I will be the first to admit that I am a political junkie. I have a really interesting Con Law class to thank for that...and the 18 subsequent hours of Constitutional therory, etc.

Having admitted that, though, I must admit that the current political season leaves me feeling like I don't even want to vote.

Republicans are evil and scandal-ridden! Look at their e-mails!

Democrats are evil and scandal-ridden! Check their freezer!

Oy. One side says something about the other side, and we get grown men and women saying, "I know you are, but what am I?" There's more spin, but it's the same idea. People on one side are saying it will be a bloodbath and that Republicans need to be very afraid. People on the other side are saying that it'll be close but Republicans will keep the majority. When the parties look so much alike, who cares?

Two things today. Random comments on some races, then a couple of soapbox rants.

Locally, we're sitting here in Oklahoma with a Congressman who gave up a safe seat and a senior position on an important committee to make a run against an incumbent governor with a 70% approval rating. He blew all his money making it out of the primary, and so he's broke. I think he's run maybe one television spot so far, and that aired LAST WEEK. Not exactly an agressive campaign strategy. Yes, there are a couple more weeks. It's probably helpful if you've found an issue by this point, though.

There's an open seat in Congress because of the aforementioned race, and so that was a bit of a crazy run through the primaries. There were about a bajillion people running. Mary Fallin is more than likely going to win. The Democratic opponent is a doctor- he's very articulate and has some interesting (if possibly unfundable) ideas about healthcare. What he didn't have going in is a lot of name recognition.

Um. We're electing a new lieutenant governor because the old one quit to get a seat in Congress. Both candidates seem pretty much underwhelming.

And here, for the possibly two of you reading (like you don't know them already) are my top five pet peeves about American politics right now:

1. There's this thing called the Constitution. It's kind of important. And you should have read it at least once. Sidebar: "the pursuit of happiness" is NOT in the Constitution. Just so you know.

2. Re: the war in Iraq. You can't remake a government in 30 minutes or less. Planning is a good thing, giving out a departure date is a bad thing. Letting the Iraqi government come up with goals and deadlines for themselves to accomplish those goals is a good thing. Supporting them until they can support themselves is also a good thing. Are people dying? Yes. Does that suck? Yes. But our soldiers are volunteers and they are doing something fantastic by protecting us and these other people. This isn't a made-for-TV drama that wraps up in an hour, minus commercials.

3. If I hear one more Senator or Congressman say "And I strongly support having investigational hearings on that"....oy. They have to keep having these hearings, you see, because the other side is doing things that are so very bad! Congress is hardly in session in an election year as it is, maybe they could spend some time on things like tax reform, or immigration legislation, or cow emission studies. Seriously. Haven't they got something slightly more important to worry about?

4. So, I'm a Republican, but have come to accept social support legislation. (Don't ask whether it could use some reform or not- different thing altogether). There's yet another area that I didn't think about until my impending due date started to loom larger...Random factoid: 163 countries in the world have paid maternity leave. The United States is not one of them. It's ok- neither are Swaziland or Lesotho. So we're not alone. Just close to it. Instead, what do we do? FMLA- 12 weeks of UNPAID leave. How many people can afford three months without pay? So I may well be looking for daycare for Noah when he's six weeks old. Legislate on THAT, and cut somebody's afternoon hearing, would you please?

5. Why should I vote for you, besides the fact that you have an elephant or a donkey by your name on the ballot? Sorry, I can think and would like to know something besides your party affilitation. A trunk doesn't get you my vote, and the big pointy ears don't necessarily lose it for you. Make a case, please. We're smart enough to understand one. (And "I'm not that other guy" doesn't count.)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's about all the rant I've got in me for the day.

It's official. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.

This is unfortunate, considering the fact that I'm 25 years old and two and a half months away from being a Mom.

When I was in first grade, I wanted to be a paleontologist. Seriously. The teacher went around the room asking us what we wanted to be, and I listened as my classmates said things like "Fireman!" "Doctor!" "Policeman!" "Trash collector!" (Don't laugh- those guys make good money.) And then there's me, the geek that says, "Paleontologist." First my teacher asked me to spell it, then she asked me what it was.

When I got older (roughly 3rd grade-senior year), I went back and forth between archaeologist and astronaut. I figured that I liked mummies and I liked space. Oh, for a real Stargate. My senior year, I wanted to go to Bryn Mawr and get my degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. Instead, I found out that Mom and Dad were getting a munchkin and so decided to stay home and go to OU. They theoretically have an archaeology department. Unfortunately, all 12 of the classes they have are about the Western hemisphere, and 10 of them are about North America. Apparently they overlooked the other half of the world.

So, here I sit with a degree in Political Science, a minor in Classical Culture, and a job where people yell at me for the dumb mistakes they made on their insurance. I have a second job as a youth minister's wife, and will soon be welcoming Noah into the world. Part of me wants to be a stay-at-home Mom, part of me realizes that we'd have to live on government cheese to do that, and part of me is afraid that if I stay at home I'll turn into one of those weirdly neurotic people that you hear about that are home with their kids so often that they forget how to hang out with grown-ups. Part of me also wants to go back to school and get a doctorate. Probably in Poli Sci, just so I can have letters behind my name and make students actually learn about that one thingee...you know...the Constitution.

No idea. Divine inspiration or at least a well-written memo would be nice at this point. I promise from now on to attempt to do less rambling, but I'm pregnant and I'm random and I'm bored. I'll probably just snark people in the news and make fun of election stuff. For the record: North Korea=crazy.

So, what do you want to be when you grow up?

In memento mori...

Today is the anniversary of my Dad's death. The last one, anyway, as there were others that came along the way where he lost different parts of himself. His energy, his bodily control, eventually his mind...and only finally his breath. At one point, he completely lost himself, but he came back and we had a little more time with him. It wasn't long enough, but it was something. For a long time I could only remember him as that husk that we spent the last week taking care of. There was the jaundice. There was the smell. There were the tremors. There...was NOT my Dad.

Then little bits started coming back. The way he would throw his head back and laugh when something really amused him, or the way he could tell a fantastic story and keep all of us rolling, or the way I used to sit on the bed when I was little while he played "Puff, the Magic Dragon." It wasn't even the easy one, with just chords. There was fingerpicking involved. Then I remembered the nights of stargazing- he always HAD to wear his flightsuit and jacket that I got him one year- ostensibly so that he would have enough pockets to hold things, but mostly because he was a huge nerd. We spent hours picking out nebulas, planets, star clusters...and, on nights when we couldn't seem to find anything else, the moon. Reassuring, nice big target. Hard to miss, even when we were stinking it up. There were poker games, late night conversations over tea, tooooooo many nights of him helping me with homework...and a lot of love.

There's not a way to get around it. His last few years really sucked. For him much more than for us, although it certainly wasn't a picnic on our end either. I've come to some hard conclusions about free will and death (which I will happily share, although it's rather a late night conversation). He's missing a lot of things. He's missing anniversaries with Mom and Sam's Kindergarten graduation. He missed our wedding. He's missing the arrival of two grandbabies here in a few months...they will undoubtedly be less geeky in his absence, although Kyle and I will attempt to serve as substitute geekiness nurturers. Mom says he's still watching, and sometimes I think that.

The thing that I, and a lot of other people, try to take from Dad is this: that even as he was dying, he still wanted to teach people about God. He was slowly being burned down to his most fundamental being, and what was left still believed in God. What was left still wanted to share that with other people. We should all be so focused.

So, today, have a cup of tea (Lipton most assuredly does NOT count), look at the stars, and remember a really, really funny guy who left us all too soon.