Really world? Do we need more of this drivel?

So it's late.  Really late anyway, for me.  Being almost that unmentionable age where you suddenly notice you're "old," and still being awake at almost two-in-the-morning nearly makes my stomach turn.  But also, in a weird way, makes me feel like I'm hanging on to my youth.  Oh the irony.  Actually it's probably not irony, but it sounds a whole lot better saying things like "oh the irony" as opposed to something lame like, "how bizarre is that?"

Currently I'm sitting on my couch watching "White Collar," which, I must say, is an excellent cable show.  The need to mention this particular series is to offset it against the drivel that I just saw a commercial for: Face Off: where up and coming makeup artists compete to create "the next great face," with challenges like making an elephant man and the how-to of creating burns...really?  What is the TV world coming to?  Oh, I know, a place where they have shows like The Unpoppables.  What, might you ask does that deep, meaningful television masterpiece cover?  BALLOON ARTISTS.  Yup, the same guys that twist inappropriately long balloons into misshapen dogs.  I rest my case.  We're getting dumber and more accepting of trash TV by the minute.  I truly miss being young and only having Nickelodeon Kids and PBS to choose from.

Recently I have been dreaming of places like this:

And this:

Where I see things like this:

Winter in Baltimore is brutal.  February especially makes me wish I could defect to somewhere that's warm all year round.  It's like a cloud of depression just hangs over the city.  We're supposed to hit 57 next week and I'm almost salivating at the idea of temperatures over freezing.  I don't think my extremities can take any more subzero weather.

I'm going tangential here which means I'm really tired.  So while I'm dreaming of beautifully warm beaches and European trees older than our own country I am going to share my desire to retest my melting chocolate cake recipe again.  I'm so close to perfection, I just need to get the baking time down...hopefully tomorrow I can succeed on that task, because I'm pretty sure everything work related is going to get pushed to the side.  Oh yeah...older doesn't necessarily mean wiser, OR better with time management.