For anyone who doesn't know, I DID tell Amy S. that trivia was nerdy. I meant it in the best possible way, and I think there's nothing wrong with that. So don't blame her!

Wait, what am I saying...I take enough heat for my own articles.

On another note, I revised the first 50 pp. of my book some more this evening. If they were, like, pages 200-250, I wouldn't worry so much. But this is the beginning. I think I'm almost done. I see the light!

Unfortunately, with this much writing, I've been bribing myself with a lot of food all month and I'm turning into a pudge. Starting Nov. 1, it's back on the treadmill. (It wouldn't make sense to do it Oct. 31.)

I briefly turned on one of those reality makeover shows tonight, and it never fails that I thought the person was better looking before the makeover. Also, the surgery victims are always married to husbands who say "I like her just the way she is," but somehow these husbands can't talk their beloveds out of dangerous surgery. I know, I know, it's hard when you have such low self-esteem, and I try not to judge, but I think what bothers me most is the message these shows send. Some of those people could use a new haircut, maybe even something changed, but they don't need to be remodeled like clay. So I wrote down these quotes from the show tonight, in which an elementary school teacher got plastic surgery:

WOMAN WHO GOT SURGERY: My mom has never said 'You're beautiful,' and tonight, she whispered in my ear and what she said was, 'You're beatiful.'

(Great, way to go, Mom. Treat your daughter like crap until she goes under the knife.)

NARRATOR (after the woman went back to teaching and one little kid said she looked 'hot'): "A teacher with a lesson...that dreams can come true!"

Yeah, great.

Finally, I conclude with dialogue from "Life as We Know It" on ABC. This is between Ben, a teenager, and the English teacher he's been fooling around with:

BEN: I want to kiss you so bad right now.
TEACHER: Bad-LY.

(It was funny even though there's a Rodney Dangerfield precedent.)