An overdue update

It’s been a while, and a lot has happened.  In short, Sara and I went to New Orleans via Houston for 5 days.  Was it the best trip?  No.  Did we do things we had never done before?  Yes.  Food, as always, was fantastic, specifically B&C Seafood located outside the Laura Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana.  We went because we were starving, but we stayed for the ridiculous catfish po-boy (dressed) and boiled crawfish.  We hit no less than 3 wildlife refuges, saw alligators, prayed to Buddha, watched overly amorous egrets get it on, got our Tabasco on (in a completely different way…so as not to burn anything important), shopped on Magazine, and met the artist for the 2016 French Quarter Festival poster just before scarfing beignets and coffee at Café du Monde. 

And then, shortly thereafter, Gram passed.  It wasn’t unexpected, but added some additional responsibilities and delayed a return to work by a day while we mourned/celebrated Grandma’s 91 years on the planet.  As the day wound down, I was drooping, but thank goodness for my family.  I’ll say this, my family is way better than yours.  How do I know?  They just are.  They’re dedicated, thoughtful, and loyal and fantastic.  And, that goes for both my mom’s and my dad’s side of the family.  Say what you will, nothing brings me more happiness than when I have an opportunity to spend time with my extended family.  That also goes for seeing my “brothers from other mothers,” Don and Gary.  Thanks. 

Also, because it was hilarious, my brother debuted a new play that he had written and I was able to attend an early reading.  All this shit was coming down, and I was able to lose myself for 2 hours in his creative process.  He may have been nervous about how it was going to turn out, but I wasn’t.  Thing was very polished and I felt like I had an inside scoop because some of the jokes/lines he had written were based from surreal personal experiences I knew about.  If there’s one thing you need to know, it’s that even while I’m the only one laughing, I’m laughing loud…so it sounds like it’s more people. 

I guess the common thread of this post is family.  Good to get away.  Good to get back.  Good to celebrate together our accomplishments.  Never a dull moment…though I’d like one after the last two weeks.  It’s overdue. 

Politics suck

Politics is exhausting.  Like sexuality, I don’t believe that everyone is purely left or purely right.  You may be a die-hard environmentalist, but very pro-2^nd amendment.  There are plenty of people out there who are pro-choice, but would never consider terminating their own pregnancy for any reason.  You may be a stalwart Fox News watcher Dead Head.  This shit happens.

But, there’s one thing to keep in mind during this election season: none of the candidates have all of the answers.  None.  There may be one you like more because they seem to stand for what you care about most.  Remember, however, that they’re just politicians (except that nut-job Doctor who doesn’t fully understand women’s physiology, but that’s another story for another day), and not experts on, well, maybe anything, other than being a politician.

For example, and please understand that these are all hypotheticals, Trump may be an expert on, um, building shit with his name on it.  Fine.  Typically, his shit houses people, from apartment buildings in NYC to Casinos in Atlantic City, to golf-courses in Bedminster, NJ.  These are some of the most successful projects ever undertaken by a builder/developer on the East Coast, he would say.  The best! However, when his mouth diarrhea spews words about building inhospitable walls on the U.S. border with Mexico, you can bet that he isn’t spending his own hard-earned cash on a team of architects who are preparing draft plans for 1,989 miles of immigrant-stopping wall.  It’s just lip. 

OK, you say, you get that, but the same thing goes for the other side.  Social equality is far easier said than accomplished.  The thoughts of the far left are super-appealing to those of us in the Upper-Middle Class and below…mostly because it highlights things we work hard for like affordable education, medical benefits and ensuring that a living wage is mandatory.  However, we don’t live in a kingdom where the dude on top decides the laws.  Changing our tax-structure and standards of living across this country takes time and cooperation…longer than 8 years in office, and only with legislators who agree and can get it accomplished with an actual vote.  It’s too big a ship to steer by oneself, and if someone on the far left gets elected, none of those extreme policies will get through Congress.  None. 

So, as you watch the debates, or hear about them on your social media feeds, take the results with a huge grain of salt.  It’s not that your vote/opinion doesn’t matter, but unless there’s a sea-change in opinion one way or another, the promises of the political candidates are worth about as much as the paper they’re printed on…which is to say, you can line the bottoms of your birdcages with it.