OMG OMG Election Fever!

I'm about to hyperventilate. I cant believe its almost over. I mailed my ballot yday and almost teared up. I need a holiday.

Anyway

Just got back from work trip to NYC. The election night set is gigantasaurus. I thought at first that it must be bigger than my apartment, but OF COURSE it is bigger than my apartment. Actually, it is so large, it is bigger than my last 3 apartments combined. If I liked the red white and blue color scheme more, I might ask to live there in lieu of my dwinding 401k. I could sleep under the exit poll desk, and put the kitchen in under the magic map. Wolf & Anderson would drop by every 2 years between the hours of 5p and 10p for a drink and a chat about politics.

I had a lovely dinner with my mom who happened to be in town. We ate a grownup restaurant called Dovetail on the Upper West Side. I was so broke the entire time I lived in NYC, but I imagined that people with real jobs who made real money ate at places like this. All tasteful neutrals on the walls and truffles on the plate. We ordered the tasting menu. Most of the food was very good (mmm brussell sprout, apple, pancetta & manchego salad and house smoked salmon wrapped around wasabi panna cotta amuse bouche) and some weak (grilled lobster and grapefruit appetizer and prime rib). Didnt rock my world, but a really nice dinner.

Other non-work distractions: I had coffee w Q (he's ok), and tromped out to Brooklyn in the pouring rain to meet the brand new Ben Kafka (he's cute). I guessed that the neighborhood has changed somewhat since I lived there, but WOW has it changed. There's a WINE BAR for chrissakes.

NY can sometimes feel like a Wes Anderson movie. Driving in from JFK, I had a Haitian cab driver listening to a radio show featuring Quebecois sea shanties. Seriously.

Rachel's Rules for Debt-Free Living

As of today, I am officially free of credit card debt. I still have a Kirsti-Alley-on-a weeklong-donut-binge-size mortgage on my flat in London, but still. I consider paying off my credit cards a major achievement. Forget Suze Orman, or any of those other money witch doctors: here are a couple of the crucial rules that helped free me of my credit card debt.

1. Dont buy shit. Dont buy "shit" as in crappy crap that you dont need and "shit" in the sense of dont buy anything at all, ever. Its hard, but you get used to it.
2. Marry a husband that can live off air and the flesh of small insects if the need arises. It helps that he (occasionally) has a job, but the fact that he doesnt seem to have any material desires whatsoever is helpful.
3. Make your parents pay for college. I did, and it works. It helped that I didnt get into any of the horrifyingly expensive private colleges I applied to and was forced to go to a state school, but now I'm just quibbling. They paid, and I came out of college able to wait long enough to get a job I actually like and pays me a fair amount of money. Which brings me to number 4.
4. Get a job that pays you a fair amount of money. Its nice to be a community organizer, but Obama was a community organizer and he's never been able to live it down. Become a banker. At least when you get laid off, you'll get a golden parachute.

Bob

I wish I had a dog. A French Bulldog. I would name him Robert Downey Jr. and we would call him Bob for short.

These are funny (click here)

I dont want to lose you

So, dear reader, it has been awhile...

I got busy at work, had to travel, but that's really just an excuse.

This election is overwhelming in so many ways: every day I go to work and every day the story is wilder and weirder and faster than when I went to bed. You could not script this stuff. Truth is, indeed, much, much stranger than fiction. The election was given to us by the News Gods, but now please stop the world because I would like to get off (for a little while, at least).

Then, as if the election isnt enough to keep even a serious case of ADD in check, then comes a global financial meltdown. And Madonna is getting a divorce! The sky really is falling!

I cant keep up. And more importantly, I probably shouldnt. My esteemed employer has some pretty strict rules about what I can talk about in the public sphere and they tend to be quite religious (if you forgive the phrase) about enforcing them. I like my job. I like my health insurance. I like my (ever-dwindling) 401k. So I cant really talk about what I think of this insane election. The meltdown has become pretty politicized as well, so prob should not talk about that either (although I do think the Bailout was a fundamental failure of democracy, but I mean that in a populist, Lou Dobbsian, I-hate-everyone-equally kind of way. So sue me.). With all the really important, really heavy things going on in the world at the moment, I felt a little Marie Antoinette-y writing about a nice restaurant we went to for my bday (Hatfields) or the latest tv (Korto should have won "Project Runway") or my latest fabulous/glamorous holiday (er, none).

Anyway, it has become clear to me that the world is going to continue being weird so that should probably not stand in the way of my totally inane ramblings. So I'm back. Sort of.

Pass the cupcakes.