probably far more detailed than the movie would be)

but hey, what do i know? i'm just a hamster

'jeopardy'

just finished watching jeopardy, you know, that final five with ken jennings and two other men? there's jerome vered from california, and brad rutter from pennsylvania

i had no idea until brad rutter showed up that he's got pages out there dedicated to him, some of which seem to be dedicated to his weight loss -- sure, he lost some weight, but so what? he was a nice looking boy before, he's a nice looking boy after ... my mother is convinced he's jewish (apparently to her single men in their twenties are jewish, whereas single women in their twenties are lesbians) ... my friends are convinced that ... ah, heck with them, he just seems like a really happy person

it puts me in an awkward position though -- do i root for ken, who i rooted for throughout all his appearances, or do i root for brad? two smart guys who prove to the world that sometimes that useless crap in all our minds isn't all that useless... although if anyone out there can explain to me why it's necessary for me to know how to work an eight-track player, i'm glad to hear it

on the plus side, maybe, i almost have the urge to see russell crowe in cinderella man ... haven't liked him in anything since virtuosity, unless you could mystery, alaska ... i don't ... then again, i have this mild urge to see the new jolie-pitt flick, that one about the smiths (or was it the joneses?), ya know, that one they were doing when the 'affair that rocked the world' supposedly started? ... not because i think it'll be that good, but because i have some friends with a jones for jolie, and everyone in the audience will be going 'yeah, i see real love there, yeah, you can see it there too'

reminder to self, though -- set vcr -- tomorrow is rob and amber's wedding ... don't get me wrong, i don't care about the wedding, but i need to set my vcr for stuff on other channels while i avoid the show ... all the best luck to boston rob and amber, but i hope the next tv special won't be all about the conception of their first child

eh ... whatever

a new blog, what the hell