Merci, Danke Schoen, etc. etc. etc.

status check - Infinitely Better
background ambiance - Beth singing "Lala" (Don't ask. I explain.)

It was a long, frustrating day in which nothing bad per se happened, but everything was (we interrupt this blog for a demonstration for Beth of recent typing problems: fajkjaiejivaj the fjakj ieiaeiei cat vkjaiejieajeiije. We now resume this blog) just a series of annoying events that left me ready to combust. It happens to everyone from time to time. Today was apparently my day.

But thanks are in order, as I'm preparing to end the day from hell with a smile I wouldn't have predicted three hours earlier.

So, in a very specific, chronological order, I thank the following:

- my mother
- Beth
- Debbie Gibson (although she shattered my childhood in the process, it was funny as hell to hear about the Playboy thing)
- my brother
- Ashlee Simpson (for the ever-amusing "Lala")
- "The West Wing" (my day might have blown, but at least a British airplane wasn't shot down by Iranian fighter jets - at least, not that I'm aware of.)
- Chuck and the makers of Rubix Cube
- Matt Nathanson and, thanks to his "You all make me want to lala" journal entry signoff,
- Ashlee Simpson

Question for the ages: How does one dance to "Lala"? You can give it a shot, but I doubt you'll come up with anything funnier than Beth's attempt. "It really stretches your neck. Better than yoga."

Funny thing, trust. I have a hard time of it with most. It takes a lot for me to open up. But with a select few? I'm not just an open book, I'm an open book with page corners bent, lines highlighted and scribbed down notes in the margins.

"And little Post-It Note bookmarks!"

Yep, those too.