Oh, November...

You're gonna kill me, November.

I'm doing National Novel Writing Month  (NaNoWriMo) this month for the first time.  For those that don't know, it's an event where the main goal is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November, 1667 words per day.

You're supposed to start with a brand new novel, but as finishing works is my biggest problem thus far, I've decided to just write 50,000 in the book I'm already working on.  If I meet the goal, I should only have 25,000 or so left to finish it after November.

Unfortunately, I've been having migraine after migraine the past weeks as the seasons change.  I didn't get started on the writing until the 4th day (5th day by the website since I usually finish writing for the day after midnight, when they go on to the next day).  So, not only am I trying to write more in a month than I ever have (I think), I'm starting off in the hole.  I had another migraine last night, which knocked me out of commission for most of today, as well.  (Please realize that if I'm posting at 4am, today means to me what yesterday means to most!)  I'd hoped to do some catching up today; I did, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped.

So, if you see me (and if you case, i suppose), please give me some words of encouragement.  I'm going to be needing it later in the month I'm sure.

And don't be one of those tough love, motivate-through-derision types, because I'll probably punch you in the dick.  Right in the dick.

Oh, Thank God

Well, the 2012 presidential election has been called by just about everyone qualified to call it, and President Obama has, quite handily, despite how close the voting looked early in the night, earned a second term in office.

I was worried about this one.  Really worried.  In my life time I’ve noticed a surge of megalomaniacal selfishness in this country.  The gap between the wealthy and the poor widens more and more, and for some reason, the poor in this country are all for it.  It seems that the people of the United States are holing up in their bunkers and telling their neighbors to go fuck themselves.  It’s all about Me, Me, Me.  If You, You, You are having trouble, it’s all your fault.  You didn’t educate yourself enough; You didn’t make the right choices; You should have known better.

It’s hard to believe there have been people arguing seriously that the USPS should be shut down, that FedEx and UPS are good enough, better even.  Why subsidize the USPS when FedEx can get the same letter to the same place for $12.00?  People are actually arguing that even roads should be privately funded; the government has no place in anything.

It’s easy to believe that most people think this way too, since those proponing these arguments talk so loud.  It doesn’t matter if you’re right, just say it loud and say it over and over and over again.  If you say it loud enough and enough times, it has to be true.

However, today the majority of Americans went to the polls and let everyone know, that’s just not how things are.  Our neighbors are important, even if they have had a hard time of it lately; government still serves a great and higher purpose, even if it could use some cleaning up; there are some things more important than individual gain, especially when so many of us are hurting so bad.

It could have easily gone the other way.  We’re hurting, and have been for a long time now.  It’s easy to point a finger at a scape goat and forget that, sometimes, it’s simply not any one person’s fault, sometimes things are bad.  We have a tendency in this country to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; if it is broke, throw the whole damn thing out and go buy something completely different.  When I voted for Obama earlier today, I wasn’t voting for his economic plan, his jobs plan, his race, or any other particular policy.  Why?  Because, quite simple, the President doesn’t control those things.  The President is an enforcer of laws, not a creator of laws.  When it comes down to it, I was voting for a very simple principle: there are some things more important than me.

As an attorney with my own firm, I have a pretty good earning potential.  If I thought it was all about me, a Republican vote would have been the logical choice.  Their party line, for as long as I can remember now, has been all about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, making your way on your own, and keeping everything you get along the way.  With my profession, and my fiancée’s profession, our kids will never want for anything.  They’ll have the best education, the best health care, the best food, etc.  That’s just not good enough for me.  Every kid should have that.  No family should have to worry about affording a hospital trip, or housing, or food, just because Daddy’s worked construction all his life, some bankers somewhere destroyed the housing industry, and he can’t find a job now. 

As a bankruptcy attorney, I see stuff like this every single day.  Conservative pundits like to blame it on any of a number of things: they didn’t work hard enough, they weren’t smart enough, they made bad decisions.  That simply is not true.  It’s a fallacy they propone, because they profit from the policies that fallacy leads to.  As someone who is involved in the last resort of some of those that are struggling, I can attest to the fact that, in the vast majority of those cases, that idea, that myth, is complete horseshit.

I am extremely happy tonight that the majority of Americans seem to feel the same way, at least a little bit.  Their reasoning might be different, but I feel that, down at some fundamental level, we all stood up today and said: There are some things that are more important than Me.