My brain is on a slight mini-vacation. I've been busy people and I feel like I could sleep for days. When my brain gets nuked like this my tendency is to freak out and cry -- as a reporter I used to break down over a beer at least once a week in preparation for the mound of things I had to do at work. I always got them done; I just had to lose my s*it a little in order to clear my head. Not a perfect system, but, as Landers reminded me earlier, everyone has their "process." And you don't mess with the process -- but as I've gotten older, I've begun to take a different approach. I try not to worry and acknowledge that the earth will still be revolving around the sun and turning on its axis even if I don't do that (whatever it is) RIGHT NOW and even if I still, for reasons yet unknown to me, am living in some weird Southern version of Groundhog Day. How did Bill Murray break the cycle? He started doing nice things for people. Can you do nice things for people in your sleep? In lieu of talking about the whole "Don't listen to Rush Limbaugh" sentiment floating around Capitol Hill at the moment -- c'mon, really? Last I checked we were FREE to listen, think, speak, etc. however we choose. I think statements like this indicate a serious insecurity -- I'm just going to tuck in and keep my mouth shut (I know, I know, for once) because fighting the good fight can be exhausting.
Catch some ZZZZZzzzzzzs this weekend. Oh yeah, and watch some football!
It's really making me think about the idea of a "triumph of hope over experience." Hopefully realistic might be the middle ground. Still trying to believe in you Mr. President. Maybe this group of economists are better advisors than Sour Puss Pelosi? I mean, it's worth considering, right? Hello?
Anyway, here's a breakdown of some of the numbers. I have no problem with the DoD testing out alterna-cars; it's just the price per that's insulting. Insulting because it's hard to believe that it would cost several grand for each car to have its own charging station. So what will that leftover money be used for?
Where are these people and will they let me hang out with them?
Quickly, because I laughed aloud and love to share the funny, here's a segment from a wordsmith site I recently discovered. Four words: I love Jason Bateman. Brother Dan, again, his delivery is so very reminiscent of you...
This is too awesome and I hope it happens. One of my all-time favorite movies is Good Will Hunting, soundtrack included. But I have a sneaking suspicion that playing a genius on film does not a genius make. It would be interesting to find out just what kind of chops Damon has, since I think he's kind of hot but a little dumb. I would love to be proved wrong because a little hot becomes irresistible and scorching hot when a brain is thrown into the mix. I almost hope he does it and wins. But, alas, I suspect Kristol will mop the floor with his inflated ego. But, you know, humility is hot too...
So, my little excursion Wednesday to check out some new music was fruitful. Kate Morrissey is not only stunningly beautiful, her music is lovely and inspiring. You can hear some of it here. I really like The Little Prince. I had a few glasses of wine while I watched the show and I told the friend I went with that I felt like I was drinking the sacrament because the music came from a place of good and peace and reminded me that there's still beauty here. Just look for it, and listen for it. And when you hear it, let it drown out the sounds of that other place. And LOST promised another good season. Does anyone else think Dan Faraday designed and built the wheel in the Orchid station at some point in time? Because I do...
I leave you with Krauthammer because I'm a little under the weather and am further bleary-eyed due to job hunt/current job shenanigans. Get some rest this weekend.
As I sit here enjoying my basil fried rice and spring roll (thank you Steph for picking up lunch so I can continue to dazzle the DC media establishment with my superior cover letter and resume skills. Stop laughing.) I'm aware again of the innate tendency I have to panic. You can't make me do it world. I accept none of your meaness and am resolute in my quest to find the place I fit and the people who accept me. I will settle for nothing less. This or something better, right Juje? So there.
That said, I'll be listening to some good music tonight here. Yes, it means missing the season premier of LOST. But I've already set the timer to record (haven't invested in TiVo yet...) so I'll be able to stay up into the wee hours of the morning and watch it a little tipsy which can only make for a better experience. With that in mind, lookin' good Matthew Fox.
I feel pretty much like this about today's peaceful transition of power. It is pretty awesome that we do it peacefully. And cool as hell that a segment of our society feels vindicated and empowered today. As much as I'm staying away from the drama and hype -- I just can't get into all the feel-good stuff about it because I just don't think that way. It's a job people. Let's not forget that -- I'm pleasantly pondering this experiment in leadership by a federated system of government (yeah, I had to update this. Chose the wrong words. I'm a little out of steam here lately). And I like it. I really, really do.
Good luck to you Mr. Obama. Make us proud. Carry on.
UPDATE: Does anyone else think it's hilarious that Carter and Clinton seem not to care for one another. And if the reasons cited in this report are the correct reasons that's funnier still. This is one of the reasons that our new President has to go a long way to convince conservatives of his worth. Because tweedle dee and tweedle dum are seen as your ideological forefathers. And their egos won't allow them to play nice for the benefit of not only you President Obama, but the entire country. I'm just saying that if you ever find yourself, hand to forehead, wracking your brain about why those mean ol conservatives were so hard on you during the election and are making it hard for you to push your agenda, these two play a role.
UPDATE 2: Transcript of today's speech. Not bad. You know I have some points of contention -- I always do -- but overall, fairly uplifting, not too alarmist and just vague enough to ultimately go either way.
UPDATE 3: A note on the editorial process -- given that I had a mistake in this post of embarrassing proportions (it's been corrected but suffice to say it was the opposite of what I meant. ahem.), and given that I've had to disable commenting again (for really good reasons, I promise) I'd like to invite anyone that knows me and is privy to my email address (assuming anyone actually reads this blog and cares if I look like a tool. If you're happy when I look like a tool, by all means ignore this request...) to shoot me a slap upside the head email with the phrase my editor at the newspaper used to use a lot with me, "Did you really mean to say this?" Somber, I know you're already on it and thanks for that. To the rest of you, help a sister out. I'd be grateful and maybe buy you a beer or something.
Right, nothing to say. So here's a very hot man doing a very hot thing. Guys, really, it's a very, very cool thing if you can dance. And oh Gladys, how I love this song...
I'm going to start and end this post with some awesome but will talk -- briefly I hope -- about a little thing called tactic that I've been observing of late and am still kind of working out how I feel about it. First though a shout out to my nephew James who, as a second-grader, recently tested into a state-wide scholastic gifted program, something his teacher mother is unapologetically gushing about. Rightly so. We are lucky enough in my family, both blood-related and extended (we don't hang with no fools) to be complex enough to celebrate and appreciate talent in the physical, emotional and intellectual spheres. And, indeed, everything in between. In short, we strive for the Renaissance man/woman. So go get em little J. Da Vinci. You've made us proud.
Okay, tactic. I've been reading a lot about our soon-to-be new President's courting of the Republican base -- something that actually, again, has me optimistic that he can learn the ropes he didn't take the time to develop in the Senate. I'm willing to cautiously acknowledge that maybe he's some kind of wunderkind that didn't need experience to do the job. We'll see. In fact, as Krauthammer, my hero of intellectual acuity as I may have mentioned before, notes, Obama is retaining many of the outgoing President's policies, suggesting, again as I may have mentioned before, that his meeting with Bush was a lot more edifying for him than he thought it was going to be. And it suggests something else as well, something I've been wanting to say for a long time but just didn't want to catch the grief or be told how I'm some kind of evil person for my opinions. It suggests that Obama likes Bush, respects him and actually considers his work a good starting point. It's okay. Sit down, head between knees. You're gonna be okay. Here's the thing -- I like Bush as well. Always have. I have never considered him stupid -- quite the opposite in fact. I enjoyed that he knew how to, as we say in the vernacular, throw down, in college. I like his courage of spiritual conviction, his belief in the inherent freedom of the human spirit and his ability to move like a cheetah while ducking shoes.I appreciate that he inherited crap economic policies from 8 years of Clinton and took the blame for the current economic situation like he's taken every other histrionic criticism thrown at him over the years -- like a man, never stooping to petty sniping and instead just going to the office and doing his job. He has, as my Pops would say, continued to get up every day and pull the wagon, generally in the face of unbelievable negativity and pessimism. As a conservative who doesn't even self-identify as Republican, I've been called abhorrent things that hurt and embarrassed and angered me. I cry. Bush just kept at it. And I don't even think I have to mention -- primarily because everyone else is -- his victory over what were undoubtedly other plots to attack the States. And Condi's contribution, as well as Cheney's, will only be celebrated in years to come. But the new administration, in retaining some of the policies left for them, will take the credit. Any student of our American political system knows that every administration inherits the evils -- or the good deeds -- of the one before it. Bush and Company knew what they were getting handed following Clinton. Obama, I have a feeling may find good things on the horizon because that's what's been left for him. Snort at me if you want you naysayers. Just remember I said it when it turns out to be true. And really, to all those who hate Bush -- I mean really, come on. Get the f*@k over it already. It's counterproductive and uninteresting to say the least. As for tactic, my question is this: while I appreciate Obama's willingness now to recognize the wisdom in some of the outgoing President's policies, should we trust a man who plays the game to the extent that he denies what he knows to be true to get elected? I don't know. It's true that had he come out in support of these things during the campaign he likely would not have been elected. Does the end justify the means? Still trying to work that one out...
And here's the second piece of awesome, my other parents (in my neighborhood I had about four sets of parents) who I am now actually related to by marriage (which I'm sure keeps them up at night occasionally) took my other nephews -- 14 and 11-year-old boys, to an art exhibit recently at the High Museum in Atlanta. Here was the email update from Papa Dan about. I laughed so hard. Thought you might like it, too. Jake, by the way, is the 14-year-old.:
" Last weekend we took Jacob & David to a show at the High Museum.
We set some rules ...
You couldn't move from one room of the exhibit to another alone. Everyone had to move together.
Behave .. treat the place more like a Church than a School.
You had earphones on. If you wanted to talk, pull the phones off so you weren't loud.
There may be some 'anatomically interesting' art. Please don't yell at your brother to come & look at some 'interesting anatomy'. Suggest he come look at the 'smile' or something.
***************
We finished the exhibit. Jake wanted to go over to the general museum to look at some art. We headed to look at American 19th Century stuff.
We headed up the walkway, up the ramp a floor. An attractive young lady ... not dressed for the weather ... low cut jeans, low cut top, midriff revealed, walked down and passed us.
Right so I've been busy doing things for other people and, tragically, using that as an excuse to not do things for myself. Important things dang it. So, as soon as I update this blog, go to this meeting, update my calendar, firm up some deadlines, conduct a phone interview, draft a response, knock out some remedy tickets, double check some payment history and start on my freelance piece I'll be applying for jobs. I've found some good ones. They're bookmarked. But not applied to which made a friend snort at me and say "Those companies don't care if you've bookmarked their job announcements." Dammit. Good point. No effing rest for the weary.
In the meantime, since I'm still battling my delayed reaction and hoping I'm mature enough to get over it in a reasonable amount of time without sinking into some kind of self-pitying funk -- internalizing things sucks sometimes man -- I don't have much to say. In place of my biting wit, I give you awesome things from my friends, like a foot self-portrait with Samuel L. Jackson and BaconSalt (gross yet intriguing). And, most importantly, a clip from the Tiny Toons gem "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" that I watched 8,000 times in college with my friend Farmer who I recently reconnected with and had the pleasure of remembering how much we laughed. Laughing with him, seriously, is all I remember doing. I have no memories of him that don't involve cracking up. I miss that. For you Farmer. Kiss yourself, kiss yourself, kiss yourself!
A'right, I'm back on it. Admittedly, I'm non-committal. But in an odd way. I don't have a hard time committing to getting something I want; rather, I have a hard time committing to the idea that whatever it is I want is something I should be committing to. They sound the same, you say? Trust me, they're different. The latter, which is where I invariably live, is a much lamer way to be. Shows that I lack a basic faith in my own judgment. Truth is, when I decide it's worth it, I'm fairly tenacious and have a decent record of success. It's just making that value judgment...there are some things you just can't know...you have to make decisions based on incomplete evidence...so hard for me to do...
And I digress. All this is just stream of consciousness as I gear up the job hunt again so I don't become too focused on the rising unemployment rate, the dire doom-n-gloom economic predictions, trillion dollar deficits, etc. I'm liking the tax cuts but I dislike the whole reform mentality the pres-elect is pushing. Here's why. Be sure to read Keynes' excerpted letter to FDR. I will, meanwhile, be making my list of think tank phone numbers and sharing the following with you:
The link an old friend D. Matt turned me on to that could help in dealing with my cop magnetism:
Okay, I'm over my little temper tantrum which culminated in my getting pulled over -- again -- yesterday after work for speeding. 47 in a 35 which always surprises people that the cops even bother. But with me, they do. I don't believe I've been cited for driving more than 12 miles over the speed limit ever. Recently I was pulled over in Atlanta and just kind of yelled at by the cop for five minutes with a warning. I'm convinced he couldn't cite me because I was nowhere near speeding but he pulled me over nonetheless. I never said a word. And yesterday the guy spoke to me like I was his nagging girlfriend and told me, when I said yes, I've been through this before, I know where to sign, "Well if I don't tell you you'll just be complaining about that, too." Geesh. The punchline is that this same cop pulled me over less than a year ago and gave me a long protracted speech about the accuracy of his laser pointer. How's that for a metaphor?
Here's the thing: I love cops. I do. I appreciate the job they do and feel safer knowing they're out there. But I'm not your girlfriend, your wife nor your mom, and am therefore not the one you should be yelling at. I'm also not as young nor as cute as I appear to be from afar. It's the long hair I think and I would assume they just end up disappointed that their eyesight's not any better. And, at the moment, I'm not even financially solvent enough to continue to pay into your quota fund. Of course, my sister Juje, who got to listen to my post-ticket meltdown, reminded me that all this stops if I just stop speeding. 12 miles over is still speeding, she said. Dammit but that's a good point. Anyway, I'll be taking a new route home from here on and am likely to be the most obnoxious driver on the road because I'll be going much slower than the flow of traffic. Sorry but I just can't afford to be the rebellious girl in the four-door sedan going moderately faster than the posted speed.
So, I'm playing with this little blog template and am determined to manipulate the HTML rather than using Blogger design tools. Just trying to expand my horizons a bit more. And I like the idea of changing my picture to reflect where I live. That could come in handy.
Have a Happy Epiphany, Twelfth Night, etc. I'm getting my God on later by going for a swim and then hitting church. And, oh yeah, my new found optimism for the President-elect is really just born of what appears to be his ability to learn, something I wasn't sure he had in him. He knows he's in a different league now it seems and, despite how he may have gotten there, he seems to have picked up on the wisdom of a low profile. I maintain that his recent meeting with the current President was probably eye-opening for him and it would be hard not to view the solipsistic Reids and Pelosis of the world in a different way once the harsh light of the realities of world politics is flicked on. You're gonna have to be tough Obama because popularity, despite what you may have been led to believe, is not actually the most important "skill" you need to have. Just sayin'.
Yes, my sidebar has shifted to the bottom of the page. I put a picture of where I actually live in the header and I think it threw the width of the columns off so I'll be working on fixing that when I get home tonight. Should make for some exciting HTML fun! Blogger likes the CSS and that can be problematic...wish me luck.
Rather than bore you all with my "why can't starting over be easy?" frustrations and my opinions of Richardson and Obama's judgement -- although, surprisingly, I'm more optimistic about him now but more on that when I'm not feeling so grumpy -- I give you a snippet of The Soup's best clips of 2008. Oh Joel McHale, why are you a thousand miles away and married? I want to have your babies and write your jokes. The whole clip is good but the genius comes at the end around the 4:49 mark. I just love the almost sympathetic look on Mr. McHale's face. Making fun of the willfully ignorant feels dirty in the way playing truth or dare in the dark corner of the skating rink felt dirty. Deliciously, deliciously dirty.
I tend to agree with Krauthammer but wanted to do what, as a journalist, I was trained to do and offer alternative views on the topic. Make up your own minds.
And here are my final holiday shots of the fam, and the first of the new year. Despite the economic morass and my seeming inability to attract an employer, my family is awesome and not everyone can say that, so party.
UPDATE: In light of the conversation I had earlier with a coworker who said he was hightailing it to New Zealand when America collapsed -- I tried to remind him that staying positive is really and truly a catalyst for productivity and the opposite produces, well, the opposite -- I'm posting this article I came across today because work is very slow and I'm procrastinating doing the things I should be doing for reasons I don't entirely understand yet. More on that later I guess.
The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
