"finding consolation and guidance" ... "a post-election sense of woe" ... "outcome of election leads to emptiness and disillusionment" ... "victory should not be conceded before facts are all in" ...

uh-kay. it's now been well over a week since election day here in the states, and letters to the editor are still pouring into my local newspaper. politics is the god of choice around here; i hear that people were crying and depressed over kerry's election loss. has the whole world gone mad, or just my town? we were a lone blue county in a sea of red last tuesday... i never knew such overwhelming political passion existed anywhere in my state, and i've lived in ohio all my life.

a disclaimer: i am not a republican. nor am i a democrat. truth be told, i couldn't have cared less about who was voted in as commander-in-chief; not for lack of interest, but for lack of conviction. i trust both bush and kerry about as far as i can throw them. i almost flipped a coin to help determine my first chad-punch, but decided it would be too distracting to my fellow voters. in the end, america votes, democracy is acheived, the world keeps spinning.

at what point did our nation accept that two political ideologies were enough? at what point did our nation accept that two political ideologies were to be mortal enemies?

on the one hand, i suppose having a distinct party is nice: you know what it is that you're getting into [for better or for worse]. in this respect, any rogue "independent" candidates may be viewed as suspect: much like churches with names like "free universal evangelic liberated discretionary fellowship". this roughly translates to "we don't report to nobody!" -- the independence aspect definitely holds promise, but what ultimately goes down at the end of the day is really anyone's guess.

on the other hand, subscribing to a particular party is bothersome to me. i don't like the thought of being pigeon-holed into a particular belief [or belief system]. i am not so naive as to think that one party holds the panacea to the nation's troubles in its platform. in this respect, those ol' "independent" candidates look rather appealing: free thinkers, unafraid to go against the grain, not tied to a traditional thought process... or perhaps more importantly, not tied to any certain campaign fund.

so much for me and my "i don't talk politics" stand. i'm just so tired of the extremism... have we as a nation lost our minds?

i think i'm going to start telling people i'm a republicrat.

okay, so this entry has nothing to do with cookies, OR breakfast. i was just reading an old entry and decided that i really enjoy this phrase and the feeling it captures. ah yes, the maturity of one who is awake early enough to even consider breakfast and realize the importance of such a meal... coupled with a decidedly un-mature reckless disregard for health and propriety at such an hour of the morning.

if ever i wrote a book, this would definitely be the title.

although my optical benefits provider claims that their acronym stands for Vision Service Plan, i know better. i am on to them. punks.

of the many characteristics that i possess, un-thoroughness is not one of them; neither is incomprehension nor imprecision. funny, then, how i can't seem to make heads or tails of my vision benefits plan. it appears to be laid out quite neatly in the welcome packet, in nice little twelve and twenty-four month blocks. beneath its outward exterior, however, lies an insidious flowchart system.

oh, you can get $105 applied to a set of new frames every twenty-four months, no problem! as long as you never buy contact lenses again for the rest of your natural life. it's been twelve months and you need a new eyeglass prescription? hey, no charge! as long as... well, you don't mind the coke bottle look, do you? you know, with REAL glass lenses? really, it's all the rage! as for those contacts, your optometrist recommends you get new ones every year, so according to the previously mentioned frames policy, you can never buy a backup pair of frames and glasses for the rest of your natural life.

and these are only a few of the discoveries i've made thus far. i mean, seriously. who develops these policies? i'm a college graduate and i don't understand the logic here. explain your policy clearly and i won't complain [okay, well, i'll complain less... maybe]. require that i undergo on-the-spot training in my benefits plan at my optometrist's, making me look like a dimwit, and i'll get angry. sure, i'm in a place, financially, where i can comfortably afford to shell out more money than i was expecting to pay. but what about the next guy? in the area in which i live, it's more likely than not that such a surprise would be a much more difficult burden on your typical customer. that makes me angry.

a policy so bad that you have to shroud its truth from the end users... terrible.