still alive... still not posting as often as I should

I confess. I didn't watch the debate.

There was a time--only a few years ago in fact-- where the beginning of baseball season came with a pretty strong anxiety for me. I would find myself caring far too much about where the Sox were in the American League East at a time when it meant next to nothing even to people to whom baseball may as well be a matter of life and death. A player of whom great things was expected underachieving at the beginning of the year? Torture. So what I would do is just take the early spring off. I'd still watch a game if it was on, but no Globe Sports articles. No statistics. No sports talk radio (actually, this is probably a healthy choice no matter what. For every sports radio host that is actually likable there's a hive of loudmouth assholes who will berate you for disagreeing with them on the tiniest of issues and somehow manage to weave right wing politics into their diatribes). I don't get Sox anxiety anymore (thank you very much Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Dave Roberts, Derek Lowe, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, et al).

I do, of course, get election anxiety.

But seeing as I'm not registered to any party (and thus am ineligible to vote in primaries), and seeing that no party or candidate shares my politics?

I'ma let this one slide for a bit. In 2004 I found myself getting in debates all over the place starting at about this point, and achieving nothing but headaches.

So I'm not going to go blackout. If something important comes up I'll follow it and maybe write about it. I think that Obama is the best we're going to get this year. Will he be a good President if elected? Unknowable. I will say this though. Four years of Hillary will rally the GOP assholes and eight years may leave us with a similar political climate to 2000, which it has been demonstrated was shitty for the country. Right now? I don't think I'd serve any purpose by being anything more than a casual observer. So at this point you'll only hear from me on this if it's of particular import or if it's entertaining.

Aren't all six of you glad that I cleared that up =P

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My congratulations go to Jon Lester, who the other night returned to the pitching rubber for the Sox after beating Lymphoma to strike out six and allow only two runs on five hits in six innings and giving Boston a 5-2 win. That's big fucking news, seeing as the guy only took a year to get back to the main stage.

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My parents celebrated their 28th anniversary on Saturday. They left the house at around 10 to go out, with no defined plans. I was up when they rolled back in at around 3 in the morning, wondering what it is that took them so long. It turns out that they found themselves at Harvard Square at around midnight and decided on a whim to go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which, quite reasonably, shocked me. It was the first time for both of them, and, I mean, they're my parents. Which isn't to say that I'm anything less than fucking proud of this fact--it lies somewhere approaching my grandmother handing my ass to me in a paper sack at the Bowling game for the Nintendo Wii (and yes it is a matter of pride because when your grandmother buys a next gen system before you do and you're an oldschool gamer who still remembers the original Pitfall that means that your grandmother is awesome)-- but it also means that they were hanging out with my crowd. Though I doubt they did anything that I'd be ashamed of, such as my brother who upon the shouted requests of multiple hot girls to remove his shirt during the Virgin Sacrifices just stood there. The boy, it is safe to say, was given a thorough lecture on the nature of his transgression... where was I?

Oh yeah. Interestingly enough, I was considering going that night (potential awkward moment averted), which was part of the reason why I spent the day reading through the 700+ pages of J K Rowling's latest work, which is, to my mind, solidly her best. The reason? The callbacks at the RHPS are always in line with what's current. The Mooninte scare in Boston was the subject of constant mockery and I have no doubt that spoilers were shouted out during the show.

The other reason I spent the entire day reading it was because I couldn't stop. I'll readily admit it. I'm pretty thoroughly a Harry Potter fan, and I have been since eighth grade. The concept of the antihero being prevalent in a series of books read by millions of children worldwide is something that I relish. And to my mind that this one series hasn't necessarily sparked a resurgence in reading among children isn't necessarily the point. Expecting one woman to do that with a pen is a bit lofty. It's demonstrated that there is an audience there to be engaged. The hope is that publishers might learn what to look for. But aside from that, it's solid mythology, clever invention, good narrative and inspired characterization And real danger. She may not be Tolkien, but she's picked up a few of his tricks.

Anyways, I'm not exactly thrilled that there won't be any more. Not to the extent that I'll resort to reading all of the slashfic though. Interestingly enough my position in an argument regarding them was vindicated by the final book. I shan't elucidate though, as it would contain spoilers and we don't fucking do that here.

Was there anything else? I don't think so. Later.