a littany of complaints and some observations.

Barack Obama is not the messiah. I think he is going to be a good president, I think he is smart, serious, has integrity, and means well. I doubt I will agree with all of his policies, but I think overall I'll be glad he is our president. However while I can certainly recognize the important emotional impact of his election to blacks and other minorities that have faced prejudice and bigotry, I'm afraid that too many people think his election is going to suddenly change the face of the United States and fix all of the problems that they, you, or I might be facing (not many in the case of me).

But that isn't going to happen for a number of reasons, most of which are out of his control. Our government is a fat bloated bureaucracy. Things don't happen quickly because radical change is scary, and democracies tend to err towards the status quo. So nothing drastic is going to happen anytime soon. Along with that we need ot realize that Barack is a very centrist candidate (and I don't really have a problem with that) but nothing in his campaign nor his political past leads me to believe that he is suddenly going to try and flip the federal government on its head. The Democrats don't have a large enough majority in the Senate to prevent fillibuster, and frankly I think that is a good thing. I typically disagree with and disdain both political parties (thanks college poli sci major for the disillusionment) so as long as they are my two options I prefer they do their best to cancel each other out.

And while he may be a great guy, Obama is going to make mistakes, every president has. In fact very few Presidents (if you study their history) deserve the credit or blame that we give them. Typically the really great Presidents did some good things but tended to have some of their policy run really good so to speak, and also just happen to be elected during an upswing during one of our economic cycles. The same is true of the Presidents that we typically bash. For the most part they were crappy for some reason, and probably made some stupid policy, but we also tend to blame them for everything that happened during their presidency when in reality they had little to no chance to make a reasonable impact on most of those issues.

So don't expect that Obama is going to fix the economy, health care, or the fact that you can't win a coin flip on the bubble any time soon. He may make some positive contributions to some things, but lets not suddenly bash him if things haven't changed drastically in four years. He has been put up on such a pedestal of hope right now that if things go crappy it could be a long fall. Lest we forget almost half of the country didn't vote for him and their ready to jump all over him if things go bad or he makes a mistake.

Speaking of coin flips, I can't win one. And my sets tend to run into higher sets. And I tend to miss my draws. And my overpairs tend to run into spots where I can only call huge bets on the river if I like burning money. So yeah I'm running bad. But I also feel as though I'm playing pretty well, and controlling my tilt well. So while I'm down about 8k so far this month, I think that actually isn't that bad. If I was tilting and or spewing I think I could easily be down 15k plus this month. But I'm not and I'm proud of that. Money saved is the same as money earned.

Also I can't find my jacket. I last remember wearing it tuesday afternoon, but I looked for it this morning and I can't find it. I'm pissed off. Really there are few things in life that gnaw on my brain like not being able to find something. I rarely can get anything accomplished until I find said lost item, and I tend to obsessively think about it while cursing myself out loud. It's probably somewhat amusing to someone else, but it's really annoying to me. And I'm pretty sure my keys are in the jacket, so that's good.

I just finished reading my third Chuck Klosterman book in about 2 weeks. I really enjoyed it. He is a writer for several popular mags including GQ and Spin, but I had never really known about him or read his stuff until a friend loaned me 4 of his books. I really enjoy his writing, and I find it scarily reminiscent to how I sit and think about things during the day. I suggest any of his books, although maybe the most accessible is Chuck Klosterman IV which is a collection of essays, articles, and some stories. It's great bathroom reading since its broken up into short reads, and the guy just says really insightful things. Warning to any ladies who may read this blog (unlikely since my readership is probably not large enough that a woman is statistically likely, considering the subject matter. if you happen to be a woman and reading my blog please prove me wrong in the comment section) he is a "guy" through and through. But at the same time I think most ladies/women would really enjoy the books, just understand that his subjects may be more accessible/interesting if you share his gender, although he definitely knows this and makes some self-depricating comments to the fact.

Final observation before I let you patient blog readers off to enjoy your day. I notice when I'm reading that I use various voices in my mind for the narration. And the tone and inflection of the voice depends on my estimation of the narrator. For Klosterman I tended to use a voice similar to my own, but maybe slightly more nasally and definitely speaking more sarcastically. I also had him speaking almost as a character in a sitcom or movie since he writes (speaks in my head) such witty insightful things that I can't imagine this timing would be natural in normal conversation. At least I think I couldn't achieve such timing. When I'm reading fantasy fiction I think the voice in my head tends to be more slow, deep, and typically like an older person is relaying something to me in a very serious tone. If I'm reading a woman's writing I probably would assign them a voice of various women that I know, although I'm not really sure since I can't really remember the last time I read literature written by a woman (recommendations anyone?).

anyway that is all. Hopefully next time I post I'll be back to even for the month and feel like blogging about poker. Maybe not though. I'm kind of enjoying writing about other topics. I find it somewhat cathartic (I know uber cliched) and I think it might be more interesting.

later

jim