Matt, Pinks, and the Christmas Blues.

I love these two. They are what I value most in this world, which is why it sucks that I can't figure out what the hell to get them for Christmas.

Usually, I'm an exquisite gift giver (remember the wedding present? orange cuff links made from a seat in the orignal Shea Stadium?) but for some reason, this year I suck.

I don't know what it is - it's true, I'm not in the holiday spirit. I don't know why; I"m just not.

Pinkerton is still sans stocking.

We didn't get a real tree this year.

I have lame gifts for Matty.

This is just unacceptable and I need to remedy it ASAP.

Fortunately, I did get Pinks one of the feather toys that she loves, so that's a bit of a consolation. And we did put up the fake tree left over from the 6th and Monroe days and it does look nice. And my gifts aren't super lame; he's going to like them but there's just not one that's a real standout.

I didn't want to do presents this year; instead, I wanted to use the money to buy a new computer but Matt wasn't having it; he wanted to stick to tradition.

Wait a minute, What's La Pointe of It All? I'm a traditionalist, too! That's it - I'm going to turn this around. Starting tomorrow, December 21st, I'm getting into the spirit of the season. Christmas, here I come!

We're Living in a Celebrocracy

Favourite Celebrity Quote no.147 - Marilyn Manson
Originally uploaded by id-iom

Marilyn Manson really hit the nail on the head with the quote in this pic; it's so true - it was one thing when celebrity was contained to New York and LA but now that it virtually permeates everyone's homes via the Internet, is it any wonder it's made its way to the White House?

It's not totally Obama's fault that commoners feel comfortable vying for fame by infiltrating the Rose Garden. After all, by diddling around with Marilyn and Monica, JFK and Clinton did put down the first pavers of our country's road to celebrocracy.

And I've been guilty of following it.

Last night, I tweeted about my love for the Free Credit Report.com band and my tweet was returned. I'm not gonna lie - I felt kinda special.

The other day, I emailed Stephanie Nielson (who in addition to the NieNie Dialgogues, also writes a culinary blog; ya'll know I need help in the kitchen, so I asked her to post some crock pot recipes (that's my speed). If she does, I'll feel ridiculously special.

Why is that? Well, that's La Pointe Of It that I'm trying to figure out.

Marley and Me

Bad Toe
Originally uploaded by Camaro's Hood

No, I'm not talking about the dog book/film (although I did watch part of that film on my way home from Scotland last year and cried my eyes out). I'm talking about Mr. Rasta himself, Bob.

Did you know that Bob Marley injured his toe playing soccer in London? And it got infected? And the infection developed into a cancer? And that he refused to have the toe amputated due to his Rastafarian beliefs? And that it spread to his brain and caused his death?

Yeah, well, I didn't know most of that either until my friend Audrey (who is also Jamaican and whose dreads are way cooler than Bob's_ told me Monday morning at school. I went straight to the phone, called my doctor and made an appointment for today to load up on some drugs.

As a self proclaimed hypochondriac, I had already spent all of Sunday soaking my foot in a concoction of Epson salt, rubbing alcohol, Cortisone cream, peroxide and then bandaging with special British plasters infused with some other anti-infection agent.

The problem was, my toe was already infected (due to me cheaping out and giving myself a pedicure instead of going to the salon; after I accidentally ripped the toenail too short, I really wasn't interested in removing the polish or re-painting: I was in too much pain so I stopped... hence the pictured state).

So, what's La Pointe of It All? It's this - if your toe gets infected and it looks anything like this, get to your doctor immediately and get some antibiotics. Don't do what I normally would've done and try to wait it out. When I showed it to the nurse at my physicians office today, she expressed immediate concern. The infection has already begun to make its way to other parts of my body. My lymph nodes ache in my neck, I have a headache, my joints on the right side of my body are sore, etc.

Thankfully, I'm not stubborn like Bob Marley; I'll live.

Anthropological Therapy

Anthropologie
Originally uploaded by Bella Seven

Yesterday after school, I went to Anthropologie for a little sensory therapy. Lately, I've been feeling kinda blah and stressed to the max; I knew I needed to start my Christmas shopping so I figured I would head somewhere beautiful... plus I had some gift cards!

Within 5 minutes of entering the store, I felt better. For the first time in months, I wasn't full of anxiety. I felt peaceful, happy. The last time I have felt that good was when we were in Idaho (have I told you how much I love Idaho? Have I mentioned that I'm drawn to the West in a way I've only ever been drawn to Scotland?). On one of our days out West, we strolled around Boise and popped into an Anthro store; it was the icing on a cake of a day.

There's a magic to that store that heightens one's senses and restores one's harmony. It's a combination of sights, smells and sounds that one can reach out and touch. It's just lovely.

So, What's La Pointe of It All? Well, it's this: if you're feeling blue or out of sorts, think small. Think immediate: instead of focusing on the big picture, which you can't change in a day, focus on one piece of the puzzle. Immerse yourself in loveliness and use that feeling to take on the rest of the picture.

Another Post About Nie

Painting for Nie
Originally uploaded by mytinystar

Yes, I know - some of you are tired of reading about Stephanie but that's just too bad because I'm far from tired of writing about her.

Jaimee Rose - a reporter for the Arizona Reporter - has been following NieNie's story from its beginning and today's paper has another follow up. I just spent the past hour catching up on the portions of the ongoing article I've missed and wanted to pass the link to those of you interested. (That's it above - the "NieNie's story" bit - I finally figured out how to do this!)

If you look to the right hand side of the page that pops up, you'll see hyperlinks to other articles and even some slideshows with actual voiceover commentary from Stephanie herself.

Some of the information presented in this 5 part series is new to me, ie. wasn't mentioned on the Oprah or the Today Show interviews I've watched, and goes into detail about the crash itself, including some very intimate details of the difficult choice her husband made that day.

I highly recommend this read - Jaimee Rose is a talented writer who has done a brilliant job sorting through what must amount to mounds of interview notes and choosing just the right details to include in this captivating article. The slideshows are a perfect complement to the written words.

Because there is a wealth of genre sources out there on the Nielson's story, including news articles in traditional and popular papers and periodicals, television appearances by the Nielson's family members and by the Neilson's themselves, blog posts by Stephanie, her family members, and strangers like me, and arts-n-crafts created to raise money to offset the families expenses, I feel its the perfect subject for a multi-genre project.

Perhaps I'll model the project's creation step by step for my students as I write it. In the past, I've talked them through the project (the first time I assigned it last year) and used finished projects (one of my own and some of the ones my students created) as models (when I assigned it earlier this year to my Honors students).

Whereas this year's students grasped the multi-genre concept quicker than last year's did, they still had a lot of questions about the approach since it's so new to them. I think that by observing all of the steps I take - from conception to creation - in my multi-genre journey, my students will be able to easily embark on their own journeys and produce more meaningful, authentic works in the end.

The Love of Money

The Love of Money
Originally uploaded by nomm de photo

If you had a substantial savings account, would you use the money to put a down payment on a house or on a new life?

Lately, Matty and I have been bouncing around some plans for our future and last night I asked him that question because it's something that's been on my mind lately. Sadly, like a lot of people in this country, sometimes it seems that we are just living to work so we can make money and buy bigger things.

When I see our combined salaries on paper, I'm shocked: in theory, we make a lot of money compared to how much money the average family makes in America. In actuality, however, because we live in one of the most expensive areas of the country, our combined salary doesn't go very far. We almost emptied our savings when we bought our flat in 2008; for the 12 months that followed, we both worked our asses off and saved enough to pay for our two wedding celebrations in cash and to pay off my credit card debt.

Fortunately, we were able to do just that however needless to say, our savings is in the rebuilding stage once again. But what are we saving for? A another down payment to put on another grossly overpriced home in this ridiculously overpriced state?

Don't get me wrong - I would LOVE to have a larger home (700 sq. ft. is pretty small) but at what price? We could buy a 2 bedroom in Hoboken with outdoor space or a 3 br. home in a town with a train station and shopping, like Ridgewood, but will emptying our bank account decrease the stress in our lives and increase the quality of our lives? Or is our life going to be exactly the same but in a larger space with less money in the bank until we rebuild it again?

So, What's La Pointe of It All? It's this - I really think we should seriously consider using our future savings to put a down payment on a new life instead of a new house. In the long run, I think it's a wiser investment to use it to get out of this rat race and into a lovelier way of living.

Teen Moms

16-pregnant__oPt
Originally uploaded by mrzwaiss

I just found out that MTV is doing a continuation documentary of one of my all time favorites, 16 and Pregnant. It's called Teen Moms and it's going to follow the lives of the girls from the original show to see how their lives have changed since giving birth.

I'm not going to lie - I'm ridiculously excited because I'm obsessed with Catelynn and Ty. I adore that couple and admire their courage (recognizing their own home lives were unstable, they gave their baby up for adoption because they wanted more for their daughter than their own parents had offered them).

If I could adopt those two teens, I would do it tomorrow. If I had their home address, I would send them money. If I have a child, I would be proud if it grew up half as lovely as the two of them.

Teen pregnancy has become an issue in this country because unfortunately, many girls resort to it as a deliberate means to an end. In some communities, pregnancy is a status symbol - for teen and adult women and I think that is so wrong. But I also think it's wrong for adults to judge teens for making bad choices that they themselves continue to make, even though they have the experience to "know better".

There are a lot of adults I know who have become parents for the wrong reasons and who are terrible at parenting their children but because of their status as adults, society excuses most of their behaviors and even goes as far as to accept it as the norm.

You may want to prepare yourself for this next statement: teen pregnancy doesn't ruin the lives of teens or their babies: I know a teen mom I can honestly say is a true role model of mine - seriously, she's one of the BEST mothers I know.

So, What's La Pointe of It All? It's this - Teen pregnancy doesn't ruin lives. What ruins the lives of teens and their babies is a lack of awareness, love, support, education, and compassion - not the pregnancy or the situation. Some teen pregnancies can actually increase the quality of a teen's life. It all depends on the teen and the situation. I look forward to seeing how Catelynn and Tyler are doing and I am proud of the choices they've made and know that someday, they will be great parents.