Rochester, NY
1:05 PM
Timing is something we don’t have much control over. If we had it our way, we would lay out a master plan and the dominoes would fall precisely at the time we have forecasted. It is obvious that this does not happen.
I keep doing it. I’m punishing myself. Last night was a bit different, but I still decided to see 5 AM again. I spent most of the day at the house, doing emails, working on the book proposal, and trying to set up interviews. I contacted Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Dole’s office, the PR group for the band O.A.R., and a made a few other calls to some interesting people. I hope the calls pan out. I hadn’t shaved in a few days and the previous day I had bathed in the Bay and then played golf, stayed out until 3, did not shower, went to bed, got up, worked, and finally showered at 5:30. It’s funny how when you’re grubby like that, the shower invigorates you so much more than the regular AM shower. I compounded the fact by enlisting my new barber, my mom, to cut my hair and have my neck. You always feel better with a haircut, even if you’re a buzz cut like me. I also always feel better after a shave, after cutting my nails and putting socks on, and cutting the fingernails. Why this is I don’t know. Does everyone else feel this too? I bet some.
OK, so I showered. I then had a dinner party to go to. It was one where I had to wear a tux and hobnob with a lot of the local politicians and major business players. They wanted me to speak about motivation and finding your path. I was a bit nervous, but that shower really did it. I was amped getting ready. But, I then decided to bag that and go to another dinner party. This one was with my 90210 crew from high school. Pizza and wings were the fare and the kids numbered 7. Spouses/others were in attendance. I came alone. My friend Matt from yesterday came a bit later without his other. Food was served, I had a drink, I played with the kids, and left at about 9 for a movie. It was the last time I’d see the girls before I left so it was a good thing to do. I saw my old prom date who looked just like I remembered. She got married a few months ago.
I said my goodbye’s and headed out to see Fahrenheit 9/11. I am not going to ruin the movie by explaining it, so if you want to skip this part, move on to the next paragraph. I take that back, read on, I will re write that in a second. I will first start out by saying I am neither a Republican or a Democrat. And I am no political analyst, but our political system is not running the way our forefathers envisioned it. Or if that’s not the case, they way I envision it.
If I recall from my youth, the political parties were to be made up of people, regular people: bakers, farmers, blacksmith’s, and businesspeople among others. It was not made for people to have to raise millions of dollars to run for anything. It was not made for the have’s to be the only people with the chance to make a difference and have a say. It was not made for people not to take a stance on anything. It was made for people to say what they believed, what they would do, and let the chips fall. Plain and simple. Now it is about how many people will believe in this? OK, I will go with the majority. The election for president is coming up, do you know who believes in what? Could you write an itemized list of what Bush believes and what Kerry believes? Look beyond the standard answers of he’s a democrat so… and he’s a republican so… If you have the list, send it to me.
Look at our big business today. Corruption, scandal, and bankruptcy run rampant. Is not our government the biggest business there is? If these things are happening under the watch of the big guy’s, I’m sure these things are happening now. I’m not saying it’s because of Bush. I wasn’t a believer in Clinton’s lying self nor would I think we would have a pristine system if Gore was in or if Kerry’s in. I have no solution to offer, other than we need more than two parties. We need someone from normal means to have power and not have money be the begin and end all. We need to eliminate all of the lobbying and money that goes to all of the parties. Who would you be loyal to, people that paid you millions to help get you elected, or a poor hourly wage earner trying to scrape by?
I guess I should follow that blast up with the statement that I’m sure there are good people out there in our system trying to make a difference. I just think the system has gotten so screwed up that the good people can’t make a difference.
Enough. I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 last night and I guess it created some thoughts. Drop down a paragraph if you don’t want to hear anything about it. The first thing I said to myself as I left was, “Wow. If all of that is true, things are crazy.” I’m not sure if all of it is true. He has painted a pretty solid picture and backed it with good evidence. The chain of people linked to our government and the bin laden family and the Saudi government as a whole was astonishing. How could we allow, when all flights are banned, 20 something members of the Bin Laden family to leave the country without being questioned on September 12? How can the Saudi government not allow us to question the families of the 15 hijackers? Is that right or legal? I’m not sure. I am sure that if my brother was in those buildings and they didn’t question the family of people who did, I would be irate. How could people not dive right into an investigation right away? There are so many things that make you think and wonder.
If this is movie is true, how can other people in power stand by and watch it happen? How can there not be one person to cause a stink and bring it down? How can people quiet the people that I’m sure are trying raise a stink?
I don’t know what to think, other than I think. When I left I wondered what evidence and picture could be painted in support of Bush. I’m sure they have ideas and reasons for all of this. As is the case, one opinion is matched by another, differing one. You only hear one opinion in this case. Could the other side so strongly make their case? That would be interesting. Anyway, I recommend you check this movie out. I still carry views from both parties and the movie did not make me join up with Sleepy Kerry and Happy Edwards. Nor did it make me become a raging Bush and Monotone Cheney fan.
I left the movie and was not much of a conversationalist. I analyze everything and my mind was on overtime. We decided to go for a beer and change it up. I guess it was not the best choice for a date movie, but I wanted to see it and I don’t really play the rules in the dating thing. Rick Astley on the radio of the bar sure changed my thought process. “Get this crap off of here,” focused my mind on the bartender. We stayed for a few and closed the place down. I calmed down and had a good time. The bartender even gave me a “Later, Drew,” as we left. She was impressed.
So here I am, all political today. That will wear off shortly.