Bastet

äfəl Edited to say: On second thought, maybe ôfəl is more accurate; I'm not terribly good with the nuances. Either way, close to "awful," thus the pun. I've heard it with the long O, but that's not how I learned it.

I don't like Tex-Mex (Mexican, yes, please, but Tex-Mex just leaves me disappointed because there's enough similarity in flavors to make me wish I was eating the real deal, rather than letting me just enjoy it for what it is [which, interestingly, I can do with regular Americanized Mexican food]), but have been unavoidably dragged to Chuy's a few time over the years by out-of-town associates, and the jalapeño ranch is a little different from what I make when in the mood (probably from using pickled peppers rather than fresh), but it's quite good and I try to slather it on as much of my food as possible to enjoy the meal (and the too-sweet margaritas). Back to TJ's, a friend who shops there regularly reports it has upped its wine game lately -- still nothing to get excited about, but finally some decent options for passing off low-budget wine as a tasty, moderately-priced offering (e.g. for casual art exhibits and such). True? If so, recommendations? She couldn't remember wineries.

Interesting. I raised that same issue, and the volume of surgeries of which he speaks is one of the reasons why - despite my immense respect for the work he does - I wouldn't opt for his hospital if I had better options; they cut some corners I don't think are huge, but are a factor, and, being fortunate enough to have the means to have options, I'd go elsewhere even if his clinic was local; the differences I've observed are worth paying for, since I can. And, really, masks don't add that much to overhead. At first I was willing to write it off as being akin to when the producers of ER opted, despite the realism they spent a lot of money to integrate into the series, to largely keep the characters unmasked, as it obscured too much of the actors' faces (and thus didn't fully convey the emotion of the scene) -- I figured the unmasked scenes on this show were recreations meant to properly convey the process and emotion of surgical procedures the cameras hadn't caught in real time. But then I realized that was, indeed, real-time footage of surgery, and found it off-putting.

I just watched the second episode of the season; still not missing Chris in the slightest. I'm not a stew fan, so the recipes didn't do anything for me, but I liked the "Worst Gadgets of the Year" segment, especially how thoroughly annoyed Lisa was by that salad dressing mixer. I pretty much always have pesto on hand or can easily make some, since I have basil plants in the backyard, but I remember using the Buitoni many, many years ago and thinking it was decent, so I'm not surprised that was the winner in the taste test.

Honestly, I suspect the writers forgot Mark and David had sisters. We only saw them once - the snowed-in at Christmas episode, when Darlene realizes her family's version of screwed up isn't anywhere near as bad as it could be - and then they're only referenced once more when David says the asshole father has left and taken them with him. I think by the time they'd have been a storyline for either Healy brother coming to terms with his life, those minor characters were completely off the radar.

So would I in theory, but it's public television and thus needs to be available to everyone, not just those of us who can pay for it.

I love that scene between Roseanne and Mark, when she acknowledges that he didn't make Becky do anything; she married him because she wanted to. "But I also know she wants to finish high school, and go to college. And if she doesn't, I'll know that's because of you." That part is sad to watch in hindsight. But I like when he says he's going to take good care of her, and Roseanne knows he will. Then there's the "Goodbye, Becky" that just breaks my heart no matter how many times I see it. Another one that gets to me every time is when Dan finally calls Becky -- Becky's face and voice when she realizes it's him, the way she points to the phone and mouths "It's my dad" to Mark, and then Mark gives her a supportive squeeze. And then the conversation about the windows ("No, this is easy, you just get a hair dryer - I know you know how to use one of those") and Dan agreeing to talk to Mark. It's so touching. And, again, a beautiful moment of forgiveness and healing that is expressed through a normal conversation rather than a tearful speech.

Along those same lines, I love when she and Fred are talking about how they didn't realize they were so different from each other when they got married and she says, "When you think about it, we'd only had that one date ... well, and the baby." And when she tells Bev, "I'm keeping the baby, and if it's a girl, I'm naming it Gidget." The way she says "Gidget" makes it art.

While I love March Madness, I completely agree that it's ridiculous when people assume everyone else does, too, and to try and persuade someone to watch or talk about it when they've just said they're not interested. However, it's not at all unusual for people who did not attend the college whose team they're watching (or any college) or who don't watch NBA games to watch college basketball, especially during the tournament. It's common with football, too - college and pro games, although of the same sport, are really pretty different, and a lot of people enjoy college play, but not professional. And college teams have fans well beyond their alumni base (if they didn't, the sport wouldn't be so profitable).

Oh, thank you, Universe. Based on this, there is just no way I won't love season three as much as I loved the first two, so I am in for a treat. You've given me so little to hang my hat on lately. This won't begin to make up for the grand scheme of things, but this teased season three, especially when accompanied by martinis, will help me survive. Gratefully, Bastet.

I don't wear mascara (or any other make-up), but I have an eyelash curler left over from when I did (about 25 years ago; I can't believe the rubber hasn't rotted) and, since I have long eyelashes, sometimes if I'm feeling really fancy I curl them. The first time I encountered an eyelash curler was at about 12, when my best friend's sister and her friend put make-up on the two of us (which we promptly had to wash off when our moms found us); my eyes started watering like crazy. But I never had any issues once I started wearing make-up, and don't know that I use the curler once every five years, so maybe it was her.

Possibly; that really does make a noticeable difference (to see if Julia Child was right, I once did an experiment with fresh eggs from the couple down the street who raise chickens and grocery store eggs). Since I am pathetic enough to know Steel Magnolias verbatim, Clairee told Ouiser, "You know I love you more than my luggage." I wish I had more affection for my luggage so I could steal that line.

No problem. Calorie count can vary wildly from food to food, so it's not helpful when you go looking for feeding guidelines and just find, "Feed a can per day" or "feed 1/2 cup per day." You checked your cat food's calorie count and found out you're feeding a nice, healthy number of calories per day. Someone on another forum recently did the same thing and found out she was feeding her poor cat about 400 calories per day!

I like that, too. And who knows if the guidance counselor at her school was even any good. She may never have heard anything more than the simple "get good grades and you can go to college" mantra she got at home and a few "Any student planning to apply to college needs to come grab one of these forms" notices at school. Although, come to think of it, she did mention that being active on Student Council would look good on her application, so she was picking up at least some of the things Dan and Roseanne had know way of knowing. It's really so well done. Because at first I just want to bang my head against the wall that this smart, responsible girl has just dropped out of high school to run off and marry her boyfriend, and start grumbling about the myriad better ways they could have written Becky out. But then I have to acknowledge that it was a realistic as hell storyline. She thinks she's not going to college, and never going to see Mark again (and something in her selfish, teenage mind must already be at least vaguely niggling at her that she said something really hurtful to her father, and she has to come back home and face that). So when she tells Mark not to throw this opportunity away to stay in Lanford with her, to take that job in Minneapolis instead, and he asks her to marry him and come with him -- it's no wonder she said yes under the circumstances.

Previous cats of mine have all eaten around 200 calories per day to maintain a healthy weight (which is a typical recommendation), so when I finally got Riley eating, that's how much I fed her. She filled out nicely -- and then kept on going right to, as my mom called it, "pleasantly plump." Oops; it worked for every other cat. So I cut back to about 180 calories, and she's the perfect size.

It's two different things: the flashback in L.A. is when Toby recruited her to the Bartlet campaign (at which point they already knew each other), and the story he tells about NY in the documentary is about when he originally met her. So, not inconsistent; the L.A. flashback tells us they have history together, and the NY story fills a little bit of that in.

I love that pool scene, but had quit watching (or at least quit watching regularly and committing to memory) by the time of the documentary episode when we got the origin of C.J. meeting Toby, so I may be missing something obvious, but how is the pool scene in L.A. inconsistent with the later revelation of Toby having first met her in NY? At the time he comes to recruit her to Bartlet's campaign, they obviously know each other based on prior history, so if there is something that makes the "we met on a NY campaign" story inconsistent, it's not that flashback episode. Interesting; the college roommate I had who'd grown up in a small NH town less than half an hour north of the MA border pronounced it the latter way when we traveled in that area.

For an embarrassingly long time, I had no idea Leaf and Joaquin Phoenix were the same person. I haven't seen him in anything as Joaquin, but, as Leaf, I loved him in Space Camp and Parenthood. Of course, he was, indeed, often on the verge of tears in both those roles.

That's Elle Duncan, not Cree Summer, isn't it? Dawnn Lewis and Darryl M. Bell are in it, too. It's fantastic.

Ugh, the ruination of the Becky/Darlene relationship is probably my least-favorite thing about casting Sarah Chalke (although, as you note, in that baby shower episode things are off even with Lecy, although they are completely back to form in the episode after Dan's heart attack). Despite not liking New Coke Becky compared to Original Recipe, the various other relationships all still make sense to me. The new dynamic between Becky and Darlene, however, is just out there. And, as I've said before, if Darlene's animosity was concern and frustration manifesting as anger - if she was a little disgusted and a little sad that Becky was making choices that pretty much guaranteed she was going to live a life that was less than she wanted and was capable of -- the lashing out would make sense. But there was no hint of that. And Darlene and Becky had always insulted each other based on things that were true (Later, Morticia/See ya, Bubblebutt), so Darlene mocked Becky for being a dork who loved school, and things like that. But by the Chicago era, Darlene is constantly running around calling Becky a dumb bimbo, when, even in Sarah Chalke's hands, she's neither. I think it's something of a perfect storm that ruins the sisters' dynamic -- like with most long-running shows, the characterization was becoming more one-note by this time, they recast Becky with someone who wasn't a good fit, and Sara Gilbert, IMO, became a worse actor as she grew up.

Remember when Darlene snotted off that if she needed birth control, she wouldn't need her mother to get it for her, she could take care of it herself? I guess not. When I re-watched the series, I was stunned by how I came to almost hate Darlene after she moved to Chicago. I hadn't felt that way the first time around (I despised her with every fiber in my being during the episode about Roseanne's tacky-ass baby shower, but that was a one-off), but watching several episodes in a row almost every night made it an entirely different experience -- she's an asshole during those seasons. And not in the amusing, sarcastic way she'd always been.

Well, we have to on this site - the edit function is only available for a week. Which has been source of some consternation, but I have managed to refrain from PMing a moderator to ask, "Can you completely waste a minute of your day to pull up this old post and fix my typo?" Thus far, anyway.

I'm keeping a good thought for Captain. Did they do the PU surgery on him when he was in before?

I love that Becky gets to have her say in that one, and have it somewhat acknowledged that she gets treated like the third parent in that house, which gets taken for granted. When I did a marathon watch of the entire series a couple of years ago, a few things really stood out to me, either for the first time or to an extent I'd never previously realized, watching all the episodes in such a short period of time rather than spread out over years. One of those was how much Becky was expected to do, and how Darlene was never given anywhere near the same number of responsibilities, even once Darlene was older and Becky was gone. I also love the moment early on in the series, when the girls show Dan and Roseanne their report cards. Even before they get distracted by realizing Darlene altered hers, Dan and Roseanne barely acknowledge Becky's straight As ("Aces as always") before getting right back to fawning over Darlene having managed to stay awake long enough to pass. Young little Lecy gets the perfect look on her face in reaction, before high-tailing it upstairs. Part of it is knowing what Darlene did, and that she's going to get busted for it, and just wanting away from the drama, but it's also a sadness that her achievements are expected, and thus not celebrated.

I love everything about that scene. I appreciate that the characters behave horribly at times - they're like people that way - and Becky lashing out is perfect. She's just had the rug pulled out from under her about her college plans, and before she can calm down and look rationally at her options, she gets hit with the prospect of Mark leaving town. Some straight talk from Darlene has made her realize she'd be selfish to let Mark stay for her, so she's off to tell him to take the job in Minneapolis. Standing in that kitchen, she thinks exactly what she says -- she's not going to college, she's never going to see Mark again -- so as frustrating as it is for her to be exclusively focused on her own feelings, and as painfully ugly as it is to see her shout out exactly what Dan is fearing, that he screwed up as a husband and father by trying and failing with the bike shop, it's the perfect set of conditions for it to happen. And it perfectly sets the stage for her to say yes to Mark's proposal, for Dan to feel like it's all his fault yet still be angry, etc. So well done.