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My daughter just told me about a site called FML. It stands for f* my life, and people post gripes and bad stuff they’ve had happen on it.

Well someone started an alternative called GivesMeHope.com.

Check it out.

Last night Daniel and I were watching TV before going to sleep. We flipped to Anderson Cooper on CNN, and he was doing a bit about the drug that Michael Jackson was administered when he died. We watched in mixed horror and amusement as he talked to a remote reporter in a hospital who went into an operating room and talked to the anesthesiologist who was administering said drug to a patient about to have surgery. We assume—maybe they just put him out for Anderson? It certainly looked that way. The guy was out as soon as the drug was in his blood stream. Apparently it’s one they use commonly for surgeries.

They showed a close up of his eyes as he went under. Daniel said, “Mmmmm.”

I said, “Was that a ‘mmm, donuts‘ kind of ‘mmmm’?”

Daniel said, “Mmmmm.”

Sometimes being put to sleep is very desirable. Neither of us slept well, last night, either.

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Then we were watching our new favorite bad TV show, The Cleaner. It has a whole lot going for it—terribly cheesy, over-dramatic writing. Benjamin Bratt, who is yummy. Nice lighting. But mainly it’s the cheesy writing.

Lori Petty guest-starred on last night’s episode. When I pointed out that she was in Point Break, Daniel said, “I wish I was watching Point Break right now.”

I said, “I say that all day long.”

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We also caught the last 15 minutes or so of Hell’s Kitchen. I’ve never been interested in the show before, it seems so full of rancor and anger, but there’s been nothing else on and we happened to catch bits and pieces of a couple episodes so far. Some of it’s pretty funny. I decided I can tune in for like the last 15 minutes and call it good. No need to sit through an entire episode.

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But mainly what’s been consuming our TV time this summer is Miami Vice. After watching this old clip from the original pilot I picked up the first season on DVD. (Used. Cheap.)

When the drum kicks in as the car takes off? SO good.

I always thought of it as a bad 80s show. Now I think it’s an awesome 80s show. It’s *very* 80s, too. But they did things that had never been done on TV. They used music to help tell the story. They used movie techniques in the filming. Some of the acting/writing is really cheesy but it’s hard to avoid that, I’ve noticed. And we all know how much I love cheese, anyway.

Oh, and they do something that I don’t think would be allowed on television these days. They have quiet for long periods. In fact the beginning of the pilot doesn’t have more than a couple lines of dialogue for the whole first 5 minutes. TV doesn’t breathe like that these days.

I love India.Arie’s first album. I haven’t heard any of her other stuff. But her first album is fantastic.

She has these little interlude songs strewn throughout where she sings a tribute to various singers from the past. My favorite is the one where she mentions Karen Carpenter:

Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith and
Memphis Minnie and
Minnie Riperton
Sister Puma
Tammi Terrell and
Karen Carpenter
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughan
Your memory still
Lives on
In me

My favorite song by her is “Strength, Courage and Wisdom”—very empowering. Did Oprah use this as her theme for awhile?

Is there anyone with a better voice than Karen Carpenter, though?

No. No, there isn’t.

Orange County has a big fair every summer and I’ve managed to always miss it. So this year I was determined to go. I really just wanted to go to take pictures. The rides are too expensive and I can’t really hack them anymore. I’m too aware of all the rusty bolts and cables holding those things together. Getting old sucks.

I was going to go with my friend Debi but she had to cancel, so I got Nathaniel and Dillon to go with me. We got there at about 4:00 and the crowds weren’t that bad. We got a good parking spot.

I can’t believe some of the rides they have these days. Monster things that I would have LOVED when I was younger.

That’s Nathaniel on the left.

Even the ferris wheel with enclosed seats would have freaked me out too bad, I think. It’s just so tall.

I think the sky tram could have been fun, but I don’t know. I have issues with heights.

At about 6:00 Dillon remembered that on Thursdays, most of the rides only cost a dollar. But only before 7:00 pm. So I got some tickets. The boys wanted to go on the Zipper first thing, which was my favorite ride when I was their age, too. Of course the line by then was huge and it took about 30 minutes just for them to get on the ride.

The ride I most wanted to go on was this one:

But the line was too long, I didn’t think we’d make it by 7:00. So Dillon and I went on the swings. Nathaniel has trouble with spinny rides—makes him sick. He can do roller coasters, and the Zipper was borderline for him. After the Zipper, he was done. We couldn’t all go on a ride together, anyway, because someone had to hold my bag/cameras.

The swings even started to freak me out. I forgot that they do this dipping thing where you lean way forward and then way back. If I looked at the people swinging across the ride from me I did better than if I looked down. I just kept repeating, “I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die,” and thought about all the people who had already been on the ride who hadn’t died. And how all those people were underneath me right now waiting to break my fall.

Nathaniel took this picture of us with the lensbaby lens. Didn’t it come out cool? I’m actually not even holding on! Once the ride started to slow down a bit I figured I could fall from that distance and survive.

I thought Nathaniel might be able to handle the big slide, but the line was too long. We didn’t make it on any other rides.

We used the remaining tickets to play games. Actually, Dillon played two games and won two prizes. A bright magenta monkey doll and a pillow that looks like a $100 bill. We gave the monkey to Catherine when we got home.

We didn’t make it to any of the animal exhibits, either. Although I did snap this picture of a giant cow statue:

I call it “The distant hills call to me.”

But they’re worth re-watching.

This first one actually made me cry:

This one is a classic:

Oh, and the waves have been huge here this week. Just in time for the US Open of surfing! This is footage of a spot called the Wedge in Newport Beach. Popular boogie boarding spot. I’ve been there once when it was really big—like, 10 feet. The waves crash right on the beach, it’s crazy. But this week (and in this video) they reached 20-30 ft or more.

(There’s some foul language because people are freaking out about how big the waves are.)

No, I’m not talking about Twilight.

I have a Flickr contact who lives in Hong Kong, and he takes street photos. Candids of people on the street. Some of the people he captures and the places he shoots in seem…sketchy. As in dangerous.

Here’s one of his pictures:

Isn’t it amazing? Note how the dappled sunshine/shade echoes the patterns of the tattoo. Doesn’t this guy seem somehow scary? But look closer. Do you see the little child?

Here’s another. Maybe these guys are just trying to cool off on a hot summer night, but something makes me think they’re up to no good.

Maybe my imagination is a little too wild? Look closer on this one, too. Do you see the light flare near the elbow? Magic.

Here’s one more.

Does this person live here, in this weird sort of garage? Is he selling something? He doesn’t look unfriendly, yet something doesn’t quite sit right about this picture to me. What’s he doing there?

And yes, look closer. Do you see the person on the left walking away?

I think I know what it is about his stuff that is so compelling for me. It tells a story. Each photo tells a story.

Here’s a slideshow of his pics.

Elijah playing Nathaniel’s drumkit. Just goofing off.

Can you tell if he’s right handed or left handed?

So last night my daughter Cat had some friends over to go swimming. One of them is very allergic to blueberries and no one knew it. Someone gave him a Nutrigrain bar. A blueberry Nutrigrain bar. He didn’t recognize the taste of blueberries, since he can’t eat them and hasn’t had them for so long, and he ate half of it before he realized what it was.

Daniel told me one of Catherine’s friends was out front feeling sick. When I went out there, he was standing in the grass outside our door, and another kid was helping him stay upright. He kept saying he was fine, just a little dizzy, and then he’d start to pitch over backward and the other kid would catch him.

I know nothing about allergies or what to do for them. Other people in the apartments started gathering around because the kid was obviously not doing too well. He could breathe fine and kept saying he felt better if he remained standing, but he couldn’t stand up on his own. Kept keeling over and had to be held upright.

Cat gave him lots of water. He said he felt like he was going to throw up.

Then our next door neighbor came out to see what was happening. One of the young guys who likes to lay around shirtless all the time and fight late at night with his roommate (the other young guy who likes to lay around shirtless). He had been trained in high school (he’s like 19) to be an athletic trainer so he knew some emergency medical stuff. He checked the kid’s eyes to see if they were dilated—they were. And his pulse, which was a little fast. He got him to lie down and put a cold washcloth on his head. Finally I just asked him to help the kid to my car so I could take him home. He told me if he was going to have trouble breathing it should have happened already. I was really glad to have him there, he seemed to know what he was talking about.

So we took him home and by the time we dropped him off, he seemed to be doing much better. Cat called him a little later that night to check in and he said he was fine.

Then I went to bed. And what happens? Our young shirtless neighbors get in another fight. It’s like, 11:30 pm, and we hear shouting and thumping on the other side of our bedroom wall. I was pretty sure I heard something about a knife, but you know how it is when you’re half asleep. You hear things weird. So I went out to the living room to watch TV—couldn’t hear them at all out there. Nice.

Then I see some teenage girls knocking on their door through my window. I don’t think anyone answered the door. The girls seemed like they were trying to figure out what was going on. Then a few minutes later the cops show up. I couldn’t hear what was being said. At that point Daniel joined me in the living room and we watched TV for about an hour.

I didn’t get to sleep until about 1 or 2 am.

Oh yeah. Did I mention our lease is up this month? We’re looking at trying to move into a four-plex. We’ll give up the pool for a garage. So tired of having bikes stolen.

My 17yo daughter Cat just woke up and came into my room. She said, “Mommy! Is my hair not the coolest?”

This is what her bangs were doing:

After she left the room, I realized what it reminded me of:

She always has the most amazing bed hair in the mornings. She said she’s going to start taking pictures of it everyday.

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The kids were telling us what the difference is between hipsters and scenesters the other day. Apparently hipsters are like a cross between a scenester and a stoner, or something…I didn’t believe them. I said I thought they were the same thing, hipsters and scenesters.

Cat said, “No!”

Daniel said, “You’re SOOO wrong! Sheesh! Don’t you know anything?”

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When Nathaniel, Dillon and I were returning from the Salton Sea a few weeks ago, we stopped at a truck stop diner for lunch. Mainly so I could try to wake up—hard to drive all day when you’ve only had 3 hours sleep. I ordered a Cobb salad. It was the weirdest salad I’ve ever had. It wasn’t mixed together, and most of the stuff they put in it was barely chopped up at all. It was almost like they just wanted me to make my own salad or something.

What’s weirder is they brought a little snack for us before serving our meal:

Saltine crackers and ranch dressing. Hello?

Dillon snapped that picture. I was resting my eyes a bit. I know it looks like I’m snorting coke off the table, but no. (I thought he’d taken a picture of me. Turns out it was the crackers and dip.)

The California desert is a weird place.

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Dillon went to see a show at the County Fair last night, his friend had an extra ticket. He thought it was Janet Jackson playing. I was jealous—and puzzled as to why Janet would be playing so soon after Michael’s death, and at a county fair. But it turns out Dillon had the artist’s name wrong. Any guesses who it was?

I love this live unplugged version of this song. I actually don’t know the studio version, if there is one—I only know this live version.

Lauren Hill – “I Get Out”

1:33 is soooo awesome.