Happy Now?

Check out this article,"Losing the keys to happiness" from Times columnist Robyn Blumner. She talks about the forces at work in the country that are leading to a nationwide sense of dissatisfaction and unrest.

It's too bad our leader can't read. If he paid attention to more columnists and blogs he might get the hint that he is taking us in the wrong direction.

Gasp!....Art!

I went to the Gasparilla Art Festival with some friends this weekend, and got the chance to meet my favorite living artist, Herbert Hofer. I have run into his wife a few times over the years and have bought a few small reproductions of his work which I absolutely love! But this time, I had to have an original. And as luck would have it, the artist himself was at the fest for a change. I asked if I could meet him, and his wife said "Sure. Herbert! Will you come here and dedicate this painting to this young lady?" And he just stepped out from behind the tent.




He was so friendly. He autographed the picture to me, and even posed for a photo. By the way I have to thank Kim for suggesting it, since I was so overwhelmed I could not even form a rational thought.

I love this painting. Kim calls it "Hugo goes to Paris." One of Hofer's trademarks is the little black cat in the painting. It is one of his wife's, and both she and the cat show up often in his work. I have to admit, the colors and the kitty are the first things that got me to notice his style.

I wish I had had the money to buy out the entire tent, but "Le Paris" is a nice start.

Not a Very e-Harmonious Response

I am normally a very nice person. Tactful, kind, diplomatic, even, dare I say it, sweet. Most people who are over the age of 18, and not subject to my homework assignments like me very much. But eHarmony made me totally lose it last night.

After my recent relationship disaster, I am very anti-romance right now. It's bad enough to have eHarmony's "shiny, happy, wedded couples" commercials taunting me every five minutes during "Will and Grace". So, I thought eHarmony might take the hint, when I identified their oh-so-kind invitation to enjoy 3 months of service for free (that is, if I shelled out about 200 bucks for 12 CDs of Dr. Neil Warren telling me what I doing wrong in my life) as junk mail. But no. I still continued to get an inbox peppered with come-ons. "3 months for 49.95!" "Don't wait to find someone special." "Why go it alone?" Finally, last night I had had it. I emailed the following letter to eHarmony customer service.


Dear eHarmony,

I tried your system, your perfect matching system that connects people based on the deeper things, your wonderful, EXPENSIVE system that helps us find love on the things that truly matter.

First, I got no matches. Then, I got them from guys all over the country who were either, not interested in me, or not interested in me so far away. Then, I got a match in California, a sweet guy, a filmmaker, who conned me along for 4 weeks by email and then phone, into thinking we were a love match. Oh sure, he was a recovering drug addict, and at one time, a bisexual. But lo and behold, he had decided to "commit to women" for a long term relationship, and he said I was perfect, I was wonderful, I was smart, I understood him. He wasn't going to rest until he had flown to Florida to meet me in person. Until, one day he stopped calling, and then I got a terse, ugly email from him about how he just suddenly decided that I wasn't in his best interests. His therapist apparently questioned him about being in a relationship so close to his recovery. And then let us not forget the latest humiliation. You finally hooked me up with a great guy, right here in my own neck of the woods. Smart, funny, warm and kind...or so I thought. Until he dumped me 4 days before Valentine's Day. Because he was impotent, and I was too good for him, or so he said. Well, at least his therapist was on my side, but that didn't matter. I wound up alone, and broken hearted, and crying anyway. By the way, did I mention that the spineless f-ing coward did all this over the phone? And of course, since this one doesn't live 3000 miles away, there is always the eventual thrill of getting to run into him all over town, and, sooner or later, him and his new girlfriend. So forgive me, eHarmony, if I don't want to fork over another 50 dollars and spend another three months or more of my life dog-paddling in your pool of false hopes, only to wind up hurt and humiliated and SINGLE and pitied once again. Unfortunately there is no tax write-off for that kind of bad investment.


Granted, eHarmony isn't exactly hurting for suckers with deep pockets, so I doubt my little tirade will even cause a ripple. But it made me feel better. Don't judge me until you have walked a mile in my bitter bunny slippers.

Goody, Goody

Nancy Giles offered this opinion on the lavish gift bags that the stars invovlved in the Oscars receive.