Five under Five

Sometimes, my Friday Five topics come easily, just popping into my head at some unexpected moment. Other times, not so much. Usually, I'll just be thinking about some small, not-quite-postworthy-in-itself thing I want to write about (like how tired I am of people who don't understand time zones or how half the men on eHarmony think The Da Vinci Code is great literature), and I'll realize I can swiftly find four other somewhat related trivial things that sufficiently fall in the same category.

This week, however, nothing's really coming to me. Or rather, everything that's come to me is either too boring to bother enumerating in list form or doesn't prompt enough additional thoughts to make it up to five. (This is kind of sad, actually, as the whole reason I started doing the lists of five is that I didn't think I could make it to thirteen.)

Anyway, here instead then are five ideas that didn't make it far enough to be a Friday Five.

Note: Why do I have a feeling this is going to be sort of like the "Deleted Scenes" section of a DVD? You know, where you watch a couple and then say, "Yep; there's a reason they deleted that"? If that is the case, I do apologize, and I assure you I will try to come up with a better list next week.

1. Three things that made me smile this week
   


• Realizing that the new flavor of my trademark lip balm smells like Strawberry Shortcake's friend, Raspberry Tart. Yum. (Yum to the smell, I mean. Not to the idea of actually eating poor Raspberry Tart.)
  


• Seeing, on my way to work today, a bright pink sheet of posterboard proudly advertising the "Sale O' Sales." As a general rule, I'm not much for garage sales (thrift sales, yard sales, rummage sales--whatever you call them in your neck of the woods), but if I were to attend a sale today, I assure you it would be that one. I dig a merchant (amateur or otherwise) with a sense of humor.
  


• Walking into Cub Foods yesterday and remembering that it's Honeycrisp season. Whoo! A fruit to get excited about! A fruit for which to wait all year! Apparently I'm not the only one to get behind the Honeycrisp (as if I had any doubt of that). Wikipedia just told me it is, as of this year, the official state fruit. Who even knew there was such a thing? Yay for the Honeycrisp.




2. Two songs that got unexpectedly yet persistently stuck in my head this week
   


• Sisters, Sisters (by Irving Berlin, featured prominently in White Christmas, a movie that has actually always annoyed me, for reasons I can't really explain). I heard this three days ago, during the hit-or-miss morning show on the ever-surprising and unpredictable grab bag that is The Current, and I woke up this morning still singing in my head, "Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister, and lord help the sister who comes between me and my man!"
  


• The theme from Three's Company. Thanks for that, -R-.




3. Three responses I have recently given to the question "What's new?"
   


• "Oh, you know. Same old, same old."
  


• "I'm going to New York next month!!"
  


• "There's a new Shawn Douglas on Days."
  
  Anyone want to guess which is the only one of these to garner any additional questions and any reaction other than an eyebrow raise?
  


4. Three things that annoyed me this week
   


• The fact that it is, as my friend Carrie excitedly proclaimed recently, "Skirt and Boot Season," and yet nobody is selling any damn skirts that I like at all. The gauchos that were everywhere last year have been taken in a bit to become some weird cropped trouser things instead, but I still much prefer a skirt to any damn half-pants. You hear me, designers? Skirts, I say!
  


• Gilmore Girls. Two words: Logan. Christopher. Ugh--enough. I'd say, "You're skatin' on thin ice, Palladinos," but even they've washed their hands of this exhausting mess by now, so someone else is to blame for beating these dead horses at the moment. And yet, I will keep watching. We all know that I will. Crack that whip, Gilmores, you've likely got me until the end.
  


• The news that the Republicans have picked St. Paul as the site of their 2008 National Convention. On the other hand, today's email from the Minnesota DFL did amuse me, with its subject line "The Republicans are coming. The Republicans are coming." As did Al Franken's response to the news on The Daily Show the other night. So I suppose it's all about perspective and the right frame of mind (and about having two years to come up with appropriate pranks to pull in honor of their eventual arrival in my town).




5. One reason you should stop by Look at me today
   


• (Aside from the usual reasons, of course--i.e., that he's smart and witty and nearly always entertaining) Because it's Darren's birthday today. But since probably at least half my site traffic originally came from Darren and/or Nabbalicious in the first place, I suspect you already knew that. Still, it bears repeating since he deserves to have a fabulous day. Happy Birthday, Darren!

And that concludes my Friday less-than-fives. Have a great weekend, everyone!