ABay

All of this is reminding me of my favorite Dave Atell line: I don't have to drink to have a good time. I have to drink to stop the voices in my head.

Many shows I loved as a child are unwatchable now, and I've learned from experience not to ruin good memories by trying to revisit them. However, Man from U.N.C.L.E was my first fandom, although I didn't know it at the time because I was practically an infant, and I still find it mostly watchable. I even bought the complete collection in the mini briefcase. Some of the dialogue and attitudes are dated (thank God) but for the most part, I think the stories still work. The gun fights look so artificial now--how can you miss from that close? Why does no one bleed?--and the sets are spartan. There are certainly times I want to slap both Napoleon and Illya (obviously, Napoleon more often. Heh) but I also genuinely like them both. Neither character alone, however, is half as good as the two of them together.

<--- My profile image is an empty sangria glass. I love sangria. Also cider and a few other adult beverages. When I go out, sometimes I order a glass of wine and sometimes not, and have never been cross-examined by anyone when I've opted to stick with water. When I hear other people asked if they want a drink and they say "no, thanks" I don't hear an interrogation, although maybe an offer of pop or iced tea instead of alcohol. However, when the response is "I don't drink", I have heard questions. My guess is that "I don't drink" sounds self-righteous and judgmental to those who do drink and provokes a little hostility where "no, thanks" doesn't. Clearly, YMMV. My own reaction to "I don't drink" is "Really? How do you not die of dehydration?" but I say it in my head.

I didn't mind that they killed Carter, but I did mind that they waited until she'd become interesting to do it instead of doing it in season 1 when every scene she was in ground the story to a halt.

Not picky is just my type! Off to find the AA meetings in my area...

That's even creepier.

ITA, which is why changing up something annoys me.

Oops. I wasn't reacting to "the graduated quarterback" but to the general usage I hear a lot: "graduated high school", without the from where it used to be, and as it is in your paragraph about passive voice. Sorry about the confusion!

It's the missing "from" in current usage that drives me batty. It's graduated FROM high school. Why did people start losing the FROM? And why are we now changing UP things instead of just changing them? How do these things creep into widespread usage? And why does no one ever talk about it?

My eyes! My eyes!

As far as the eye can see! Which isn't very far because of the glare. There's a UFO-shaped restaurant nearby, too (out past the wax museums and hotel with "love tubs"). And to haul this back on topic: Are there diners in the UK? The UFO place is more or less a diner and diners are everywhere in NY/NJ/CT area of the U.S., not so much as you head toward the midwest. They exist but not one every corner like in the NY/NJ/CT area. Let me correct that, not on every corner because most corners have a Dunkin Donuts on them, but diners are everywhere. But DD leads me to question 2: are there donut shops in the U.K., like Dunkin' Donuts and my formerly-beloved Tim Horton's? I haven't been in any part of the UK since the early aughts but I don't recall seeing either of these things.

Clifton Hill is my spiritual home! My tawdry, vulgar, neon spiritual home.

nosleepforme, do you work on a college campus? If so, being socially awkward is the norm and you'll fit right in. jenh526, I've been lucky enough not to have that happen to me personally but there is someone in my workplace who has done that to others. A couple of them left rather than work with her. The ones who stayed used a variety of methods to get her to back off: two confronted her directly on their own, one asked for a meeting with her and the immediate supervisor (with a union rep, mostly to have a witness because both bully and bullied were in the same bargaining unit), one wrote a complaint to HR and cc'd the immediate supervisor and the union, The situation is complicated by the very close relationship between the bully and the supervisor.

I agree about the laziness of always going for the sexual humor. It bothers me on @midnight, as well; when you can predict where the humor's going it's not that funny. Watching Mock the Week (thank you, whoever mentioned it) I love the variety in the humor--the sex jokes are mixed in with wordplay and actual wit. I want some variety.

Sponge candy is local to western New York (Jenny's still my favorite, Alethea's next, lots of people love Fowler's). I've never found it west of Cleveland. It is not the same as honeycomb, which I've had. Sponge candy is spun molasses cubes coated in chocolate. Jenny's is my favorite because they have the thickest chocolate coating and oh my god I need to go visit my family soon. I hope they haven't figured out that I only make the 7 hour drive for the sponge candy, Father Sam's pocket bread, Greaves jam, and trip to my favorite Greek restaurant. Well. Not *only*. Mostly.

This part I completely agree with. There have been actors I have absolutely adored but then they start getting noticed by the press, people I know start obsessing on them, and I'm gone. I don't like to share my fantasy boyfriends.

Ooh, we're onto supermarkets? If you don't know how to use the self-checkout, 5:00 pm on a weekday or after 9 am on a weekend is not the time to learn. Did you think the food was free? Then why do you wait until after the cashier has finished and your bags are packed to finally look for your god damned wallet? And having finally paid, would it kill you to move out of the way while you take your--apparently ample--time to pull out everything in order to replace your wallet in the superspecial wallet space in your purse? If you are bagging your own groceries...pulling out a bunch of bags and then holding each precious purchase up to decide which one to carefully stow it in? No. Arranging the baguette and carrot greens to artfully peek out from the top? No. Put your stuff in the bag and get out of the way. Now, if you are an older (than me) person taking his or her time and counting coins, I'm fine with that. You've lived that long, bless you, you deserve my patience.

The book lost me in 50 pages, but I hung on through the series.

Because if you want to subvert them, you have to interact with them?

A couple of the midseason shows sound a little interesting but this is the least excited I've been for a fall season in years.

My impression is that gravy for red sauce is not only almost solely an Italian-American usage, but also limited to the northeast, especially New Jersey. OK, just when I think I understood pudding v. dessert, I was watching an early series and got all confused again. Basil and Herb are men's names, and basil is an herb (Ba-zil and *H*erb are men's names, and bay-zil is an erb).

Let me know if I'm misinterpreting, but you seem to be saying that "gravy" means any kind of sauce in the U.S. That's not really the case. For most in the U.S., gravy is a specific, thick, brown, meat-based goo. If it's red and goes on pasta, it's not gravy, it's pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce. Similarly, cheese sauce, white wine sauce, pan sauce, and so on are called sauce and never gravy. Google images of gravy and you'll see what I mean.

One of the issues with having multiple guests is creating a seating arrangement that allows them to see each other and the host, and lets the audience see all of them. The traditional couch or row of chairs (a la Carson) means that the guest closest to the host can't see the person on their other side. It did make for some comedy in ye olde dayes but mostly it just makes multiple guest pointless. Multiple guests can be accommodated--both Jon and Stephen did occasionally but usually with people who worked together.

I feel you, bilgistic, since I make a mess of arty things all of the time (do I have NO sense of color?) and feel stupid, but then remember no one's going to see it unless I show it to them. And I'm not. It's the activity, not the outcome, that I enjoy anyway.

Your motor skills are better now, go for it. Use pencils, not crayons. It's like art therapy, I think. Amazon has a large selection of coloring books for adults, some specifically labeled stress relief for adults, some incorporate games, there are all sorts of themes and patterns. Reviews will point you to the preferred colored pencils although you might want to start with the basic Crayola set you can find everywhere.