I haven't been around much, I know. Between allergies and news overload, I feel like my head's about to ass-plode.

And did I mention that I'm decluttering my bedroom? For the past three days. Oi!

Anyway, the good news is that Gustav is now a Cat 2.

The bad news: New Orleans is gonna still get hit.

Best of luck to everyone who lives in the Gulf Coast states. Be careful out there.

I came across an old hardcopy diary that's more than 10 years-old.

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha...Call the WHAAAAAAMBULANCE! I thought I left that angsty shit behind once I escaped my 2-plus-year stint in New Hampshire working as a news correspondent for a certain ultra-conservative daily newspaper.

That's right. Once upon time I. Worked. For. The. Right. Wing. Noise. Machine.

I'll let that sink in for ya a little bit.

And the same shit you see on FOX news? Try living with that as an employee on a day-to-day basis. Gah!

Thankfully, they only tried to interfere with some of what I wrote, since most of my articles were straight-up news stories. Which...doesn't make it better, now that I think about it. Especially since this was the only news job where TPTB tried to influence news stories.

Before New Hampshire, I was a centrist. After New Hampshire? Screaming-ass, loud-and-proud liberal. Think David Brock, only without quite so big of a mental leap.

[Letussaynothingmoreaboutit. *ptui*]

Anyway, the last entry did make me smile. A vague reference to putting my New Hampshire time in the past. I know what it means, but given the parties, situation, and the fact it was tied up in me trying (and failing miserably) to get minors out of a bad family environment, that's not exactly a vague reference I want to explain on teh Internets ifyaknowwhatImean.

You know something...as it turns out, you can laugh at the bad times when you get enough distance from them. Even when those bad times involve a near-nervous breakdown of epic proportions to the point where your parents are worried they're going to have to sign your commitment papers to a mental health facility.

Also: That which doesn't kill you makes you a fuckload stronger. Yayness! *hopes that life doesn't try to test that theory for a zillionth time*

---

Holy Christ! I feel bad for Bristol Palin. Jesus. Seventeen. Pregnant. And engaged to the babydaddy. And in the national spotlight while we're at it.

Looks like the rumors out of Alaska regarding "Sarah Palin is really a grandma" got somewhat scrambled over the weekend. It turned out to be true, just not true in the way everyone was speculating.

There's lots and lots of reasons I find Sarah Palin a positively horrifying choice for VP. Having a pregnant 17-year-old unmarried daughter is not on the list. Also not on the list: She's running for VP with a special-needs baby. Being a mother does not disqualify or qualify her to be VP.

There's a lot of other crap that I think disqualifies her as VP. The evidence is building up that Palin may have been running on an anti-corruption ticket, but I don't think replacing the old corruption with her version of it was what the people of Alaska had in mind. The whole Troopergate thing appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. Plus, how the hell does someone leave a town of 6,000 people $20 million dollars in debt, in a petro-rich state no less?

Good on Obama for telling the press to back the fuck off on Palin's family.

Really, there are a zillion problems with Palin as VP. (Hello, did McCain vet this woman at all?) Private family issues are not one of them.

---

Okay. Now that I'm done sneezing, back to mucking out my bedroom.

I think I need a high-pressure hose.