Thoughts on the election, not on politics.

Because I work in the liberal media, there are only two conservative columnists at my paper*. They each wrote an article for the days after the election. One of them, whom I actually respect a great deal, wrote about how the GOP let itself down with its fearmongering tactics and avoidance of issues, and saying such things as "the economy is basically sound." The other, who is a douche, whom I have thought of as a douche for years, who was actually fired for his douchiness in the past, wrote about how the country is going to be irreparably ruined and if those damn progressives hadn't gotten women the vote, we wouldn't be in the boat we're in (I am not making this up) and that unless we're all drooling morons -- which he strongly suspects we are -- we'll pack the House and Senate full of conservatives in 2010 when we've realised how screwed we are with liberals in charge.

Rich irony in running them both on the same page.

My father, while not quite the type to believe that Obama was some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate... okay, yes, yes he did believe that until very strong evidence came out to the contrary, specifically NewsMax jumping on his "racist church" as implication that some sort of white subordination program would kick in if Obama won...
Where was I?
Okay. He's at least not the type to believe that Obama was actually the secret bastard lovechild of Malcolm X (A friend linked this to me as an example of the human tendency toward conspiracy). So he has that going for him, I suppose. So, while he doesn't frothingly agree with every conspiracy, he does think that McCain lost because those Democrats up in New Hampshire get together and decide on the least electable candidate and caucus for him in the open primaries.
Right, it's not because of the fearmongering, the no-name divisive VP pick (I know people who voted for Obama who would have gone for McCain/Lieberman), the "bomb iran" song...
We were actually blown away by people in the NH primaries, by the way. We'd ask them who they were going to vote for- "Oh, I'm hoping to vote for Clinton." "Well, what if she doesn't win the primary?" "Hmm, well, then, maybe I'd vote for McCain." Clinton or McCain, Clinton or McCain. It seems any registered Democrats caucusing for Republicans were going for ones they'd actually vote for.
Seriously, didn't Limbaugh tell Texas Republicans to register Democrat and caucus for Clinton?
Hi Pot, I'd like you to meet my friend Kettle. I think you'll find you have some things in common.

I will cherish the memory of my grandfather stating matter-of-factly that the US had no business going to Iraq in the first place, though- just for the way my father instantly shut up. Thanksgiving got a lot quieter right then. Ah, peace.



*This is unfair. One of them is actually our Opinion Editor, meaning he writes the most and has a fair amount of weight on the Editorial. We would also have someone writing rather conservatively about financial markets, if he hadn't quit before we could talk with him about his ass-holishness.

Oof-dah.

It's not only Wrath of the Lich King that's been stealing my time.

First and foremost: If you're in charge of writing paperwork-- any sort of documents I have to sign to make sure X Y or Z does or does not happen-- I hate you. Yes, you, personally.
I'm in the process of moving, which means I have to deal with my lease paperwork. My lease is handled by a company, not one single person, and I fall not entirely into two categories of what is an acceptable reason to get out the lease without penalty. So, I'm getting out okay, but my filed contract has a post-it on it explaining the circumstances. A post-it.
Also related to my moving is losing my insurance, and having to find health insurance to cover me until I'm set back up.
Man, you want to see something scary? Go look up what it costs to insure yourself. When it's coming out of your paycheck bit by bit, it's easy to not think about, but Christ.
Since I'm about to lose my insurance, dental included, I got to take a happy trip to do something which probably should have happened years ago: I got my wisdom teeth out. Apparently my dental insurance actually has a set amount it will cover per year, so, we ended up billing dental for the two teeth that had broken through, and medical for the two that hadn't. Paperwork.

Admittedly, Wrath has been stealing my time, and I tanked a few instances pretty stoned up on painkillers. This next part is babbling about WoW, so if you don't play, feel free to skip. ;)
My thoughts so far: There are some quests that feel very, very epic. Culling of Stratholme needs to be *more* epic, and they need to explain why we're helping his dumb ass in the first place. I'm finally feeling some motivation to level my character in the other faction-- Past, what, 40, all the quests are the same- STV, Gadgetzan, Plaguelands-- then you hit Outland, and what quests are separate are a) minor or b) equivalenced- such as a quest for each side to blow up a certain contraption. Different NPCs, same quest. On the other hand, you have some pretty epic quests in Northrend that are only to one side, or the equivalence has to be different. I really want to know what Wrathgate looks like from the other side.
From an RP sense, it's interesting as well, since we're learning a lot about history and doing some very major things along the way, and there's plenty of chances to wonder about your character's reaction to something outside the ordinary-- would your character torture this NPC for information, or not? And do you do the quests anyway, just handwaving and saying your character refused? Or do you actually skip them?

I've got some thoughts about politics, and some things that happened over the holidays with my family, but they're for later.

-C