Thanks, Kat. I had vague memories of being in gymnastics class as a kid and standing on the lower bar while holding the upper bar, which I don't think kid-sized me could do on the current setup, but I think that was 1987 or so.

The optional routines, though, even then, had women doing Giants, so the spread was wide. I can remember between 84 and 88 when Giants became a Big Thing people did and we learned them on a single high bar (not with the men's bar, which is much narrower, but with the regular women's bar). I HATED them.

Interesting. I didn't know the men's bar was narrower. And yeah, I saw in a few of the older routines I'm looking at how wide the spread had to be.

Enh. it wouldn't annoy me because I'd be all,

You have not met the Yes But Sara. She is fearsome, stubborn and irritating. And like hell I'd doff the bra I was wearing!

Not the one you are wearing, sara. The ones at home. It would be a long term plan.

I didn't know the men's bar was narrower

I just realized that narrower is the wrong term. I mean a smaller diameter. And, if I remember from years of gymnastics camp (my gym had no men's equipment except for a pommel horse we used to play on and parallel bars for strength training), the men's high bar is more perfectly round.

I only have 4 in rotation!

OK, I think it was them: [link] and I adored them because I am a sucker for Vivaldi's 4 Seasons.

Callista Flockhart looks almost chubby-cheeked in her photo. Maybe not working agrees with her.

Halle still doesn't look interesting with no makeup on, but she's never been a look that draws my eye. And Emma Thompson looks perfectly normal.

Hmm. Maybe I will try dinner after all. All told, since I stopped krav, I've dropped about 30lbs and it's nights like this that are the reason. That and I can easily go a day with too much nausea to eat. I suspect there'll be parental friction here.

Kat, I'd be nearer almost everyone if I moved out that way, true. And I do miss folks. But I don't think I'm ready to move yet.

I've been watching some old gymnastics clips on youtube, and I realized that, in the older clips, you couldn't hear all the thumps on the landings and such. They must have some really sensitive mics there now -- there was one pommel horse routine where I could hear his legs brushing against the side of the horse, and every landing now sounds huge.

Part of the landing thunks could be the sprung floors. It's a pretty distinct hollow sound.

The power of makeup, celebs before and after. Halle is gorgeous anyway you cut it.

Emma Thompson looks fine!

There are some serious botox nightmares there. So much bad skin.

The link to Marilyn before and after makeup was interesting - she looked pretty good without makeup. I wouldn't have expected that.

I picked you up a signed copy, ita.

She read your part, and you know, she captured you really well. I couldn't stop laughing because i could HEAR YOU. It was great.

You'd never seen the no-makeup pictures of her?

I swear, they've got one in every bio!

Most of the makeup-less shots are candids, which are almost always less flattering.

Part of the landing thunks could be the sprung floors. It's a pretty distinct hollow sound.

We're still hearing the landings fairly loudly on things like bars, where they're landing on a mat.