I'd grown so impatiently exhausted with the way our nations media handled this election that it gave me migrains to watch anything other than The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Maybe the root cause there is that our media feels the need to appeal to the lowest common denominator or, in order to be the most frank, the stupidest people in the room. I'm not saying it's wrong to do that, but it's my firm belief that if you speak intelligently without pandering, your message will get across. The fact that there has to be shows that air with the ethos The No-Spin Zone or Cutting Through the Bull could actually speak to the size of the problem. Sure, for some, the message may come a bit slower than others, but that's natural selection, people. Then again, some folks in the republican camp of politics may not subscribe to that.
Before anyone decides to really sink their teeth into the fact that I'm not the first on this, save your breath and energy. Believe me, I know and every 4 years I get really sick of it. It's just a cycle that will probably continue every 4 years till I exit this mortal coil.
Back to what I originally wanted to say. I'll be the first to admit that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report aren't the best news sources for anyone to rely on because they miss so much. However, the fact that they zero in on how the news is presented and lampoon those responsible is what I find a vast amount of solace in. I'm just sayin', that's all.
So our 44th President is Barack Obama. I'm happy for 2 reasons. 1) The right man for the job got the job. I'm not going to go into why, that's just my belief and I will stand by it until he proves me wrong. If he does, I'll stand up and admit it. 2) This is more of a personal one for me. I remember a conversation that I had with my mother at either Christmas of '07 or another time I was seeing them. We were in the van and they said, "Who do you like for President?" I said, "You're not going to like it, but the next president will be Barack Obama. He's a guy this country needs." The ironic thing in all of this is the fact that both of my parents agreed with me. Of course this was at a time before primaries had begun and there was no credence to my thoughts and my parents could've just agreed with me to shut me up. That wouldn't be a first.
I will say this, for the first time (my 3rd election), I felt like it mattered when I walked into the voting booth and made my decision and I think that feeling will probably reside with me for some time. I don't know, maybe it's just because when I voted in other elections, there didn't seem to be anything that would affect me like the current calamity we face as a nation seems to. There's also the fact that I was genuinely apathetic back then. This time I really tried to pay attention. Plus, it's always good when the person you vote for gets elected, we might as well be real about that. Whether it's perceived as superficial or not, I feel that something seemed to matter when I voted this time. I didn't feel that before.
As for me, I'm fine. I find myself thinking about Brixton a lot more lately. It really sucks when I open the door and the apartment is still empty. I don't know...
Other than that, I've come to some realizations as of late. My interest in movies has almost completely vanished. Not sure why, either. I think that, since I started playing football (soccer) again, I just don't want to sit and watch a film anymore. This brings a paradox to the table in that, I will sit for 2 hours and watch Liverpool or Barcelona or Valencia. I won't even start on how much time I've spent lately playing video games.
Speaking of video games, I have to hand it to my wife. This is even weirder because she's been anti-video games for most of the time I've known her. I started talking about the possibility of a FIFA 09 tournament shortly before the game came out in October. Then she uttered some interesting words, "Would you teach me to play?" Absolutely flabbergasted, I said I would and that she'd have to work at it to get good. It lasted almost 2 full lessons before she gave up. That's when something even weirder happened. I wanted to get a wireless lan adapter for my Xbox 360. She, a friend and I went to Best Buy to do so. As I grabbed what I needed and started to walk out, I hear "Oh, and we're getting Rock Band as well."
This requires a bit of precursing, ever since I became aware of Guitar Hero I wasn't even close to interested in it. I took that pseudo-high road approach, subscribing to the belief that, if I wanted to play music, I'd learn to play the real thing. So, I was against that and Rock Band on a matter of what I thought was principle. Then again, marriage does funny things to dudes. As I tried to question her statement of intent on acquiring a video game, I had her, my friend and a vision of my father in the back of my head all looking at me like, "You know the outcome of this: You can either argue or go along quietly, but either way you're carrying that gigantic Rock Band box to the register and the car." So, I did what any self-respecting husband would do. I listened to my spouse.
The shitter is, she was right. She had to go help our sister-in-law that day, but my friend and I got home, we hooked everything up and proceeded to have an absolute blast playing that game. It was only a couple weeks before I'd unlocked all the songs and decided to purchase Rock Band 2. Now, I'm completely addicted. In fact, that game has gone a way to convincing me to finally give in to my thoughts of actually learning how to play guitar. Let's not mince words, here. I don't want folks to think that because I'm addicted to Rock Band that I think I'll be a natural at guitar or any other instrument for that matter. I'm completely grounded in real life here. I know it's going to be challenging and frustrating, but I think I'm ready to take that plunge.
Oh, and because I mentioned it earlier, FIFA 09 is amazing!
