Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Got clobbered by a migraine yesterday. Hit that "must lie down now; don't have the strength to find the drugs" stage. Woke up this morning with Perrine sleeping on top of me; somehow managed to roll over twice without dislodging her (I did wake her up in the process, but was able to rotate under the blankets without her having to get off me). Wound up sleeping on my tummy with her sitting on my lower back, right where the bit of warmth and pressure was actually useful against the back pain that woke me up. Today I'm feeling better -- headache, dizzy, neither as bad as last night, and no nausea now -- but am moving slowly so as to not wear myself out before I can get out of the house and do something fun.

I found excuses to quote Carrol ("Jabberwocky") and Lehrer ("Smut") in a mini-essay about how the human brain works on a mailing list. That makes me feel like I've done something fun. I need to try to write a longer version that lets me sneak in some Beatles.

Not sure I'm going to get a chance to put together the long collecton of non-screechy but emphatic anti-Bush argumenst and links I've been planning, until maybe Monday, by which time it'll be kind of late for convincing most people, but schedule and health permitting, I'll try to get it done Just Because. By the way, since I don't manage to check regularly, if anyone happens to notice one of my letters-to-the-editor actually getting published, please let me know.

I've said this in person to a few people, but I'm not sure I've mentioned it here: over the past few months, I've gone from being more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry (not quite a "Kerry is my hamster" position, but in that vein), to actually being pro-Kerry on Kerry's merits, despite knowing that there are some things I disagree with him on and will be writing essays about in the future. I'm still trying to decide whom to vote for though: I've got the Green Party platform on my PDA, as well as the DNC platform (I don't remember whether I downloaded the Reform platform or not), for when I get around to reading them. I've already ruled out the Libertarian party, as much as I'd like to agree with them (but I do think the state has an interest in providing education and roads). But one factor this year will be the polls: whether it look like Maryland is in play on the evening of 1 November.

Fortunately I like Kerry enough that I can vote for him without feeling like I've sold out my principles just to cast a "safe" vote against Bush, so if it looks like Kerry needs my vote it won't take huge amounts of soul-searching this year the way voting for my second or third choice (as "the lesser of two evils") would have in some other elections. But if Maryland looks safe, I want to be sure who my first choice really is. Hey, maybe it'll turn out to be Kerry after all.

But I've still got my homework to do on the local races as well. And being an informed voter probably takes priority over writing essays that'll echo what many other people have already said. Unless I really think I'd change a lot of minds. (I know some people who disagree with me read this, but I'm mostly preaching to the choir, and I'm not sure whether any of the folks who don't already agree are open to convincing this late. So unless there are a whole lot more non-LJers reading this than I've imagined, the amount of good I can do mostly amounts to providing sound bites for others to quote elsewhere.)