Muffyn

Sleep away camp is such a perfect description for RU. A bunch of boys hanging out, talking about their bestie, Jesus, staying up late in their shared bedroom, being watched by former campers. I bet they're drinking "bug juice"; the extra sugar really helps the heroin addicts.

I went through the episode chirons. Nikki lost: Month 2 check in: 63 lbs. lost Month 3 check in (May have actually been month 4. Dr. Now says she has been losing a pound a day): Total weight loss 112 lbs; so she was kicking ass with diet and exercise with the hope of qualifying for surgery Month 6 she has the surgery. Her starting weight is not posted. Month 7: Current weight 528 lbs; weight lost since surgery 8 lbs; total weight loss 122 lbs. Doing the math from here, she lost very little in the month after surgery as compared to the months in which she was working toward qualifying for surgery. Although 8 lbs is certainly a good weight loss in a month. She also had lost very little between the time she qualified for surgery and the surgery taking place. Month 8: Current weight 524 lbs.; weight lost since surgery 12 lbs; total weight lost 126 lbs. Month 9: Current weight 519 lbs.; weight lost since surgery 17 lbs; total weight lost 131 lbs. Nikki sees the therapist and talks to her sister at Thanksgiving. Month 10: Current weight 501 lbs.; weight lost since surgery 35 lbs; total weight lost 149 lbs. So even with it being the holidays, she has a much greater weight loss after seeing the therapist and talking to her sister. She says she feels she is pushing herself harder and doing more. Month 11: Current weight 484 lbs.; weight lost since surgery 52 lbs; total weight lost 166 lbs. Month 12: Current weight 443 lbs.; total weight lost 207 lbs. (I do question based on how she was doing if she lost 41 lbs in a month or if this was more like 6 or 7 weeks between check ins). So her weight loss before surgery was really dramatic, then it slowed considerably. Given how she had a major increase after addressing some of her emotional and family issues, it seems to show that the surgery is a tool to help in major weight loss. There is still a ton of work to do. I think many other people would have been shown getting a talking to from Dr. Now regarding the slower weight loss post surgery. Nikki was edited as an all around positive story so that would have thrown off the story line. So we don't know why exactly her weight loss slowed; we just know that it did and then it picked up again.

An internally affirmative touch? it horrifies me that people follow this man. They have been covering up his acts for years.

I just rolled off one short term contract and am starting another one next week. It's going to be a bit of a rough ride but I need the work. Missy Vixen, if your husband was at MiniFlacid, they are known for doing that. They do not have respect for the knowledge that their contractors hold. When I was there, we would joke that the chair holds the knowledge because they would roll people off with no warning and put a new person in their place without any knowledge transfer. We assumed they were supposed to sit in the chair and absorb the prior person's knowledge. Oh the stories I could tell . . .

America Ferrara was charming. I loved them each making their snack from childhood. They were some nasty concoctions. I liked how she called them out on the music choice also. The double dutch team made me so happy. That is the kind of extras I love on this show. I enjoyed everything from the names to the performance and the team's wonderful enthusiasm. even when they were standing there you could see how excited they were to be on the show. Now I've got to go practice doing a handspring into a double dutch jump rope. As for the sandwich bit, I found the early parts funny and I was happy to see Rupert Gee again. But it went on way too long, shifting from funny to uncomfortable to shut-the-fuck-up-Stephen-and-leave-Rupert-alone. I thought Rupert was going to hand him a platter of sliced tomatoes or a crate of tomatoes. By the end, I would have enjoyed it if Rupert threw a tomato at him.

The only thing I find interesting in this mess is Josh's first defense was that what she was calling battery wasn't battery. The initial call to dismiss the case was based on her claim holding no validity in that the law was not broken and she was not hurt in a way that is illegal (sorry, not writing very clearly today). His motion for dismissal certainly implies he has met her before and that the events described in her case occurred; that is, they had the sex. He states he did not assault her during these events. Then his response is he never met her, never went anywhere she was, did not pay her for anything, la-la-la-la I can't hear you! I know it's legal wrangling. It just seems odd that if he can prove he was not in Pennsylvania when these events occurred, he wouldn't have pulled that out very early, stopping the case from getting this far. What I really hate is this makes me think about someone having sex with Smuggar.

This is one of those instances where there is a really interesting show they could have produced, but they didn't. It would be interesting to hear of the ups and downs people went through after surgery, how the weight loss impacted their relationships, who was able to reach which personal goals (go to school, get a particular job, etc.). By providing almost no new information or only vague information on the people they showed, I wonder if they even bothered to speak to some of them again or if they simply didn't like what they found when they did check in. Even if they had done the show only on Melissa, we could have seen a very interesting program. She had a difficult marriage. She at one point had lost more weight than they wanted her to. She had three kids. From FB, she may now be separated. There is a lot that could be mined there about how her relationship to her body changed, how weight loss doesn't fix a bad marriage, how she is raising her children and if they have a healthy idea of eating, etc. There is also something interesting in the failures. While the thought of more Penny time makes me cringe, seeing her now and understanding how she sabotaged her weight loss is important for people to understand. There are too many people who seem to think the surgery will solve everything. As she well proved, the surgery does nothing if you do everything you can to make it fail. I do wonder how her husband and son are doing. I would also be interested in knowing how Donald, the man with Guillain-Barre syndrome, is doing now. After a coma and a year in recovery, what is he able to do? Is he still living with his family? Has he been able to achieve any of his goals? So, yeah, I join you all in your disappointment in this "special". After seeing it, I understand why they didn't show it a week earlier to try to get more interest in the show. This did not exactly make me want to watch more.

The exterior of my house is being painted. We started months ago. The painter kept flaking and now the rains are here. I am interviewing new painters who will take over the rest of the project because I fear I may kill the original painter if I hear his excuses and attempts to somehow make it my fault again. I have had scaffolding at the front of the house for months. About once a week someone decides to climb it. Grrr. So yes, I am tracking every storm coming through the San Francisco Bay Area. And it's raining. And it's raining. And it's raining. And it's raining. That's why I felt you were in my head. (It's a dark, scary place filled my pop culture references, Duggar snark and song lyrics from the 70s and 80s).

I figured zoomama lives near me and was recounting where we are in the series of storms coming through.

Okay, it doesn't look good. And I know it doesn't look good. But I would watch Ray Liotta in anything. Drea de Matteo is the cherry on the Ray sundae. I'm in.

Duggars in the wild! Shoot them! Take down the big, doughy one!

Things I enjoyed (some for all of the wrong reasons): - When the team breaks in on the teacher having sex with her husband, she rolls off of him and he has a sheet wrapped completely around him. He never moved his free hand. So they were having extra kinky sheet sex. Ooooooh! - The look on Rollins face when Carisi was holding the baby. She looked like a starving dog that just saw an extra meaty bone. - RSL's look when Benson says to the teacher that she was tutoring the students "in the supply closet". - The deflated Santa on the lawn, looking like it was auto-fellating.

Hey now, the Duggars are fine, charitable Christians. After all, the Bible says: Proverbs 19:17 -- One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed. Matthew 25:35 -- 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 1 John 3:17 -- But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? So of course they are charitable to all in need. Oh wait, no, I think I pulled a muscle from laughing so hard. Jim Bob and charitable acts - never the twain shall meet. They seem to have also forgotten: Matthew 6:1-4 -- "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Nikki's brother has cerebral palsy. They seem to have a very positive relationship. Her sister, on the other hand, can go suck eggs. Even in their conversation she was somehow the victim of Nikki's weight. I hope that with more therapy Nikki is able to confront her on her terrible behavior. I was surprised that Nikki is 33. She is so youthful. It was nice to see an intelligent family that simply needed help. I liked her father saying he had trouble determining when he was helping and when he was enabling. Of course, I think we all know where donuts fall on that scale but I can see his confusion at other times. Was Nikki a lot younger than her siblings? I get the sense she was a bit of a surprise late-in-life baby.

I started a topic for the "Moments of Truth" episode. Still watching Nikki.

Hand-picked updates on prior patients. So not-happy to see Gareth and Penny in her toilet bed.

This is the first show where I found myself actively disliking Larry, starting with the "Isn't it funny I can't say M. Night Shyamalan's last name?" It's not funny at all. It's rude. Would Larry feel the same if someone made the same joke about someone of a different ethnicity? Then the whole Bill Clinton cannot be trusted on the road. As marceline said above, the joke is tired, very tired. He just showed a clip of Hillary having to stand up against someone calling Bill a rapist for which he made a school marm joke that seemed pretty sexist. The lead in to the Bill piece was how he is usually under Hillary's watchful eye and she is controlling his behavior. And then, of course, Bill is at a strip club. between the Hillary is a controlling bitch and Bill is a big old horndog, there was nothing of value. Finally, I hope the rest of the interview and panel with Bernie was interesting. The stuff they showed was vapid and a waste of the candidate's time. If they are going to have a guests of Bernie's caliber on the panel, they should use their best in house panelists, Mike and Holly.

Killer Mike for the win! That was excellent. I love the diverse guests that SC brings to late night. While he certainly has plenty of actors, he also has scientists, authors, business people, politicians, etc. It makes for a much more interesting show.

I wouldn't worry about safety as much as I would about being locked in a small plane with Jim Bob's halitosis. That grinning fool would be filling the cabin with his stench. If Josh was along for the ride, you'd have to worry about his "sly" ways. Of course the other risk is you are up for murder charges when you push one or more of the Duggars out of the plane. It's a battle as to whether JB or Mechelle would be the first to get tossed. In the turd filled pool of the Duggars, John David floats to the top. He's still a turd in the bowl.

"Bin, when you're done scrubbing the toilets, I have another job for you," Jim Bob said with a big grin and a twinkle in his (soulless) eye. Even Satan was happy to have Bin rather than JB. JB skeeves him out too.

Jeb?

We have no reason to believe that Derrick has Marfan's syndrome. I was very careful to state that he has the body type only. That alone does not mean that he has the syndrome or any of the other physical characteristics that come with it. I personally try to be very careful about not diagnosing anyone on looks alone. It is a complicated disorder. As far as we know, he does not have Marfan's Syndrome and I have no reason to expect that he does. (I and some of my family members have the syndrome and some of us have the body type, That is why I was knowledgeable about his surgery). The issue with cat litter is Toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that is high risk for pregnant women and people with immune deficiency. The recent issue regarding the drug company executive who bought the patent to what the press referred to as an AIDS drug and raised the price astronomically was actually for a Toxoplasmosis drug. So people undergoing chemo or radiation, those who are pregnant and people with illnesses that lower their immune response should avoid cat feces. The concern is not regarding chemicals in the littler, especially given the great variety of types of litter now available. And, as Loves2Dance stated, there are risks with handling human feces. Many diseases can be passed on through feces. So again people who are immune compromised should be extra careful when changing diapers. It was a shame to see Derrick's mom looking so tired. However I am glad to see she was able to visit them and spend time with her grandson. She seems like a small sea of sanity among the Duggars and Duggar satellites.

Next TLC special: Jim Bob fellating the devil then explaining why it was a godly act while Michelle beams at him and wipes devil spunk off his face. As always, I'll let myself out.

Even thinking about thinking about sex with Smuggar brought back the thought of horrors I have seen in my life. The term horrors reminded me of one of my favorite sections of dialog from Addams Family Values: Because yes, I have seen evil, I have seen horror, I have seen the unholy maggots which feast in the dark recesses of the human soul and yet collectively they are less horrifying than the thought of sex with Smuggar. JT may have brought sexy back. Smuggar made it run far, far away, never to show itself again.

Pintos exploded when hit hard from behind. This was solved by placing a thick piece of plastic on the back of the gas tank. Corvairs were known for flipping over at high speeds or when cornering at moderate to high speeds; i.e., take a freeway exit ramp too fast and enjoy your flight. As to the Liberty Mutual idiots, regardless of what type of car they are driving it would take some serious effort to total another car when backing out of your driveway unless they were speeding and t-boned you. Then again, with how profoundly stupid many of the people in these ads are, maybe they backed out of the garage in a monster truck, hit another car, then revved up the engine and drove over top of it, crushing it in the process. They then jumped out of the truck, chugged a beer, belched loudly and yelled, "Woohoo! Look what I done did!" Of course the driver of the car they crushed probably called their insurance company expecting sympathy and a health diagnosis rather than calling 911 for an ambulance and fire fighters with the jaws of life. And somewhere someone was crying about Brad, poor Brad, that was now a pile of scrap metal.