Extreme Life Makeover

Swirling in my life:

Thank you Melanie for reminding me of the beautiful http://www.freecycle.org. Freecycle is perfectly in step with how I think the world should be, because it combines efficiency, sharing, community, and re-use.

This dapper gent, found via Sartorialist, would fit in perfectly at my dream New England dinner parties. The Sartorialist is a fashion blog that snaps pics of everyday people on the street all around the world.
I straight-up hate MTV. Usually. However, I am absolutely intrigued by two shows right now. The Girls of Hedsor Hall and G's to Gents are basically two versions of the same show. In each, a group of young people are taken to a giant mansion (for the ladies, it is a British boarding school, for the gentlemen, it is a New England manor) to pursue total life transformation. The young people are totally out of control and living self-destructive lives full of run-ins with the law, broken relationships, abuse, sex, drugs, and pain.

Their teachers lead them through lessons and competitions such as cooking class, ballroom dancing, formal dining etiquette, hosting members of the opposite sex, and business skills competitions (such as working with a team to create a marketing presentation). Each week one is voted off based on a combination of peer and judges' reviews.

It's crass. The contestants are ridiculous. Half of them can hardly speak proper English. Plenty of crying, confessions, back-stabbing, and fights ensue. But at the end of the day, it is incredibly compelling. These young people are changing their entire lives, having "aha!" moments, learning skills, committing to be different, to leave their terrible decision-making behind them and seek a new, healthy path, for them and often their young children as well. They are sincere. They are broken. They are repentant. The skeptic in me wants to scoff (this is reality TV, people), but truly, I am moved.

This past week flew. I was out of the office Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, so I hardly had one moment of free computer time. What a fantastic, lucky, blessed life we live around here, is all I have to say.