guess she gave you things i didn't give to you

I must go to bed; I'm leaving for California tomorrow, and I still have a few things to do in the morning before taking off. It's been a lovely interlude in the country; I didn't write a whole book like I'd hoped to, but since I knew that was unrealistic, I'm not particularly dismayed. I do have a Monday deadline, though, at least for the first half of the book, so I'm going to buckle down as soon as I get on the plane and continue to be buckled down until Monday (with the exception of a break for a bachelorette party Saturday night...which will no doubt stretch into Sunday being partially wasted, unless I can keep my hangover in check).

Today was mostly lazy and mostly spent in preparation for my trip; I had lunch with the parents at a restaurant in town, went into the newspaper office to renew my subscription since it expired quite some time ago, and then packed my suitcase and did a bit of research. Then, we had supper, I watched some fine CBS programming (NCIS and NCIS:LA, both of which I'd already seen), and then watched coverage of the DNC, which saddened and enraged me because, after having watched the RNC last week and the start of the DNC this week, it seems to me that the majority of the talking points, personal anecdotes, appeals to the middle class, etc., etc. are identical on both sides. And yet, from what I see on Twitter/Facebook, most people blindly trash the speakers from the party they dislike and wildly adore the speakers from the party they support. And that's what makes me so angry - that we seem to be beyond the point where debates and conventions and platforms matter, beyond the point where anyone's mind is changed during the course of a campaign.

But unless you live in a handful of states (Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, etc), it doesn't matter whether your mind can be changed, because the candidates are no longer engaging you except in an attempt to fundraise from you so they can spend that money in the battleground states. Maybe I'm so pissed off because I've seen nothing but political ads for two weeks - Iowa only has six electoral votes, and yet Obama, Romney, and Paul have all been here multiple times since I've been home, and Obama/Biden and their wives are coming Friday night (right before the Iowa/Iowa State game, which could cost them votes if they hose up traffic around the stadium). When elections consistently, repeatedly come down to 2-3% of the vote in 3 or 4 states...something is off.

Okay, end rant. I must go to bed, and in the morning I'll return to California, which is so safely Democrat in the presidential race that the only political campaigning I'll see is people asking me if I want to spend $35k to have dinner with [insert candidate here, almost always Obama]. Spoiler: the answer is no. Goodnight!