Sometimes it's worth the effort.

Writing something because I should be writing something. Feel free to get on with your lives. I certainly should.

Blame The Vain

Once again, nothing too interesting to say. I should feel ashamed at putting this drivel out into the ether, but honestly, I don't give a shit. No one has to read it.

A boy and his dog

  I don't have anything particularly interesting thoughts buzzing around my head, so this isn't going to be particularly interesting. That's just how it is.

 A lazy, muggy Friday morning is on us as the NFL season opens this weekend, and work is probably going to suck. Of course, work always sucks, but that's neither here nor there. Otis and I got up around 8:30 a.m. and had us a nice walk. As I wasn't particularly hungry, he and I had a very pleasant nap, one he's still engaging in.

 He did very well on his own last night. He was pretty wound up and happy to see me, running to grab his rope so we could play. I left him in the kitchen, and he didn't tear anything up. I'll do that for a couple more days to let him get used to occasionally being alone, and then I'll let him have the rest of the place. I'll try to get him out to the vet next week for a check up.

 Other thoughts:

Nothing Special

 I really have nothing to write about. I just want to write something, anything, once in what I consider a day, even if it's gibberish like this. Granted, most of what I'm writing these days is gibberish.

 I've actually told a couple people I'm writing again, and all think it's a good idea. I don't know why people think I should be doing this, particularly people who're more or less completely unfamiliar with my pitiful past efforts and what I laughingly called my "career", but that's how people are, I suppose. I don't know, maybe I come off like a "writer" should, I don't know.

 Regardless, it's been a good day. The dog is settling in nicely, even if he was a handful at the girlfriend's place. He's jittery there because of all the previous dog smell, and he'd tear her cats up if he got the chance. He's not used to cats and he is a terrier, which means he's been bred to tear up animals smaller than him, but it's something we'll work on for a while. I think he'll eventually come along, if for no other reason than he doesn't really care for being put in the pet crate.

 The little guy is plumb tuckered out right now and has been asleep all evening. He got to do a lot of playing, both with me and other dogs, and I think he's happy. The girlfriend and I are coming up on a year, and that's a weird stroke in its own right. For reasons of my own, I'll never get too deep in my personal relationships, apart from general stories. Still, she and I are a good thing despite all the strikes against it, most of which come simply because I don't do close. Ah, well.

 The Democratic National Convention is going on, but I'm not watching. I usually watch some of the conventions of both parties, but I missed the RNC because of Isaac, and after a week of not reading political blogs or paying attention to the monkey cage, I just don't feel like getting into it right now. Plus, frankly, I'm in a remarkably good mood overall, and I do not wish to ruin it.

 However, I hear they're rocking Charlotte while the RNC turned out to be somewhat of an embarrassment. I haven't watched the Clint Eastwood thing and I'm not going to, but I can't quite suss out what anyone involved was thinking with that (I'm told) spectacle. I'm not sanguine on the upcoming election. While there is much to be disappointed with Obama's first term, I think he's done well considering the mess he's left and considering he's working with what I consider an almost irrevocably broken and corrupted political system. Anyone who's really, personally disappointed that someone who ran as a centrist Democrat and was a centrist Democratic legislator is governing as a centrist Democrat has no one to blame but the soul in the mirror.

 That being said, even if Romney wasn't a distasteful individual - I'm not fond of privileged assholes who use their privilege to be huge, obnoxious assholes and expect you to like it - I've come to the conclusion that the Modern Conservative Movement is run by people who simply don't like other people and only care about making a fast dollar off someone else's back. I'm happy to vote against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan come November.

 As I said, though, I do worry about what we'll see that first Wednesday morning after the first Monday in November. We are a country that thought Ronald Regan was a good idea, after all. Who knows, perhaps the Cosmic Record will skip on Dec. 22, 2012, and we'll find ourselves in another state of reality, and all this will seem petty and childish.

Don't let me hold you up, now.

 Random gibberish at the end of the week. Well, the end of my week, that is, as most folks have the other way around. See, I work in the service industry, and the whole idea of "weekends and holidays off" is strange and foreign to me. These days, my work week ends on Monday and starts back up Thursday evening. That's just the way it is. As a general rule, my bosses know I like to have "pseudo-weekends", or two days in a row off rather than splitting them. I just cannot enjoy myself otherwise, and most folks are generally agreeable to the idea as am I should it be necessary to adjust when needs must.

 Really, I haven't had weekends off since I started working as a teenager, and weekends always meant more work. When I did newspapers, I was generally working through the weekend, even if no one else on staff was. Funny how it always worked out like that. I didn't mind then, though, and I don't mind now, though it screws up my blog reading since everyone else in the world has normal weekends, it seems.

 The French Quarter is full of Shriners. This is to be expected, as there is a convention going on this weekend. Naturally, this has been going through my head all day, as well as the spinning wheels that make up my fascination with Freemasons and people who wear funny hats on purpose. In any event, I saw a fairly large number of portly, middle-aged gentlemen in white suits. Some had on presumably ceremonial garb,such as very sharp capes and slightly ostentatious shoulder necklaces. As I understand, these folks are big on hierarchy and honoring each other with titles and bric-à-brac and much whuffie is earned. Many were wearing fezzes, while a significant number were carrying what looked like tiny, cone-shaped road cases for their hats. At least, best I can tell from observation. I figured someone grinning ear-to-ear on top of looking like I do even on my best day, it was probably not conducive for me to bother these good folk with such trivialities. I don't know why I find a city full of Shriners as amusing as I do, but there it is.

 Boy, that Todd Akin sure stuck his foot in it, didn't he. I must say, I'm a bit surprised that the general run of the GOP came down like a hammer on the dumb son of a bitch, though I've no doubt he'll soon become a martyr to political correctness for the general run of wingnut. I don't understand how he thought something that goddamn stupid would fly, but perhaps he figured Ron Paul set the center on this particular debate.

 I swear, I haven't laughed so hard in months. I saw on Twitter this morning that some member of the House got busted for skinny-dipping and getting soused in Israel and apparently this actually happened in this universe. That's funny enough, sure. Funnier, it was a Republican, but deep down, no one was surprised. Even funnier, it was the Sea of Galilee, and really? You're in Israel and you're a conservative Republican and you thinking skinny-dipping in Jesus's sea is not going to be all over the Internet in a couple of hours?

 Turns out, this guy - Kevin Yoder, freshman Representative of the great state of Kansas - is a year younger than me. That just makes me sad. Now, I'm not claiming at having total wisdom and full coverage, but I do think that after 36 years of stomping the Terra I had enough sense to, when asked if I wanted to get liquored up, strip nekkid and try to walk on the same water Jesus was supposed to have walked on, I would have studied on it, considered my future in the Republican party and the ubiquity of camera phones. and replied with an respectful "No". But what do I know.

 And so much for all that. I'll be at the girlfriend's place for the next two days. Perhaps that will be the end of that. I'd really rather bring my laptop, but I know if I tell her I'm trying this, it'll go all pear shaped for reasons too tedious to get into here. So, we'll see.