some dance to forget

Apparently biff is the new bff. How does this make me feel? Old. Yes. But that's how high school girls refer to their best friends now. I wonder if Ugg boots are out too.

I don't need to dance to forget (see title) because I'm pretty sure I'm entering a stage of life that'll fade my memories like unscrapbooked flower petals. My roommate Jess and I have an ongoing joke about the last year of beauty. There has to be a last one, and we're nervous that it might be 22.

Me: "22 could be the last year of beauty. What hot 23 year-olds can you think of?"
Jess: "..."

What a marvelous illustration that was. But seriously, in the past week I was called elderly (by a professor talking to freshmen), I overheard a conversation about 23 year-olds being too old
and I listened as my sister Hannah (hi!) freaked out when she suddenly realize I wasn't 20. (And really, the math on that one isn't hard. I've always been four years older). It doesn't help that I work with a bunch of elementary school kids who have no gauge for age and probably think I'm in my 40's.

This all has to do with unemployment because there's nothing like an overload of free time to give perspective on how fast life goes. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it's true. When you're really busy and working hard, you don't realize life is passing you by until it's gone.

When you're sitting at home all day, you have hours to reflect on the nature of time. (Time wasted? You tell me).

On my last post I got a request by Hannah (hi!) to do a rant on "silly Disney girls" or some such similar epithet. She wants me to complain about how they make scads of dough off of minimal talent when thousands of people are unemployed. As much as I want to please and appease my readers (all 3 of you:)), I cannot do this rant because I disagree with the principle.

I'm not going to complain if Disney has tapped into a way to sell their stars like products. On the other hand, I am bothered that Americans have chosen to idolize these semi-talented starlets in lieu of really genuine talent. Honestly though, if nothing else, those kids have charisma. I would rather rant about Bernie Madoff (actually I wouldn't, but you get the point).

Today's Funky Word: Potentate. It means monarch or sovereign. (thanks Barron's GRE book!) I think I would be quite the impressive potentate. Maybe I'll pull a Grace Kelly. Although I think it's already been tried (but his looks were too sad).

Today's Life Lesson: According to Wikipedia, the phrase "Stone broke" refers to a "craftsman's stone bench being broken if he failed to pay his debts. (Robert L. Shook, The Book of Why, 1983)" It sounds made up, but if it's on Wikipedia it must be true. (wiki and oprah = infallible.)

Today's Quote: "It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating."
--Oscar Wilde, The Model Millionaire.

And Wilde quote number two:

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

Wilde is simply too clever. I was actually looking for a quote of his from "The Picture of Dorian Gray" that I loved, but I couldn't find it. It was on the tragedy of old age. I think I'll have to go re-read the book.