Web cruising summer

During the summer, I have to devise ways to amuse myself. I've read the requisite murder/romance/drama novels, reread the entire "Harry Potter" series and organized my limited collection of nail polish in descending order of size. \nBut my family does have a computer and a groovy-retro dial-up Internet connection, and I've suddenly discovered the world of personal Web sites.\nThey're not Weblogs per se, because I tend to think of those as little online diaries boring people keep. (Really? You went out to dinner? That's fascinating.) But still, the world of personal Internet musings has exploded. They're affecting day-to-day life and joining the mainstream. The Associated Press reporters will be blogging and providing "running commentary, insight and news tidbits" from the national political conventions this summer.\nThere are so many out there. These are just a few. Like any good disease, the pleasure of Web sites is better once it is spread. I hope you never get any work done again.\nMil-Millington.com\nMil and his girlfriend, the insane Margret, argue. It's the basis of their relationship, and the basis of his Web site. They argue about what to name their children, Margret's driving and the proper way to cut a kiwi in half (is it across the middle or along the length?). Mil says it best himself: "What Margret and I have, essentially, is a Mexican stand-off with love instead of guns. OK, yes, sometimes there are guns too." All of this comes to amusing ends, naturally, but it's still refreshing to see that two smart, funny, wholly dysfunctional people can be in love and raise children normally. \nGreenfairy.com\nThe diary of a British college student, this site is a personal favorite if only because her life is more harebrained than my own. The site is a mishmash of drunken mornings-after, glitter eye shadow, being broke and unemployed and misplacing things. Nevertheless, Green Fairy recently had an entry about why, in the face of the aforementioned failings, she was uninterruptedly happy. Often the responses to Green Fairy's postings are golden themselves; apparently the community of the site's readers are as fun and charming as the author herself.\nScaryduck.blogspot.com\nWho can't love a man who can drop charming British slang like "spiffy," "wank" and "buggering hell"?\nScaryduck is married to Mrs. Scary and has two children, Scaryduckling and Scaryduck Jr. They're appropriately dysfunctional, but charming. The site isn't about his family, though; it's more his musings on life, politics and eBay. Turns out that Cherie Blair, the British Prime Minister Tony's wife, recently bought a Winnie the Pooh alarm clock and a video of "Aladdin," which was purchased likely, Scaryduck says, to brief her husband on the Middle East policy. His rants on pubs are priceless to anyone who has gone or is planning to go to Europe, but if you're smart, don't go looking for the picture of the creator. Yikes. \nBelledejour-uk.blogspot.com\nThis is Belle de Jour's journal: "Diary of a London Call Girl." I'm sure there's some subtle difference between call girls and hookers, but she's a hooker. And she's funny, smart and an astute social commentator. Call girls, like waitresses and dental hygienists, see people at their most base (for better or worse), and Belle tells it like it is. Her world of madcap johns and needy, whiny friends would leave Belle pulling her hair out, if she were the type. Instead, she pulls a tube of lipstick from her smart little purse, checks her hair and faces the world head-on.\nTake a summer lesson from a hooker: It can always get worse.