Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself."
-- Mark Twain

Yeah, they're idiots. And why is Jeb Bush accompanying Colon Powell to the Tsunami wreckage? I pray it's not to set himself up for a presidential bid.

But I'm not going to whine about politics tonight. I just liked that quote. All the same, if anyone has any original ideas on how to fix this mess we're in, I'm all ears. Just not in the Ross Perot way.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, or Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, or just some completely non-religious time off from work. Mine was great, thanks for asking. I got to hang out with family, went to Winter Escape up at camp, hung out with more family, and I've been catching up with friends over the past couple days. I've gotta say, it feels mighty nice to not have anything due. The pleasure derived from doing nothing while procrastinating is fine, don't get me wrong. The real relaxation, however, is when there's nothing coming up that you have to do. When I say "do," I don't mean go skiing or hang out with friends. I mean write an eight page paper about some articles you haven't actually read, or something along those lines.

So I don't really like New Year's. If it's about renewal and stuff, okay, maybe, I'm glad you like it. I just think it's dumb. There's always a hundred million new diets, new ideas to get organized, and new ways to accomplish all of the stuff that's never worked for anyone before as a New Year's resolution. At best, these resolutions last into February, and that's if it's an easy one or something. As Peter La Fleur said, "I find that if you never set any goals, you never get disappointed," or something close to that -- I probably botched it, but I don't want to go get the movie out. I'm not saying goals and resolutions are stupid, though. I just don't think there's anything magical about a new year that would make them work.

And why do we have this lame obsession with getting staggeringly drunk and kissing someone to ring in the new year? Doesn't that sound like a great way to, I don't know, start a resolution to drink less or to take relationships more seriously? Maybe that's the magic -- people are a little more likely to resolve to not drink again in the midst of their New Year's day hangover while trying to get the lipstick off of their shirts.

Maybe I'm just sad because it means the holidays are over. No more pumpkin pie, no more turkey, presents have to wait until birthdays (and even then, only one person is getting them), and stores start setting out stale candy hearts with things like "PAGE ME" stamped on them. You can tell me Christmas is too materialistic, but tell me it isn't fun to open a new Lego set, or watch your five-year-old cousin open his new GI Joes. Now snow isn't quite as fun -- it's just white stuff people have to shovel, it's not foretelling hot chocolate and gingerbread and stockings and fir trees.

Well, peace, guys. Oh, yeah, and George Bush still sucks. And so do H2s.