So I opened my Detroit Free Press today and saw the headline for this article and immediately thought it would be about TAR.

I think I need therapy.

No No, Bart Ender. I think that was a perfectly reasonable response. I had the same one.
rabrab, I am just breaking into the food writing biz. I wrote one cookbook in conjunction with my brother, which will be out in October. It's pretty low rent. Mostly I write technology-related stuff (Don't all stifle a yawn at once now, folks. We don't want to create an air vacuum.) But that's a good idea. I should see what's out there. Hmmmmmm. I really would like to go. I want a TAR Lollipop, by cracky!

ETA: Mmmmmm. Cheesecake.

A few photos from Cafe Nostra taken by myself and TPorter2.

Who do you have to sell it to?

If it's a spouse/partner, I strongly suggest co-opting them. Get them hooked on the show, then bring them along. (Hey, it worked for me.)

If it's anyone else... well, screw 'em. You're a grown-up and you can do take whatever frivolous trips you want to take.

Those are great pictures, Miri! That is a pretty, pretty group of racers.

We are getting more and more sucked into the World of TAR aren't we? I mean, before we used to wring our hands wondering if anyone would show up for TARCons, and now we're meeting half the racers at premiere parties!

Belated congrats on your Jeopardy appearance M. Darcy. You did really well, but that Ken is inhuman.



I gotta admit, she was cute to me at first. But it didn't last long. That probably ended in England, definitely by Portugal.

Bart Ender, I think it's a perfectly normal response too. The headline is pretty accurate, and that other race is soooo less important.

ETA: I'm the same way whereverthefk, but about Erika, not Dennis. I think she was the hottest of the lot, far above the pageant princesses.

And birthdays? You can keep 'em. I'd love it if everyone just forgot about mine. It's really just another day for me.

You know, I didn't care much on Tuesday night, but now I'm starting to get reeeeeeeeally bummed that (HOT!)Dennis got eliminated so early. Cause as of now:

TAR5 = TARs 1 through 4 - (hot boy eye candy and fabulous gays)

Hmmmm...

It is a spouse, a very nice spouse indeed. If I go, he'll be on the hook for looking after our two spawn for the night, unless we all go en masse, something that makes my face twitch to contemplate. He watches the show with me to be polite, but he's not into it. And sadly, he also has an aversion to crowds and noise, so a TARCon would be something to be endured for him, not enjoyed.

I was also really bummed the eye-candy Dennis got eliminated (especially when non-eye-candy Marshall and Lance are still there). Luckily I don't need eye-candy to watch TAR. That's what Big Brother is for. Did you see Drew in his panties/thong last night? If not I have it saved on the DVR. Holy Jesus God Bless America I am in love with that boy. And he has a twin!

No matter what your age, Hildy, you could try putting on a purple outfit and a red hat....

It took me 3 times to figure out that DouginTx wrote "non-eye-candy" because I kept reading "nose-candy" and I'm all, "Is he calling those two coke, or poppers?" I think I need to get my eyes checked & my brain washed out.

I'm the same way suga. I'm at the age now where birthdays depress me so every year I end up playing morbid mind games with myself and others. I purposely don't mention to anyone that it's my birthday because I don't want to be reminded that I'm getting older. Then I sit around feeling depressed because no one remembered it was my birthday. So I purposely wait about a week or so and somehow work something about my birthday into the conversation just so I can see people get all upset that they missed my birthday, which really isn't their fault since I didn't mention it in the first place. Seriously, I'm a freak.

You scare me, Bart Ender. I'm waiting fearfully for the day when my mother finds out about this society....

That purple and red combo is just hideous. I saw a bunch of the Red Hat ladies in the crowd at the Today Show last week, and just cringed at how bad it made them all look. (The unbelievable ugliness of their huge and ostentatious hats didn't help any, either!) Keep quiet, Hildy, around your mother. Keep very quiet.

RachelRSL you're not alone in your sick game--it's a love/hate/masochistic fun time. I play the same thing, except I'll drop a hint a month out, and then a few days after.

I have never heard of this red hat thing. Is it a new New York cult? Anybody? Beuller?

I am the opposite of LovelyRachel and SassySka-- a total and unapologetic birthday WHORE. I start giving warnings about a month in advance, and I nearly always have some kind of gathering (this year? bowling at Bowl-Mor Lanes in the Village-- it was fun as hell.), in addition to whatever gatherings others (with my encouragement) plan for me. My record is 5 full gatherings in 4 timezones in 2000 (1 in LA, 2 in Chicago, where I was living at the time, 1 in NYC and 1 in Dublin).

Now lest you all think that "Birthday WHORE" is just lawyer double-talk for "Greedy-Ass Present WHORE", I should make clear that the attendees of these gatherings are generally encouraged NOT to bring presents (though I do give charitable donation options for those who were raised by Emily Freaking Post, so the thought of attending a party without a gift makes them twitch). I don't need "stuff"-- just lots and lots of attention... WHEEE!! Birthdays ROCK!

Sassy? Sassy!
Whereverthefart has a very healthy outlook on growing old, mostly because she actually is going backwards in time in terms of looks...she looks no where near her actual age of .... lucky wench.

Hee - nice to see I'm not the only one who gives birthday alerts! I start a month or so in advance, too. As long as there is carrot cake involved at some point, I'm a happy camper. The timing of my birthday kind of sucks - it's always Thanksgiving week, and it's hard to get people together for another party plus I always have to work a lot that week. My girlfriends realized recently that we never celebrated my last birthday, so they're taking me out for a faux-birthday celebration next week. I love my girls!

I am with whereverthefk. My friends are mostly older than me too - that helps a lot! I had my birthday party last night and they all chipped in and got me a spa gift certificate - best present ever!

I am somewhere between the two birthday types. I LOVE my birthday but I don't give warnings. I would rather get cards in the mail than presents. I usually plan something fun to do on my birthday or something self empowering. A couple of years ago I cycled 30 km to a friends house who made me dinner. Last year I gathered friends at the beach and we had a bonfire and went skinnydipping. I'm always surprised when friends remember (mainly because I'm really bad at remembering other friends birthdays).

RachelRSL:
I agree, Yup, Sho' Nuff, Uh-huh, Yes, and Sho' Ya Right.

That is EXACTLY what I do. Any other time, I'm out running around being "busy", but on my birthday? I was at home, laying on the floor in my pajamas, playing Jawbreaker on my iPAQ. At 7pm. Alone. Which is exactly what I said would be "just fine with me", but...it sucked a little.

Together with skagirl, we're a little loony.

My mom is in a Red Hat society. I guess there's a poem out there that starts "When I am old I shall were purple and have a red hat blah blah blah old can be fun cakes." (Or something like that). So a bunch of older women get together, wearing purple with a red hat, and do things older women could find fun. My mom's group is a bunch of her teacher friends, if that tells you anything. There was a whole mess of them when I went out to eat with my grandparents recently--at the Old School Amish Buffet run by the family of American Idol contestant Eric Yoder. (My previous comments in his contestant thread about having to vote for him not because of his singing but based on the quality of the fried chicken and blackberry cobbler? Still apply.) The whole red hat thing is kind of like that line from a Randy Travis song, "as long as old women sit and talk about old men..."

Didn't mean to imply you were old enough for one, Hildy, just figured it would be a last-ditch excuse to get to TARCon.

ETA: The one problem with my mom hooking up with the red hats is that it kind of ruins our unspoken mutual arrangement: the fact that I'm not close to getting married and starting a family causes her no grief because it means she can live in plausable deniability that she's old enough to be a grandmother. Even though I'm only in my late twenties, I'm afraid I may start to get a "get married and let those super swimmers go to work" vibe from her.

this poem has spawned the Red Hat Society, which is all about living with verve and gusto after one turns 50. I don't think I need to put on an ugly red hat in order to that, however. With luck, I'll already be doing it.
As for birthdays, I'm in the whereverthefk camp of baroque celebratory tendencies. I throw myself parties, because I'm a Leo and like to have parties that are all about ME. And also, that way I get just exactly what I'd envisioned in the first place. Fortunately, my entire family knows how to celebrate properly, so I don't have to issue too many birthday alerts.

Mmmmm, fried chicken and blackberry cobbler...

The birthdays between 30 and 35 have not been important to me. I usually throw a huge party with my gay boyfriend John who's birthday is about 10 days after mine. We haven't done it in the last 2 years because we haven't been into it. Anyway, my next b-day is the good ole three-five and I want to do something big.

I hate birthdays. I always have. I have a picture of myself at my first birthday where I have, what my grandmother always called, my "constipated birthday face" on.

I love purple and red...hmmm. In fact, I have a red kitchen that opens up into my purple and green dining/living room. I do not, however, have any red hats. Instead, I opt for red shoes.

Count me in on the birthday love. Generally I loathe being the center of attention but for one week a year (why yes I do celebrate a birthday week) I soak up all of the birthday lurve. Turning 30 sucked and I made it hard on myself, thus I celebrated by drinking WAY too many Long Island Iced Teas. However, my birthday this year totally rocked!! I ended up having 4 separate celebrations. Wheeee!


So do I! Well I did until the stupid realtor told me that my townhouse would be easier to sell if I repainted my kitchen a more "neutral" color. Asshat!

I know what all these words mean separately, but put together, I just do not understand...

In other news, Hildy and I would get along just fine.



But do you have a name for your annual celebration of, well, you? Cause it's not an official holiday till you name it. (Besides, if you don't, how will Hallmark make the card?) For example, mine is "The 12 Days of [My Real Name]" (even though it often lasts about a month), and a friend of mine celebrates "Julie Gras".

Finally, to SexySka--



True, dat. Not sure why, exactly, but for some reason, I've looked the same age or younger for about the last 5 years or so. It's a mystery...

*Makes mental note to check attic for aging portraits. Then remembers she lives in a wee attic-less NYC apartment and decides not to look a youthful-appearing gift horse in the mouth.*

And HEE-- "whereverthefart"!

Speaking of TARCon, is there any clue as to what date that might be? Are we talking early September here?

I'm thinking September 21 (13 legs of which legs 12-13 are aired togther for the finale)

That poem was sad and depressing. I plan on just being me, only older. I guess that's why I treat birthdays exactly like whereverthefk only I don't really aim to be the centre of attention. It's just that my birthday is at the end of January when I think everyone needs an excuse to party.

I don't think I wished you a happy birthday PButtercup. Hope it was fabulous, sounds like the best gift.

Have we started planning the TAR-themed birthdays for Rachel, Suga Wuga and Miri yet? We are good at organizing around here, I have noticed. What? Leave you alone? oh, alright.

On that note, I am off to the wilds of Ontario never to be able to catch up on the episode threads again. Have a great two weeks everyone, don't work too hard, it's summer.

Have fun on your vacation Loraxe! And here I thought you already lived in the wilds of Ontario - there's somewhere wilder than Stouffville?

Mr. Blevins has been complaining about how ancient he is since he was about 23. I figure when we actually *are* ancient it'll be such a relief to have the complaints in concert with reality that I won't care that we're ancient. Or something like that.

PButtercup, I had no idea it was your birthday yesterday! And we just saw you, dammit. I will not be able to make it to Paupers tonight, alas. Anyway, happy belated.

I enjoy birthdays, but prefer small dinner parties to big huge parties. Definitely don't like that centre of attention thing in any case. I'm actually amazed I enjoyed the last TARcon as much as I did, because generally that's not the kind of party where I'll have a lot of fun.

Have a great vacation, Loraxe!

Thanks delta888 - but my actual birthday was nearly 2 weeks ago. The party was last night because my best friend's birthday was Tuesday, so we had a combined party.

I love birthdays too, and mine is right after Christmas, which kind of sucks. Of course, because it kinds of sucks my family goes out of their way to try and remember my birthday, which is nice. I have made a habit of buying myself a nice piece of jewellry every year on my birthday, to mark the passing of the years.

I saw on the Cafe Nostra web page that they will be having viewing parties until September 28th. Is that the finale date? Eee!

Ooh, maybe Marshall and Lance have an inside track to the finale date. I would be SO excited if the finale was in fact on 9/28.
If it's the week before I'll have to choose between TARCon and the gala opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. Considering this is the last of the Smithsonian museums opening on the Mall and probably the last time I'll get to wear a ball gown, I'm thinking I'd have to go to that.
If I got to do both then 2004 would be the Best. Year. Ever.

I had no idea anyone else does this. The OH's birthday occasionally falls on SuperBowl Sunday which he has dubbed SuperBowl Sean-day which falls during the week of Seanukkah in the month of Seanuary. We usually appease him by using the titles but he doesn't get 8 days of presents or anything.

I'm not big on huge parties or anything, I like having birthday dinner with my family, especially since I share it with my mom.

I take solace in the fact that my mother will never be in a red hat society. She abhors that kind of thing as well as the younger version, the "Ladies who Lunch" crowd. She doesn't even plan to retire when she reaches that age. She'll be TWoPPing instead I suppose.

Whee! The day after my birthday. Non-stop part-ay!

A 9-28-2004 finale would be cool, but I'm kinda of hoping that it falls on a Saturday (the finale, not the 28th; that was in 2002). Having it in the early part of the week would be tough, but considering how TAR players have to be around (just the Top 3, I believe), things should work out.

Basically A Saturday finale and a Tuesday finale is a detour. With a choice of two days, each with its own pros and cons, it will have an impact on how I'm going to save to go to NYC (boy, I'd so love to travel with/hang out with someone else, because that would rock and save costs). Basically, if it was a Tuesday, it would interfere with the week (especially mine, since I believe I'm supposed to be in town for several reasons), but I wouldn't have to miss any College Football games including the ones I'm attending. On a Saturday, I'm basically free, but I'd be sacrificing my Saturday football schedule, and possibly miss a decent game.

Well, the sooner we all know, the better. At least (for now), there's another TAR finale, destined to surface prior to Christmas.

They don't always air the last two together and if the pizza place is having it's last fling on the 28th it doesn't sound like it will be a double this time unless the show is pre-emptied some Tuesday along the way.

I didn't think of that. I wonder if Marshall and Lance know for sure that the 28th is the finale. It would be nice to know, at least then we could be looking around for airline tickets.

Don't they usually air the last two legs together so they can have their "2 hour finale special"?

It's a whole lot more likely that I could go to a September TARCon than I could a December one--the latter would require vast holes to open up in the space/time/christmas budget continuum. BUT. I have a TWOP friend who is also an old RL friend who might be able to put together a bidness trip around TARCon, thus giving me the perfect excuse to accompany. WHee!
I never actually named my birthday celebrations, but it's a wonderful idea. For my 21st birthday (no, not 12th, we just acted that way), my lovely friends did bake me a cake shaped like a schlong, however. (Dunkin Donuts? Very useful pastry. Just sayin'.)

The way I see it, airing a two-hour finale would require preemption of 9 pm programming (or 11; afterall, Monday Night Football pushes local news to midnight earliest). Also, depending on the debut of TAR6, a 9-21 finish would place the finale as early as December 18 (or December 11, depending on 2-hour finales and the # of teams. I wouldn't even rule out 12/4/04).

Urgh. The bad thing about going back to school (or not ever leaving school, ever) is that midterms get in the way if it's in September. Dangit.

Thanks for the good words everyone. I'm definitely going to be shocked when I get to school, because the population of the university itself is 30 times that of my hometown, while London is 350 times bigger. I'm just a small town girl.

I can totally relate to all the birthday talk. Last year was the first time I ever gave a birthday party for myself because I just always thought everyone would think I was being conceited or fishing for presents or something. Yet I never felt that way when other people invited me to theirs. So I talked to friends and they all agreed that I was being silly about it (yeah, me, neurotic about something...there's a shock), so I held a gathering at a local East Village bar and it was actually a fun way to get different groups of my friends to meet and mingle...I had everyone from TWoPers to a college friend.

But before then, I too would do the game of being hurt no one remembered my birthday when I'd never bring it up for fear that people would think I was fishing for presents. So would never being all "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" make me the anti-Rupert?

What happened to the 12th team? Did they get cut before, during or after TAR5?

My take is that I think they just went back to the original format of 11 teams they used in Seasons 1 and 2 which worked well. 12 teams always seemed too much to me and, other than the non elimination leg problem, there was no real reason to go up to 12 in Season 3. Now with the non-elims carrying the money stripping penality I guess they felt they didn't need to cram that extra team in to get rid of an extra non-elim leg anymore.

I thought the Finale was one hour last summer like it was in Season 1? Am I experiencing short TAR memory loss? Could be. I just remember the 12th leg was so boring last season I wanted to go right into the last leg. Maybe they did and I didn't notice.

But if it was only one hour per week that would mean it is half/half whether it is a two hour or one hour Finale. I mean I know Season 1 was an hour and Season 2 was a double but I'm spacing on 3 and 4. But my guess is that this year it will be one hour because they are doing a BB/TAR buddy up thing and they'd have to pre-emp BB that night for a two hour Finale. I'd love for them to nuke BB period and give us two hour TAR episodes every week but CBS might disagree.

Don't you hate it when your real life interferes with your virtual life? So glad to be catching back up here.

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes, that was very heartwarming. My take on birthdays is that I am glad that my daughter's is the day before mine, so we can concentrate on hers and kinda slide past mine.

dawsnzchck is right, that is me, and I am wearing my Amazing Tubey button, but the catalog said the color was marigold.

I had an amazing time at the party at Cafe Nostra. The food was great, and watching the show with the racers was awseome. The reactions from seeing themselves on TV was half the fun. They were all really nice and seemed happy to pose for pics. I enjoyed meeting fellow TWoPpers miri, yuppielawyer and Paris in Spring.

Thanks to miri for hosting my premiere party pictures at Tarflies.com. Sorry it took so long! I just checked out the Vegas party pics there, and they look great too.