Muffyn

What bothers me about "secrets revealed" episodes is there are never any secrets revealed. It is additional footage. If they changed the name, I wouldn't mind as much. Yes, I am grammar or in this case content policing. I would prefer if they took this more normal footage and incorporated it into the regular season. Reality shows such as the RH series started as a look into other people's lives. Most people watched for a sense of how others live, what do they do differently, and how do they handle issues I've faced. As the shows have progressed, more and more emphasis has been placed on conflict. These are now modern day soap operas, featuring ridiculous, over-the-top personalities, arguments and strife over nothing. They try to give the impression that normal people would react this way. At least if they wove the more normal interactions into the season, the overall feeling would be one of regular people living their lives.

I have not said it was a deliberate plan for either team. They did not know they would be selecting teams on this day until they were told it was a team challenge. They also didn't know that each person selected would select the next member. And they certainly couldn't have guessed the button bag pull for Candace. I am not saying there was a conspiracy afoot in the selection process. I don't think anyone has. There were just some very odd individual decisions made if looking at this from the perspective that people are trying to win a reality competition.

It was also telling that the bottom three standing on the stage at the end did not include Ashley. Candace was there for her bunched up mess of a dress. Amanda showed her tent of many colors. And Kelly showed a chest binder (I won't call it a bandage top because it was so ill fitting it did nothing but flatten the models breasts, a poorly designed harness and a fugly, super high-waisted mermaid skirt. The work that Laurie, Ashley and Lindsey did was not good. At best they achieved boring. However, they were well above the three bottom looks.

I tried to be careful with my comments. I didn't want to get blocked. Also, the lord laid upon my heart to purpose to cook dinner during the broadcast. I had remembered from last week's service that the big guy had an issue with food. This week we learned that alcohol was his gateway drug to food addiction. Okay, I'm packing a spare 60 lbs. myself. But if they are going to use him as an example of how well the program works, they had better say what he's lost. He does not look like the after photo most people would want to see. If he hadn't claimed he was using the program to help with over eating, I wouldn't think twice about his size. He's just an odd choice for a show pony. We had a hymn about struggling to serve your master, speaker-on-man bondage and teams of people carrying luggage (the best part of which was that they clearly weren't told what to do with it when they took it off stage - so we also had people standing around holding empty suitcases while looking like fools). It's not just a service; it's a performance. I did notice the final speaker upped his game this week. Last week he was a rambling mess that kept kept repeating the same thing. This week he went "deeper". As he told us, to go deeper he had to go "longer". We begged for him to go deeper and longer - he did not disappoint. As long as we don't directly attack them, I think they are so happy for the additional visibility for their program. They feel we will be touched by their words. Someone is going to convert! (The things we'll do for a Smuggar sighting.) I feel it is my jurisdiction to participate in the live stream chat room. I need to know more about bondage.

I should have suspected Merline or as someone later suggested a Merline/Blake combo. It's not the worst word ever but it's rarely used in a complementary fashion. I see it as one of those words we use among our own but give the side eye to others that use it. YMMV. This is one of the best descriptions I've seen of the all women team in action - when given two choices, pick the worst. They shot themselves in the foot so many times it's amazing they could still walk. I live in San Francisco. When Candace first said their girl was going to SF and later was from SF I laughed. We are not a pastels city. In fact, I've had clients from other areas of the country mention how much black I wear. If someone did an all black collection and said SF fashion was their inspiration, I might believe. The purple puke collection - no. I agree. Ashley did not attribute this to her weight. People on this board have brought that up as a reason for both teams to skip her because of the paint ball connection. No one knew she would be a deadly assassin in the world of paint ball. If I ever play, I want her on my team. I have already laid out what I saw as the reason for the order of selection. It was interesting that two people who have won challenges were left to near the end - Edmond and Ashley. This selection process rolled out strangely. The later comments were aimed at the women because they were directed to the way she was being treated during the challenge. So this went beyond the selection process. Ashley did kick ass at paint ball. She did try to participate in the discussions and became frustrated when it became clear her team would not focus on the important items to allow them to move forward. I work in project management. I've seen teams that are that dysfunctional. A good leader would identify the key items to be decided then focus the team discussions to garner solutions. Candace was treated as the ersatz leader. She chose not to take the reins. Laurie didn't say that she heard them specifically say they were going after Ashley. She said it was a sense she had from some comments she heard. If there had been a group discussion it probably would have been shown. In the way she stated this, it seemed more like she had heard snippets of different conversations from which her sense was the team would cal out Ashley if they in the bottom. Even this clueless crew had to have some idea that they could be in the bottom. I can believe that they started thinking about who they would torpedo if asked.

Well, they did pronounce his name like Pole-lock (basically turning his name into an ethnic slur) so I sensed they weren't very familiar with him or his work.

I'll accept that the choice to sit in the living room was made by production. I figure that Kris expected to be told where they would be sitting rather than being given a choice. However, Caitlyn was really rude in the way she directed her to the living room couch. Then again, I have not exactly been impressed with Caitlyn's manners throughout this show. Millennium, it's comments like this that make me love you!

The lectures were very interesting. There was so much talk of bondage and serving the master that it could just as easily have been a BDSM* seminar as a church service. In fact, with the tying up of Joe, it was a BDSM seminar with demonstrations. Even one of the hymns could easily be interpreted as describing a Master/slave relationship. This is some pretty kinky preaching. Maybe it is the perfect place for Josh. Fortunately for us all, the final speaker did decide to go longer and deeper. * bondage discipline sado-masochism

The scene with Carol trying on the dress reminded me of when my friend took the engagement ring off my finger and tried it on without asking me. I was so shocked I didn't stop her. Trying on someone else's wedding dress is really weird unless they are offering it to you to use for your wedding. I get the feeling Bethenny has convinced herself that this is how women normally talk to each other. I can say that my female friends knwo little to nothing about the state of my pubic hair. Neither do my make friends. In fact, unless I am having sex with someone, the topic doesn't come up.

The lord purposed on me to watch the RU broadcast this evening. I met so many new friends who nevertheless felt familiar - Jenna James, J'Aja Smithson, Tracy Lourdes, Faree Ginger. I was blessed to see someone who appeared to be our beloved Josh. When the speaker spoke of "haters" I felt he was speaking directly to Josh to heal his burdened heart. When the final speaker demonstrated the bondage of our sins by tying up one of their members, I felt he was speaking to Josh's bondage to women outside of his sacred union. I can only hope he is healed as so many of us were tonight through this ministry.

Ashley seemed to agree with you. She tried to say they needed to shake off the broken capsules. I think it looked a little like a bright floral pattern. It could have been kind of cute if used correctly. They could have created a vibrant springtime collection. However, when we saw all of their painted material hanging on the rack, it was a disconnected mess of different techniques.

They film once with only the designers attending. That is when they capture the designers making their comments about their and other people's looks. They film again with only the judges, capturing judges looks and now and then comments. The assumption is that this is when the actual judging takes place. They cannot see the designers reactions so they don't have that to clue into who made what. Then they film with everyone in attendance so they can get the wide shots you mentioned. People can make comments at that point and the designers will see the judges reactions. The judges may act out their initial reactions again to help with the filming. When this is edited, they use portions of each runway presentation to make it seem like the designers and judges made all of their comments during the same runway presentation. From a continuity perspective, they need to make sure everyone sits in the same spots and no one changes their makeup, buttons or unbuttons something, fixes their hair, etc. Every now and then during a runway presentation on the show, you'll see a continuity error.

Okay, I am thinking too much about the order in which people were selected for the teams (I should be cleaning the house, so any distraction is welcome). With Blake starting out as the winner, here is the order of the selections. Previous winner Blake – 1 Swapnil – 3 Joseph – 5 Jake – 7 Edmond – 9 Merline Button bag Candace – 2 Amanda – 4 Kelly – 6 Lindsey – 8 Laurie – 10 Ashley For the men plus Merline team, I can certainly see Blake picking Swapnil as he has consistently been in the top, sews well and seems to get along well with others. I can see Swapnil picking Joseph for his sewing skills. While Joseph’s clothes have read older, they have typically been well sewn and he is able to complete things within the time allotted. Those are good skills to have on a team. Joseph picking Jake does seem more like a friendship pick than something strategic. Among the people remaining at that point, there was Ashley who had won twice previously, including one team win and Edmond who has almost always been in the top; the negative for Edmond is he did fail spectacularly on his last team challenge (add some straps around a yellow shower curtain and an ill-fitting bathing suit, yuck!). Jake picked Edmond after Tim made the comment of the “boys” versus the “girls”. So he grabbed the last man standing. Edmond then picks Merline. There are many possible reasons for that pick. Ashley was throwing serious side eye by that time. He may have felt some kinship to a woman of color. Or he may have seen the way she works and thought she would fit in well with the team. They already had many a potential alpha dog; He might have thought that Merline would better fit into the group. For the all women team, Candace could have picked Amanda because she felt sorry for her and thought she could help her or she may have been adding cannon fodder. Of course, typically in this type of team challenge you are going to end up with some cannon fodder no matter what, although the way this selection process rolled out they almost all ended up on this team. Amanda picking Kelly and Kelly picking Lindsey all seem like friendship/who do I think would be fun to work with kinds of choices. They are selecting people who have been in the bottom or at best safe when stronger designers were still available. Lindsey then had a choice of two top performers in Ashley and Edmond, a high middle performer in Laurie and a somewhat up and down (though more down) performer in Merline. She stuck with the girl power idea and took Laurie. She may have thought if Candace did not select Ashley from the start, there must be some good reason for it. Merline has felt like a bit of an outsider all along, although that storyline is not being pushed as strongly now. To my mind, most of the men thought strategically in team selection. Unfortunately most of the women did not, thereby leaving two unbalanced teams. If Candace had truly stepped up like a leader, they could have had a chance, but no one took the reins. Once they destroyed their white fabric, they were pretty much doomed. Maybe they’ll learn for next time to practice a new technique on scraps rather than on their primary material.

I'll check a text when stopped at a red light but if I need to text back, I park. I'm too slow on the keyboard and too verbose. Have had to point out to friends that I can talk hands free but I cannot text hands free so if I'm on my way to meet you and I'm driving, I will not be responding to texts. They can text if they know I am ferrying other people. The attitude that you are lame if you cannot text and drive is really scary. Then again, I live in San Francisco. So often I seeing people on bikes on busy streets texting. It's really cool until you run a light, run into a car, fly through the air and land on your face. I do think that is an effective ad but the drawings could have been better. On rewatch I get that they were growing up. They just look very much the same near the end when they decide to meet. The one waiting does look more like a teenager when he's leaning against the wall waiting for his friend. The evolution wasn't clear enough to me until then.

Ashley gives some great bitch face. She looked like she was going to cut a bitch during the selection. Kelly’s harness top did horrible things to the model’s body. It was so unflattering. Did Candace’s dress have pins in it? It looked like there were either straight pins or white basting stitches in her top. That circus tent that Amanda created was a fugly, poorly made failure. It really bothered me that Heidi had them look at Ashley’s look first as one of the worst. I felt like she was swayed by the mean girls throwing Ashley into the bottom. In the crapfest that was the bottom team, hers was not in the bottom three. Then again, Heidi liked the tent dress. For once I was very glad that Nina was there to push her opinion. Otherwise I think Heidi would have pushed for Ashley to be gone based on the other women selecting her. I think Kelly Osbourne said something because she too was looking through that collection and would not have put Ashley in the bottom three, so it was suspicious when everyone called her out. This episode showed some of the worst behaviors brought out by team challenges.

And then they showed this. And a collective sigh of "Who cares?" echoed throughout the land. I did enjoy Heather giving up on trying to make a point during the reunion. Otherwise, zzzzzzzzzz . . . .

I really need The Intern to open so they will stop showing that damn commercial. And I really hope ot fails miserably. The commercial makes me so freakin' stabby I hurt myself lunging for the remote. From the schmaltzy dialog to Anne Hathaway's saccharine smile, I cannot take it. How much did they pay De Niro to appear in this garbage? Grrr.

I sometimes feel like I am in hell when shopping at Trader Joe's. Does that count? When the lines are really long, I feel like I am slowly moving through Dante's circles of hell. The again, one of our local Target stores is always really warm inside. Maybe that's the true hell. Dammit! Now I'm seeing hell everywhere! What have the Duggars wrought upon me? I sometimes feel like I am in hell when shopping at Trader Joe's. Does that count? When the lines are really long, I feel like I am slowly moving through Dante's circles of hell. The again, one of our local Target stores is always really warm inside. Maybe that's the true hell. Dammit! Now I'm seeing hell everywhere! What have the Duggars wrought upon me?

She is from the south and knows biscuits. I am originally from the northeast and have lived in the Midwest and most of my life in the west. Miraculously I also know biscuits, although not in the biblical sense. I have made biscuits. I have eaten many a biscuit. I have been in the south and had biscuits there. I just don't see biscuit knowledge as such a unique or regional skill set that I should bow down to her great understanding of biscuits, especially after seeing that Taco Bell biscuit taco. Folding a biscuit like product into a taco shape does not make it a taco. From the looks of that thing, I don't think it qualifies as a biscuit either. So, it is a frankenfood and not a good one like a croughnut. It is an abomination! I think her special pronunciation of taco is meant to further the idea that she is so damn southern that Mexican food is unknown to her. After all, all she ever eats is biscuits.

I want to cal out something Readalot is saying in this post and in her initial post regrading taking Ativan. She previously had adverse reactions to medications that are meant to be calming. I know everyone was trying to be helpful by saying that it wouldn't be an issue, but for the 1 in 100,000 person who has a severe adverse reaction, there is always need for concern when given a similar medication, no matter how well it works for the 99,999. When you have these bad reactions, it can be very hard to get the help you need even from medical professionals because of a mistaken belief of if it works this way for me it will work this way for everyone. Fortunately, she did not have a bad reaction to Ativan, but she could have. Also fortunately she has a doctor who listened carefully to her concerns and had her try the med before the MRI so she would know if it would help or hurt. You don't want to be in the MRI when psychosis hits. As has been stated Ativan and like medicines are now most typically given for short term usage only. So, two pills for an MRI, CT scan or colonoscopy. Unless you are a person with an adverse reaction, these drugs relax you and reduce anxiety. For long term usage, there are better, more broad ranging anti-anxiety meds. However, as with all drugs and with these types of drugs more so, people's reactions can differ. That is why doctors often end up prescribing different drugs until they find one that helps that individual. I want to give you all some better understanding of adverse reactions to meds. these are all from my personal experience: Valium that made me severely agitated and potentially violent; negative effects lasted more than 24 hours. It also altered my vision. Once I realized what was happening I basically locked myself into my house for two days until I knew I was okay. Cipro that caused hallucinations and the sense that my arms were not attached to my body/were someone else's. Of course, I let someone else's arms do the dishes. Seemed like a good plan at the time. The ER doc argued that I could not be hallucinating because I was able to speak with him. Not quite sure how hallucinations are supposed to remove the ability to speak. Benadryl keeps me up for at least 18 hours and makes me really edgy. You wouldn't want to chat with me on Benadryl. You would not walk out without wounds. Sudaphed that makes other people alert makes me pass out. My roommates found my well-wrinkled body on the floor of the shower. I'd been in there for at least an hour so I was one big prune with a bloody nose. Extra points to the roommate who found me first for throwing a towel over me before calling in the gang to help. I've never felt more sexy. I'm only mentioning the meds you are likely to be familiar with. I have many an odd story i could share. The key point to this is that some people do have severe adverse reactions and, if the say they do, believe them. The good news for Readalot was she did not have a bad reaction to the test dose, so she's good to go. As with all of you, here's hoping to a good MRI with no problems found.

Bored half to death? Compelled to compulsively wipe kitchen counters? Compelled to sit on kitchen counters? A strange combination of annoying and dull?

Readalot, I used Ativan/Lorazepan for my MRIs two years ago and was successful. I had a fractured cervical vertebrae so I got to enjoy the experience of lying on the hard plastic and having my head in a plastic cage. I made it through without incident. They also kept the room a little cool and kept a fan blowing so I would feel "fresh" air on my face. I need another MRI and failed this time. I was prescribed valium and it messed me up. I became severely agitated and had very violent thoughts that I fortunately did not act on (so close, so very, very close, snotty entitled man in the Whole Foods parking lot). I tried again without drugs and could not do it, but that was partly due to being in extreme pain when put into the head cage and having a really insensitive technician. If the lorazepam makes you tense or agitated, my pharmacist suggested trying something else that makes me sluggish, so muscle relaxers or even benadryl. But if you take the lorazepam, don't add anything to it. Good luck. A little time in a tube is all you need.

Clearly the Random Asian Kid is smarter than the white people in the commercial. They seem to not comprehend that a microwavable eggo breakfast sandwich that was in their freezer can be microwaved even of the toaster is broken. I now want random Asian kid to show up in other commercials, showing clueless people how to do things. Think of all of the clueless husbands he could help. I have mentally changed this to breakfast defectives. I cannot stand how the one woman says taco - Taaaah-Ko. She makes me stabby. And her too damn hip outfit makes her body look out of proportion.

I keep seeing this ad. When I do, I now immediately think, "Hey, there's that random Asian kid." Makes me laugh every time.

I don't have any issues with Terry using maxi pads to collect the blood from the leech wounds. However, the use of duct tape is highly suspect. Duct tape can tear skin and, if left on too long, often has to be removed with solvent to make sure the skin does not come off with the tape. And, of course, this was more camera worthy than if they had regular bandages. That's our Terry! Anything for more camera time.