Happy Pancake Tuesday!

Or...Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or just plain ol' Tuesday...depending on who or where you are. I usually prefer to do the New Orleans tradition of gumbo, king cake and too much liquor. This year, my son and I stuck to the Anglican tradition and had pancakes! We also had eggs and bacon and just the right amount of red wine (well I did anyways). Fortunately, my church fully endorses both traditions. Next, dessert! I intend to have a big ol' bowl of Shake's...for tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.

Since I became a confirmed Episcopalian several years ago, I have been really good about doing the whole Lent thing. Party it up on Tuesday, fast all day Wednesday, get the ashes on my forehead and give up something till Easter...the whole bit. So, tomorrow it is going to be just toast in the morning and juice and water throughout the day until after sunset. I really appreciate the lesson of Ash Wednesday. Fasting for a day is hardly that great of a sacrifice in the grand scheme of things but by the time that evening service rolls around...I feel like I'm starving! Since my general disposition tends to lean more towards the hedonistic than monk-like austerity, I'll try my best to appreciate my blessings and realize that there are many out there that are truly starving, truly suffering. I also find the Ash Wednesday service to be very poignant, especially when fasting. It's powerfully humbling to have your priest look you in your eyes, smudge ashes on your forehead and tell you "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

So, the purpose of this whole entry...I'm giving up cussing and complaining for Lent. Now that it's out there in cyber space I REALLY feel obligated to keep my Lenten Discipline, y'all will all know when I break it! So, you may be asking yourself, what in the world will I have to talk about if I can't cuss or complain...I'm not sure myself. I guess we are about to find out! For the most part my conversations are only mildly peppered with colorful language, and only then in casual settings..I don't think I have offended too many folks. But, this is what my son requested I give up for Lent. He doesn't think it's fair that he would get in trouble for saying some of the things he has occasionally overheard me say, ah hmm. So, I'm doing that for him and because I never want to be labeled a hypocrite. The complaining I am giving up for myself. I'm gonna get real cheesy and quote ya some Maya Angelou, but it pretty much sums up my goal for Lent..."If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." So, yeah...we'll see how that goes. Let's hope I don't explode sometime before spring break.

I bet she got the lice...

Just when you thought Britney Spears couldn't get any more white-trash...

"Yawl, let's awl shave our heads bawld and get tat-tooed!"

The Strangest News Week Ever

Man, this week had a little something for everyone.

The state wide drama has been the throw-down between Arkansas head football coach and the infamous sports columnist Wally Hall. You can listen to Nutt's call-in to "The Buzz"... here.
Read what ESPN has to say...here. Check out what the entire state is saying on the most excellent Arkansas Times blog...here.


Perhaps, the off-season Razorback football soap opera ain't exactly your thang. How about the tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith which has spiraled deep into the abysmal? There's enough controversy surrounding her death to supply All My Children with an entire year worth of plot twists and turns. Who's the baby daddy? Someone needs to get Montel on the case. Is it her attorney/pseudo-husband? Her boyfriend? Zsa Zsa's husband/Prince who long ago proclaimed himself impotent in a Viagra lawsuit? Or, perhaps the frozen sperm of her deceased octogenarian husband? How fortuitous the Popsicle Pop would turn out to be. At least that would finally settle the long battle of his inheritance. Lordy, I think I need a bar graph or pie chart to keep this straight.


So, maybe Hollywood's sensationalizing and shameless milking of the death of a young woman and the ensuing turmoil surrounding her infant daughter doesn't float your boat...how about a female astronaut, a love triangle and adult diapers???

There's even more drama than usual in soccer news. Italy, the World Cup winners, are having a hard time after fan violence resulted in the death of a policeman. But that's not all, folks...QPR couldn't avoid a brawl during a game with the Chinese...WTF???

Off course, there are plenty of folks out there decrying all this attention to the sensational...for instance...here and here. But still, isn't there a war going on? Aren't there folks announcing their candidacy for the Presidency? Don't even get me started on that...I don't want to hear jack about what you are going to do in two years if you win...I want to know what the f*ck you are going to do NOW! Or did I miss something, weren't you already elected to do a job??? I'm talking to you, Hilary and Barack! Tell ya what, when the election rolls around...I'm voting for whoever shows me something more than a campaign...so GET BUSY!

So, that's it...just me propagating the smokescreen until we see something REAL.

Because, who doesn't enjoy making fun of strangers?

He Looks Like...

Looks like it's been a while since they updated their site...but, with insightful comments like these I just couldn't resist sharing.

"He looks like the best years of his life were spent as a roadie for Lynard Skynard, when rock n' roll was his soul, whiskey was his blood and the opening chords of "Freebird" made his testicles shudder with pure sappy sentiment."

"Alton drives around town in a brown 1990 Datsun hatchback covered in hundreds of bumper stickers."

"He looks like Pablo, an attendee at Ricky Martin's Learning Annex Workshop, "Advanced Techniques for the Pleasing of the Ladies.""

Good stuff.