…as in cirrhosis of the liver. Oh, the things you learn when studying for a horrible unnerving exam.

• They say it’s best when prepping for a test, to learn the roots of words, instead of trying to memorize words. Good strategy. I’ve got both bases covered, but with only a week left for the test that will determine the next year of my life or so, I think I might be reading the “Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms” by Donald J. Borror a little more than “Essential Words for the GRE.”
• I don’t know what it is, but I feel slightly dirty when watching the junior 11-year-old dancers on “Dancing With the Stars.” Like I’m watching something I shouldn’t be. I want to turn away from the tv. I think it’s the way they move - like mini adults, but not yet adults. It’s weird. I thought I was strange, until I concurred with Nat and found out she felt the same way. Tiny children doing ballroom dances and gyrating like adults? Hard to watch and bordering on inappropriate.
• On Saturday, I’m attending the taping of an awards show for Spike TV. There’s a red carpet involved, but I didn’t feel like chasing celebrities down so that I could get their opinion on things. I will be at the event, reporting from the “live blogging” room. I’m a bit nervous, and a bit excited and a bit not.
• Joe the Plumber isn’t even a licensed plumber. He also owed back taxes. $1200 to be exact. Bring Joe Six Pack back. At first I couldn’t understand why Sarah Palin thought Joe Six Pack was synonymous with the common man. Does she honestly believe that normal men have six packs, I thought? Then I realized she meant beer. Then I thought, this woman is a bigger dimwit than I had originally thought.
• Before Joe was well, Joe Six Pack, he wasn’t only Joe Blow and Joe Schmoe (which by the way, comes from the Yiddish word “schmo” meaning simpleton) he was John Q. Public, a name used by law enforcement to refer to someone with no criminal background or motive.
• I’ve taken Emergen-C almost every day this week, followed by two Advil tablets once a day. Usually, I would not even take anything at all, because I hate putting extra pills in my body, but this week, I needed the drugs. And I needed them bad.
• If I was a television producer and Shonda Rhimes came to me and said, “Hey, I’ve created this show, it’s about these doctors who are emotionally stunted, sleep with each other, get involved deeply into each other’s lives and occasionally keep people from dying, what do you think?” I’d say, “Were you living under a rock for the last 10 years? ER already exists! Now get out of my office!” The point is, that if I was the one who thought of Grey’s Anatomy, the idea would already be in the trash bin of my brain before it ever reached the desk of a producer, because I would second guess myself so much in thinking that this is so not original, that I would can it. The lesson: stop second guessing yourself.