Bang Head -> Here <-

I'm a little stressed. So much to do and more is being added to the pile daily.

I found myself ruminating about it as I was going to bed last night. All of my noble attempts to get ahead of the deluge have been thwarted. I'm usually darn good about not taking stuff home with me, but for whatever reason, this has me stirred up.

I would like a vacation in Fiji. Or perhaps a tranquilizer. Or both. Please?

War of the Veeps

My blogging intention today is to write a sarcastic rundown of the debate last night. I'm discovering that sarcasm, especially in written form, is one of my spiritual gifts and I'm enjoying honing this gift on my blog. I'm discovering, however, that there is much more fodder for sarcasm in people's reaction to the debate, so I will elaborate on that somewhat amended topic.

First, however, I would like to comment on her physical appearance. It's what I do. I thought the black suit was chic, elegant and oh-so flattering. But, I will say, that I thought she had a tumor growing out of her head with that half-bun monstrosity up-do thing she seems to becoming infamous for.

See?

I'm pretty sure there's something there that could require surgery that she's disguising with all this crazy prom up-do business left over from her pageant days.

As for Joe Biden, I have noticed a strange resemblance between him, and another democratic candidate I'm sure we all know and love.

Notice the longness of the face and the big toothy plastic grin. That's all I'm sayin'.

Next, even more strangely, their resemblance to him

seems even more uncanny. Minus the teeth, of course.

I won't lie. I love Sarah Palin. Please read this post through that lens. I don't even pretend to be unbiased. But what I will say is that I was completely unsurprised by and even a little disappointed with her performance last night. I thought she looked nervous at the beginning, although she gained confidence as the night went on. It irritated me that she didn't answer the moderator's questions directly. It seemed she went into the debate with a definite strategy, if not an agenda. Some were annoyed by her "cuteness", but I wish she would've let even more of her personality out.

What I was truly stunned by was the general public's reaction to the debate. It seemed like the Joe Blows were all very impressed by her. I attribute this to the fact that the only exposure they've had to her in the last couple weeks were from two sound bites from an interview with a journalist who was clearly out to get her, where Palin admittedly did not have her best day. They expected her to be a dunce and were shown otherwise. I already knew she wasn't a dunce; so I was expecting her to, at the very least, hold her own.

I thought Joe Biden looked relaxed and calm, clearly a very experienced debater. He's a senator. That's all they do.

I get that she relates to the regular guy, she's just your next-door-neighbor hockey mom, I'll betcha, God bless 'er, *wink*. I've never seen a regular guy next-door-neighbor hockey mom who was also governor of a huge state, so I don't know how I feel about that assertion, but, I digress. It seems like Joe Blow related more to that and loved her for it than actually listening to the content of the debate. It makes me feel like the average American is kinda dumb and is only looking for appearance and relatability, even though I think Sarah Palin is much more than an attractive package.

The good news for now is that she made up for the gaffes of last week and is back in good standing with the American public. I still love her. I love that she's a non-partisan maverick who fights against corruption and entrenched political systems, even those in her own party. I think that is what is needed in Washington and I would vote for that ticket on that fact alone.

I guess mavericks answer the questions they want to answer, even if it wasn't the question that was asked.

Alexandria and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was one of those days. Nothing terribly awful happened. No one died. There were no natural disasters or any other such calamities. But, for whatever reason, it still sucked. I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the emotional bed. The wrong side of the hormonal bed is probably more accurate.

Blast these hormones. These hormones that hijack my emotions and my otherwise logical common sense. These hormones which turn my mind into ruminating mush. Mush that lies to me, that expects the worst of every situation. Mush that tells me awful, fictional stories about myself and the people I love most.

I have come to accept it as my lot in life that I will have to fight against the lies that my brain tells me when I reach disequilibrium. Perhaps the mere presence of these stories in my head is a sign that something is out of whack. Hormones sure may play a role in this, but my life of late has been very full, maybe even bloatedly so. The rest and relaxation that I so need to function optimally has been hard to find. A full life is fun and satisfying, but a full life includes downtime, and I haven’t had much lately.

As someone who can tend towards introversion, I find that I need one full day to myself every week without any plans. One day where I can spend the day reading and thinking and recharging my battery. It has been quite a long time since I have had one of those luxurious days. I can remember a time where I went for months without that, and without knowing what I was doing, I turned myself into the unhealthiest mess that I have ever been. There were more factors than just this one working, but it certainly didn’t help matters.

I suppose that I can add to my list guarding my free time as one of the areas in my life to work on in becoming more zen. My list is getting really long, although I do feel like I’ve made definite progress in a couple of important areas. I so want to arrive at the place where everything is in order and I become one of the rare people who have it all together. It just drives home the point that life is a process and a journey, one which is ever dynamic, fluid and changing. And I am becoming increasingly more convinced that it is my mushy brain that is making up stories about people existing who have it all together.

The Hilariousest

I'm Just Sayin'...

The Rantings of a Bulldog, or My Thoughts on Hillary's DNC Speech

I'm a little bit scared of Hilly. Admittedly.

First, the more obvious critique of the physical appearance. I kept thinking she had smudges of red lipstick on her teeth. I couldn't tell for sure. And what's with the probation-orange jumpsuit? Did she come from picking up litter on the side of the road? I mean, really... No way, no how, no shiny, ill-fitting orange tent.

Cut to a teary-eyed Bill Clinton mouthing "I love you" over and over to a Hilly two football fields away. This is either really creepy or a stunt for the cameras. You decide.

Now on to more substantive commentary. If I were a Democrat, it really would've been a rousing speech. You have to give her that. It was pretty expert the way she pitched her big "unity" plan. Essentially, all it was, though, was encouraging her people to vote for the least of two evils in her eyes. She really didn't say much in support of Obama; however, she said a lot about why you should vote Democrat.

Green-collar jobs? Really? I thought I misheard at first. She wasn't kidding.

The one part of her speech that truly did get me thinking were her many appeals to the emotional climate of the room. She described in detail poor little boys whose mothers worked for the minimum wage, or the poor woman who languished on with poor health and no health insurance. And she had me for a couple minutes. I was like "Yeah...I want to help those people!"

But then I came to my senses.

The thing that interests me most about Democrats in general is that they assume they're the only ones that care about people. They assume that because they throw money at problems in the form of welfare or government programs that they are the only ones who want to fix society's ills.

I can attest that Republicans care about people. And I also can attest that they care about bad situations and even care to work to fix the problems in society. They just have a different philosophy on the ways in which this should be done.

This is the crux of why I do not call myself a Democrat. I believe that the ultimate responsibility for people and their lives lies within their own hands. Not with the government in the form of a handout.

Handouts ultimately only enable people to continue making the same poor decisions that got them in that bad place to begin with. Changes in society come about ultimately with the individuals in that society working to bring about change in that their own lives. Granted, there can be systemic issues which contribute to societal problems. People get themselves in binds and need help. But, ultimately, individuals must learn how to be self-feeders, taking care of themselves and not looking to the government to bail them out of bad situations they find themselves in.

I have my doubts if a massive, bureaucratic organization full of red-tape and politicing can really ever "help people". Non-profits have a much better track record on that front. I think the government should leave it to them. But, if the government can do anything to "help people", it should be creating programs to empower people, not to enable them.

And, Hillary should fire her stylist.

Oh, by the way, Hilly, I would never send you on live television wearing Hammer pants the color of a traffic sign. Call me, we'll work something out...

Today's Fixation

Hello, all!

Here is an update on my progress toward a more zen life.

The waking up early has not been going as planned. I guess this week I've been waking up around or even after 7:15 or so, which is not ideal. But, it's been a crazy summer and my sleep schedule has gotten all out of whack. My goal is to get back on track next week with waking up right at 7:00 on the nose, and then get back to moving earlier gradually.

I just realized today how much of a weight debt is when it comes to financial peace of mind. Money is tight in my budget each month because of money going to pay down debt. Duh, you say. Yes, perhaps I'm a little slow, but today was my first realization of how being in debt effects my quality of life in a day to day way. I've always understood this concept in theory, but it really hit home today examining my finances and realizing how much extra money a month I would have if I weren't in debt. So...announcing my latest zen goal:

GETTING OUT OF DEBT!!!

Thus: I paid off my credit card today! I had a little extra cushion in my checking account, and I figured, why not? If I find that I overextended myself and need a little extra money, worst case scenario, I just put another couple hundred back on the credit card. But even in that scenario, I'll still be in much better shape with a much lower balance.

Furthermore, I have decided to add something else that I'm going to be working on. So, here is my latest goal that I would like to announce. Duh-duh-duh-duh: I would like to pay off my car completely in the next three months. I still have eight months of payments, so I will have to be a little resourceful, but I'm going to make it into a little game for myself. I think that if I send all my extra money toward this noble cause, I can make it happen. What's a goal if it's not a little challenging?

In other news, I hope to spend this weekend bringing order to my apartment and getting things good and cleaned up. It's time to make my house a home.