So, uh, what about the paparazzi that hide at the end of people's driveways and then follow them around whenever they leave the house? Or the ones who go out in boats and helicopters so they can snap pictures of people on their own property? Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

Betty Friedan died.

Whoa! I didn't know she was ill! (I also didn't realize she was 85.)

May fish everywhere attempt to ride bicycles in her honor.

Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

That was the Oog part in my chocolate pudding metaphor.

Are the celebrities just asking for that too?

Sometimes, sure. If it ups your asking price? If it ups your visibility and your desirability? If your publicist leaks that you're at your Malibu house instead of your condo in town or that you're sailing off of Catalina on X day? Sometimes its a worthy trade off. Sometimes the "being upset" is a big fat act.

Lots of celebrities aren't hounded like that. What makes them different? Is it just luck or do they cultivate a different relationship with the public and press?

Lots of celebrities aren't hounded like that. What makes them different? Is it just luck or do they cultivate a different relationship with the public and press?

I have a theory that may or may not be valid: maybe a lot of the ones who don't get hounded might have a "do not feed the energy creature" attitude towards that sort of publicity. They ignore it, and since they don't raise a fuss, the paparazzi eventually leave them alone in favor of the ones who'll be entertainingly ballistic about having their privacy invaded.

The thing is, almost all celebrities court fame and attention. It's part of the job of making yourself marketable and selling your movie/TV/workout video. It's fine when they can control it. But with a lot of really big celebrities it gets out of their control, and it becomes a love/hate relationship when suddenly their whole life is under scrutiny. But some fear the attention leaving them as much as they hate the intrusion. I think it's hard to tell where the line is sometimes. Maybe it's all manufactured.

During the height of the TomKat insanity, there was footage of them arriving at a restaurant and being mobbed by papparazzi. Tom Cruise says, "How did you find us?" and you hear one of the papparazzos say "Your publicist called us."

My taxes are done! OK, still in pencil, so I can double check I put the right numbers in the right boxes later when I'm not hating the oh-so-tiny boxes, but DONE. And I think the state owes me money this time. But I have to double check that since their instructions are so weird that twice I've swapped numbers and gotten a stern letter demanding money a few months later.

Rugs are vacuumed.

Bras were purchased. Since for once they had my style and size, it wasn't an exercise in tears. However, stupidly expensive. $100 total anyone? Ahrg. And they only last about 9 months in rotation, before they start losing their structural integrity. Sigh.

Decided I didn't feel like grocery shopping along with all the superbowl people and the stupid nonstop rain. But that has to happen tomorrow, since I have to make cookies for work. I don't want to. But I will.

Grocery shopping tomorrow evening will be the sweetest thing ever.

I have achieved a shredder! I know what I'm doing tonight! Man, my life is teh lame.

Betty Friedan died.

Whoa! I didn't know she was ill! (I also didn't realize she was 85.)

Truthfully, I didn't realize she was still alive. But I will light a candle tonight in her memory. I take the shape of my life for granted -- a single woman supporting herself at the age of almost 35, essentially assuming that whatever I want to do, I can -- and it's her work that made such a large contribution toward making the world a place in which I can have that life.

Also, I still have the right to decide what I do with my uterus, and, again, she made a large contribution toward getting the country to a place that allows that. For now. And that, too, is something I take for granted.

$100 total anyone? Ahrg. And they only last about 9 months in rotation, before they start losing their structural integrity. Sigh.

Ouch. That is dear.

I don't have input on celebrity ins and outs. Yet. I'm still waiting for my big break. OK, not really.

I'm watching H:Lots "Gas Man" and am ensconced on the couch for a quiet DVD and web filled Saturday evening. There will be no tax work involved.