The new season of The Amazing Race starts soon, and I am very excited. In other non-scripted tv news, does anyone else watch Dr. 90210? Dr. Rey’s wife got down to 88 pounds. How is that possible? And what is up with the doctor who spent the entire episode bragging about how he spent $2,000 on these shoes, $800 on this watch, and $5,000,000 on these pants. He drove me nuts. And yes, I am fully aware I watch crappy television. Blame it on the TiVo…I can record more junk.

—In baking news, mom, you should get this super special apple peeler so we can easily make that really yummy passover apple crisp this year. And while you’re at Bed Bath & Beyond, you should also pick up this candy thermometer so I can make homemade marshmallows and dip them in either chocolate or caramel, um, just because.

And in more baking news, I may make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for valentine’s day. I want to use the rolled fondant I bought a while back to decorate the cupcakes with cut out fondant hearts but I want to color it red or pink. Any suggestions for working with fondant?

—Remember Separated Guy? He IMd me the other day, out of the blue. When I asked him what was up, he said he wasn’t sure yet if he wanted to go on a second date with me. Um, it’s been SIX MONTHS since our first date. He still hasn’t decided?!—Dating-wise, I have nothing to report. So instead, I offer up this: I think Jdate should give refunds to people who pay the subscription after receiving notifications that they have new mail but then…find they are spam or fake emails from people in Ghana. The end.—And finally, for those of you who know about Wordpress and can maybe (please!) help–I think the problem with my email notifications is somewhere in the pluggable-functions.php file, but I can’t figure out where.

All fixed, see above post!

I’m going crazy over here. These are my issues:

1. I receive this error when trying to access Options–Sparm Karma 2. I activated SK 2.1, the most recent plugin.
   

   Cannot load spamkarma2.

2. when I go to manage–backup, I get this error:
   

   Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class wpdbbackup in /home/superjux/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/wp-db-backup.php on line 23

3. when i activate Akismet and try to enter my API key, I get this:
   

   Fatal error: Cannot redeclare ksd_config_page() (previously declared in /home/superjux/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/akismet/akismet.php:14) in /home/superjux/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/akismet/akismet.php on line 13

4. And this comment email notification issue still. (I was hoping upgrading from 2.0 to 2.0.1 would solve it, but it didn’t.)

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix these things? They all happened when I upgraded from 2.0 to 2.0.1. Grrr.

A gazillion trillion million thank yous to Dave of Spam Karma fame (as well as other things, I am sure) who spent entirely too much of his free time fixing my Wordpress ugrade screw up. It’s amazing how much people you’ve never even met are willing to help on the Internet. Now if it were only like that in person, the world would be a better place.

Things I did this weekend:

• Make a doctor’s appointment. As I may have mentioned before, I have a heart murmur. It’s an “innocent” congenital murmur and nothing to worry about right now, I may need surgery when I’m in my 70s. Anyway, I have to go for an EKG once a year so the doctor can make sure the flow of blood through the valve is still good. Yeah well, apparently it’s been almost two years since my last visit. Whoops.
• Tried to buy Guster tickets only to find out they are sold out. And all because I was a good friend who waited for a friend to ask if the boy she has gone on three dates with got hockey tickets for that same night. Whatever. Anyone have any connections with the Roxy?
• Successfully manage to screw up my blog.
• See a funny play with David and Jamie while Dave fixed my blog.
• Buy $98 dollar jeans at Lucky.
• Return the same $98 jeans, 24 hours later, to a different location.
• Go bowling with my Little, where I was asked the following: Are you going to have a baby? Why don’t you have one soon? Why don’t you have a husband? Don’t you want one? Where will you live after you get married? Will you move again when you have a baby? Can we still go on outings when you get married? Why do black clothes make you hotter than white ones? What are bowling balls made of?
• Go grocery shopping.

Things I did not do this weekend:

• Mail in my jury duty form (to prove I completed my service) from oh, around mid-December.
• Order checks. I am now down to my last two.
• Do the math and figure out if my landlord is charging me the correct amount for my rent increase.
• Gather all of my stuff so I can do my taxes soon.
• Do laundry.
• Go to the dry cleaners.
• Read, write, bake, or do anything creative.

I need a three-day weekend badly.

Every now and then, usually after I’ve had a bad date or am just feeling sorry for myself, I play the age game in my head. It goes something like this:

I’m 31-years-old. If I were to meet someone now, I’d be married probably by 32 or 33. I’d hopefully get pregnant right away, and I’d have my first kid by 33 or 34.

Anyone else do this or am I alone in driving myself nuts?

This is why people move to southern California.

I got Guster tickets! I decided to call the Roxy to see if by any chance they had tickets left for the show. And what do you know–Ticketmaster had sold out, but the venue itself still had tickets left. I am so happy! And to top it off, I didn’t have pay evil Ticketmaster fees.

- - -I have another Craigslist date tonight. We’re going to a divey loungey place for drinks. Details to follow. Hopefully good ones. In the meantime, please think good thoughts.- - -Jason wrote about a Valentine’s Day haiku contest going on at Breakup Girl. Of course, I had to enter. Here’s mine:

We had some great dates
Learned you have a fiancee
So, I emailed her

- - -I’m thinking about putting all of my baking/recipe posts onto a separate baking blog. What do you think? Good or bad idea?- - -I am still absolutely enjoying How I Met Your Mother and can’t get “freeze frame high five” out of my head. Cracks me up.- - -Tuesday on my drive to work, I was flipping stations and landed on the annoying Star morning show. Dana Devin was the guest and she and Jamie were talking about cute doctors. Jamie mentioned how her ob/gyn, Dr. Goldberg, was hot. I remembered my doctor, Dr. Katz, has a partner named Dr. Goldberg (and yeah, he’s hot). Well, lo and behold, Dana then mentions something about Dr. Katz being hot. Apparently, my gynecologist is quite popular with tv and radio personalities. Who knew?- - -A big welcome to everyone who got here via Smitten–I do believe my site traffic has now tripled. Thanks for stopping by and please say hello!- - -Site of the Week: Mail Order Husbands (via Annabel Lee)

Ready for this one? Here we go:

• He calls (not emails, not text messages) at 8:10 the following morning to say he had a nice time last night and will call you tomorrow. [ed. note: I know!]
• He stands up to hug you when you find him in the bar.
• He has a job he loves, a house he owns, and a good relationship with his family.
• He pays the tab, unlike the other CL guy.
• When you walk outside and say you’re cold, he wraps his arms around you and gives you a kiss.
• The kiss is good.
• He tells you you’re sexy.
• It’s 1:30 a.m. and you’ve just said goodbye.
• You have a date planned for Saturday night.
• You went to sleep with a smile.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.

Girls’ Night–Friday
Friday night I rushed home from work, fixed my makeup, and headed over to meet Eve at Annabel Lee’s apartment. The three of us went to Friday Night Live, where I learned a) whomever leads Ma’ariv services wears a talit and b) always pull your chair down with your dominant hand. While there, we also saw half of the LA men on Jdate. But anyway, after services we went back to AL’s place and enjoyed wine, a home cooked meal (have I mentioned AL is an awesome cook?!), and a delicious dessert as well. Close to midnight I began to fade (as I had only gotten four hours of sleep the night before) so I headed home and left the girls to do the dishes. I know, I’m a horrible guest.

What Will I Wear–Saturday Afternoon
Saturday morning I woke up around 11:00 when my cell phone rang. It was CL Guy calling to confirm our plans for that night, and suggested Yamashiro’s (!) for dinner. I went straight to the mall, because of course, I have nothing Yamashiro’s-worthy. After trying on half of the Beverly Center and ready to admit defeat, my phone rang again. Change of plans, scratch Yamashiro’s, now we’re going to Moonshadows on the beach in Malibu. Yay! Much easier to choose what to wear. I ended up heading back home, emptying my closet onto my bed, and ended up with dark jeans, black strappy sandals, and a cute top.

The Date–Saturday Night
I quickly cleaned up my apartment, hopped in the shower, and was picked up by CL Guy at 7:00. Our reservation was for much much later in the evening, so we had a drink at the Argyle, or whatever it’s called now, then drove out to Malibu. We got to the restaurant a little early and had a drink on the patio literally right above the beach. It was a beautiful night and we saw the waves crashing onto the rocks and the seagulls glowing from the full moon. We had a lovely dinner, decided not to get dessert because we were both stuffed from the appetizer (calamari) and our entrees (I got the tiger prawns–yum; he got a huge caesar salad with lobster and crab). We got back to my apartment, hung out chatting and stuff again, and I finally got to sleep around 2:30-ish.

Now, here’s the thing. He’s nice. He’s kind. He opens doors. He tells me I’m beautiful. He does all that good stuff. But…actually, there are two buts (you knew there was going to be at least one, right?). First, he won’t go to synagogue. Ever. Not even for the high holidays. He doesn’t see the point in going if he doesn’t get something [spiritual] out of it. And raising kids Jewish isn’t a priority to him. Second, I can’t figure out what makes him tick and I don’t think we have anything in common. He hasn’t owned a television for 15 years so he’s really lacking in pop culture knowlege, not to mention the wonders of TiVo. He works in the film industry but doesn’t really go to movies. He’s not into comedy, theater, or anything that like. We end up talking about a lot of surface stuff. And when I ask him what he does for fun, I don’t really get much of an answer.

So that’s my conundrum.

Work, Sleep, Clean, TiVo, and Cupcakes–Sunday
Once I get enough caffeine into my system, I’m going to help a client with a project, clean my apartment (I have a houseguest arriving on Tuesday), take a nap, watch some TiVo’d stuff, then bake my red velvets for Valentine’s Day (for my coworkers and my two valentines). Cupcake pictures to follow.

I used the Magnolia Bakery red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting recipes. I also finally experimented with fondant, which was really cool. I realize I need to invest in a smaller cookie cutter, as the heart I used is not proportional to the cupcake.

What I learned about working with fondant:

• If you cut out cute little hearts and place them in an airtight container, you should really layer wax paper between them otherwise they stick together.
• To get the gel color to spread evenly, you have to knead the softened fondant.
• It picks up fingerprints like you wouldn’t believe.
• Powered sugar helps keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.

Aren’t they cute?

CL Guy called this morning and asked me out for Tuesday night. I told him I have a friend coming into town, he asked for how long, and remembering I leave for SD Friday night, asked if I wanted to do something tonight. I said yes. Save your comments about last minute dates please.

He came over, had a cupcake (okay two), and we chatted for quite a while. I learned more about his hobbies (especially photography) and about his knowlege of older films (mostly stuff I watched in film classes in college). So yes, the more I get to know him, the more interested I am. Which of course means, as soon as I really like him, he will surely get hit by The Bus.

Also: I’m not sure how detailed any future posts about CL Guy will be. Some of the comments have been simply mean, and I’m beginning to think that maybe personal stuff like this just isn’t meant to be shared.

When I was kid, every year on Valentine’s Day my dad would give me and my sister balloons, heart candies, and a Snoopy card. When I was in college, The Ex and I celebrated our anniversary on Valentine’s Day so I was treated to nice dinners and roses. Post college, Valentine gifts meant well wishes and funny cards from friends also sans partners. While dating the Russian, I received flowers and chocolate as well as a hint to join a gym. A few years ago the guys I work with bought each of the women in our corner flowers and candy; it was so unexpected and beautiful. This year I received thoughtful cards and gifts from new, amazing friends, who see no harm in feeding my chocolate addiction.

So even when I don’t have an actual valentine, I still have lots of love. Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel right about kissing my dates this year.

I spent Valentine’s Day with Esther and Annabel Lee. By the time Esther got into town (after doing her freeway tour of LA), we were super hungry so we just grabbed a quick bite at Baja Fresh then headed back to my place to chat and catch up over cupcakes. So technically, I guess you could say I had two valentines this year.

- - -And in related news, I was kinda hoping CL Guy would call and wish me a happy Valentine’s Day, but he didn’t. In fact, I haven’t heard a peep from him since our date on Monday night. I’m a little bummed.- - -Remember how over New Years I went to Seattle to visit a friend? Well, about three weeks after I got back, I received a couple of calls from Blockbuster stating that the movie we rented (with my card) while I was up there still hadn’t been returned and that they would be charging me for it. I called my friend, asked if she had returned it (she hadn’t), and asked to please do so ASAP. A week later, I got another message from Blockbuster. I again called her, left a slightly pissed off message, and that’s it. Haven’t heard from her since. Sometimes I think female friendships are more complicated than dating. Wait, who am I kidding? No they’re not.- - -In TV news, yes my friends, Nanette was correct last week in saying Lovemonkey has been canceled. Okay, put on hiatus, whatever you want to call it.- - -In blog related news, I believe my wacky RSS feed is finally working properly, so feel free to use it again. Here’s the link. - - -And totally unrelated to anything except chocolate, post-Valentine’s Day means the beginning of Easter candy, namely Cadbury mini eggs, otherwise known as the final push to getting my ass back to the gym.- - -Site of the Week: Does my ass look fat in these pants?

Things I didn’t share with you about CL Guy (because I wanted to ignore them):

• Water. On our first date, after enjoying two martinis (and no food), I asked CL Guy to please get me a glass of water, as I feeling a little dizzy. He asked if I was okay. I told him yes. He then told me I could get my own glass of water. Thinking he was joking, I asked again, and he responded with, “If you’re feeling okay, why can’t you get your own water?” I further explained that while I wasn’t going to hurl all over him, I was a little lightheaded and would appreciate him walking the five feet to the bar to get me a glass of water.

  After asking and getting denied a third time, I said, “You’re a rude asshole. Please leave and I will sit here until I am no longer buzzed then drive myself home.” He then walked the five looong feet to the bar and brought me a glass of water. He also refilled my glass when he saw how parched I was, and finally apologized for being an ass.

[ed. notes: 1. Maybe I'm too forgiving, or nice, or whatever, but I blamed his not-so-nice behavior on the alcohol, which really I know, shouldn't excuse it; 2. On our second date, I said, "I'm thirsty," and had a glass of water in front of me five seconds later.]

• Jeans. He doesn’t own a pair of jeans. Not one. He claims he can’t find a pair that fit him properly, so he wears Dickies instead. [ed. note: He obviously hasn't been to Lucky, because those people can fit everyone.]
• School. He claims he has a BA degree but I can’t get a straight answer from him as to where he finished school. When I asked him where he went, he told me [a specific school up north]. Then he said he was only there for two years, and finished down here. When I asked where, he just said, “in LA” and quickly changed the subject.
• Google. Yep, I Googled him. And I IMDBd him. And found quite the impressive list of credits. Which he won’t acknowlege. He had some major writing and directing credits on IMDB, but when we talked about writing, he said he’s never written anything and has no interest in it. And yes, I’m 100% sure it’s his IMDB listing.

Some of these are a little odd, no?

And in related news, he did call last night–while I was at dinner with the girls. I called him back later that night and left a voicemail. Haven’t heard back yet, which is probably a good thing, because right now I’m a little torn on if I want to go out with him again (given he even asks, of course).

After my last post, I know many of you are wondering why I went on second and third dates with CL Guy. You may be thinking he’s a jerk, that I have low self-esteem, and that I deserve someone better. Trust me, when he pulled the water thing, I didn’t think I’d be seeing him again either.

But when he asked me out again then called the following morning to say hello, I thought about how awkward and uncomfortable first dates are, and how I can always somehow manage to find something terribly wrong with a guy, even if he is perfect. Now, by no means was CL Guy perfect; far from it in fact. But what if Mr. Perfect isn’t perfect?

I’m reminded of this scene from Kissing Jessica Stein, and I so don’t want to be that girl that writes a guy off without giving him a chance. Maybe I took a chance on CL Guy. Maybe I’m too forgiving. Or maybe I just did something stupid.

- - -Her Mom: You okay?

Jessica: Uh, I don’t know. No.

Her Mom: What is it, Jess?

Jessica: It’s just sometimes I think I’m gonna be alone forever…

(Read on …)

Friday
Watched TV, talked to CL Guy, went to bed well before 10:00.

Saturday
Drove down to SD in the afternoon (took less than two hours). Showed my dad my tonsils–he called in an Rx for antibiotics two seconds later. Went for Italian food with my parents. Hung out with my parents at home. Went to bed super early again.

Sunday
Had brunch at Pacifica Breeze. Shopped. Made my dad chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow centers and fudge frosting (more on that to come). Brought in sushi. Helped my dad buy domain names for his office. Hung out with my parents more. Probably ate more. Slept more.

Monday
Met up with JAB and her husband and their boys (who are growing up so damn fast) for lunch at Potato Shack (old high school hangout–we’d go there to ditch class). Made fun of JAB’s husband for ordering a sandwich at the Shack. Then got made fun of by JAB’s husband when he offered me a glass of water. [ed. note: That was a good one!] Got stuck in a ridiculous amount of traffic on the 5 North. Called CL Guy during three hour drive and left a voicemail.

Monday night (yeah, I added this)
While perusing Craigslist, I stumbled upon an ad two ads that sounded very much like CL Guy. Maybe because it is CL Guy (his pictures were on it). Yeah, it stung a little. Okay, a lot.

I know, such excitement. Please try to contain yourselves.

Bittersweet chocolate cupcake with melted marshmallow inside and chocolate fudge frosting.

Recipe here (toward the bottom of the page).

Note: The recipe says to let the cupcakes cool in the pan for five minutes before scooping out the center. Don’t wait–I did on the first batch and by then they were too cool to melt the marshmallows. Just scoop straight from the oven.

Sometimes I act like such a girl. I like him. I don’t like him. He’s boring. He’s interesting. I will go out with him again. I won’t go out with him again. He’s lame for putting up an ad. He’s not lame for putting up an ad.

I’m so lucky I have friends who love me, even when they probably want to strangle me and tell me to shut up.

In related news, CL Guy called this morning–we have plans for Friday night. Of course, I’m not sure if this a good idea. Then again, maybe I think too much.

I have decided I need to meet a single, Jewish, investor who likes my cupcakes (and me). Then, he will give me the money to open a bakery and fall madly in love with me while my hair is pulled back in a ponytail and I am covered in frosting. Or something like that.

I ordered some prints on Flickr and chose the pickup at Target option. Somehow, my $1.60 purchase warranted a $1.60 discount. The only thing that could have possibly made that deal any cooler is if last night when I went to Target to pick up my pictures (and other stuff), I wouldn’t have left the photo envelope in the cart in the parking garage. Yes, I’m an idiot. So if you um, have my pictures, email me, k?

- - -And to make my night even weirder, the Orange County attorney I used to date called me out of the blue at 8:00 to say he was spending the night in LA because he has an early morning court appearance in Beverly Hills. He invited me to join him for a drink at the hotel bar but I politely declined–I’m still not feeling well, really needed one night at home, and can’t drink alcohol until today because of my antibiotics anyway.- - -A coworker bought me the Rent DVD as a thank you gift. How cool is that?- - -I decided to start a baking blog. When I have free time (someone please remind me what that is), I’ll actually add recipes to it.- - -Earlier this week my Little called to tell me that she no longer likes KIIS FM. Instead, she’s now listening to STAR. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s progress–two years ago, we listened only to Radio Disney. I’m hoping to have her tuning into JACK FM by 2007.

In other Big Sister news, my Little and I just passed the two year mark as a match. And to celebrate, we’re having a sleepover. Good times.

- - -And finally, tomorrow is date number four with CL Guy. Hopefully he’ll call this morning to let me know what the plan is, otherwise there’s going to be a major clothing (and why didn’t he call) crisis in the near future.

So I’m driving to work this morning and can’t turn right onto Santa Monica from Fairfax because of this huge accident. Then, I’m sitting at my desk before lunch and hear sirens and helicopters because of this crane rescue. I went outside (with the rest of Century City) and saw them rescue the guy–everyone was clapping and cheering. Here’s the video of the rescue.

I think that’s enough excitement for today. Can I go home now?

Dinner with CL Guy at Yamashiro’s. Magnificent view of the City. Learned more about him and his family. And the mysteries of his IMDB profile–without having to ask. Back to my apartment. Talked more. Bed at 12:30. He snores. Next weekend was discussed; will chat later in the week.

And with that, I am off to the Valley to get my hair cut.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Thursday Night
Drinks at The Well with Esther et al. Read about it here.

Friday Night
Date number four with CL guy.

Saturday
Was at the salon entirely too early for a Saturday morning and got another inch cut and the color darker (love it!), then came home and slept.

That night, I met up with the girls to see the ASSSSCAT show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. So. Much. Fun. I love long form improv when it’s done well. Following the show we had a late dinner and drinks at Cheebo. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it–it’s consistently good.

Sunday
Had an outing with my Little–we went for lunch then walked around the flea market at Fairfax and Melrose. We had a lot of fun looking at all the jewelry (and junk) and I told her she could spend $5 on whatever she wanted. Of course, she bought a pair of hugely oversized sunglasses. Blech.

Now it’s laundry and clean the apartment time. I so need a maid.

I’m a lousy dater.

By the second date with a guy I’m interested in, I’ve usually picked out baby names. By the third date, I’ve figured out if I need to hyphenate my last name or take his, and by the fourth date, I’m curiously wondering how many other women he’s currently dating.

I’ve never really had “fun” dating. To me, dating is stressful. The wondering if he’ll call. The wondering if I should call him. The knowledge that if a guy is truly interested in me, he will call; even if he’s on his death bed. The number of days between phone calls. The weekday versus weekend date plans. The dissection of every conversation; and every kiss.

I have a tendency to obsess. And stress. And analyze. And replay. And make myself absolutely crazy in the process.

But…

I don’t find myself obsessing, stressing, analyzing, and replaying with CL Guy like I normally do. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t given up doing those things (like that would ever happen), but at the moment, I seem to be doing them less. And I’m not sure exactly why.

After a little analyzing (told you I wasn’t over it), I have come up with a few possible reasons for my changing behavior: a) Maybe it’s because CL Guy isn’t someone who fits that “right for me” mold; b) Maybe it’s because he actually calls and keeps plans, unlike so many before him; or c) Maybe I’m just too busy having fun spending time with him.

But whatever the reason, I can honestly say for the first time in quite a while, I am enjoying dating. And I plan to continue enjoying it, at least until he gets hit by The Bus or something.