I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

This past Sunday morning was a pretty rough one for me. Simply put, I mixed a few too many cocktails with several pounds of assorted meat the night before. It was quite the binge, I'd say. When I awoke Sunday morning (at 4:30AM, alone, fully clothed and lying diagonally on the bed, mind you), I felt less than horrible.

That aforementioned Saturday, I had hosted a party for some "friends" at work. Bad idea...I won't make the same mistake again. Essentially, these "friends" just wanted a place to get drunk and stupid. Meanwhile, I found myself wandering around my own house, trying to talk to all the different co-workers, and feeling completely alienated when doing so. I'm not really a part of their clique at work...I fully accept that, but it was, after all, my house and I shouldn't feel alienated there, right? Right.

I remember being eighteen or nineteen or twenty-two (sort of) and attending parties of this caliber. They weren't really fun then, either, but they were at least a bit more acceptable. It was always sort of an "I don't care who I'm with as long as I'm drunk/stoned/whatever" atmosphere. I like to think I've grown way up. Fortunately, I've maintained some friendships from that era of my life. Unfortunately, there are still people out there my age and older who are a part of that crowd.

None of this is really news to me and probably isn't worth a blog post either. It was an eye-opening experience, nonetheless.

For future reference, when the wife and I have people over it will be a two-couple max at a time. So, Stephanie and Zach (if you're reading this), be prepared to come entertain us in the near future; we'll return the favor by providing you our full attention. Sorry, Zach--no Bacon Explosion--ever again.

BFF,
JFW

You Say Tomato...

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel stuck in the middle? Most of the time I feel like a man shouting in an echo chamber when it comes to my conservative versus liberal friends and family members. I'll get emails from my Dad telling me how my guns I don't own will be taken away. I used to get emails saying how George Bush was listening to my phone calls and I should be worried. Because telling my wife to pick up bananas at the store is important information.

It's a culture of fear, and it is choking us to death. The public at large is taking their eye off the ball while casting stones at one another. Middle age white men line the streets and take the day off work to protest tax increases that didn't, and might not happen. Gay men and women march to protest their right to be married. Why are we waiting for a pat on the butt from a government we all say we don't trust? Why do we feel the need to be validated by something we dislike?

More questions than answers, which is a roadblock for everyone. The path to resolution is paved with an easy answer these days. Watching white men over history try and protect what their idea of American should be is appalling in history books. It's even more astounding watching this generation claw at it as it slips away. Latina women on the Supreme Court, a black guy with supposedly no birth certificate in the White House, and affirmative action taking their jobs. It's enough to make you think we white guys are about to be lined up next to dinosaurs and Dodo birds.

Back to everyone freaking out and attacking the people on the other side of the fence... I'll leave you with this. When talking politics these days, it's not about which political party is going to screw you. It's about when and both sides with their hands on the hot poker in your backs side will choose to shove it in.