Blogophobia

Have you ever started something and suddenly found you were in over your head? I've never been the journaling/diary-writing type of person, so doing this blog just seemed like a good way to mess around with the blogging software and learn how it all fits together. I have another blog where my performance has been spotty at best. The topic and format I set up take a lot of work because my ideas come from needlework projects I'm working on. Well, you may have figured it out by now, but I'm a bit of a Jane of all Trades. I don't chug away daily on projects like that. I tend to go in fits and starts, and then totally go and do something else for a few months. So, I'd do a few entries and then...poof...disappear for six months when I ran out of steam/interest/desire to knit and crochet things. Or I'd have a few months when all I was doing was mindlessly knitting dishcloths and, well, there isn't a lot you can say about that!

A friend of mine was after me to get blogging (waving at Kristin). When I was getting my other blog up and going again (note that I've since gone into yet another lull over there), I started this blog on the spur of the moment, and, as they say on 'Seinfeld,' it was pretty much about nothing. The first couple of weeks, I was doing really well in posting every day. I'm in some community activities; have neighbors; have kids; have a husband...it's all good fodder for rambling thoughts and colorful commentary.

Then I started playing around with blog gadgets. I installed this thing called "FEEDJIT Live." You can see it on the edge of my blog (well, you can now--if you read this post a month from now, it may be gone, for reasons I'll get into). It lists people who visit my blog, by location of their server. And, suddenly, I had this overwhelming feeling of writing to an audience because people were actually visiting my blog! Then the fretting started. There was pressure. Was it all too sicky sweet? Did you like it that way? Why the heck are you all coming back here to read this, and how do I give you more of it?

OK, so I psyched myself out. I'm still a bit addicted to the FEEDJIT thing. When I should be blogging, I'm watching it to see who pops in. It's kind of like watching the news ticker at the bottom of CNN--once you see it, it's all the same, but you keep watching, anyway, because something new might pop up. But I'll try harder to not worry so much about what I'm writing and, as I originally intended, just write things as they occur to me. I'll trust that you'll let me know if I cross the border into the Land of Syrupy Sweetness. Because, after all, you're reading!

And that's my silver lining for today.

Tradition!

I went to my polling place this morning, a little sad. Nostalgic, really. We moved to our rural Connecticut town in 1999. Until this morning, I had always voted in the old Town Hall, a tiny building built in 18-oh-something, with white clapboard sides, a pine floor, and a little pot-bellied stove providing whatever heat the warm bodies inside don't produce themselves. And, of course, old-fashioned lever-operated voting machines, complete with that satisfying "Click" when you open the curtain and finalize your vote. When I voted in the last presidential election, I stood in line with my then-toddler in tow, watching acquaintances and neighbors filter through, and feeling the heat ripple off of the wood stove as I stood by it in line. Sen. Dodd was behind me with his family and entourage, creating a bit of stir as he moved through the building. The process was ripe with small-town ambiance, and, even then, I appreciated that it really served to emphasize that governmental change and progress starts at the smallest, most local level and filters its way to the top.

As I've mentioned before, our new middle school opened this year. Due to changes in the voting process, our polling place has been moved to the old middle school gym. My husband and I went there to vote this morning. We were handed our OCR forms and folders, went to our little plastic cubbies, cast our votes with black felt-tip markers, and then went to the next line, where we waited to insert our forms into the scanner. The space was large, and the whole process was fast and efficient, but there was no satisfying "Click." Still, although the pine floor and pot-bellied stove ambiance is a thing of the past, it's, all in all, still a small town. As I walked out, my son's old Cubmaster was there to hand me my "I Voted Today" sticker. And Chris Dodd was still behind us in line.

And that's my silver lining for today.

Live from New York...

When I was a teenager and in my 20's, I could tell you what was on TV most nights of the week on all of the major networks, and what was coming up in the near future. Now, with the proliferation of cable channels (do we still call them that?), and the fact that my zoning-out TV-of-choice is HGTV rather than network television, I couldn't tell you anything about any TV show that I don't specifically choose to watch. For the most part, I don't watch anything on NBC right now, so, I was a little out of the loop and a bit surprised to turn Saturday Night Live on this past weekend and find John McCain on the show.

I saw Sarah Palin on SNL a few weeks ago. She did the opening bit, sat and took it while they poked fun of her during Weekend Update, engaged in some witty repartee with Lorne Michaels and Alec Baldwin, and that was that. She was never NOT Sarah Palin, herself, the candidate-for-Vice-President. John McCain lampooning himself as a QVC host, though? I don't know. It bothered me on some level. Now, I know that John McCain hosted SNL before, so this wasn't his first foray into skit-based comedy. But, I just don't know...he's running for President. Really, I don't care what you do as a Senator. I don't care what you do after you lose (Bob Dole made a great SNL host!). But, is it wrong for me to want a presidential candidate to look...Presidential?

So, I pondered this Saturday night. I pondered it a little more yesterday. And, really, I pondered it until there was nothing left to ponder. I still don't know what bothered me about it. My sister mentioned that it's weird for her to see presidential candidates on David Letterman. But, really, that doesn't bother me. It's comforting to know that the person who wants to be at the helm of the country has a sense of humor. They laugh, they (like Palin on SNL) exchange a little witty repartee with Dave, but, all-in-all, it's a talk show, and they don't ever leave their personas at the door and tread the boards as something they are not (OK, OK...not they we know what they really are, anyway. As McCain says in his SNL backstage interview, politics and acting are joined at the hip).

So, overall, I guess it doesn't matter that it bothers me. And, as McCain says, "You do get a difference audience and a different exposure" by going on SNL than you're going to get with any talk show, even Letterman. If McCain making a fool of himself on SNL gets more 18-22 voters out to the polls tomorrow, then it's all good. It's a free country. A really free country, and SNL is one of the biggest examples of how free it is.

And that's my silver lining for today.