Cheers and hisses

First the Good:

We have a President who, like FDR and Reagan, has the power to move the USA with his use of the spoken word. Both the aforementioned Presidents reshaped the way the USA regarded itself and went about its business, and they did it in large part by talking to the public in ways that reshaped the ways we thought about our Nation. Such rhetorical skills have been missing from the Oval Office for a while, and I think our national confusion results in part from that lack.

On the personal level, Laurie has a groovy new Toyota, and next week I'm starting my first professional acting job.

Speaking of acting, Turn of the Screw, and your Humble Author, got a glowing review in Charlotte's free weekly! From what I've been told, Perry Tannenbaum is the theatre critic of record in Charlotte, so praise from him might help get things rolling around here. Okay, it's a small notice at the very end of an otherwise unrelated article, but I'll take what I can get.

Bad: I'm sick. Again. Had to cancel a party we were planning to pitch for my Turn of the Screw cohorts and Laurie's colleagues.

Laurie bought that new car so she could give me her old one. She's giving me her old one because the Saturn I bought at the Carmax in Hoover, Alabama has finally reached its end. The engine's cracked and leaking oil. This after spending a thousand bucks to fix the timing-chain-related damage. Have I mentioned that I took my Saturn to Hoover Carmax's service department again and again, begging them to figure out why it was making threatening noises? And they kept saying they couldn't find anything wrong, despite the timing chain practically leaping out and shaving their whiskers? Granted, I was ignorant for not staying on top of this whole replace-your-timing-chain thing, but they were professional mechanics! They couldn't sniff out the problem? Fooey on 'em.

Anyway, another annoying thing: Prop 8. But if we take the long view, then we can afford to let Maggie Gallagher take her victory lap. Time-and youth-are on our side, not hers.

A couple years ago I was in line at the grocery when my cashier, a young woman, chattered happily about how Britney and Madonna smootched in an MTV publicity stunt the previous night. The whole faux-lesbian thing charmed, rather than threatened, her. Granted faux-lesbian ain't the same as lesbian, but the point is that when that girl and her lesbian-wedding-episode-of-Friends-watching peers come into the fullness of their socio-political power, all these gay marriage bans are going to be armadillo husks on the side of the road. Which may be of little use to people who want to be married now, but keep calm and carry on.