Today is a bad day.

I had a pretty bad case of insomnia last night. And due to my severe lack of sleep, I'm pretty out of it today. So out of it, that I put on two different shoes this morning and didn't even notice until I got to work. Luckily, they're the exact same style. However, one of them is black and the other is brown. So my crazy is on full display today.

Today is a good day.

Oh, and I almost forgot!

Also released today: Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by my first love, Anderson Cooper.

I am ridiculously excited.

Taking the Long Way

I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

It's finally here! The Dixie Chicks new album is released today. I pre-ordered mine from Amazon so it shipped yesterday. The Chicks seem to be getting a ton of press coverage, as well as being named part of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and heavily featured on last night's season finale of "Medium". And then Jerry Springer spent part of the morning talking about them on his Air America show and urging people to buy the album, since it isn't likely to get played on country radio.

So basically, you need to buy the album.

"I've never owned a refrigerator."

If you were startled by a loud noise last night around 8:55, that was me. Sorry about that. The season finale of "The Office" made me sqeal like a little girl.

And in news about other excellent shows, though not excellent news:

HBO letting the fourth season options for "Deadwood" cast members lapse, freeing the actors from any further obligation to the show, Daily Variety reports. The series has yet to be renewed for a fourth season, raising speculations that it may have reached its final frontier.

Al Swearengen is so going to kick someone's ass for this.

Veronica Mars "Not Pictured"

Sally and Rob must stop reading right now. You do not want to spoil the entirety of “Veronica Mars” season 2 before the DVDs come out.

"Where's your brother?"

"I think he took Ghost World up to his room. They're probably up there making loooove. Or playing Dungeons and Dragons."

Leave it to Beaver.

So I wasn’t completely shocked by how the bus crash went down. It was one of the two people that everybody figured it was. Luckily there were several other seriously unexpected moments in the episode.

Weevil got arrested at graduation! That was actually really sad, and with his Grandma and niece and nephew right in the audience? Lamb is an ass. And then we didn’t see Weevil again. So that’s it? He’s going to just rot in jail? Since when do we care about justice? I really didn’t expect Weevil to figure into the next season since everyone else will be at college. But maybe we’ll get lucky.

Veronica was really raped. That I didn’t expect at all. It was really horrifying. But I think it’s going to end up helping Veronica be more sympathetic next season when she’s investigating the serial rapist at Hearst College.

Aaron got exactly what he deserved. And on Duncan’s orders? That was awesome. If Duncan were to ever come back as a regular, that would throw yet another interesting wrench into the Duncan and Logan friendship. But… where was Kendall when Clarence Wiedman was in the room?

Beaver blew up Woody! That was actually a nice favor he did for everyone in town, and the entire faux tanning industry. I wasn’t really worried that Keith was on the plane as we were to assume. There’s no way this show could go on without Enrico Colantoni. But watching Veronica think Keith was on the plane as it blew up, was heartbreaking. Kristen Bell really deserves that damned Emmy already.

Jackie has a kid? I didn’t see that coming either, but I’m not really sure that I care. Jackie was only minimally interesting as a character. And once she left for “Paris” I ceased to care about her at all. But Poor Wallace. Although now it’s going to make more sense when Veronica ends up going to Hearst. Wallace and Mac are going to need her.

And Mac… poor Mac. Tina Majorino kicks so much ass with just two lines and a bed sheet. Veronica going to find Mac in the hotel suite was one of the best emotional moments of the episode. Excellent performances from both of them, but I thought what really sold it was the fact that Mac wasn’t the only one betrayed by Beaver. He wasn’t what anybody thought he was, including the audience. Tina Majorino must be a regular next season. She can keep doing “Big Love”, just like she’s been doing through this season. It can work, I just know it.

Now I have to confess, as it was getting to the 45 minute mark, I was really worried that we were not going to get nearly enough Logan. But then of course he shows up just in time to save Veronica’s life. I was seriously tense when he coaxed the gun out of her hands by telling her that she’s no killer. I was just sure that he was going to turn it on Beaver himself. And even though it would be somewhat a self defense move, Logan really has enough mental torment.

Loved the scene of Veronica passed out on Logan’s lap, which echoed the scene of him on her lap from the season premiere. And of course, love them together! The few moments we got to see of them as a couple were perfect. I actually believe they can be happy, as long as they don’t let the other stuff get in the way. Other stuff, like Kendall.

So how is it that Kendall and the Fitzpatricks don’t fit in at all? All that time spent on them and they had nothing to do with any of it? Although it looks like Charisma Carpenter has signed on for another season, since she showed up with a briefcase important enough to make Keith stand Veronica up at the airport. Can you believe Beaver left all his money to Kendall? The hell? That probably wasn’t intentional, but what a bizarre development.

Oh, and something occurred to me last night as I was drifting off to sleep. Lamb made Keith get off the plane so Keith wouldn’t be photographed as the one bringing Woody to justice when they landed. So does that mean Lamb was on the plane? Can that be? Lamb is an ass, but his interactions with Veronica and Keith are so great. And do we really want Keith to be Sheriff again?

Oh, and did I mention Beaver jumped off a building?

Okay, that’s everything I can think of. Now, I have to say this. And don’t get me wrong, because I think this show kicks the ass of overrated “Lost” on a regular basis. But, I felt like the season finale was… anti-climactic. Maybe because we didn’t know the bus crash victims that well, the finale lacked the same emotional resonance as finding Lilly’s killer? (Loved seeing Amanda Seyfried last night!) Maybe it was just over-hyped? I know some of the advance word on the finale insisted that it would be making our heads explode. And there was definitely an enormous amount of shocking revelations, but my head remains intact. Maybe it was because the last moments definitely lacked the squee value of last year’s ‘who’s at the door?’ Veronica standing alone in an airport waiting on her dad just doesn’t make me tear out my hair in anticipation of next season. Why didn’t she just get on the plane? He’d either catch the next flight or she’d see him in a week. Either way, my ass would be headed to NYC.

But all of that said, even in a slightly uneven season, this is a far better drama than anything else on TV. (And I can safely say that because "Deadwood” has been on hiatus for a year.)

But, what's in the briefcase?! So okay, maybe I will be tearing my hair out before next season.

On this very day, some 30 years ago...

When I was 16-years-old, I thought my friend Jimmy hung the moon. And for his 18th birthday, I wrote him a poem. A sappy, rhyming poem full of adolescent angst, written on a folded piece of notebook paper, that I tossed at him after Saturday detention.

Jimmy framed the poem and has been known to leave it in plain view. Several times he's introduced me to people who have read it already. Apparently, somewhere in Jimmy's house, my 16-year-old heart is laid bare. He has a souvenir of the melodramatic and burdensome love someone had for him when he was a sweet kid, and I have the humiliation.

You suck Jimmy. Oh, and I love you and Happy Birthday.

Veronica Mars "Happy Go Lucky"

Honestly, I don’t even know what to say. That was the most tense hour of television since… I don’t know. Last year’s season finale?

There was a freaking school shooting before the opening credits!

And Aaron Echolls is not guilty?!

Okay, kudos to Steve Guttenberg for really bringing the creepy this episode. I was actually very scared for Veronica when he caught her on the computer in his house.

Mac just gets more adorable with every episode. And I love that she’s got her sassy red streaks back. She and Beaver were so great tutoring Weevil in Algebra. He got a ‘B’! Can they tutor me next? Next week’s previews show Mac crying and looking scared and I’m really worried that either she or the Beaver will not be making it out of the season finale alive. And considering that “Big Love” got picked up for another season, it wouldn’t be surprising if this show loses one or the both of them. But please keep Mac? Veronica needs a girl friend for college!

So Veronica blew off her last final? I guess that means she’ll automatically lose the Kane scholarship, right? It seems like she could have rescheduled the final if she bothered telling her teacher that she had to attend the court verdict reading for the man who tried to kill her. If she doesn’t lose the Kane scholarship, then I really hope they show her making the decision to go to Hearst College instead of Stanford, rather than just hearing about it in a voiceover in the season premiere.

Next week’s episode looks completely insane. We still need to find out about the bus crash, confirmation that Woody is a freaking pedophile, and proper comeuppance for him and scary Aaron. Looks like Duncan will be back? And we need to know what’s up with Beaver buying up half of Neptune, whatever weird shit is going on with the Mannings, Kendall and her many cons, and Veronica needs to end up with Logan. Oh, and somewhere in all that, there's graduation. That is one tall order for a season finale.

Everybody's got an opinion.

Just today I have been called "demanding" and then "relentless" by two different people. Of the two, I'd have to say, I prefer "demanding". It makes me sound charmingly high maintenance instead of psycho. I've been told there's no such thing as charmingly high maintenance. But I beg to differ. Hello? I'm right here.

perfect presents

Desperate to find me an early birthday gift? Dying to be my new BFF? Or just wishing to get into my good graces for a while? May I suggest this?