brilliantbreakfast

Nor should you feel you should let it go. It can't be hammered home enough.Pull out is better than nothing, but not much better. As someone who in college was a volunteer at Planned Parenthood in the 70s, it boggles the mind that in this day and age, people are still so stupid about contraception. I get being a horny teen who doesn't want to tell her mother that she's having sex. But a 30-year-old? That's just stupid. But even the horny teens -- most of my friends who have daughters AND sons give them the birth control lecture at an appropriate age. Not one of their kids has become pregnant or impregnated someone.

That broke mine too. I don't know anyone who has lost someone they love to death (including me) who hasn't seen that person somewhere in real life. I've seen my husband in a supermarket parking lot and at the airport when I flew to look at the house I moved to after he died. That scene with Brianna seeing Frank at the docks echoed that strongly for me and I'm sure for others.

I'm usually able to suspend a lot of disbelief with this show, and maybe it's because Sophie Skelton is not the actress that Caitriona Balfe is, but this episode kind of lost me. First of all, who decides to time-travel to SCOTLAND in the dead of winter -- and with no gloves? I realize that Brianna is young, but really. She did enough homework to buy or make reasonably appropriate attire, she didn't think about what walking around Scotland in the snow would be like? She didn't think about what talking about knowing things that would happen in the future would sound like in 18th century rural Scotland?

My mother bought a Louis Vuitton bag (the cylindrical one) on eBay once and years later asked me to sell it for her. I happened to stumble upon a "How to tell a fake Louis Vuitton" web site, and sure enough -- her bag was a fake. I told her I couldn't sell it because it was a knockoff, and she said "Then sell it as used." She just didn't get it. I now have two Coach bags she bought me that I fear are also knockoffs. They have what seem to be legitimate numbers, but I think only Coach can verify them.

IIRC, the shower and yes, the engagement party (because that's now a thing, so now you have to show up with a gift for an engagement party, a shower, an bachelorette party, and a wedding) are held by the family, but the attendants are expected to arrange and pay for the bachelorette party. Then let's not forget the wedding registry. I've read that these are not as much of a thing as they used to be, but the last wedding I was invited to, there was NOTHING on the registry under $200 and the groom-to-be, who was a co-worker, explained to me that they did it that way because the expectation is that if you are invited with a guest, you're expected to "cover your plate" (which basically means you have to guess what they paid for you to go to their wedding and pay your own way). And with that, I stopped going to my friends' weddings. I started my tradition of buying each couple two champagne flutes from Tiffany's. The bride gets a Tiffany blue box, I buy a nice gift, and I don't have to deal with this "cover the plate" nonsense. Nor do I have to dress up and go eat a mediocre prime rib and dance to lousy disco pop music. Everyone wins.

When I was young, I dated any number of young men who had this kind of love/hate relationship with their mothers. Their mothers have set up this symbiotic, "I always have to be your #1 priority" relationship, and these guys go along with it, but they hate it every step of the way. Any woman who gets involved with one of these guys is going to be the "other woman" and at the same time the object of resentment. After the last one of these, I said "I'm not going to get involved with anyone whose mother is still alive." And damn if I didn't get one whose mother died when he was 13, and that's another whole set of baggage right there. (see also: Prince Harry.) Coltee is the king of passive-aggressive, and he will make ANY woman miserable.

Oh. My. God. If you did not love Christian Hubicki enough already, catch this: He is just the best. My favorite player of all time. So brilliant, and yet, so adorable. Watch the faces of all these much-dimmer lunkheads as they try to grok what he's talking about. And yet, they do.

I wonder if she has a medical problem that requires her to monitor it. My father used to do this, but he was a hypochondriac who always thought he would die young. He made it to 90 and I used to joke that he would be constantly checking his pulse to make sure he was still alive.

I don't think Debbie is the one holding the umbilical cord, I think it's Coltee. See also: The look of panic on his face at the thought that she might go to a senior residence, something she seems perfectly well prepared to do once her son grows the hell up enough to leave home. Yes, she's making it too comfortable for him, but HE's the one clinging to mama. Leida and Eric are both awful, but it is not unreasonable for Leida to want to sleep in at least a double bed with an actual MATTRESS, not a box spring with a foam mattress topper. Why she hasn't gone back to Indonesia yet, I have no idea. Eric is a sloppy, sweaty, sad sack. He is at least 50 (40 my *ss) and he lives the way my husband was living when I met him, except my husband was in his 20s and by the time he was 50 we had a house and he had a career. I really want to give Steven the benefit of the doubt, but he is getting downright scary. Olga has had such a difficult life and seems to have no one -- no support system at all. I don't get any grifter vibe from her at all; she's a sweet girl who met this boy on a summer trip and ended up pregnant. She needs to find a way to get away. I'm not even going to talk about Kalani and Asuelu. It's all too Family Chantel for me, and things are about to get a whole LOT more stupider. Fernanda is gorgeous. That dress she picked -- WOW! Elegant....beautiful. I don't see Jon's mother as the monster everyone else does. She sees her "player" son bringing home a Mexican teenager and deciding he wants to get married, of course she's going to wonder. She's been actually pretty kind to Fernanda; she seems to think more of her than she does of her son. Finally, Ashley and Jay. Oh, Jay, Jay, Jay...you come from one of the most beautiful places on earth, do you really want to look at Ashley's farbissiner punim (Yiddish for "sourpuss face", get your minds out of the gutter, LOL) forever? You two don't even LIKE each other anymore, and you are now in a nation where racists seem to feel they have carte blanche to say whatever they want to you. This is not going to be fun, and you are only 20. Take the advice of that gorgeous barber and go home. Resort hotels in Jamaica are full of pretty blonde girls on vacation.

I'm surprised at how much I liked Dan at Ponderosa. He seemed so arrogant and alpha-male on the game, but so real and likeable at Ponderosa. You know, there are worse things that making it to jury and getting a nice long tropical vacation with at least in this season seem like really cool people.

Does Debbie work? The show doesn't make it clear. If she is living on survivor benefits and some savings (and we don't know how much), plus whatever rent Coltee gives her (probably not much, as living rent-free with Debbie allows her to control him, likewise sharing a car), she may worry constantly about the future -- health problems, etc. If Debbie has been frugal her whole life, even if she IS financially secure now, she may not FEEL financially secure. I retired recently, and while I am (compared to many others) financially secure, I still look for bargains, watch my money, get anxious when the financial markets tank, etc. Sometimes when you've lived your whole life as if the wolf is at the door, it's difficult or impossible to shift gears. It doesn't mean people are cheap, it can mean that they simply can't adjust to financial security. As for your MIL's car....how many miles does she put on? I bought a new car four years ago ONLY because I was sideswiped on a highway and my 10-year-old car was totalled. It ran great, I loved that car and I would probably be driving it still if it hadn't happened. I did maintain it, though, and it still looked great. If your MIL doesn't drive much, her old car may be perfectly adequate. Of course there may be other things that make her cheap. My mother was financially secure but cheap and in some ways that's why I'm secure today.

This may have been the best episode ever, because Christian has become my favorite Survivor player ever. He's so endearingly twitchy and brilliant and maybe the young girls like the lunkheads with muscles, but Christian is someone I think you can only appreciate when you are past 40 and realize that smart > muscles. It was only Nick and Christian who voted for John, so they bet that Dan would save Angelina and knew, or at least felt, that John had the potential to go on an immunity tear. Nick wanted them to be the Second Coming of J.T. and Fischbach, only Christian is so smart he leaves Fischbach in the dust. No one, not even Nick, is going to let Christian stay till the end, but man, is he taking this season for one hell of a ride. Great casting decision.

Are they named Alberta? Updated: Darn it. CSS.MD beat me to it!

On an unrelated note....I had always thought that Eric's daughter Tasha was peeved because a) he was telling her to move out; and b) she thinks he's an ass for chasing Indonesian tail. But it may go deeper than that. Look what just cropped up in my Twitter feed. What is she learning in high school? I know Leida is a nutcase, but if this is any indication, and it is what it appears to be, which it still might not be, then Baraboo is not going to be the friendliest place to be an immigrant.

I doubt it. That would violate the "Turner and Hooch Rule" (Don't Kill The Dog). Only "Game of Thrones" has broken this rule.

If you are getting from Publix and you don't get something with butter cream frosting, you should have your head examined.

It's hard to say ANYTHING after Toaster Strudel has done such a masterful job, but just a few observations: 1) Asuelu seems sweet. Immature, but sweet. He'd be a fun boyfriend, but Kailani (sp?) wants a provider and dad and this guy ain't gonna be it. 2) Jay and Barbie of the Denny's: I do not understand these women who can't recognize a Jamaican hustler when they see one. There are some good men in Jamaica, I know two women who have found them. This guy ain't it. 3) These middle-aged sad sacks who go abroad to chase Asian tail disgust me. These are guys who have failed at life and they think a pliant "Suzie Wong" (because I'm sure they think all Asian women are docile and servile) will restore their so-called manhood. 4) Steven the homeless guy with the cool hippie grandparents reminds me far too much of Acne Boy Shayden on "Unexpected." In short: a-hole. 5) Fernanda is hilarious. She's what Paola from previous seasons only wishes she were. She deserves better than this narcissistic gym rat. 6) Colt the Mama's boy: Here's a true-life story: I was involved with a guy in college whose mother hated me because my parents were divorced. She was also in love with her son. She would hold his face in her hands with me standing right there and say "He's so beautiful I can't believe he's mine!!" I broke up with him when I graduated because I knew his mother would ALWAYS be a problem. For the next six years I looked to find someone who had his good qualities, but had no mother. And damn it if I didn't find one whose mother died when he was 12. Now that has its own baggage (see also: Prince Harry's wild youth) but at least I wasn't competing with someone's mother. Colt has a distinct Norman Bates-y vibe to him. Larissa should run while she still can. And stay out of the shower in that house.

I'll play too. I'm a news junkie too, and like the earlier post, I watch trash TV to escape. My TLC watching started with "Say Yes to the Dress." I started watching this after my husband died because I was meeting so many widows who were bitter at having to live in a world full of couples, and I didn't want that to be me. So I started watching to desensitize myself to people being young and happy and full of promise. (And yeah, it did work.) The problem is that once you start, it's hard to stop. So I started watching the Amish shows. Then I caught the tail end of "Outdaughtered" once and started watching that. Then of course once you start watching "Outdaughtered" the next up is "Unexpected." And then one night there was nothing on so I caught some of a 90DF variant and that was like visual crack for sheer snark value. I draw the line at anything involving the Duggars. I can't stand them.

19-time visitor to Jamaica here (18 with husband, one with family to bury his ashes at sea there). This is NOT a country that you go to with all your best jewelry and lots of money. And yes, Montego Bay is a hell-hole. There is a LOT of gang activity in Jamaica at the moment, much of it about lottery scams. You have to keep your wits about you and you have to not be stupid. Another thing about Jamaica is that a key part of the culture is RESPECT -- often preached more than practiced. You don't ignore the beach vendor trying to sell you something, you say "No thanks." You don't walk the beach alone at night. If you act like a "loose woman" (drinking, dancing suggestively), you are going to be treated like one. In many ways it's still very puritanical there. If you flash a wad of bills, you are going to get robbed, just as you would if you flashed a wad of bills in a low-income neighborhood at home. The idea that you should never leave the resort is bunk, especially if it is one of the large all-inclusives. Most of them are owned by big companies in other countries and they don't screen their employees well. The money made at these resorts (The Riu resorts, Jewel resorts, Secrets resorts, etc.) all goes overseas. There is a certain amount of "guilt by association" that tourists get by staying at these places. I have stayed at all-inclusives owned by Jamaican interests and smaller hotels and have never once had a problem. The closest thing I ever had to a problem was a young American woman I'd chatted with online who met us there and turned out to be a crack addict who sought us out every day begging us for money. Jamaica is a country with a culture of its own. It's not a theme park. The staff at your hotel are not slaves. Treat them with respect (and tip well) and they'll treat you with respect. There are always isolated crimes against tourists everywhere. My cousin was pickpocketed in Paris, a German colleague had her purse stolen in Lisbon. Be smart as you would anywhere.

I've been to Jamaica 19 times, the most recent to bury my husband's ashes there because he really loved it there. We had no children, and the men we would talk to found that tragic. "Planting the seed" was a big deal at the time, and probably still. I never had guys hitting on me because my husband was taller and bigger than most of the guys there (and he bought ganja from them), and many of those trips were before the movie "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" came out. Ever since that movie, the perception is that all American women are looking for "the big bamboo." And there is enough sex tourism that prostitutes and "rastatutes" are rampant now. I still love the place, but I would never go there alone, because as a sixtysomething "fluffy" (Jamaican slang for "fat") widow, I am prime gigolo/hustler target and I just don't want to deal with the hassle. All that said, I do know some American women who live there happily with their Jamaican significant others.

Wow, she was actually really pretty then. Eight years between age 34 and 42 just doesn't cause changes to that degree absent other thing like, say, alcohol and/or smoking. Her plastic surgeon should be sued, s/he turned Darcey into Jocelyn Wildenstein.

I just love this guy. He's ferociously smart, quirky, and seems to grok the social aspect of the game. He's supremely confident for the "nerd"-type. If I were younger I would find him really intriguing and attractive. Great eyes, too. I hope he wins.

Or both. If she's in perimenopause, her clock is probably ticking loudly. It's not unusual even though she has a daughter. As for as worry about end of life stuff, it's something many of us think about. I am a cold-eyed realist, so I know already that in terms of the unpleasant side of elder care, we will ALL be taken care of by strangers. To ask your child to wipe your incontinent ass is the height of selfishness and most people, no matter how close they are to their parents, won't do it. I have a friend who is interviewing "honorary daughters" to try and get this promise. It's unrealistic. Angela is a hospice nurse so she KNOWS what disease and death looks like. She may end up taken care of by a Nigerian man, but it will be a nurse's aide or home health aide, not someone who pretends to be in love with her.

I am another follower of Dan (Peeweetoms) as well as Emily Hayward. These two deaths gutted me as if I knew these people. I thought where Jon lived looked familiar. Now on topic, just three observations: 1) It's POSSIBLE that a skimmer was put on the ATM Michael used. But I think it's equally possible that he stole the money, figuring he wasn't going to throw good money after bad. 2) Being married to a man who quits his job without consulting you is not fun. My husband did it twice; once with nothing else lined up and once because he wanted to go to school. We'd talked about the second one, but hadn't agreed to anything. I didn't have children, and it turned out that my husband had a congenital brain disease that I think over the years resulted in many mini-strokes that affected his executive functioning. To be with someone like this when you have a baby? Giant red flag. It's possible that Jon has had some brain damage from fighting that has made him unable to process the concept of consequences properly. 3) Lucy is the most adorable baby ever. I am not a baby person but every time they show this little Kewpie doll baby I just melt.

The only girls that come first to Darcey are the ones popping out of that white dress.