"Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics
live in them. My mother cleans them."

Rita Rudner

Touché

Salt and pepper. Sourdough and pumpernickel. Point and counterpoint.

From Terry who is not my aunt.

Unholy Trinity

Not something you see every day.



From my Aunt Terry, who's spent her life pursuing comparable feats.

Honky Heaven

What do kitchen gadgets have in common with difficult breakups? They're Stuff White People Like. And that ain't no jive.

I found #62 especially trenchant:

A great way to make white people feel good is to tell them about situations where poor people changed how they were doing things because they were given the ‘whiter’ option. “Back in my old town, people used to shop at Wal*Mart and then this non-profit organization came in and set up a special farmers co-op so that we could buy more local produce, and within two weeks the Wal*Mart shut down and we elected our first Democratic representative in 40 years.” White people ... will be filled with euphoria and will invite you to more parties to tell this story to their friends, so that they can feel great.

From Shannon and Colleen, two of the whitest girls around. Erin go bragh!

Workmen carrying off debris and loading it onto rafts in Messina, Sicily, after an earthquake that destroyed half the town and killed over 77,000 people. December 1908. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Pucker Up

Once, after a less-than-gracious breakup, an exquisite dark-chocolate rat was delivered to me at the office. After pondering the message -- and the likelihood of poisoning -- I ate it. It was bittersweet ... and delicious.

Had they been available at the time, I probably would have received one of these instead.

Thanks to Derek.

Semi-conscious

First this, then this* ... and now this. One thing is clear: I will never carp alone.


* British punctuation rules are quirky and sometimes bizarre. They are best ignored by Americans.

Thanks to Michael.

Spoiler

This would be funnier if it weren't so plausible.


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

From Florence.

The Story of Her Life

No sooner had the ink dried on her first book than my pal Zana began talking about another. The previous effort had been collaborative, but the next would be all about her.

In the years since, she'd occasionally fed me pages of her journal, which I scarfed down like truffles. (The chocolate kind, not the mushroom kind. I hate mushrooms.) I encouraged her to publish -- so she could reach a wider audience and so I could read more myself. And now, finally, she has.

Legless in the Garden deals mostly with Zana's ALS experience. But it also offers a candid look into other aspects of her life, including her relationships, her childhood in Malaysia, and the exotic (to me) flora and fauna of her enchanting garden in suburban Sydney. It's given me a deeper perspective on my friend than more than a decade of emailing.

You can buy a copy here. It's available in both traditional and (yay!) electronic forms.

'It's Your Lucky Day, Fatass!'

I stumbled upon Natalie Dee by accident. Her comics are always quirky and often laugh-out-loud funny. The videos are a mixed bag.