Endless Excitement

This squidish picture has nothing to do with anything, it just happens to be a sketch I colored last night.

So today was exciting: I heard an impressive political speech, with 50% less bullshit than average, got to watch one of my co-workers start on the inexorable road to a nervous breakdown, defeated an evil vending machine, and finally understood what purgatory would be like if it actually existed.

So about that political thing from Obama. The man hit on racial topics and said some things that really, really needed to be said in this country. Most politicians speak about race and it's just noise, meaningless bullshit. Republicans are especially terrible at it, especially with the racist Dixiecrat legacy they're still infected with, but Democrats tend to be pretty awful as well, and have the additional issue of association with shake-down artists like Sharpton.

This speech by Obama, well, this wasn't awful. It was actually pretty god damn good. Compared to the last seven years and change of verbal incompetence it was a work of oratory excellence. That's no reason to vote for someone, of course, but expressing a nuanced and balanced understanding of racial issues and tensions in the united states is a good reason to vote for someone.

That speech was something new...or at least something I've not seen before. I don't have a clue if he'll be able to deliver on anything of what he says, but at least he's shown me that he gets some pretty tricky issues that can very, very easily be informed by irrational prejudices. I get what he means about having friends and family that say shitty things, but how that's never the entire story of who they are. I've got friends and family that say shitty things, and I never really have a clear idea of how to respond. Some things are so egregious that they can be condemned outright, but other times it's not so simple.

I wish it were that simple, but it's just not. Sometimes you've got to pick your battles or you'll go out of your mind with aggravation.

And speaking of aggravation, vending machines can be pretty aggravating. I managed to defeat one that was hanging on to a pair of king sized peanut butter cup packets with a paperclip and my skills as a tool using mammal. Definitely the high point of my day, right after the gravel flavored coffee.

The low point of my day is some of my co workers. For starters, one of the guys I work with needs a vacation, because he's starting to mumble incoherently when he gets stressed. I mean, the dude's been a little off for as long as I've known him, but he's starting to get that crazy look in his eyes and laugh at things that aren't funny, or even intelligible.

The other co workers that are worrying me are the two girls who sit over the cubicle wall from me. They're young, in their early twenties, perky, cute, friendly, and intelligent. And they sound like the most vapid, shallow, flakey ditzes on earth.

I want them to stop talking.

Imagine, if you will, having two valley girls working four feet from you, separated by nothing but a neutral colored sound amplifying barrier. And even worse, annoying middle aged balding nerds come by and flirt with them constantly. And there's something about unattractive male authority figures that make girls that talk like that amp up the flake routine to stroke inducing levels. One more bout of giggling may make me try to kill myself with my stapler, and that's not a pretty way to go, I assure you.

Ok, so, all in all, just another day in purgatory cubicle land.