News You Can Bruise

This sounds like an easy way you could make some good money, if you can get used to fleecing the gullible without feeling guilty, (not, in my experience, a strength of the Richardson/Whitney bloodline, but associated more in my mind with the trickster Calls). It monetizes the skills I said during Christmas you should monetize, but is a whole lot higher margin than making collage crafts. Link via Accordion Guy.

When I added a NewsBruiser statistics gatherer that counts which words you use most frequently in your weblog entries, I did not envision this.

56 pictures from the time of Susana's actual wedding, as well as some LA goofiness.

• The happy couple
• Secret Agent Rachel (possibly the best picture I've ever taken).
• A scene from the "Popeye the Sailor Man" debacle, where instead of writing a song like we usually do, KAL made up style parodies of every band in the world doing Popeye's theme. My favorite was the Dave Matthews Band version where I plunked away on the guitar while Kris rambled "Up, down, and all around, I'm Popeye, the sailor man..." Also: all through college, Kris and I aspired to be as cool as Adam. I think this picture demonstrates that Kris has caught up, while I'm left in the dust.
• My doomed attempt at a photo op to create a surge of populism for my gubernatorial campaign. How was I supposed to know most people don't wear tuxedos all the time?
• Great picture of Sumana. Sumana saw the filename and said "Are you trying to sell these?" She prefers this picture.
• The cake photos weren't going as well as Susanna had hoped, so she took matters into her own hands.
• Jon's mother and Susanna's mother (aka my mother)
• Susanna and Rachel hug.

Will there be rainbows, day after day?

No! There will not be rainbows, day after day! Que sera, sera, my eye!

(Not originally a pop song, but there was a pop version on one of Rachel's CDs, so it is fair game.)

My birthday present to Rachel was an old '30s-ish snap purse, the kind the dame is wearing when she walks into the shamus' office. It's really nice, she likes it, and I got it at a yard sale for $3. Score! I just learned this trick, so pay attention: always be on the lookout for birthday presents for your sisters, so you don't have to go shopping especially for their birthdays and not know what to get.

Rachel disputes my Sherman Oaks Galleria story:

Susanna and I have discussed it, and we don't remember sliding through Sherman Oaks Galleria on our stomaches. She says that the one time she was there, she believes, was when we got picky at "pick a pet" and neither if us remember you being there. I say if you're not careful you'll end up turning into mom in terms of story telling!!!

Maybe I was there without my sisters, or maybe we were all there but only I body-surfed across the floor. Maybe I made up the whole thing for a jacket cover bio and then forgot about it (as, indeed, the people who were going to publish my putative book seem to have).

Update: I am beset upon! In a Senate hearing, my mother testified as follows:

I dispute both your and the girls stories. We got Picky at Fox Hills Mall. The only time I have ever been to the Sherman Oaks Galleria was once when you and I went with Andy and Nancy. You and Andy may well have slid on your stomachs, but I don't remember it.

Yeah, me and Andy. That's the ticket. If Andy disputes the story, I'll still have won (unlike the terrorists), because I'll have re-established contact with Andy.

I got a meta-postcard from Rachel. On the front of the postcard are many pictures of postcards of London attractions. Rachel is quite keen on my coming to visit her. Among her pitches: "You should get a job here so I could come see you all the time!" I'm not sure I want to get a job in England. Maybe I should just go see Rachel over Thanksgiving.

I also got a great birthday card made by Susanna. It has a drawing of a dinosaur and one of a fish being confused by a fishing lure. "Happy being 23!", she says.

Also: today is Rachel's birthday, which she shares with L. Ron Hubbard. Happy birthday, Rachel!

Today is Rachel's birthday. Happy birthday, Rachel. She is 16. I remember being 16. Man, I'm old.

Today is also L. Ron Hubbard's birthday. Funny old thing, life.