I don't know if the two go hand-in-hand but I've been sick since January 5th and there's been snow on the ground, if not falling from the sky, every day since then. I am so tired of the gray: feeling gray, looking outside and seeing gray. Heck, today I'm even clad in gray. Ugh. I think it's about time to go to the Mass Museum of Contemporary Art and see some (to quote the Comtesse's DJ) frickin' color.

Also, tomorrow I start teaching. Usually I begin with back-to-back two-hour lectures. My voice will not stomach that, however, so instead I'm just going to go over the syllabus, teach from the book, and then probably send them home for the week.

Oh, and if the boy is feeling better tomorrow, Monstro's going to take him to an informational seminar about modeling. Heck, he loves attention, loves getting his picture taken, and loves dressing up. Sounds like a win-win-win to me. But only if he's over his cold, of course. I'm not going to get all Jon Benet over it.

…if your two-year-old starts saying the ess word, don't tell him not to, because then he'll say it five more times in a gleeful crescendo. Just FYI.

Anyone who spends as much time reading celebrity blogs as I do must have a comment about the untimely death of Heath Ledger, right? I suppose. I remember resenting the press shoving him down our throats when he starred in “A Knight's Tale,” and I remember truly despising “10 Things I Hate About You.” I remember being stupefyingly underwhelmed by “Brokeback Mountain,” which may have stemmed from its couldn't-have-been-longer-than-10-pages screenplay. Most recently, I remember reading the opening to the upcoming “Batman” movie and relishing how awesome it sounded.

Now? I'm pissed off that the media is saying it's drugs, though we don't know for sure. I'm pissed off at Eonline.com for saying “Brokeback Mountain” was his first and only Academy Award nomination (he could be nominated for “Batman,” I mean, stranger things have happened). I'm pissed off that he's dead and he's eight years younger than I am. And I'm pissed off that President Bush took the opportunity to *cancel* his conference about prescription drug abuse, for fear it would seem “opportunistic” in the face of tragedy, when the man's never ever ever been concerned about being accused of opportunism at any time in his weasely life.

But mostly? I'm sad that Heath Ledger's two-year-old won't get to know her daddy. And I'm deeply concerned about whether he left behind a last will and testament that will shower his daughter with the money he's made, and the money he has yet to make from what is certain to be THE summer blockbuster of 2008.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ledger — but only if you left a will.

Have you seen the toys produced by a company called, folksily enough, “Melissa and Doug”? They're adorable. If they ever test positive for lead, our family is hosed. Our boy has the three-pronged stacking puzzle, a musical-instrument puzzle that sings the first line of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” whenever you place a puzzle piece, and then on Saturday one of our bachelor friends brought over a chunky, creatures-of-the-sea puzzle. Oh, and my father sent us a cobbler's bench for Christmas, because what every two-year-old needs is a wooden mallet. All of their toys are wooden, painted, and so cute you want to put 'em in your china hutch. Highly, highly recommended.

Don't know what week it is, and I missed the last one or two because family was in town and frankly, I'm not super-interested in this season. Anyway, carrying on…

WHY IS RICKY STILL HERE?

The challenge: Make an avant garde look to match the model's hair. Something artistic and conceptual. Man, if I were a model and got flat hair, I'd be pissed. Two models are out, and the designers will work in teams of two.

Christian and Chris are making a dress of 1,000s of circles. Kind of like Christian's Reeses dress? We'll see.

Jillian and Vyctoria will be the team from hell.

Ricky and Kit? I'm scared.

Sweet P and Rami? Huh.

Tim has a special announcement: There's another look walking down the runway: a ready-to-wear look that translates the avant-garde look to the everyday woman. Everyone freaks.

Ugh. Who cares? There's really nobody on the show I care about. They're mostly bitches. The nice ones (Chris and Kit and Sweet P) ain't gonna be making it to the top three, so why bother?

Oh, and Rami's a bully. Moreover, he's a one-note bully. Everything draped, all the time. Bor-ing.

Cut to the end:

Christian wins. Ricky's IN. WHY??? His ready-to-wear dress looked like it cost five bucks at Forever 21. Kit is OUT. Fiasco. What-ever.

Hey, you know that song you always hear at a circus or carnival? The one that goes “DA da da-da-da-da DA da da-ah, DA da da-da-da-da DA da da-ah”? Well, the other night, Monstro commented that Barack Obama is the only person in the world whose name fits the measure of that verse. Always willing to try my hand at irreverent lyrics, here's what I came up with:

Are you voting for Barack Obama?
Yes I'm voting for Barack Obama.
'Cause I'm a Democrat,
and I hate Hillary,
but I'm not a lefty so I won't vote for Ku-cin-ich…

The irony being that I'm not voting for Obama, but anything for a funny song, right?

It's not that I have nothing to say, or that I'm so torn up about Britney I can't hardly type, but that I've got a cough that's hanging on like grim death and it makes me hack so hard my eyes tear. Ugh. Hence blog silence. The good news is, I've heard from my publisher and my book should be in the hands of the public by “early early February.” Woo hoo! It came in at 160 pages and I can't wait to see it! My publisher says “I think it may be perfect!” This is a very nice thing to hear from one's publisher, I assure you.

I'm not being funny or ironic with this request. Pray for Britney. She could really use the support. I feel bad for her.

… is heart-acceleratingly cold.

Fox News has denied Ron Paul from participating in the next Republican candidate debate. New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen is against it, and “calls upon all media organizations planning pre-primary debates or forums for both parties to include all recognized major candidates in their events.”

We'll see if it helps. Fox News: Fair and Balanced? Uh, not exactly. Shock and Awe? Sure… at their audacity.