I have only watched 'Queer Eye' twice, do they always pick guys who have not cleaned their place in years? The dishes in the sink, the trash under the sofa... I have never had guy friends this messy.

It's our natural state, Tiff.

Actually, this is how I think the show works: a guy (or the guy's friends or his girlfriend or his wife) writes in to volunteer for the show. The producers write back saying, "Okay, you're in. We'll be there on October 8th. Do us a favor and even if you're already a messy guy, be a little bit messier during the week or two before we arrive."

Why do I think this? First, the guys are never surprised when the Fab Five arrive. Second, their apartments and houses are unbelieavably messy, but just barely so. It's as if they've allowed their natural messiness to be accentuated.

Still: I saw Nick's apartment when he had no roommates. It put all of the Queer Eye subjects to shame. Maybe those really are their natural messes...

Uh oh I bet Nick hasn't read this yet. You're in trouble! You just love to live dangerously, don't you? The only batchlers house I've ever seen was my husbnds before I married him and it was immaculate!

Contrary to J.D.'s assertion, a state of decrepit messiness is not a natural state for all of us. Half consumed pizza (still in boxes) beneath the couch never graced my apartment, even when I was a law student. Granted I was not a neat freak, but the only area that ever got messy (and still does to this day), is my office/computer area. And even then, this is only stacks of unsorted (but no doubt highly important) papers. Not absolute filth like some of the places on "Queer Eye...", where most men apparently haven't cleaned their bathrooms in years.

Well, of course they're going to pick out the men that have the ickiest wardrobes and apartments/homes...what sort of show would it be if they walked in and said "Well, you're house is cool, your clothes are good.... let’s teach you how to make a Cosmo and call it good!" And for the record….I knew a few girls in college that could compete with some of those men for dirtiest bathroom – so it’s not just men that can live like pigs.

I myself tend to create clutter - on the desk in the office and in the extra counter in the kitchen.

I'm pretty disappointed that I don't get Queer Eye, although I wouldn't necessarily want to get Bravo just for one show. My online gay good buddy recommends it highly, and so do all of the people who have mentioned it on my Trading Spaces group. (Right now, on that group, there's a big fight going on about someone in a post there having asked if a couple of the TS designers are gay, but that's another subject.)

As for bachelors and the states of their abodes, when I started dating Steve, his and his roommate's apartment was incredibly messy. I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned it for them once, but when it was just as messy the next time I came back, I didn't bother doing it again. :-)

When Jd and I were in college, he had an apartment in one of the residence halls. To my utter disgust, he had adopted this ingenious method of "washing" dishes borrowed from the dining hall: Pile dishes in bathtub. Shower while standing over said dishes. Periodically shift/turnover dishes to dislodge food.

Needless to say, he had some drainage issues in that tub. This is the same man who plugged up a college toilet by flushing disposable razor blades down it ("But they're disposable!", he says) and who once stored something like 8 gallons of apple juice under his bed for months until mold set in.

I find it amusing that Jd thinks no one could be as messy as the guys they show on "Queer Eye." All I can say to him is: You've come a long way, baby.

In the six months before Aimee and I achieved nuptially, I lived a bachelor’s life in Englewood, Colorado. Other than the desperate back-breaking lonliness, it was a blissful existence- eating soup right out of the pot, keeping a fairly random schedule, strewing my clothing about in artful disarray, and leaning my bicycle against the wall a few feet from my bed marked the highlights.
When the arrival of the Bride began to draw nigh, I really wished I had made some neat-freak friends (prior to this I just wished I had made some friends, period) of whatever sexual orientation to advise me on the building of The Nest. I was on my own, however, and was really amazed by my real inability to see messes. I could walk through a room dozens of times and not notice an amorphous stain the size of my fist on the wall. When brought to my attention, it was perfectly obvious that this was something that would respond well to cleaning, but otherwise I have to say that biologically, I just wasn’t aware of mess.
I also went on smell patrol. Over the course of months I had, of course, grown quite used to how the place smelled. I definitely wanted to avoid the sight of the Aimster physically recoiling in revulsion upon first opening the door, however, so I would approach the entrance of a room (walking very quietly for some reason), and slowly extend my face until only the front third of my head was in the space. I would then carefully sniff. After a little sniffing I would wrinkle my nose and ask, “Do you smell that?” I was hoping that someone would say, “Yes, it smells like___, it’s probably coming from___.” But, in fact, my question would only echo faintly back at me: “…smell that?”
The Bride eventually arrived, and we moved out three months later.

May I totally change the subject? I just saw (on imdb.com) that the actors have been picked for the Movie of 'Cold Mountain'.
Jude Law .... Inman
Nicole Kidman .... Ada
Renée Zellweger .... Ruby Thewes
Natalie Portman .... Sara
My only reaction is that all of these people are way to 'pretty' to play the charachters that I read. I know that the Elm St Book Clud read the book, any comments?

Tiff, what say we rant about this tomorrow? I'll make it a full-fledged entry...

Hmmmm, Tiffany, I had thought the movie was already made or in process; anyway, I just heard on a TV news show of some nature that it is due out at Christmas time. I'm not real familiar with some of the actors in it, but unless they use a lot of makeup on Nicole Kidman as they did in The Hours, yes, I agree, she is way too pretty. Natalie Portman, too. I felt the same way about The Shipping News while watching it yesterday, after reading it a few days ago. The actors chosen were way too good looking when compared with the descriptions in the book.

Ok - going to make a request, and since I don't know how many of you actually check out "And So It Goes", I'll ask it here so I can get more input.

I have posted a request for good books to read - I have not had time to read much over the last year, and want to start reading again - so let me know some good books that you all have recently enjoyed!

But please go to "And So It Goes" - I don't want to take over J.D.'s blog with my request!

Thanks!

I'd like to know more about the hallucination... What *are* you going to do about me? Heh.