WTF (Part 2)

One of the side effects of the Parkinson's Disease drug Mirapex is "pathological gambling."

WTF?

Yesterday it rained mud. I am not making this up. I went in to the gym and when I came out my car was completely covered in dirt. It looked like I had gone off-roading. I had dirt spots on my shirt from where it rained on me too. When I asked someone what caused it, they said "Mexico."

Divisions

David Lipsky wrote a book called "Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point" about the Class of 2002 at West Point. One of my classmates was in that class. I had some friends over the other day, including him, and he pulled that book off of my bookshelf. He was thumbing through it and showed us a couple of the pictures in it. "This guy was one of the first people to be killed in Iraq," he said, pointing to one photo, "he was my math partner." In another picture he pointed out another guy "this guy was my chemistry lab partner, I just heard that he was killed a couple of days ago."

It dawned on me that I am completely unaffected by the war (police action, invasion, whatever you want to call it) in Iraq. I'm not saying that I don't care, or that I don't find it tragic and infuriating, just that it does not, and has never, really impacted my life.

I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know who have been in Iraq. No one I know has been hurt or killed. None of us have to ration anything, gas prices are high, but not because of the war. I even got a tax cut, and am getting another refund later this year as a result of congress's attempt to stimulate the economy. In my last job working for the government, I never saw my budget decrease either. I don't have anyone to worry about "over there" and I don't make decisions in my life based on the war.

There is this complete disconnect between the people who are fighting this war and the rest of American society. I think that is why I always find myself incensed when I hear politicians say things like "we're at war" or "... in a time of war". We're not at war, a small subset of our population is.

Greatest Experience Ever

I am having an experience right now that is about the best one I've had in years. Its called Spring Break. I have one week off from school and have nothing to do. When I was working I took time off to go on vacations, even trips to the beach where all I had to do was sit, and still this is better. I think one of the main reasons it seems better than any vacation is that at the beginning of spring break I didn't have to race around wrapping up loose ends at work and now, at the end of the week, I don't have the dark cloud that is returning to a job I hate moving in. No Sunday blues, no small episodes of anger/stress that hit me when I think about work, none of that. I have no kids, I am single, I have no job, nothing that demands a chunk of my time. My place is spotless, I've gotten all my errands done, exercised a ton, made dinner with friends, stayed up late watching movies (I've seen four movies this week... which is four more than I've watched since Christmas), slept until 10, then taken a nap later in the afternoon. Its been great. It doesn't hurt that its 90 degrees in March here in San Antonio.

I'm off to the pool...