Let's compare Kim Kardashian's latest fragrance ad:


With Coco circa 1992 by Jean-Paul Goude with Vanessa Paradis (aka Ms Johnny Deep):

Click the link to see the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmPl-Q5H3qs

For several years now, I've decided *not* to take new year's resolutions. I thought that this year, as it is a year of renewal on so many levels, maybe I could make an exception. More than resolutions, this list contains things that I need to do in order to move on with my life and be a good mother for my daughter.

( Resolution 2010 )

After many months of pain, hurt, disappointment, doubt and worry, we met for a mediation in September that was to be the second-to-last step before the divorce was final. Nearly 5 hours of negociations later, most of it being waiting time on my side, we reached the ultimate compromise.
Our lawyers who were to file the needed documents with the judge and then as a very last step, one of us was to go to court, swear in, declare the marriage irremediably broken. The judge would sign the paper and that was that.
I was hoping that this ordeal will be over by the time my daughter turned 2. Her birthday came and went. So did Thanksgiving. I was bracing myself for the nightmare of having to file taxes together again for 2009.
Last week I received an email letting me know that the case had been dismissed because the paper had not been filed in time. Long story short, the lawyers screwed up and let the deadline go. Never trust a lawyer. I was disappointed to see my case postponed yet again until February 2010. Sigh.
To my surprise, I received a couple of emails earlier this weeks saying that we had actually 14 days to comply and that if we were able to put everything together by then, the case would not need to be dismissed. A few signatures and faxes later, my lawyer's assistant called to set up a time to go see the judge and get this over with.
so yesterday, while most people around here were rushing for last minute Christmas shopping, I drove to downtown (under construction) Seattle to the Country Courthouse. Our session being Ex Parte, we just needed to find a fee chamber and judge to get going. I arrived on time but I started to stress a little when 20 minutes into the waiting there was still no sign of my lawyer and the court was about to close for the day. The longest 30 minutes of my life. She finally showed up and after a little briefing on what was going to happen we entered. The chamber and judge she chose had had 1 case in the whole time I'd be waiting which lasted about 20 seconds. And there we were still sitting, awaiting His Honor to be ready for us.
He finally called my case. I swore in and my lawyer asked me the mandotory question and the judge confirmed that he believed I told the truth (well if he didn't, reading the compailing evidences listed in the papers would have done the job) and started signing paper work. My heart was pounding as I was so happy and relieved this was finally over and behind me. He looked up and asked for the working sheet.

< insert sound of scratched record here >

The darn sheet is nowhere to be found. It is 4pm, the court closes at 4.15. The judge signed some of the papers but would not validate the divorce as long as the working sheet was not transmitted. Damn it!!! I've been stressing for that moment for 2 years. I came to be happy about it and now, NOW a technicallity takes it away from me??? F man!
The judge reassure me saying I would not have to come again blah blah blah but all I can think of is: "it is not over". The judge agrees that as long as any kind of legal representative presents the working sheet, he's happy with that and will sign. It could be a lawyer or a paralegal. The document could even been brought tomorrow, Christmas Eve Day. There's nothing we could do but leave with the note from the clerck confirming my appearance before the judge.
As we exited the judge's chamber, my lawyer confined that she's leaving the state tomorrow morning and she won't be able to bring the paper. Follow a semi-frantic search for another lawyer who has my lawyer on their good side and who would be willing to come on Christams Eve. Starting with my ex's lawyer who offered a week from now. C'm'on! You're killing me here. While my lawyer was thinking out loud about the options, who could, could not, what to do with the paper, a mixture of desappointment and anger washed me from head to toe. How on Earth a lawyer does not bring to court their client WHOLE file, so close to the end????? I have the answer: my lawyer (or rather her stupid assistant who prepared the thing and who's been on my black side all along).
As I drove back home in the beautiful cold winter evening, bird names flew. Lots of them.
Yesterday I *almost* got divorced.

( Of the day I actually got divorced )

Merry Christmas! :)

But where the imitation stops and the plagiarism starts?

Here is one of the current ads from Victoria Secrets mailing



It looks way too close to the Aubade ads series from a few years back, don't you think?




Let's compare:

	Aubade	Victoria Secrets
Laundry list format	Y	Y
Funny tagline	Y	Y
Product	Lingerie	Lingerie

I find the Aubade version supperior not only because they were the first to come up with the idea, but also because they succeeded in producing a tasteful sexy ad, while VS model looks more like a whore.

Sometime in early summer, during one of our regular Skype session, my father expressed his desire to come and visit us. I'm alway looking forward to my dad visiting. We go along really well. He is super easy to sastisfy, very helpful around the house, extremely low maintenance ;)
Getting my mother on board is a totally different story. Of course I would have been (somewhat) happy to have her but I was secretely hoping she would not come. We don't get along that well. She's really hard to satisfy (I don't think she's ever happy) and very high maintenance. The exact oposite of my dad.
Weeks went by and finally I received an email letting me know the details of the trip. My father would come alone.

As soon as he arrived, he started fixing this and cleaning that and building this and helping out etc. All the tiny things I couldn't take care of myself because I'm too short, I would need someone to watch E or simply because I don't know how to do it were done in record times, including cleaning the deck which I really wanted to do be couldn't with E around.
He's been acting like the cook, the papet-sitter, the entertainer and so on.

As soon as he arrived, he also had an agenda. One was to get my house emptied of all Mr Ex's things. The other was to convince me to go back with him or at least to come for Christmas. And I resisted this idea with all my strength. I don't want to go back home, not even for Christmas.
In the past 10 years or so, the atmosphere at home has become less and less breathable for me. It's getting worse every year and will probably only stop with my grand mother passing. It is really really sad to have to admit this and almost come to wishing somebody's passing. My grand mother has been wonderful to me growing up and I love her dearly. Sadly, with great age (she turned 95 this year) she became a tyran and I just cannot stand it. Her behaviour has cause great tension between my parents and my mother and I. Not to mention her unexplicable demands towards me in terms of "owing" other relatives this and that. She was none of these expectations towards any of my 12 cousins. But hear me well, she is not the only one at fault here. My own mother's behaviour is also unbarable.
She has always believed that nothing can be done without her being around. Since she retired, that tendancy was pushed to its extreme. She has always believed that she's the only one who can take care of her mother, even though she has 2 other sisters living near by. The tensions and entenglements of relationships seem to prove her right on the last point at least.
My father and I have never been her main concerns, and with my parents moving close to my grand mother, what could have been just a feeling exploded in a painful reality. I am somewhat protected by the distance. My father on the other hand has to live with it on daily basis. Not only my mother doesn't care for/about him but she will critisize his whereabouts, friends and eventually lack of communication. It's quite ironic that she would pester that she doesn't know where he goes when she NEVER says where she's at. When confronted, she hides behind "her duty" towards her mother and sound like she sacrifices her life but the better good. If she sacrificed anything, it's her own family.
She is also convinced that because my father and I go along so well, we reject her. It's more that she rejects herself as everytime we ask her to do something with us (together or individually) she refuses. Her favorite excuse? She gotta see her mom.
30+ years of this regimen, the last 10 years full blown, have had reason of my patience and understanding. She is my mother and she is my grand mother but it is not enough anymore. There is nothing that would justify that I would bend backwards for them for only receiving criticisms.
So my father spend 6 weeks here. On regular basis (maybe everyday) he wrote emails to my mom. She would sometimes respond but has never shown any interest for what he was telling her. There was not even a comment on the fact that we went to Vancouver and our few little adventures while up there. No. She responded to that email talking about a leak in the roof.
As for phone calls, well during my father's stay, there were a grand total of 2. The first one was my dad calling her, letting her know that he arrived safely. She didn't ask to talk to me. The second one was presumably for my daughter's birthday. She called the day before her birthday, at 8h30pm once the child has been in bed for about 1h already. She didn't even call back on my daughter's actual birthday day nor have I heard from her since.
I'm angry and resentful towards both my grand mother and my mother but mostly my mother. At least my grand mother has the excuse of her age.

For all the reasons above and then some, I declined my father's generous offer to visit at Christmas. And broke my father's heart because due to third parties behaviour, he will not have the joy to see his daughter and grand daughter on a typical family event. Because he will again have to deal with the relatives he dislikes so much.
As much as I'm sad for my dad, I can't stop from felling hugely relieved because I'm not going. And yet, I tend to think of myself as a good person overall. Sure doesn't sound like it right now.

This week I watched President Obama speeches on Health and Education (thank God for CNN.com!)

I found the Health Care reform speech inspired and intelligent, despite the rude interruption from the now infamous Republican congressman. I may not have understood all the implications of the reform but I salute that President Obama is moving forward with his plan, in the hope that, finally, a majority of Americans can have a decent health and medical insurance rather than the other way around.

[On a side note, as I was cleaning up the house with the TV on as a background noise, today's Law&Order topic was, yes you guessed it, health insurance (on lack thereof)]

On the other hand, I found the Education speech quite blah. There were a few vibrant lines but I'm not sure the overall message will really go through to its intended target because it was buried in useless comparisons at times. It must have been relatively boring for the kids to listen to it as President Obama didn't seem as prepared as he was for the Health Care challenge. He hesitated too much and at some crucial moments at that. He obviously had not memorized the names and stories of the kids he wanted to show as examples and that may hurt him.

In both speeches, references to past grand events were made (1930's recession and 1965's creation of Medicare in the Health speech; the Declaration of Independence, the 1st man on the Moon or Google, Facebook and Twitter inventions (all in the last 10 years -- you gotta stay close to your audience) for the Education one). It never hurts to reiterate where we're coming from to better set expectations for the future. I was however amused that during the Education speech, while President Obama was enumerating a series of "dream" or easy-money-making jobs, becoming President was not mentioned, although it was burning the tip of my tongue to say it on his behalf.

In both speeches, references to the great country of the United States of America were made. As much as I found it justified and appropriate during the Health care speech, I found it way overstated in the Education speech. The "do not disappoint us, your parents, your family, your country, but more importantly yourself" line left me puzzled. What does the "country" has to do with anything? You study for yourself, your parents maybe and possibly your family. But your country??? In a society that emphasize so much the positive attitude, the word "disappoint" may have put a lot of pressure on many young students for nothing. This was quite surprising as President Obama made a point to show greatness in people who failed or were set to fail.
Maybe the speech writer should have phrase it differently and go along the lines of "study for yourself, do great things for yourself and you may end up doing great things for your country. And we thank you in advance for it". That would have been in the tone of what came next about what Presidents in 25, 50 or 100 years would say about today's generation's achievements.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy the clarity of each speech, how calm and determined, President Obama was. If only the midget that my country elected could take a few notes, that would be already something.

And the fact that the man is actually pleasant looking was not bad either.

Yesterday, I re-activated my geocaching blog (team_emma ) after creating my own profile on geocaching.com.
I wanted to log my history of findings so I logged them under my new name, using the same date team_emma  actually found the caches -- give or take a couple of days, as my timing was solely based on my blog entry dates.
When alpenglow  and book_fairy  visited, we came up with the Hki-Seattle connection and some of the finds are logged with that name.

Apparently, that disturbed greatly one of the cache owners who accused me to cheating. I'm ok that he questions who I am but accusing before knowing does bug me.

I replied to his email and hope that will settle the matter. The funny thing is that not only most of the finds I logged are now on archived/moved caches (hey! It's been 4 years), and that particular cache was my very first personal find. I have at least 3 witnesses, blog entries and pictures to prove it.

What happened to the legendary trust and open mind European Northeasterners have in the humane race?