Haven’t really written much in the blog in awhile for a bunch of reasons, so it’s hard to know what to put in without putting in too much information altogether.
I’ve had my own reasons for being an idiot and lazy about blogging, but that’s not worth detailing.
Today, I had my annual checkup. As usual, that means there will be followup stuff in the coming weeks. I have a colonoscopy at the end of next month, for example. The initial returns have been favorable. Except for the annual asswhipping about smoking, the doc says I’m more healthy than most 30 somethings. Bloodpressure, heartrate, weight, prostate, all good. I’ll be getting the second wave of reports from my bloodwork soon — cholesterol, STD scan, that stuff. YES, “STD SCAN” IS MAYBE TMI FOR SOME OF YOU (shut the fuck up, Suz), BUT IT’S IMPORTANT AND THERE’S NO REASON FOR GROWNUPS TO BE EMBARRASSED ABOUT SEX, DAMMIT. Get over it. If you are sexually active, get checked, fer goodness sake. And one more thing: NO GLOVE, NO LOVE.
This past weekend, the Parker family took over my house and life so that the son, Charles, could enjoy a 26th birthday party. Father Zach was the DJ, Rena was the caterer and I never did figure out what the hell Kat was doing. Lotsa nice folks, some young’uns having beers and the older folks in the back yard ratcheting jaws as usual.
Went to a fundraiser for children’s pediatric cancer research last Thursday, Taste of Bricktown. Magnificant food and the Bricktown Coca Cola center was filled to the brim.
That brings me to the death of Fletcher Vines, age 11. Oh my Lord, my heart goes out to Gail, his mom. I just don’t know if I could handle the loss of a child. All through his illness over the past few years, the two of them handled his illness with better sanity than I can muster. The St. Baldrick’s fundraisers, the church events at Mayflower and at his school. They handled this with more than aplomb — they got the entire near northwest OKC community involved and turned a fatal illness into an opportunity to do some good for the world. One thing for certain: Fletcher’s life and death were an inspiration for me in so many ways. My little troubles with romance and finance pale in comparison and I’m enormously grateful for my children and grandchildren and mother and sisters and their good health. I’m not going to even try to eulogize, it’s been done better than I could do by others. For myself, I think of how much Fletcher accomplished in only 11 years and I celebrate his life and re-dedicate myself to looking at how I can help others and not just to focus on my own crap.
That pretty much ends the whining portion of the program, I’m guessing.
Just a brief mention of politics. It looks to me like the Republicans are learning a bad trick from the Democrats. Used to be, there were lots of Dem candidates and they would beat the hell out of each other all through the summer and then wonder why they seemed so mud smeared when they faced the GOP in the fall. Here in the 5th Congressional District, you’ve got maybe 5 Repugs who will spend $1 million EACH and it looks like they are going to get into that good old circular firing squad and take potshots until there’s only one standing. How many times can you spread the rumor that this one is immoral, that one is unethical and the others are crazy? Stay tuned, but $5 million spent claiming that everyone else is trash and you are the conservative one will hit the TV channels like a tsunami starting in just a week or two. The CW is that whoever the GOP picks will be the Nov. winner because the Dems, including the one I’m working for, are flying under the radar. HOWEVER, the national polls showing Bush down around 30% and falling in several political indicators of strength of support among the 1/3 that back him are putting the House of Representatives in play in a way that we haven’t seen since 1994’s Newt Gingrich “Contract With America”. House districts that were once seen as solid red are starting to look purple and tending to blue. Repug seats “in play” numbered about 25 only a couple of months ago and that number has risen to 45 today. IF (big IF) the GOP here does the trash job on each other that they do in the fall routinely against the Dems, the GOP nominee could well go into the fall so damaged that even huge amounts of money won’t help because so many wing nuts will sit on their hands in disgust and so many Dems are so energized by the political pollution of this administration and Congress. This is a phenomenon I’ve seen before. Besides, when I was in the news business, an old old hand named Nelson Taylor once wisely said there are two things upon which one should NEVER wager: the jury box and the ballot box. Strange things happen in a voting booth.
Wish I had some polling numbers. Where is Tom Keilhorn, the estimable “Dr. Doom” of local polling, when I need him?
Ah, my love life. Haven’t mentioned that yet. I don’t have one at the moment. I got stood up Thursday, stood up by a different woman Saturday, and I’m out of bullets at the moment. I’ll reload one day soon and start shooting at my toes again and y’all will be the first to know.
ttfn