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If I died tomorrow, I would be happy, but would also feel unaccomplished. 

I would be happy because I’m sure at one point in my life, I’ve made someone happy, who in turn, made someone else happy, etc.  It’s part pay it forward (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward), part Liberty Mutual (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMwoexR1evo), part something I can’t put into words that the other two comparisons don’t encompass; maybe a personal touch on the giving/receiving. 

I’d also be happy because I know that if someone has done something nice for me, I let them know it.  It’s kind of self-defeating to know and acknowledge you’re good at recognizing people for being generous, but it’s something that I don’t fear to mention.  And if you don’t think I do appropriately recognize you or others, then I’m sorry, but know that most of my life’s thoughts revolve around the goodness of mankind and my direct benefit from it.

Anyhow, that’s why I’d be happy.

I’d feel unaccomplished because there’s a lot that I have not done that I should.  I’m not talking about starting my own business/going into teaching/becoming a filthy rich bum by doing both of those, because those are things that given my current life situation (graduate school), I have simply had no opportunity to do them. 

So this will detail mainly things I could have done, but haven’t. Some thoughts I can’t put here, but most I can.  Here goes:

More
(1) Played more music with my dad…a lot more…
(2) Looked at people in the eyes more when talking to them
(3) Written just one more piece of music (I’ve written one, or maybe one and a half)
(4) Done more community service
(5) Played just one more pickup football game
(6) Listened to people more/gotten my patience back
(7) Played in more drum circles
(8) Read more books
(9) Worried less about money
(10) Looked up at the sky, trees, or wherever I am at a given moment for just a little longer
(11) Focused more
(12) Thought less, did more
(13) Worried less (yah, this list doesn’t help this particular aspect :-))
(14) Had fewer regrets
 

Look at the Republican Party today.  Split like the 2008 Heisman vote and cowering like Catholic school children about to get slapped by a ruler from an angry nun.

First off, you’re not of the mindset that the Democratic Party has too big a tent, trying to appease to the MoveOn.org crowd while trying to pander to the Blue Dog Coalition Democrats, are you?  If so, that’s too bad, because President-elect Obama has done an absolutely masterful job of bringing these two ’sides’ of the Democratic Party together.  Really, the only reason that the the two sides even separated was because of a difference in how to defeat the Republican Party.  The MoveOn crowd thought that by portraying themselves as the antithesis to the Bush era, they would make for a more appealing side of the Democratic Party.  The Blue Dogs all thought that showing a little fiscal and social restraint was the best way to sway moderate voters (far larger a voting bloc than those who consider themselves ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’).  The difference in tactics was vast, but in politics, not so much.

Enter the Republican Party.

The difference in their politics is so great that one really does not understand the soul of the Republican Party.  But you say, “Lower taxes…small government…those are the core fundamental values of the Republican Party…” Not anymore.  Despite John McCain’s Joe the Plumber rants (it was more Palin but I have to fault John McCain for bringing the dude into the picture), 1.2% of voters believed taxes was the most important issue in this election.  So really, while lower taxes is a traditional Republican mantra, the redefinition of the party has put taxes and smaller government (which is really not an option and has not been since the 1940s) by the wayside.

So what exactly does the Republican Party stand for today?

Well, let’s take a look at the candidates running for RNC and their messages.  Saul Azunis, Michael Steele, and Ken Blackwell, amongst others, are all talking about harnessing the digital age and using all of its tools.

(DJ stops music with record scratch.)

You think it’s about freakin’ time?

Aside from the ridiculous internet fundraising advantage (though its influence has been overstated) the Democrats had this presidential election cycle, social networking made political organizing 1,000 times easier than it used to be.  And now the Republicans want to jump on board.  [Mock applause.]

I guess the traditional voting blocs of older, white, senior citizens, and people from the farms in the midwest will have to learn what the internetz is all about.  n00bs.  It’s going to take time to reorganize the Republican Party while some of its constituents learn to get used to social networking via the internet, because currently, technology dominates American urban and suburban life, and the majority of those are Democratic strongholds.

So, hang tight, my Republican friends.  You may clearly have access to my blog, but not everyone in your party does.  And until then, you’re going to have to get used to the fact that some of the goals set forth by the candidates for your party’s chairmanship are not going to be realized for another 2-5 years at least.

And then there are the RNC chairman candidates’ truly enlightening messages of trying to become more of a ‘welcoming’ party that address issues larger than taxes, guns, and abortion.  It’s too bad you had that person in Senator John McCain (not candidate McCain…as John Kerry pointed out in his convention speech…).  Surely, this new reach towards a broader perspectives is going to make the two remaining Sarah Palin fans infuriated as well as the lunatics who pay homage to the intelligent but misguided Jim DeMint…and I’m sure Rush Limbaugh is pill-poppin’ himself into a deep slumber right now…

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I guess the Obama victory is kind of like General Sherman’s burning of Atlanta during the Civil War…in a twisted sense…in many ways.  Unfortunately, pushing that analogy forward would predict the elimination of the Republican party and not just its reformation.  So, Republicans, thank Senator Obama and the Democratic Party for this recent ass-whooping.  It’s just what the (position manned by two ‘fill-ins’ during President Bush’s last two years) surgeon general ordered…

I can’t believe it’s more than a month since I’ve written.

Anyhow, here are some things you might know about me.  You are being warned.  Some things will make you go “wtf?” and others will make you go “duh, I already knew that,” but this list is for everyone’s entertainment…

1) I love eating vanilla frosting out of a can with a spoon.
2) I roll my sleeves up during my last (and only my last) reps at the gym to make myself better about incremental progress.
3) I am a mad penny-pincher, but will never take a penny from you.
4) As much as I hate to admit it, I am a neat freak…hard for some of you to believe, given my occasional lapses in cleanliness, but it’s who I am…
5) I fall asleep in response to caffeine…it just makes me crash.
6) I tend to impress people upon first reaction, leading them to set high expectations of me, and if I don’t meet those expectations, they will let me know I’ve disappointed them.
7) I believe that no good deed goes unrewarded, no matter how non-spontaneous the good deed may be.
I have a slight case of scoliosis (curved back) that will probably lead to some form of back pains starting, say, tomorrow…
9) My definitions of ethics (rules you would like for society to adopt) is very loose; let me live, let me learn, let me serve, and leave me be!
10) I used to think all Indians were vegetarian.
11) I used to think all dogs were male and all cats were female.  Come on, I was about 7 or 8.
12) I do my absolute best work in school when I’m between somewhat hungry and very hungry.  I think it’s because my motivation to get work done is that I’ll be able to eat afterwards!
13) You know more about me than I realize I do.
14) My girlfriend is right.  I should think more about my future in order to guide my present decisions.  But accepting that truth is a bitter pill to swallow.
15) In a season of political change, I’ve changed…for the worse.  I have little patience for long stories, conversations where I’m not actively involved, and just shooting the breeze.  That’s not how I used to be, but I’m starting to move in a new direction…or is it moving back to where I used to be?

Enjoy