Power for passion's sake.

I sold a car yesterday, at long last. It was a car I had acquired late last year, and over the course of my ownership it had caused me nothing but grief. It didn't run at all, because there was some sort of electrical leak issue that had clearly drained the battery permanently. When it did run, the engine was strong, but it had the sort of inescapable uneasiness that seems to radiate from a car that's about to fall apart at sixty miles per hour. So, I managed to sell it yesterday. My price? $150. Sadly, my mother was the registered owner, and upon learning that it wasn't running, she went to the DMV to register it non-operational (which makes the sale more attractive because it negates registration and insurance necessities). 

Unfortunately, be it through her own mistake or (more likely) a miscommunication by the DMV worker, she registered it as "junked" instead, which is a completely different set of rules that make it very unattractive to a buyer. Hence, the car that cost $1300 which I thought I could get $500 for a week ago sold for $150 early yesterday morning. As I watched the new owner tow it away, I felt my heart swell. One more thing that was in my way, outta my way.

I have an assortment of casual plans for the day ahead. I'm going to be getting together for lunch with a friend from high school in Berkeley (a lunch possibly of our own creation), followed by hopefully some hardcore writing time. I'm becoming increasingly stagnant in my efforts to write, simply because I invariably end up loathing whatever I write before I can get even a third of the way into it, and unless you're at least that far into an idea, it becomes too easy to say "fuck it" and kick your start into the trash.

I'm curious as to how I might go about increasing my web presence. Maybe I should get involved in some of this viral marketing. I'd set up a bunch of satellite pages that vaguely allude to something big, paranormal, or conspiratorial happening around the world, and I'll get people to devote a bunch of time to cracking my code to understand my message, but then my message would just be, "gotcha!"

I'm downloading a torrent full of music by Beirut. It's been downloading for days. One of those slow ones.

I've recently adopted a vegan lifestyle (although I guess really just a vegan diet, I don't know if there's a distinction... my wallet is made of leather, so there you go), and thus far it hasn't been all that difficult. I've leaned heavily on the few things I know how to cook, but by and large, the transition has been more seamless than I had anticipated. I find that I have more physical stamina when I work out, as well, although that could also be because I've been spending all my time hanging out near radioactivity hazards to try and superhero myself.

I think I have to lay off the politics for a little bit. My verve for political news comes and goes with dramatic flash every few years, and this election obviously feels like the one where if it isn't interesting or pertinent enough to grab you, you probably aren't going to feel that draw for any election (until, of course, I become mayor of Corte Madera in 2042). In any event, the massive amount of articles and information I've consumed regarding Obama and McCain has begun to temper and diminish my goodwill towards the world at large. All due respect to any of my Republican readers, but the world in which somebody enthusiastically votes for John McCain is a world that will probably always leave a trace of sorrow or disdain in me. I'm not as fanatical in my admiration for the Obama machine as perhaps some might be, but I come away with nothing but interest, respect, and clarity when I hear the man speak, in stark contrast to the Big Mac Attack.

My problems with McCain are frankly too numerous and at points too nuanced to disclose in full, but I suppose on a basic level I would feel abysmally unsafe in McCain's America. I have no faith in his abilities as an orator or a communicator, and thus by extension his abilities as a diplomat, a trait that is sorely needed in the post-Bush world. It seems to be that there are a group of media personalities (most of which are on channel 59 where I live) who seem downright annoyed at the idea of foreign countries warming to an Obama presidency. Obama is cheered in Berlin? Fuck that! We're Americans- they're just germans- they don't live in the "greatest best country that god ever gave man on the face of the earth," we do. Our country is so great that we can eat bratwurst without having to leave, a fact McCain is clearly desperate to illustrate firsthand.

On the topic of temper... let it be known that I don't think being an edgy guy means you'll necessarily be a bad president. If John McCain calls his wife a cunt and that's fine by her, well, I guess it's fine by me then. But the problem is that when McCain has let flash any anger, irritation or bite during his campaign, it seems to be when he's at his most shaky with facts. My friend Seth Millstein's blog (McCain Screws The Pooch, check the links section) documents an impressive selection of the man's missteps, but the alarming thing is the confidence with which he seems to spit fire at people who raise very pertinent policy questions to him. His recent appearance on ABC's This Week, while notable for his blatant unwillingness to state his views on gay adoption, is in my view most damning in what McCain says when the question is first posed to him: "That's not why I'm running for president."

That is not an answer. It is, in fact, a travesty. I understand that McCain likely views himself as the last man standing in support of a war he deems important. While I personally think his Iraq policy is wrong-headed, dangerous, deliberately vague, disingenuous, and likely the result of reactionary emotion, I can't in good conscience think that he doesn't believe his plan is the best strategy for the country. But the fact that the war is his first priority as a politician does not absolve him from having a duty to tend to domestic issues as well. The notion that he feels a president can pick and choose what issues he should have to answer on and that a simple "I certainly don't want to talk about that" is satisfactory explanation otherwise is worse than a difference of opinion; it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what a president ought to be.

Anyways, the point I was making before those last few paragraphs was that this political stuff is stressing me out, and I need to think about it less. Good first step, huh?