Last Dance

Tonight they crown the winner of Dancing with the Stars. In my opinion, Drew Lachey deserves to win the title. He's been consistent throughout the competition and all of his dances have been fun to watch (which, for me, is important). His freestyle dance on Thursday was awesome! He deserved every 10 he was awarded on Thursday - again, in my opinion. He got every one of my votes and I couldn't put in all I wanted because it was impossible to get through (and I kept calling until they told me it was too late to call) - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Next there's Stacy. I really like Stacy. She's pretty, she seems genuinely sweet and she's a good dancer. But, it was several weeks before I was impressed with what she'd done on the dance floor. She'd done fine but nothing that made me wanted to vote for her and I really didn't see / understand the fascination with her. Now, though, I'm a fan. I wasn't, however, impressed with her freestyle dance. There was so much they could have done with that and it was so plain, so unspectacular. The judges were right when they said that she'd set the bar high for herself and that she just didn't give what they'd (or the fans) expected. I wouldn't be heartbroken if she won but, in my opinion, I think Drew deserves it more (and I'm speaking from an overall perspective - not just the one dance).

Jerry's the one that scares me. Personally, I don't think he deserves to be in the finals, much less win the title. I thought he should have gone several weeks ago but obviously he has a large fan base - and that's what scares me. Realistically there could be a three way tie tonight (if Jerry got the most fan votes and Drew got the least) and if that happens, Jerry would walk away with the trophy (fan votes trump judges votes) and he so does not deserve it. Don't get me wrong, he has worked hard but he has struggled from day one. He still does not look like a dancer. Having said that, I will say that Thursday was, by far, his best performance to date. His freestyle dance was a lot of fun. He deserved to place second in that category. However, that does not entitle him to the title. If he wins, I will be upset.

Now the other thing, I'm excited that the other dancers will be back tonight. The thing I don't understand is, why the heck does the show have to be for TWO FRIGGIN' HOURS? Last year the longest show was one hour - period. In that one hour the couples danced their dances (even when they had two dances in a night) and one was eliminated before it was over - all within an hour! This season though, the shortest show was an hour? And that was elimination nights. At this rate, in a couple of "seasons" Dancing with the Stars will be on seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Seriously, I like the show but don't cause the viewers to burn out. We have lives too, you know.

But hey, it's only my opinion. :-)

Here I come to save the day

My first "real" day at work (you know, when other people are actually there) at my new job, I go out to my car, turn the key and hear "tick". That's it..."tick". Not the Vrrrroooooooommmmm you expect to hear. Just "tick".

Just great, I think to myself.

I go in and make a few phone calls and get a ride into work. (My friend offered to get jumper cables from her boyfriend to bring over but since neither one of us know how to jump-start a car, I didn't think that was such a good idea.)

I get in about an hour late - on the first day - but oh well.

Anyway, I finally get home that evening and my friend's father agreed to come over to help me get the car started (he lives one block over from me). Since my car was in the garage, I thought I'd get it out to the driveway before he got there, saving him that trouble.

I put my car in neutral and slowly start to push my car out of the garage, hoping it goes straight so that it doesn't hit the garage walls on the way out, doing damage to the car and the garage. It did great until it hit the slope of the driveway. Suddenly it starts flying down the driveway, heading straight towards my mailbox (which is all brick because my neighbor kept mowing the "post" mailbox down with her car). So what do I do?

Being the ever-calm in a crisis person that I am, I grabbed the bumper and tried to stop it that way.

Yeah, and when that didn't work (gee, don't know why it didn't) I ran to the side of the car, flung open the door and slammed on the brakes, just shy of it smashing into the mailbox. Did I mention that my neighbors were out in force and witnessed this great feat? Uh huh, not at all embarrassing. LOL

Tune in tomorrow when I leap a tall building (or a Barbie dream house) in a single bound. ;o)

People are funny

I recently (think yesterday) changed jobs at work. I didn't leave the company. I didn't even leave the building...I just moved to a different department, two flights above where I worked before.

But, people acted like I was moving far, far away to a land where I couldn't communicate anymore. I forward to a co-worker an email I receive that gives updates on soap operas she watches. At my going away luncheon she approached me and asked if I was going to continue to send them to her, like by changing groups I could no longer communicate with the old group. My reply was something like "I'm going to the third floor, NOT a third world country that doesn't have internet access. Of course, I'll continue to forward the emails."

And suddenly everyone from my old group wants to schedule lunch with me. I'm not anti-social or anything but I usually take lunch in my office and read a book. I like to get out once in a while but it's rare that I do, and rarer still that I go with someone from my old group. But now that I've left the group, I'm suddenly in demand and my lunch schedule is booked into the next millennium.

People are funny.

Ex-sighting

I got divorced in 1991. I haven't seen or heard from my ex-husband since 1993. But, I know exactly where he is tonight. He's in California, apparently working as a camera operator for Dancing with the Stars. Did you see the shot of the floor and someone's feet? My ex did that shot. If you don't believe me, come watch our 1988 Hawaiian vacation, that'll make a believer out of you. ;o)

Anyway... the competition is getting so much tighter. I think the final dance off will be between two of the following three: Drew, Stacy and Lisa. I wasn't a big fan of Stacy's in the beginning. I really didn't see what was so special about her dancing but the last two weeks, I'm convinced. I really think she deserved all the 10s she's gotten. I think she has a good shot at winning the competition.

Lisa has come so far, in my opinion. She's fun to watch. Tonight though, I didn't think the song fit the dance. I like the song but it made the dance seem slow and draggy. I tried tuning out the music and I enjoyed the dance more but the two didn't seem to go together. It helps me though, knowing that they don't actually pick the song they dance to...it's kind of "given" to them. Knowing that, I think they did a darned good job with what they had to work with.

I wasn't overly impressed with Drew tonight. He was technically "perfect" I suppose but I was watching thinking I wasn't really seeing him cover new ground. It looked like the same old dances to me. I guess what I'm saying is it didn't seem "fresh" to me. I really wanted to see him shine and I didn't see that tonight.

I love George. I really hope he makes it through tomorrow. Next week should probably be his last week but I really want to see him make it to next week. He's so much fun to watch. :)

I think Jerry needs to go next. Let me rephrase that, I want to see him go next. There are several reasons but of the remaining dancers, he seems the least comfortable with it. Dancing doesn't seem to come naturally to him. It appears forced and it's not as enjoyable to watch.

So that's what I think. What do you think?

I want to live in a soap opera

Seriously. Think about it.

You're driving down a winding road, down a hill, in a mudslide and lose control of your car. It goes off the edge of the cliff and your car goes up in flames. But your body is never found. That is, until you show up at your husband's (he thought you were dead) wedding, right after the minister has pronounced them man and wife.

Did I mention that the intervening years didn't prove a financial hardship either? Despite the fact that you had no money on you and never accessed your trust fund (well actually, you couldn't because before the fire was put out on the car, your loving family had divvied up your assets).

Or, if you were a particularly awful person before the car went up in flames, you lose your memory and come back as a sweet, kind, generous, giving person - and everyone accepts you.

You're offered jobs, hand over fist. And none of them expect you to work more than six hours a year, five of which are spent fighting with your arch enemy, who, of course, shares your cubicle. But never fear, if the boss complains, you buy the company and fire their hineys.

Then there's the facts of life. Kids are a gift from God. As such, they are perfect from the beginning. They sleep through the night and apparently are self sufficient from birth, as mommy and daddy galavant around town, never hiring a sitter. And as they approach the terrible twos, they aren't seen for a couple of weeks and are miraculously aged into their teen years, potty-trained and all. Not that being potty-trained was a problem, since soap babies never make a poopy diaper.

And murder. Where else can you kill a man in cold blood, admit it to the first officer on the scene and never see the inside of a court room? And if you do get as far as a court room, the right accessories can get you off of any crime.

But don't worry if you're the murder victim because, despite the fact that we saw you die on the operating table, watched as you were cremated and your remains scattered in the ocean, tomorrow is another day and death will never be final as long as there are rating sweeps to win.

A dog's life

Watching Ellen DeGeneres' show today, I got an inspiration for a book idea.

Blair Underwood was talking about his new book, Before I Got Here : The Wondrous Things We Hear When We Listen to the Souls of Our Children. It's filled with stories about the profound things kids say, a couple of which were read. It sounded like a sweet book.

Here's the deal, he created a webpage and solicited stories about things kids had said. Being a celebrity and all, he received a lot of entries. Then he went through them and compiled his favorites for the book and he's making a bajillion dollars now, I'm sure.

It got me to thinking. Who doesn't like animal stories? Okay, I know there are people who don't but the majority of people do like animals. So why not have a compilation of animal stories? I'd like to start with dog stories. You know, fun, sweet stories about man's best friend. I think it would sell well.

So here's what I need you to do: Send me all your fun, sweet dog stories. Tell all your friends and family to send me their fun, sweet dog stories. It would be helpful if the breed of dog was identified but it's not entirely necessary (I can improvise if necessary ;o) ).

I see a different book for every breed.

And don't think that because I will be keeping all the proceeds from the book that I won't recognize everyone - I will. Of course it might be something like, "I'd like to thank everyone..." But make no mistake, when I say everyone, I mean you and only you because it's your story(ies) that are going to make it happen.

Yes, this could work.

One Classy Lady

All of the dancers have really been doing incredible work. It's getting harder and harder to tell who the professionals are and who the "students" are. It's incredible.

Last night, for the first time, I was awed by Stacy's performance. She was incredible. Every 10 she received was well deserved, in my opinion. It was fun, it was fast and she looked great. But how intimidating would it be to have to follow someone who got a perfect score? And she went first! Wow!

Tia Carrere had the lowest score from the judges - it was a score of 22. Last season, that was the average score of all the contestants. On an especially good night, the top score might be 25 or 26 so that shows the level of work this season's dancers are putting into it (well to me anyway). And that's not to take away from Tia's performance. Although it wasn't my favorite performance, she did a good job and I enjoyed her dance last night.

Anyway, tonight was elimination night. Tia is one of only four of the contestants I knew who was when this competition started. And I like Tia. As such, she's had my support from the beginning. I'm at a point where I don't want anyone to be voted off because I really like everyone. More so, I really don't want those I knew (and liked) going in being voted off. But, having been in the bottom two a couple of times now, and having the overall lowest score from the judges last night, I knew in my heart that Tia had in all likelihood danced her last dance last night.

I gave her all of my telephone votes (and one of my online votes) but alas, she was voted off anyway tonight. When her name was announced as the contestant being voted off and she did her final "interview", she was so gracious and classy. I really hate to see her go.

Maybe when they do that "surprise" bring back of Giselle, they can bring back Tia too.