Well, my fellow f-listers, in a few hours I will be signing off and probably won't be back for a few weeks. I'll be spending the next two weeks reveling in Pennsylvania snowfalls before returning home, packing everything up, and moving to Florida. (Three states in three weeks, and I have a feeling LiveJournal will be part of my sanity as soon as I settle in.)

So farewell for now, and for those of you who celebrate it, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Dilemma: In the most basic of terms, my bookmarks have become a rat's nest. I've put off organizing them for awhile, until last week when I was trying to find a web page I'd saved ages ago and couldn't. I've since read some tips and tricks on bookmark organization, but I feel like I haven't quite found the 'sweet spot' yet. So I ask - when it comes to bookmarking, what's your method?

Phase One: The Hierarchy
I used to have my bookmarks set up in an intricate hierarchy of folders. It was a smorgasboard of information that was categorized, sub-categorized, and uh, sub-sub-categorized. While it made sense [to me], I was averaging 8+ seconds to navigate my mouse to the desired folder. Incidentally, this was the setup I had when I suffered my Bookmark Breakdown.

Phase Two: Social Bookmarking
I immediately hopped online to see what everyone else was doing; whether anyone had found the Ultimate System, so to speak. Most of the results pointed in the direction of social bookmarking, which was described as "something you just can't live without!" I'm sorry, but I fail to see the appeal. The biggest draw of social bookmarking is the 'social' part, which is something I have no interest in. My bookmarks are no one else's business. Even if said website has privacy settings, it's just one more button to click. I'm looking for something simple, streamlined, and efficient.

Phase Three: Enter the Minimalist
Yesterday I tried something new: I deleted all 30+ folders and made 3 new ones labeled 'Text', 'Photo', and 'Video'. My logic was that any web page I came across would fall into one of those three categories. To sort within the three folders, I began using tags. It's all right so far, but it's still just 'meh'. Like I said - I feel like I'm missing some Big Bookmarking Secret... which is where you guys come in.

The Solution: Awaiting the expertise of my fellow tech-savvy flisters.

First off, some shameless advertisement. The Lucius Malfoy/Hermione Granger Fic Exchange will be opening in February of next year (in order to give you SS/HG Exchangers some breathing room). Sign up now @ lm_hgficxchange (or click on the photo) - it's going to be a blast! Thanks to valady for putting the community together.


( Confessions, kink, and gruesome fairy tales. )

- but apparently, I'm also a bitch.

Here we are one month after the Prude Post, and I came across a second movie to lift a brow over. It's not like I go out looking for these things, truly I don't. I'm starting to wonder if these are indications I'm just not adapting fast enough to what the current generation deems 'acceptable'. So here's the story:

I've been on a Chris Noth kick lately (whom I absolutely adore), and last night I watched The Perfect Man. It was cute; a bit like a poor man's version of Mermaids (a truly phenomenal film, by the way). The synopsis:

Teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean (Heather Locklear) has another personal meltdown involving yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man: an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her shaky self-esteem. When the virtual relationship takes off, Holly finds herself having to produce the suitor, borrowing her friend's charming and handsome Uncle Ben (Chris Noth) as the face behind the e-mails, notes and gifts. Holly must resort to increasingly desperate measures to keep the ruse alive and protect her mom's newfound happiness, almost missing the real perfect man when he does come along.

OK, I'll bite. But as I sat there and watched the back and forth emails between Holly and mom, it didn't seem 'cute' so much as 'pitiful'. How humiliating for a single, middle-aged woman to pour her heart out to a guy she thinks exists, when in reality it's her own daughter writing to her. This is also coming on the heels of a recent Desperate Housewives episode, in which Lynette Scavo did the same thing to her oldest son (which was disturbing on a whole different level).

So I ask you - is this really OK? Or am I teetering on being a prude and a bitch? If it weren't between a parent and child, then sure - why not? But somehow -

Dear Mom Jean,
I love a woman who knows how to slow dance beneath the moonlight.

- just hits the wrong note.