Obligatory MTV Video Music Awards Post (100% Britney-Free!)

If I end up coming in late for work today, please do go ahead and blame these videos! (All footage from MTV.com)

Rihanna f. Fall Out Boy - "Shut Up and Drive" (my favorite R&B song of the year backed by the band of the moment! Plus Patrick Stump action! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!)

Kanye West, "Stronger" (would've been better if he'd had Daft Punk with him)

That said, I still can't wait for the rest of the VMAs to get blogged to death...

Obsessions for This Month

The Meimei, she is homebound and sick again - brought down by a final project, stress at work, and a viral infection that Won't Go Away (though it has been downgraded to "common cold/ stress-induced asthma" at the last visit to the doctor). That doesn't mean I have a few things occupying my time while I'm home lounging in my pajamas...

- A $7 cotton top I got from Ross (Empire waisted but low cut, so I need to wear it with a cami underneath) and a V-neck tee from Nordstrom Rack that cost me... dun dun dun... all of $0.01, due to an unexpected computer glitch that everyone else let pass while I was there. Whee!

- The blind item section on Crazy Days and Nights. I could not care less about "Timmy," but I like how some of the more current-day ones actually have some pretty good reveals. And lordy lordy, do I ever laugh so hard when I read those reveals.

- Safeway's house-brand "healthy" food. I am crazy-addicted to the O Organics Golden Flakes Medley with Flax Cereal (it was on sale, too!) right now; before that it was the Eating Right Vegetarian Masala. As much as I shouldn't be patronizing the big-box stores, God help me if they weren't turning out such good stuff on my budget!

- And speaking of great stuff... the Foodland near my house not only has Ezekiel 4:9 bread, it also stocks a pretty good (though more cardboard-flavored) sprouted-grain loaf at a fraction of the cost of the original Ezekiel. I like to make grilled-cheese sandwiches with this using low fat cheddar, smoked turkey, and mango chutney.

- Boosting up my usual hot-salt-water gargle for my sore throat with tea-tree oil - a handy tip that I got from an alternative-medicine practicioner friend of mine - to kill more germs. Still doesn't make the whole thing tolerable, but I find that I've sounded less froggy since I started doing this. Aromatherapy with the tea-tree oil also helps for those moments when I'm too wheezy to deal with my inhaler.

- Speaking of tea, my beverage of choice during this time is hot ginger tea, made with straight-up fresh ginger (not candied), hot water, and some honey - I've found that the combo really works wonders in keeping laryngitis away. In the past I've boosted this up with cinnamon sticks and lemon; however, since it's still way too hot outside for me to turn the combo into a real Hot Toddy, I've added chopped apples to the ginger instead.

- Probiotics. I swear that my throat and lungs (and the rest of me) would never have gotten better if I hadn't started myself on those acidophilus capsules to make up for all the antibiotics I got from my other doctor.

- During the moments when I stop wheezing, I've started taking stock of my makeup box again, and I must say this: I have way, wayyy too much shimmery brown eyeshadow. It's a good thing that my friends and I are planning a Makeover Night pretty soon, because as much as I can't keep them, I couldn't let a good thing go to waste.