After much worrying and fretting, in the end, I really had nothing to worry about.  To Anonymous Boyfriend and Anonymous Parents:  You were right.  There, I said it.

Anyway, off to celebrate!  I already did my celebration dance to “Eye of the Tiger (Esq.)”  Who knows what the night has in store…

The judge told Britney that she had “put her modern sexuality squarely, and profitably, before the public eye.”

In other words, Britney, you’re a highly paid hooker. Which therefore makes you libel-proof when people talk about how you get down and dirty under the sheets. Or in front of a video camera.

I thought most celebrities had learned a lesson after the Pam-and-Tommy fiasco, but apparently Britney has surprised us yet again with her stunning idiocy. Well played, Britney, well played.

It undoubtedly breaks many twenty-something women’s hearts, as they swooned over Doogie as little girls.

I mean, who can resist a 16-year-old doctor who keeps a journal on a computer that still runs MS-DOS?

Yeah, me either.

Lo and behold, E. Spat has linked me. Thanks, E. Spat!

No more spinach, yay. I was happy to end my thoughts on the matter there. But as CNN kept covering the issue as the main story on CNN.com because there is nothing more newsworthy going on, I got to thinking, “How the hell does e. coli get into spinach to begin with?” And as you know, thinking is a dangerous thing.

Lets run through the possibilities here. First, it has been suggested that the irrigation water was contaminated. Okay, I can buy that. Second, perhaps the fertilizer used in the fields somehow introduced the angry little bacteria into the spinach fields. After all, it is cow poop. Fine, I can deal with that too.

But then I had an epiphany – There are no Porta Potties in the spinach fields. And certainly you can understand the logical inference there. EW.

Please, CNN – Save me. Give me something better to think about so I don’t have to conjecture about what migrant farm workers do in the spinach fields.

Sadly, I will never be able to look at spinach artichoke dip the same way ever again.

I entered “John Mayer” and Pandora created a playlist of great music, including Paul Simon’s “Father and Daughter” and Better Than Ezra’s “Rosealia.” Pretty nifty.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks to Marc for the heads up on it!

I am, however, terrified. Although he is guaranteed to be in school for four years (meaning, they won’t pull him out of school to go overseas), I’m so scared for my little brother. And I’m afraid to see the person who comes home for Thanksgiving; I am afraid they are going to break his beautiful and unique spirit, and turn him into a narrow-minded and obedient yes-man. I am afraid that his college experience will be one that narrows his horizons, rather than broadens them. And I am afraid that he was forced to choose his career at much too young of an age.

He called me the other day to get my street address. Then he told me he’d designated me his beneficiary for his death benefits. Talk about a sobering moment: An 18-year-old forced to ponder his mortality in a very real and concrete way.

I just hope that he is happy with his decision and that the AFA proves to be all he’d hoped it to be.

On the plus side, there is excellent skiing an hour away and his local host family has already said we’re welcome to stay with them. I told him to plan on hitting the slopes with me for a couple of days during the beginning of his Christmas leave. At least he picked a school in a location that I’d definitely visit. If he’d chosen, say, Iowa, he’d be shit outta luck, and so would I.