I know this picture is funny. It’s a joke. And I’ve been kind of quiet about politics this year. Might be because the last time I got all political I got enough hate mail to…well…I got a lot of hate mail.

But Palin isn’t a joke, to me. This woman scares me even more than Bush did, eight years ago. I don’t mind the NRA thing, I guess; my father was a hunter, too. And I like that she even mentions special-needs children. But anyone that is against rights for gays, anti-abortion, and wants to teach “optional” creationism in schools just shouldn’t have that much power in this country. I appreciate the fact that she takes a stand, but…creationism? And the possibility that she would be in the White House as VP is even more scary knowing that Mr. McCain might not live for another eight years, bless his heart.

Hey. I’m sad that Barack didn’t pick Hillary as his running mate, too. I would love a woman as Vice President, I would love a woman as President. But not this one. Please, please, not this one.

I’ve been a fan of Barack Obama since 2004. I never expected him to run, never expected him to get this far. But now that he is, it’s the most exciting thing to happen to our country in almost a decade, and I’m really worried about how close the race is.

I tend to get preachy. I won’t. But I truly want to understand how people could be apathetic about this election. I saw a bumper sticker on a car yesterday that listed the candidates and had a checked box beside “None of the Above”. What? And I also want to understand how people who were Hillary supporters would vote for McCain. Isn’t that taking it a bit far? Why would this country want even one more year of the same brand of politics we’ve been enduring for the last eight?

I have actually been a McCain supporter, in the past. When he was more forward-thinking, back in 2000. Before he took on more of the current administration’s backwards policies. But now…and after picking ultra-Conservative nut Palin…I can’t be, any more. I can’t wait for Bush to be gone, but we have the option to replace him with people that are interested in growing, and not staying the same.

This is a great site with some facts. If you’re feeling apathetic. And if you are, well, get over it. Apathy is so 2000. and 2004.

Thanks, for the most part, to everyone that is sending me updates on Joan Osborne’s cover of Cathedrals. It is neat, of course. It’s also a little disconcerting to think that after my playing it every night for more than six years, it would be attributed to someone else…but that’s the name of the game, I guess.

Here’s another version, that I like. Her name is Heidi Talbot, and she was in Cherish the Ladies, an all-female trad Irish group that is led by my one-and-only tin whistle teacher, Joanie Madden. That’s pretty darned cool. I especially like the string arrangements that come in towards the last minute of the song. Jay-influenced, but steppin’ out.

Gregory, I didn’t know that Jump was from Delaware, either. Wacky!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this one, before. This photo is definitely not the way I remember him; he didn’t have much gray hair until the first round of chemotherapy, and I guess this one was taken between then and when the cancer came back. It’s funny looking, to me. He looks so much more like my grandfather in this picture than I ever picture him, mentally.

Then again, photographs do have a way of distorting reality. Right?

I am feeling sentimental today because a friend of mine lost her brother in a car accident. Ever since my dad died, I’ve been really funny about how I react when I hear that a friend has lost a family member or friend. Sometimes I make a big deal about it. Sometimes I don’t. But I always feel the same; without fail I rush back to the day that Dad died. When I say that I know how she is feeling right now, I am amazed at how viscerally I actually remember the feeling. That feeling of being wrapped in what feels like an enormous invisible blanket of fog. Breathing is difficult. Rooms spin. You can actually feel this fog on your skin; it tingles a little. Through it, everything is distorted. You are rendered dyslexic, and seem to acquire an attention deficit disorder; you can’t focus on anything but the now, and every second feels like an hour. You almost sob with relief when you get through a day. And boy. It takes so long to fade away. So goddamned long. It does fade, though. It really does.

Joss Whedon became one of my top ten heroes when he wrote and directed “the Body”, an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that dealt with Buffy’s mother’s death. It’s the truest artistic depiction of what the feeling of losing someone is like that I’ve seen, believe it or not. Fortunately, one can’t fully appreciate the filmwork until they’ve experienced a death so close to them. But watching it now is oddly comforting. It’s proof that I’m not alone, that I am not the only one that has been that close to a death.

(Crys, you’re not alone, today.)

This is Henry.

Originally uploaded by macnab.

Pretty song.

Rock drums: boo.
Cheezy guitar solo: boo, too.

Joan’s red pumps: absolutely fabulous.