And now, time for something completely different. . . .

Time to face reality--the remainder of the SXSW recap is a bust. I'm aborting the mission, which has become an albatross around my neck and is sabotaging my other writing. It's too bad, because I did do quite a bit of work on it, but frankly, I'm losing interest (and I suspect everyone else is as well). Too much time has gone by, and there's too much other stuff I want to write about. So, let's just move on, shall we?

There's a lot going on in my life right now. It's . . . interesting, in some good ways and some bad ways. Things with the RWBF are strange (in a bad way), and things at work are strange (in a mostly good way). But what I want to write about today is . . . politics.

Yesterday, I got a notice in the mail letting me know (rather sternly, actually) that I need to update my voter registration information if I want to vote in November. I was aware of this and had it in the back of my mind that I needed to do this, but getting the notice made me acutely aware of the fact that I haven't voted, at all, since I moved out of the house I shared with my ex-husband, which believe it or not has been two and a half years now. The most heinous offense, which some of you have chastised me for, was that I didn't vote in the recent Democratic primary. But there was a good reason for this, apart from the whole not-really-being-registered thing--frankly, I just didn't care.

My feelings about this election can be summed up in a great bumper sticker I saw the other day: Someone Else for President. Of course, I want it to be a Democrat, but between Hillary and Obama, I just don't care. There are things I like and dislike about both of them, and I'm not overly thrilled with either of them. This is so disappointing to me. You'd think, perhaps, that I'd be fired up about the possibility of having a female president for the first time . . . but does it have to be her? And I never caught Obamamania--he planted the seed of suspicion in me when, in a speech, I heard him refer to the "president of Canada." Call me overly demanding, but I expect a potential president to know that Canada has a prime minister, not a president. (I'm sorry if that sounds petty and exacting, but I'm so sick of having a president who constantly makes these silly, stupid gaffes. Actually, Bush does it so often that I'm kind of used to it, but I was just really hoping that the next president might actually be smarter than me. And you. And my neighbor who drinks beer all day and works on motorcycles and recently got his mentally-challenged girlfriend pregnant. You know?)

So anyway, I will fill out my change-of-address form, and in November, I'll vote for Hillary or Obama . . . whatever. But I won't be overly thrilled about it. And honestly, if McCain wins (proving this country's true colors yet again), it will still be better than what we've got now.

How's that for the world's most cynical win-win? Man, I'm getting old.

335 days, 16 hours, 28 minutes

So, some of you might recognize what this post title refers to, but for those of you who don't, click here.

I must admit, this time around, I'm less excited about who the next president is going to be than I am about the fact that it won't be him. How glorious the day will be when there is no fear of innocently turning on NPR in the morning and hearing that man commenting on Castro stepping down from power:

"This gives the international community an opportunity to . . . um . . . establish . . . to establish institutions to . . . um . . . ."

My God, spit it out, man! And make some small effort to make your subjects and verbs agree while you're at it! Please?

Actually, it's kind of weird to hear W speak these days. There's something different in his voice that's kind of pathetic. He still has that annoying defensive tone that he's always had, but now, there's also something defeatist there, something sad and resigned. He also sounds like he's just dutifully reading off a script (which he still manages to screw up somehow, frequently), blindly reciting words written by someone else, talking about stuff he doesn't really care about. In some ways, it's more disturbing to hear a president talk like that than it is to hear him adamantly and passionately espousing dangerous and very wrong policies. I mean, who would you rather have in charge--a crazy person, or a lobotomized person? It's kind of a tough call.

I also have to wonder if it's possible that W has entered a period of self-reflection, if it's starting to dawn on him what a failure and shambles his presidency has been, and if that's what's driving his new demeanor. I never would have thought him capable of self-reflection, but I guess anyone can grow. (?) Unfortunately, at this point, there's not really much for him to grow into. . . .

One thing's for sure--the RWBF and I are not going to be hashing out these issues any time soon. Recently we made a pact--for the next several months leading up to the election, he is not to say anything about Hillary, and I'm not to say anything about Bush. (And I haven't even made up my mind about who I'm going to support--I'm just tired of his endless cracks about Hillary. Obama doesn't seem to bother him so much.) Such are the little deals we have to make with each other in order to successfully navigate the landscape of our relationship. If we didn't, we would no doubt have endless repeats of "Reagan Sunday," a day a few weeks ago where we spent the morning arguing about Reagan and the afternoon not speaking to each other. It's not fun and it accomplishes nothing, so what's the point?