I just made it back from a few days out camping at a boat-in site with Mark, Zya, her sister and brother in law, all hosted by Can-Do Tiger Dave (Zya's progenitor) and his goon squad of drunken loggers. Good times. I feel that all Americans should drive a speed boat at least once every four years.

It was hot and nasty on the way back across the Sacto valley (110 and humid at the low point) but Moamar held up fine in the heat, and here in Westhaven it's fogged-in and maybe 60 degrees tops. I'll be here until Sunday when I fly to New York for a bit.

I read some news today as a way of reorienting myself. The local paper out in the Sierras was all about parade coverage and exotic police-blotter stuff (woman with sword detained, etc), and I knew that The Fear would be progressing even over a holiday weekend.

It strikes me as odd how disconnected things are. Like, the giant -imperial palace- embassy being built in Baghdad, which is news because of construction problems. What the fuck, you know? The undercurrent of doom is returning.

Never underestimate the power of inertia to keep things going, but the total lack of sanity in this country's brain-trust is kind of alarming at times. Feels like we've all just accepted that Shit's Bad, and we're just going to make the best of it for ourselves and those around us. I lump myself into that group. It's hard to know what else really to do but bide time and work on yr own life.

Of course, the fact that I'm even talking like this is probably evidence that in three to six months I'll be involved in some damn project to Do Something About It. Maybe it'll be one that works. I've found that over time I'm less interested in the soft social-capital kind of politicking -- networking, Living Liberally, etc. I think it's good that there are more and more people getting into that, and I'm happy to help out where I can, but it's not really my sweet spot. Need something a little closer to the edge.