My Big Mouth and I

Yesterday on the way out of the burrito place near work I was talked into staring into a television camera and telling the viewership of some Long Island news program -- burrito in hand -- how I felt about Eliot Spitzer's transgressions.

It went something like this:

News Lady: Excuse me. Do you have a minute to tell us how you feel about the Governor's sex scandal?
Me: (staring at my plainly watch-less wrist) Uhh...No. No thanks.
NL: Oh, come on. I can tell from that response that you have an opinion.
Lady Driving By in Her Car: Excuse me, is there something wrong?
Camera Woman: No, we're just getting people's opinions about Spitzer.
LDBiHC: Oh! He should RESIGN!
NL: Do you want to say that on camera?
LDBiHC: YES!!! (actually chirps her tires to find a parking spot)
NL (to me now): So?
Me: Fine.

So yeah, nobody twisted my arm. I ended up acquiescing because 1) the News Lady cleverly keyed into the fact that although I generally keep my mouth shut about this kind of thing, I do have an opinion, and 2) I'm a closet egomaniac and even though I should know better, sometimes I can't shake the feeling that I'm the only person in the world that's right about anything. Kidding. Sort of.

So I stood there while they got the angles right, and I spoke into the microphone they shoved in my face about how I feel betrayed by the guy; a guy that's risen to political stardom by standing up to rich white guys who write their own rules and should make sure he keeps his own nose clean, that he doesn't become that which he has labored to defeat. And yes, I did vote for him, and I wouldn't take back that vote but how knowing what I know now I wouldn't vote for him again and how yes, I do think he should resign. On that last point my original answer to the question was a non-committal "...Yeah," but I was asked to restate my response in a complete sentence, which leads me to believe that if any of the whole thing made it to air, it was that part.

Anyway, as I walked to my car afterwards, I just felt dirty. It's another nasty, awful thing to have happened in politics, which is to say, it's mostly business as usual. But I allowed myself to be cajoled into taking a black-or-white stance on one side of an issue that's actually quite gray. I don't expect that anybody I know was watching because I didn't tell anyone (until now), and it's a moot point now that he's gone and resigned this morning, but when it was over I regretted contributing to a media circus that I find generally distasteful. I mean for fuck's sake, she called it a "sex scandal." It makes my skin crawl.

Also, I was having a really bad hair day.

taking stock

In September I turned 26. And although I've never stuck to a New Year's resolution in my life, I figured I'd try to set some goals for myself in this, my 26th solar circumnavigation. Early goal for next year: stop saying shit like "solar circumnavigation."

Anyway, I figured I'd revisit the list see how I'm doing.

• Tell someone very clearly and sincerely to "piss up a rope." - I'm disappointed to report that I haven't done this. Rest assured that it will happen eventually.
  
• Score a 2400 on the SAT. - Achievement unlocked. Ladies, line up on one side for makeouts. Dudes, to the other side for high fives.
  
• Become good (like...total domination good) at some shooter video game. - No dice. I suck at everything. ESPECIALLY Call of Duty 4.
  
• Become a vegetarian 3-4 days a week. - Actually, it's more like 6-7 days at this point. Funny thing is, it was really hard when it was 3-4 days a week because I could never settle on which days would be veg and which wouldn't. But gradually, I just started wanting meat less, and wanting broccoli like all the damn time. I think it was harder to quit drinking coffee, which I also did. I haven't felt this good since the last time I got regular exercise, circa 2003.
  
• Go to the dentist for crissakes. - Um, maybe in June.
  
• Start playing guitar again. - God damn do I wish I could say that I've done any playing since September. This one is going to start taking a much higher priority.

So...2 out of 5. But the year's only half over.