*thud*

As you can see, I'm off to a rousing start at this. But combine my very dull life with my recent move to a very dull part of the country, and, well, that's just a recipe for a whole lotta nothin.

On the bright side, I have a couple of trips to more interesting locales on the calendar, so there's hope for me yet.

Durrr ...

There are songs that burrow their way into your brain (SEE: Black Eyed Peas), making it impossible to shake the awfulness. And you know you're getting dumber every time those annoying hooks scroll through your head.

Then there's this. I was hoping Americans would show some restraint and let this fade quietly into the ether, much as we had allowed Eddie Murphy's singing career to. Alas, Ms. Hilton's little ditty appears to be making its way into regular rotation. (At the very least, could someone please start another payola investigation? That would restore some of my faith in mankind.)

Now, whereas a Black Eyed Peas song merely shaves a few IQ points you didn't really need anyway, when one listens to "Stars Are Blind," one can actually feel one's brain melting and beginning to ooze out one's ears. As I found today, the song is capable of putting you into some sort of stupor, which made me quite the road hazard as I was driving at the time.

All this is just a very long-winded way of saying that, after a couple of listens to "Stars Are Blind," I feel I'm at the level at which I need to be to enter the blogosphere.

HA!

I'm just kidding, of course. I know of many bloggers who are able to walk and chew gum. And I was known to occasionally wander into street signs and low-hanging branches well before I ever heard Paris Hilton sing.

So what the hey, here goes ...