Stuck in the Mud

It's funny how the older you get all the predictions of your parents and teachers happen again and again. Friday nights are really "swinging" if you're up past midnight, let alone even out of the house, the thought of having McDonald's for dinner if a real let down, and how eventually you'll become concerned about voting in ALL the issues if you have any concern for your community.

Has any of this happened to me yet? Well, other than an occasional McRib (I don't know why, I just can't resist it once a year) I have no desire to eat anything from the golden arches, I don't care to stay out late on ANY night, and as for politics on a local level, I present exhibit "A" for your viewing.


Yep, that bad boy is sitting right in my front lawn, standing almost 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It is in support for my incumbent state representative. He's been in office for about 15 years now and I really think he's done a good job representing my district and best of all, he's not a part of the ridiculously incompetent majority party that has seriously screwed up Illinois. His challenger has been literally flooding our district with a misleading campaign of mailings, door-to-door visits, and prime time TV ads.

God, I hate this time of year. There is so much mud flying around, it's hard to make any head way into the true issues even when you actively pay attention to your community and the issues you find important. But what makes me the most stressed and frustrated is how effective this type of political campaign is against the ignorant and uncaring. Anyways, today marked one more week left until this election season is over and I can't wait.

Issues

I've been toying with the idea of deleting most of my old blogs and amalgamating them into one new blog, but I have since decided against that. My previous post looked a bit sad and desperate, but it was just a poorly executed attempt to end this blog and quickly put up the new one. Unfortunately my haste caused some concern over my well-being. As moved as I am over the concern of those involved, I'm sorry for the false alarms. Trust me on two counts here; The first is that I am definitely fine and the second is that I truly believe that should I ever have any crazy mental breakdown it will most likely involve a bombastic display of pop culture overload and strange references to ducks, bacon, and large construction equipment.

The biggest reason I'm keeping things the same is that I really like the panorama pics I have at the top of the blog. As I tried to make a new design for the new blog, I kept lamenting the loss of that header and in the end since I decided to keep it, I also decide to keep the entire blog. I'm sentimental and getting older, so get over it.

Currently I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed with housekeeping chores taking away my free time to write or even think constructively. Winter is coming and I just see a mound of tasks that I want and need to take control of and get finished before they take control of me. Once Halloween is over it's all down hill as the Holidays start coming and everything moves at breakneck speed. I thought I was just imagining it until it snowed for almost a half hour today and accumulated for a bit. Nothing like having mother nature bust your chops to get things done.

Everyone here at the house is fighting off a cold bug. The kids have definitely got the worst of it with runny noses, coughs, and crankiness, but Meva and I are under the weather as well. Mostly sore throats, sinus issues, and fatigue. It will pass, but it sure isn't fun.

That's about it for now. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on things and let you all know that Desultory Views isn't going anywhere. Hopefully I'll get back to posting a bit more frequently now that I have that all ironed out.

Goodbye

I'm not going to be here anymore.

It's October!!

I love the smell of desperation, ignorance, and deception in the air, which means we must be getting closer to a presidential election. One of the issues for me during these times are the increased political activity of people who are all of a sudden concerned about the welfare of their lives and begin to spout off about how they have to vote for Candidate X to turn things around in the White House yet they have no idea who their State, or Federal Senators or Representatives are. What's even worse than this ignorance and inactivity is the blind acceptance of political ads and distorted claims without giving a thought to history, information, or even common sense. If I am to be honest, I find myself more saddened and disappointed in my fellow countrymen than I am energized about our wonderful liberties in voting.

In the district I live we've had the same person as our representative for the last 15 years. This guy is a Republican, but I feel he has represented my district well over the course of his tenure. During the time he has served in this capacity he has promoted the economic growth of the district, sponsored and advocated for; tougher laws on sex crimes, fighting for enhanced rights and help for the disabled, built parks, roads, and bridges, and even sponsored stem-cell research. So basically I have no problem continuing to support him.

His opponent has canvassed our little subdivision and had workers out in force campaigning for her and placing signs in numerous yards. This is the 4th time he has come up for election since I've lived here and I have never seen so many people involved in local politics as I am now. I find it alarmingly funny that so many people are supporting the opponent despite the incumbent's work on their behalf to help us with taxes, infrastructure and reform. In response to this blind zealotry, I am now sporting a five foot tall sign in my front yard!! I wonder what my neighbors will think of me now?

On a more personal level, I've been slowly cleaning out boxes of my things that I had stored in the garage by selling them on eBay. The money I make from these sales are to go towards buying a laptop so I can go in another room and write during the night without being disturbed, or to keep them to a minimum. I think it took me a little over a month and I had enough to get a refurbished Dell that is more powerful than I would have imagined I could afford. I'm very happy and I've been clicking away at the keyboard once again.

This weekend Meva and I are going to Ohio. She and the kids are going to spend time with her parents while I go to Columbus to attend a Comic Book Convention. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and seeing some older friends once again. It should be a blast and I hope to have some great pictures when I return.