Pretty on the Outside is one of my favorite websites, especially when Gilmore draws pictures of the Real Housewives of Whatever-City-This-Week. This week he shared a little animated behind the scenes video of the RH of New Jersey (My FAVORITE series, EVAH). It won't make any sense if you haven't watched the show, but if you have, you're going to laugh your ASS off.

Deirdre is a woman I met at a Cinequest Happy Hour recently, however I know she has followed me on this blog for awhile too. When I met her in person I also met her husband, and I knew there were some health issues they were dealing with, so when I saw her tweet that said this:

@Deirdresm How I Got Married and Donated a Liver: http://dsmoen.livejournal.com/248036.html

I thought she had donated her own liver to her current husband. Which makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE now that I write this, and I'm laughing at myself for thinking that. HOWEVER, the actual story she wrote about is a really good one and an important one. The main theme is about the process of organ donation and the importance of signing up, but the twist at the end brings up the matter of couples who are not married and how that affects the process. Of course not only does this apply to myself and Scott, it applies more heavily to couples who have no choice in the matter of marriage.

So just take a few minutes to read the story of this amazingly strong woman.

Spike got a job today! With typical lazy boy logic instead of walking down the block to turn in the fifteen applications he had actually filled out, he took a job offered to him by a friend of his father - all the way in Palo Alto.

And he has to be there at 7:30am every day.

And wear a tuxedo for a uniform.

As he works outside.

AAAHHHAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAAAA

Am I a bad mother to think this is so funny? Seriously, this boy's life is about to turn upside down. He's been on permanent summer vacation since Circuit City went out of business. He sleeps until noon and goes to bed at 3am. Let me repeat:

AAAHHHAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAAAA

What's the job? He's going to be a parking valet from what he told me, but after researching the company and because he's reporting to work at Palo Alto Medical Center I believe he may actually be driving one of those vans around.

If he's a valet DO NOT GIVE THIS BOY YOUR KEYS. If he's driving a van I ADVISE AGAINST GETTING IN IT.

But he's now employed. I would not take bets that this is going to last more than two weeks, because he's going to have to leave the house at 6:30am and then wear a tuxedo in this 90+ degree heat all day.

AAAHHHAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAHAAAAAAA

If he had just walked down his application he could have been working at air conditioned Jamba Juice. This is what laziness gets you.

I NEED this burger. Not even kidding. That sounds so delicious, I bet it's as delicious as Santa Cruz's chocolate covered bacon. I need to take a trip to Portland just to get one of these burgers, FOR SURE.

I somehow missed that something bad was happening to one of my old computer writing friends. I don't know how many of you knew her, or maybe you already knew she was sick. I don't know all the details. I only know that the woman I always knew as CosmicCrayola passed away last night.

This was a very nice story about her that I found, written right before her death.
And This one.
And by SixWeasels.
And by Poolagirl.
A humorous and touching story I think Cosmic would have loved.
By Bozoette.
GolfWidow will make you cry, so be prepared.
And by Jim.
By L-Empress.
By ThatGayChick.
(If you have one, send me the link and I'll add it)

I met her (online) about a decade ago, when she was writing as CosmicCrayola. She later became just Cosmic. And she wrote a book under her own name, Karen Murray. I know she was very encouraging to me about going back to school. She was a good lady.

Obviously I don't have a lot to say (because I'm a little in shock right now). But I just wanted to get it out there for those of you who knew her and also didn't know she had gotten this sick. I think everyone who was writing back "in the day" knew CosmicCrayola.

Since I can't double post when I write at Metblogs, here are links to the articles I wrote:

I took the kids to see Roller Derby.

The kids and I were extras in a movie.

And tomorrow will probably be another link to the super-hot day we spent as non-skating officials at the Roller Derby exhibition bout today. Mostly: It was hot.

Happy Monday!

One of the most honest things I've ever read about him.

Yes, Michael Jackson is dead, and yes it's tragic. But he wasn't a god. I'm not really understanding why ALL THE NEWS IN THE WORLD is being ignored today because Michael Jackson has died. I don't mean to sound insensitive, but GET A GRIP PEOPLE.

Don't start emailing me about how great Michael Jackson was, I KNOW. I lived through the 80s, I had MJ posters all over my bedroom walls, I planned to marry him, I kept a giant scrapbook of MJ news articles, I wore penny loafers through to the 90s, I was OBSESSED with Michael Jackson. Because he was GREAT.

But that Michael Jackson died about 15 years ago, no? I mean, really. He did. It was a slow death that began around 1990 when the crazy really became apparent, but after the crazy continued then we had molestation charges and a $20million payoff which doesn't exactly prove your innocence, financial problems, medical problems, fights with The Beatles, masked kids with no chance of a normal life, an absolutely fucked up face, MORE craziness... and NO NEW FANTASTIC MUSIC in more than a decade.

So forgive me for not grieving right now, but I did my grieving long before Neverland Ranch was auctioned off.

All these kids in the news who are dancing in the streets "in memory of" Michael Jackson, they don't even know how awesome he really was. There was a time when crazy Michael Jackson didn't exist, when the idea of Michael Jackson molesting kids or marrying Elvis' daughter or hanging his own (suspect) children off a balcony or even actually owning the Elephant Man's bones or sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber --- THOSE ideas were crazy, because MICHAEL JACKSON WAS A GOD WHO WAS THE KING OF AWESOME. Do you know what it was like to see this man moonwalk for the first time on MTV? OHMIGOD. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped and chills went down my spine and we were all so thankful that VCRs had been invented because then we could stop and rewind and pause that tape so we could figure out HOW HE DID THAT. You have to be close to my age to understand why tears run down my face when Jennifer Garner starts doing the Thriller dance in "13 Going on 30" - because EVERYONE learned that dance in the 80s, even if only in the privacy of your own living room, EVERYONE. Because Michael Jackson was FREAKING AWESOME and not crazy, but FREAKING AWESOME and the ENTIRE WORLD wanted to be like him and the craziness that went on around him was the craziness around NKOTB + N*SYNC + Jonas Bros + Miley Cyrus TIMES INFINITY. Michael Jackson was worshipped by kids AND adults.

But that Michael Jackson died years and years ago.

I don't need to hear the thousands of soundbites from thousands of celebrities about how awesome Michael Jackson WAS, I don't need to watch the news going over all the craziness ad nauseum, because it's OVER. He's DEAD, and he probably died of some stupid thing he did to himself, and guess what? this "Comeback"? Was never going to happen. If crazy Britney Spears who is physically fit can't manage to put on a semi-entertaining comeback show in her 20s, then crazy 50 year old Michael Jackson who is falling apart certainly wasn't going to get through 50 European shows. I don't think anyone actually believed that was going to happen, so people need to give up the idea that he died just short of his "comeback". Wasn't going to happen.

I get sad when I see the pictures of him as a kid because that poor kid went through a lot and was completely fucked up by his own family before fame finished the job. I get sad when I see pictures of Michael in the 70s because he hadn't quite been eaten up by the fame machine and was still at the threshold of the insane awesomeness he was about to become. And I get super sad at the pictures of Michael in the 80s because that's the face that was all over my bedroom walls and the body that we all worshipped because it could do INSANE things that no one else could. But I got sad when I looked at those pictures BEFORE he died. Because all those Michael Jacksons have been gone for a long long time. He died after a long illness brought about by his father's beatings and his family's greediness and fame's poison and all the bloodsuckers and parasites that take as much as possible while giving back just barely enough to keep him "alive".

Michael Jackson's body failed yesterday, but the King of Pop died years ago.

In the meantime, other things have happened in the world.