A real bad case of Scrabs.

After years of flirting and the occasional half-hearted hook-up, I am finally fucking the shit out of this game.

Our relationship began when I was a kid and forced to play with various older and smarter family members, and then went on through college, when I'd play with my genius--seriously, he really is a genius--friend Miles, who scored over 300 ever fucking time.

The hot and heavy stuff started only this last week, after I started a Facebook account for the sole purpose of playing Scrabulous, Facebook's online version of Scrabble.

First of all, I started this account with much kicking and screaming. "I already have MySpace," I told a friend, the one who was pushing for me to join Facebook just to play him in this game. "Fuck no," I said.

But then...I joined.

And I looked up like 9 million old friends that aren't on MySpace and creepily checked out all their current photos and profile information and all that sort of stalkerish stuff the internet so awesomely allows.

Only 15 of those 9 million are now my actual Facebook friends. But moving on.

The point is Scrabulous. You can play like 10 games at once. You can get online at the same time as your opponent and just fucking go, or you can take your sweet time and sign on whenever you want. You can use the internet to look up 2-letter words nobody really knows the meaning of.

It's fabulous. Ha! It is so fantabulous (HA!!!) it prompts me to make stupid fucking jokes that only I laugh at! It is so scrabtastical that I am not only posting this blog right this very minute, but also clicking over to a different window just to see if any of my opponents have made a move yet! On a Friday night! All alone.

But this is what this game is good for. People who take shame in their weekend night reclusiveness and seek distraction from it. People who have a lot of work to do but don't want to do any of it. Also, there is a built-in instant messager thing that allows you to put down your opponent as often as you like and without the fear of bodily harm that real-life Scrabble-dissing might warrant. I prefer the old, "I'll kill you," or, if they're going too slow, "Zzzzzz."

I'm all in a tizzy, just typing about it! I'm going to go click "refresh" once or twice or maybe more.

Snow!

It snowed today in Pittsburgh, and I wore one damn cute hodgepodge of a winter outfit. This made me consider winter essentials. What are winter essentials? Where can one find them? How should one go about properly layering such essentials?

Seriously, answer me.

I'm kidding. I'll do the answering here.

Crucial Winter Stuff:

1) Gloves, people. This is crucial if you walk to campus like I do and, say, sometimes talk on your cell phone as you walk, or else stick your hands in a not-as-warm-as-you-would-like coat, and find your poor little paws still chilly. Today, I bought a perfectly toasty pair of gloves at Rite Aid for $9.99. They're bright blue.

2) Hats! Who doesn't love a cute and ridiculously warm winter hat? You can go old-timey, kids-from-A Christmas Story-style (see below), or get a nice wooly beanie. I prefer a red wool hat with a fleece lining that my sister got in Norway. It's so awesome and original, I couldn't find a picture of it anywhere on the internet.

3) A cute coat. This is crucial. You don't want to freeze your titties off. Wool is the best way to go, in my opinion, and preferably with some sort of toasty lining. I got a new black one from Target. Sixty bones. Not the warmest EVER (not a toasty lining, but a silk one, and the wool is some sort of blend, which isn't as warm as I initially hoped). But it is much better than H&M's version, which I wore all last year and now regret. H&M coats are basically a bunch of threadbare cotton strung together with buttons. What a waste.

4) Waterproof boots. Here in P-burgh, it rains. A lot. Biblical type raining. It also snows, as aforementioned. I prefer my Target brand (here I go again--but Target has some really great apparel) rain boots. I have a pair in both black and army green. They make me want to go for a jaunt across some wild England moor. Also, they are wicked cheap.

5) Long underwear. I LIVE in my long underwear whilst lounging in my apartment. Truly can't recommend it enough--comfortable, durable, and warm as shit. I own a North Face brand but I am sure any thermalware will do.

I'd like to include more fun pictures to supplement my crucial winter elements, but, frankly, am too lazy. Also, mid-way through writing this blog I went out and had three beers, and now I'm both lazy and tipsy and tired to boot.