Some people can't stand these things, but I love it. Tonight was filled with so many questions: Can Mike Gravel out-crazy himself this time? Who will Joe Biden yell at next? And what's up with our favorite little liberal elf, Dennis Kucinich, trying to get people to text him? Unfortunately I don't have many answers to these questions, except one: Gravel did in fact out-crazy himself.

I'm a political junkie. Even though I'm not very mainstream politically--being a socialist and all--the drama of national politics keeps me watching like a housewife drawn to her soap operas. So, I've been following the lead up to the next Democratic debate tomorrow, sponsored by CNN and YouTube. For those who are unaware, the candidates will be responding to video questions uploaded to YouTube during the debate. It's a unique idea, and I'm actually quite interested to see how it works out.

All week CNN has had a feature concerning the "Debate Countdown," where they spend hours upon hours talking about what might happen at the debate, and airing questions submitted by users. Aside from the advertising subtly disguised as "news" (which is bothersome enough), the rhetoric which they are using is fascinating. They keep referring to the "YouTube generation" (TM?) as the target of these debates, a term as empty of content as it is of critical thought.

My generation, or rather the generation of which I am at the tail end, was slapped by the media with just such a label: we were "Generation X." As silly as this sounded, it caught on. We were labeled as a variable, unknown factor for which it took years to effectively advertise towards. It was of course finally accomplished, and since then there have been many different labels used in attempt to quantify the generation beginning only a few years junior to mine, including "Generation Y" (a term equally empty of signification), the "MTV generation," the "Beavis and Butthead generation"--and now the "YouTube generation." Why these labels are considered important, much less comprehensible, is beyond me.

John Roberts, an especially pleasant albeit sterile CNN correspondent, has been the one I have heard use the term most often. Consider the following lines from the VTR intro to "Debate Countdown":

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. And welcome to the YouTube debate countdown. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts.

The clocks are ticking down. Get ready for democracy at lightspeed. [Ugh. The type of unimaginative turn of phrase I expect from my freshmen]

CHETRY: For the first time ever, we're turning over an entire presidential debate to you, the voters. [As opposed to what, exactly?]

ROBERTS (voice-over): It sure isn't your grandparents' debate. [Good. I was hoping that Eisenhower wasn't running posthumously.]

CHETRY (voice-over): Or even the MTV generation's debate. [huh? Distinction without a difference?]

ROBERTS: If you want to be president...

CHETRY: ... you better look out. [whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean]

ROBERTS: It's a brand-new generation, the YouTube generation. [Ah! Yes! Subtle branding plus advertising in one package!]

CHETRY: And they have some video questions that will make you think.

ROBERTS: Make you squirm.

CHETRY: Make you laugh out loud. [Is it wise to dumb-down Presential politics to the level of a reality show in order to garner interest?]

ROBERTS: A debate like never before. [Ah, uniqueness claims, a staple of advertising rhetoric.]

CHETRY: Want to know what voters really want to know? Just listen to their questions.

ROBERTS: Tonight, on the CNN/YouTube debate countdown.

I know voter turnout is low for those 18-25. But I believe that this is more harmful to turnout in this demographic than helpful. It gives the impression that young people will only get involved in the political process through the flash and glimmer of the computer screen, and leads others to discount the political agency of this age group.

Can I get the news without this condescending bullshit, please?

Two years after attaining the car, it is now in the shop for its second major service. The CV axle has long since been going, and recently one of the tire rods bent, I think. I was literally bouncing in the car over 50 MPH--so something had to be done. I sent it over to my local mechanic, and with all things told (plus two used tires) I should be about $500 lighter for the wear. Quite a deal when you figure that the car was my consolation prize from two breakups ago (I got a car, and she went off to cheat on other people. I still believe it to be one of the best deals I've ever made). I dropped the car off yesterday, and it will be ready on Monday. So, I'm sans vehicular transportation this weekend.

Those who know me know that I hate driving. This has been lessened to a large degree by my rockin' new stereo system installed (Infinity 5" in the front, JL 5x7" three ways in the rear, Sony CD deck), and the air conditioning now working quite well. I drive as much as I need, but very rarely more than that. That means to and from work, and the occasional trip to run errands. If I can, I prefer walking.

So I usually don't feel much need to have anything more than mere transportation. That is to say, I've never had a nice car. Hell, I've never owned a car less than 10 years old. A $500 car is usually what I gravitate towards--especially with my financial situation. And I figure even if I need to put a grand a year into maintenance for a car, it's still less than a car payment.

However there is a degree of existential dread that comes over me when things like this happen. Granted most weekends my car sits there untouched--but the idea that I can't really go anywhere affects me, even though most likely I wouldn't have left the house anyway. I'm not sure why this is. I can reason to myself that I wouldn't have gone anywhere, citing my recent social isolation and my intolerance for people as such lately, coupled with my pseudo-agoraphobia which sets in during the fetid Florida summers. But still, I can't help a subtle feeling of disconnection with the world, even more so than usual.

Maybe I'll take a walk. That might help.

Bittorrent. 'Nuf said.

I filled a 160 Gig external hard drive in something like eight months with all the music.

But recently, I've found that some kind, courteous soul is posting all of the Dr. Who's in order, from first serial on. The fourth is still on its way, but this will occupy me for large amounts of time when I should be writing. (Yeah, I'm a dork. You got a fucking problem with that?)

In other news, I've got a Moose on my couch. He'll be dragging me back out into the world soon, kicking and screaming.

I don't know about you all, but it seems to me that there's a permanent full moon shining over Tampa. In the past month, I've had people telling me how much they want me around--until I don't react exactly as they want me to, and then there's hell to pay.

Recently, I've been receiving not-so-subtle propositioning from a (former?) friend of mine. Explaining that I am very recently out of a relationship (which apparently she took as her cue) and since I was unwilling to just jump into something new, I declined politely. And then a few days later, I did the same. When politeness failed, I rejected her advances more directly. This was followed by a set of bitter, angry text messages, saying that she hates me and never wants to talk to me again.

This morning I received a new barrage of messages from this same person, this time without the angry tone. Each was laced with pseudo-explanations and prima facie invalid justifications of her behavior--but not one word of apology for the shitty things she said (written?). To me her reaction had been unjustified and I told her as much, still pissed off at her initial reaction. This resulted in an about face, again peppering me with hostile myspace messages telling me what a horrible person she thinks I am.

It seems improbable that someone can claim to care about you and then, like the flip of the switch, hate you in the next breath. It makes no sense to me. But it seems to happen to me a lot. I'm not sure if I'm attracted to the crazy ones or if I make them crazy, but something's gotta give.

And given that I've been trying to downsize the drama around me, this came at an really inopportune time. So, I'm announcing a new zero-tolerance policy in my life for drama. No longer will I go out of my way to give people the benefit of the doubt, but rather I will avoid those who only seem to contribute negatively. I think, in principle, that will mean a self-imposed prohibition on dating until I leave Tampa next summer.

All the better--this interpersonal horseshit just distracts me from my work.

UPDATE (8/30): Two months later, and yet still more crazy messages, from the queen herself. Suprised? I'm not.