todd got me a wii fit for my birthday and it is beyond awesome.  i could still feel tuesday's workout on thursday, and it's pretty sweet to feel like exercise is as fun as sitting down to play a video game.  i'm especially enjoying the advanced step class level that i just unlocked, as i am an 80s throwback when it comes to things aerobic (remember the jazzercise years?).

bigtree brightstorm asked me to return in november to create videos for three literature mini-courses.  i'm incredibly excited to be going out to SF again, to continue working with the company, and to get to do lit stuff now.  i feel like i performed fairly well given a subject i wasn't incresibly excited about -the SAT- so imagine what i can do with topics i am actually passionate about!  i'm even having a hand in selection of literature, and right now it looks like catcher, TKAM, and death of a salesman.  hello, literary boner!

zane has a birthday party today for his BFF, and the invitation specified no presents, but asked for donations to the local food bank instead.  it's a wonderful sentiment, but i can't help but to feel for the kids.  no presents?  he's only 10.  i'm not sure at 10 i'd be able to be so virtuous.

i am such a cheesehead. christian the lion makes me cry and cry and cry.

My coworker's son is some kind of yoyo phenom:

Ugh. I feel so slow now.

please watch sara's tribute to playgirl and tip a 40 to the memory of the now-defunct publication.

i'm hard-pressed to convey how intense this week has been.  production in CA - i don't think i have ever worked so hard in my entire life.  but it was so fucking fun…  i'm sitting in my rapidly-emptying greenroom with that pit-in-my-stomach, end of summer-camp feeling.  i will exchange email addresses and promise to write and do so with fervor for a little while, until that newness wears off and this week will stand alone in my memory as one solitary time.  i didn't expect to feel melancholy at this point.

i surprised myself this week - proved to myself a lot about what i can accomplish when i bust my ass.  by october 1, there will be 17 professionally-shot and produced videos of me available on the internet, teaching the writing section of the SAT test.  i worked as the "talent" for silicon valley-funded start-up company, and had a camera crew following me around.  i shot footage on the street, and had onlookers applaud at the end of a take.  it's pretty cool to stand back and marvel that this is my life.

So I'm out of town the next couple of days; on top of that, I have been super busy the last week or so — a trend that will continue for the next 3 weeks or so.

So here are a bunch of links (better late than never) that should have been thrown up days ago. Sorry. And yes, I should be back on track posting someday.

• $490 billion. We have hit a new record with the deficit. This comes as people start to realize we are in some deep trouble: "People in the know like George Soros are saying this is the worst financial crisis since the depression."
• Spoiler alert: Barry Allen is returning as the Flash. If you are a nerd, you've known this for months. If you aren't, you don't know who Barry Allen is anyway. Nor why Geoff Johns writing this "Rebirth" series is frightening. Here is my short take: Barry Allen is pretty much the last (only) superhero that has been killed and not come back. This is a really depressing turn of events, undoing decades of storytelling progress to cater to the whims of fanboys. I mean — Johns is bringing back Krypton in the coming months (by taking Kandor and bringing it up to full size. On Earth.) Anyway, this now will complete the undoing of the original Crisis.
• Lost spoilers from ComicCon. Nothing shocking, really. But still. Spoilers.
• Ludachrist, which I haven't had time to listen to yet. But it's compared to Girl Talk — but better. Which I don't find to be much of a stretch, frankly.
• Randy Pausch has passed away. Worth watching "The Last Lecture" one more time.
• And why you should never talk to the police — even (and especially) when you are innocent.

katy perry is brilliant, but i worry that "i kissed a girl" is overshadowing the genius of "ur so gay" - particularly the video. please, enjoy:

Ur So Gay