My friend Carolyn has a link to a site where you can sign a petition to demand the revocation of the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize to Yassir Arafat (although I'm not sure exactly what one of his co-recipients, Shimon Peres, has done for the cause of peace lately). I would be much more interested if we could create a similar site for revoking Mira Sorvino's Oscar.

Hopefully not all of you got that last post three times. Blame it on the server.

One of the really cool things about AOL is getting e-mail from people I've never met before, like SuziCheerldr18, Horni16xxx, or PussyCoEd, all of whom, like myself, have their own websites.

Already, I'm starting to get complaints about the lack of interactivity on my site. Apparently, I have become such a phenomenum that you are demanding more of an opportunity to respond and to contribute. My dyspeptic amiga, Deborah, has suggested that you, my loyal audience, establish a more or less permanent chatroom devoted to "Smythesworld", where you can discuss the daily events in my life, the people I meet, my opinions on the Usurper, the Middle East, etc. Anyways, I would like to get opinions on that...

I'm going to stick my neck out a little bit here, but I predict the Lakers are not going to win a third straight title this year.

Last night, I got to hang with "Don" at Joxers. "Don", for those of you unfamiliar with the lore of the pub formerly known as Stats, is a homeless guy in his mid to late 60's who usually carries luggage, containing what are presumably his worldly possessions, into the bar. Anyways, he complained most of the night that the bartendresses were stealing his change, and that if they didn't stop, he was going to have the place closed down. Apparently, he can do that, because according to him, the "Greek Pope" was going to visit L.A., and whenever the "Greek Pope" visits, all the bars are forced to shut down by his edict. The things you learn....