I’m thinking of making a peasant blouse. Yes, I know they’re a fad, but I still kinda like the way this one looks. It seems simple enough. I’m just wondering at the lack of shoulder material though. Specifically, can one wear a bra with a shirt like this? (And not have it show? I’m not one of those girls.)

Wow! An earthquake hit England! I can’t believe I missed it! I’ve never been in one before, and apparently Australia is so geologically old and inert that I’m not likely to experience one here. Did any of you feel it?

I’ve been doing some reading on Irish Travellers, the group that the Indiana child-beater mom belongs to. I suddenly remembered that they’d actually been through our part of the state (the northeast) before. Back in high school when I was working at the local grocery store, we got a fax through from some of the other IGA branches warning us to watch out for a group of “gypsies”. Apparently they would swarm the store in a big group and distract all the employees while someone raided the safe in the office. I remember being pretty fascinated with the concept at the time. Not the scam, but the idea that there were actual nomads living in Indiana. They never hit our store though.

My nose is a very blunt instrument. That’s what I learned from our wine course (which just finished). When I smell wine, it smells of wine. I can’t discern anything else. Mention that it smells of bread or mushrooms or apricots, though, and instantly I identify them. In fact, I’ll start smelling them in every wine. My sense of smell isn’t objective; it responds too much to the power of suggestion. Maybe it’s from growing up out in the country. Smells in Indiana are uncomplicated. Manure, butter, fish… those I can identify. Elderflower petals? Not a chance. The dream of being a wine connoisseur has been shattered.

I did like drinkin’ all the champagne tonight though. Yum yum!

Emmy Awards Reflections:
(No, I didn’t watch them. They weren’t on here. I’m looking at the pictures and pretending.)

• Matthew Perry is looking much, much better than he used to. Good for him. In fact, all the Friends men look pretty good. The ladies are showing their age though, and not in a good way.
• I like Allison Janney and all, but is anyone else going to have nightmares about this photo? Can’t sleep, Allison Janney’ll eat me.
• Stockard Channing is a goddess, but even goddesses should deep condition their hair every now and then.
• The Sex and the City ladies look fantastic, especially Cynthia Nixon. I always thought redheads couldn’t wear red? *shrug* Kristin Davis should give the tanning bed a rest for a while though. She looks orange next to the other two.
• Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. It’s the 21st century. We don’t have to wear whalebone corsets anymore. You’re scaring the feminists.
• I really don’t like Tom Hanks’s suit combination. It’s not flattering at all. In the last ten years he’s lost whatever sex appeal he ever had.
• Rachel Griffiths looks smashing. The Aussies were all hoping she’d win, but popular opinion said she hamstrung herself by submitting one of her crappiest episodes. At least her dress looked good.

Okay, so what did I miss by not seeing the show? Any wild and wacky antics that aren’t getting mentioned on various news site recaps?

Notre Dame has cracked the Top Ten. Commence cheering.

Good grief. This Metatalk thread is like watching a traffic accident in slow motion. What is it about the act of posting on a website that makes people reluctant to take responsibility for their actions? Is it the anonymity factor? (i.e. “If nobody knows my real name, I don’t have to say I’m sorry.”) Yeah, it sucks when people gang up on you, but if you’ve made a genuine error, admit it and move on. The Net would be a much nicer place for all of us.

Damn! Claire has killed her blog. Now I’m going to have to seek out some other Aussie bloggers to fill the void.

Dude, it’s a llama!
The Snook and I just watched Dude, Where’s My Car?. We laughed a lot. (No, we weren’t stoned.) It had Micheal Bolton in it! And Fabio! And the Alias chick! And I’m a sucker for bubble-wrap humor. And movies that use “Bust a Move” on the soundtrack. It rocked. We’re looking forward to the sequel Seriously Dude, Where’s My Car?. Seriously.