Been a totally productive day of reading comics on Penny Arcade and watching whatever random cinematic enterprises are being broadcast today on TBS. Right now, it’s Austin Powers 2. It’s kind of funny with the sound off… but not totally.

It’s been a stressful weekend, but maybe it’s looking up. For one, i only have 2.5 hrs of work left. And then i get my two days off (instead of the usual three – i covered for someone today). But i thought i was working again tonight – covering half the night shift – but Vince straightened me out when i came in to relieve him this morning – that’s next weekend that i’m pinch hitting for the graveyard team. And i’m (at least so far) not working the extra day shift next sunday, so that’s a 19-hour workday i managed to avoid.

Vince was also nice (and trusting) enough to lend me his key card to get into the building – and so i could leave the NOC to, oh, microwave some cup noodles, use the bathroom, and scavenge in the candy bowl at the front desk. I somehow managed to misplace mine at the end of my shift friday, and have spent the timespan since then stressing about it and getting frustrated with myself for being such a total tool. This dovetailed nicely with the daily stress of work (not so much the doing nothing part, but the always being on edge in case i have to do something part, that is very exhausting) and both of those were easily interwoven into the stress of packing, moving, and paying rent in two places this coming month. And is it just the weather, the time of year, or what, but why is everyone in a bad mood lately? I know we all need a vacation and aren’t going to get one this holiday season (or maybe i’m the only one that’s working thanksgiving, christmas, new year’s, and all the other major holidays this season?) but that’s no excuse for everyone to be mad at *me*. If you need to misdirect your anger somewhere, send those evil thoughts towards politicians or telemarketers, or some other life form without feelings and a soul.

Ugh. Let’s keep the rants short today. My head hurts too much for long, intense sentences. Although pressing my forehead against the cool glass of the monitor cabinet is very soothing… try not to think about the slimy forehead mark i’m leaving on the glass that wasn’t that clean anyway or the extra-intense radiation at this distance hard-boiling my brain…

What i really need a vacation from is drama. Drama everywhere – work, home, friends, bills, career, cars. Last time i checked, Jerry Bruckheimer was not directing my life story, so why all the accelerating climaxes and confounding plot turns? I did not sign up for this! My contract clearly says “romantic comedy” and mentions something about “occasional moments of cheeky seriousness”. Granted, i have not read ahead in the script (boy, wouldn’t that be nice!) but i really don’t see all these loose ends tying up nicely into a happy ending that involves fading light and someplace picturesque. If anything, it’s more like watching a sweater be unraveled, and at the end all you’re left with is a shapeless pile of twisted thread. And believe me, the thread unravels steadily every day, and i think as it flows out one ear it takes pieces of my brain with it.

Just today my theory was proven summarily true, as i found my key card only moments ago on a shelf in the corner, right where i hang my jacket. Where i hang my jacket on weekdays, that is, when i’m sharing this office and all the chairs are used. But on weekends when i’m here alone, i’m lazy and drape my jacket over an empty chair… and thus hadn’t walked by this shelf or seen my laminated face grimacing up from it’s attached keytag since friday afternoon. Instead, i spent saturday evening tearing apart my bedroom, my office, my Pathfinder, the front yard, and small sections of the street with a flashlight and what must have been an appropriate-only-on-halloween-eve fiendish stare only to terminate my search while still fruitless and seek distraction.

Danielle and i found some distraction at Dave T’s halloween party – and found a good excuse to wear our costumes (that she was mostly responsible for assembling – thanx Danielle for sewing all the patches on my coveralls!). We didn’t stay too late, but enjoyed ourselves for a bit before getting me home to bed so i could work this morning.

With the whole DST switch it should have been a little easier to get up at 5.30 am, but noooo… tired stupid me didn’t set any clocks before i went to bed, so i drug myself out of bed and downtown, and was halfway down the block from my parking space when i brandished my phone (to call Vince to come let me in at the front door – remember i am still key-less at this point) and was greeted with a cheerful “Do you wish to update the time?” which apparently is poorly translated from the Finnish phrase for “Haha sucker! You’re an hour early for work! I can see the L on your forehead from Helsinki!”

So across the street from work with a little over an hour to kill, and running on less than 4 hours sleep anyway, Mr Sandman won me over and i crawled into the backseat of my Pathfinder, covered myself in that blanket i keep in the back, warily set an alarm in the phone i wasn’t sure i could trust, and crashed out fully-clothed in a dark downtown street like the bum that i am.

I was really hoping i could make it thru the next week without having to make any political comments. I really didn’t want to sink to that level. And although i still refuse to waste bandwidth with some msnbc-style gibberish about polls and electoral colleges, i really couldn’t leave this alone.

Apparently people (democratic Kerry-supporters in this story on Power Line) who feel so strongly about their political opinions as to become violent are trying to harrass and intimidate others into voting for a particular candidate. I’ve noticed in my own personal sphere that people are either planning to quietly vote for Bush based on an ideological view or they vehemently hate George Bush and plan to vote for Kerry to spite the current president (and not because they particularly identify with Kerry). That second group of people is also (and this is a huge generalization) more prone to getting angry with people that don’t agree with them. Not just argumentative – actually angry. Like a vote for Bush is a personal attack on them. And they strike back, verbally or otherwise in what is often a totally inappropriate manner, as is evidenced in the above and on Captain’s Quarters. Since when do we allow political campaigning inside the polling places?? How about aggressive threatening inside the polling places? Should single women and the elderly be afraid to vote, fearing an angry mob outside the polling place might single them out? Juicee News even has a report of two jokers throwing pies at a speaker (they only grazed her shoulder, cause they suck). I don’t know who Ann Coulter is (i gather she’s a conservative of some sort) but i don’t think 1) throwing pies at her will help your cause, whatever that cause may be or 2) resorting to physical assault is going to make anyone take our political process more seriously.

And that’s the part that really disturbes me. There are people in this country who feel so strongly about their politics that they are willing to act violently towards their fellow citizens just to express their views. This isn’t a heated debate that turns into fisticuffs; this is random acts of violence towards strangers who believe something different than you. This is verbal and sometimes even physical abuse, striking out – not in frustruation, misunderstanding or divisiveness – but in hatred at someone who has done nothing to the aggressors personally and possibly done nothing wrong at all other than to believe something different. That’s terrorism, people. No witty political banter is going to argue that away. We’re terrorizing our neighbors and fellow citizens because they don’t agree with us. Is this really what we’ve become, America? Are we sure our troops are stationed in the right country, looking for terrorists? Maybe we need marines posted outside our libraries and elementary schools on nov 2nd, making it safe for Americans to live in a democracy? What happened to “land of the free” and all that tolerance we are supposed to exhibit? Or is tolerance reserved only for those we agree with…??

Tyler just stopped by in his red velvet pimp suit – with disco ball cane. Too funny. I didn’t dress up – no one sees me in here anyway.

Call from Lance H, saying hi and getting me pumped about christmas, skiing and … Peru?

Just figured out the cruise control works in the truck – thot it didn’t. Will be very nice for all those trips to the ski hill!