your time to change

So on a happier note, what have I been up to lately? As usually happens when you get ready to leave a place that you've spent any amount of time in, things get busy. You (and by 'you' I mean 'me') start to think of all the things you wanted to see and do, all the people that you want to spend time with, not to mention all the onward arrangements to be made. I've been spending a little more time on the town, catching up with friends that I know I'm going to miss, meeting a few new ones.... Went to a play and realized midway through that plays could be the oldest form of human entertainment -- classic no less, why don't I go more often? Visited a modern art museum which was not too impressive, spent a day at the coast near Dublin with a few people and we were treated to a tasty dinner afterward courtesy of my favourite Austrian vegan. Oh speaking of which, there's this film you've gotta see: 'We Feed the World'. A little doco on the food industry, pretty interesting; can't so much as breathe these days without screwing something up, but that's another lecture for another day. :-)  I did catch my first glimpse of Emerald-Isle emerald last weekend. Went to visit a friend of a friend who lives a couple of hours to the south. The train followed the coast most of the way, great views. Fun day too, maybe I should visit perfect strangers more often. Have spent a few evenings in pubs, something obligatory in these parts, trying to learn to taste the difference between good and bad Guiness, but that would take some practice I think.

 

I heard on the news recently that a 20-year old guy was arrested at the airport with EUR 24K (about $36,000) worth of cannabis. The drug-sniffing dog got him on his flight arrival from Amsterdam. I was trying to picture how much room that would take up in his bag - was it totally full of weed? Was he really so stupid to smuggle drugs on a flight from Amsterdam?!!!!! 'Naw, they won't suspect a thing. Durrr.'

 

Went to an office Christmas party last night. Better late than never. More Guiness, but to be honest I was hard-pressed to finish my 2nd pint. Maybe I had too many cheesy jalapeno things.

 

My flight arrangements are starting to come together for the next few months... just a rough outline, and I don't think I'll spill yet but to say that it's a travel agent's nightmare. I was looking at round-the-world tickets but it turned out cheaper to do one-ways the whole way.

 

What else... Oh, the big question! Ok I'm painfully aware that we have an election coming up this year. While I don't believe that the system actually works, since the people's votes don't seem to count in the big elections, and where they should at least count in local votes, those decisions are too regularly 'overturned' (really democratic)... and while part of me would like to see the whole bullying eyesore of a greed-ridden over-consuming country swallowed into the ocean without a trace... it wouldn't really be fair to the sea creatures. Anyway I can't totally give up on it because there are lots of people there that I care about. And somehow, even though it doesn't work, I still have this nagging feeling that if I don't at least participate in the voting system, I have no right to complain or expect anything different. Expect, ha, I should say wish for, expectation's too optimistic. I think the USA is on its way to becoming a 3rd-world country. No really, think about it. How much of our own stuff do we produce these days? Not much. How much basic stuff - even vegetables - do we get from overseas? How much power are we handing to places like 2-billion-people-strong China who basically have our national balls in a vice any time they decide to exercise their strength and squeeze? What happens then, can we actually fend for ourselves if we don't even have our own food supply? (This isn't post-film propaganda by the way, just stuff that's been bothering me for a really long time.) It's kind of like economic karma - if we insist on paying 3rd-world prices for everything, it seems a logical conclusion that we might end up living a 3rd-world life. Scary.

 

Ok that was a little tangential... my point being, who the heck am I supposed to vote for????!!!!!!!!!!! I've done almost no research as of yet & have a long way to go.... In the meantime what I would like from all of yas is some input!! Who do you like, who do you hate? Who's got at least a shred of decency or wisdom, who will be able to keep our collective head above water or who will sink us like one of those little cereal box toy submarines when it's filled with lead instead of bubbly baking soda? I want anyone & everyone's opinion... not that I'll necessarily agree with you (would be pretty unhealthy to agree with everyone) but I want to hear it anyway. Email me - there's a link on this page if you don't have the address handy. Be as opinionated, passionate, dispassionate, optimistic, pessimistic, open-minded or dogmatic as you want. I'm already convinced that Uncle Sam is a fascist, it can't get worse than that.  ;-)