Funny how you can be so fascinated by and enamored of something until it becomes a part of your life, and then you just lose interest. Before I moved to DC, I watched SO much West Wing that I started to think (er, wish?) it was my life. Not that I ever expected my life to be like that once I moved to DC, but the subject matter made me drool with excitement. Now, politics is everywhere, the presidential race is in full force, and I'm SO over it. Politics is not the fast-moving, complicated stuff of television shows. It's ridiculous and overly calculated and mostly just a media blitz. Once in a while, someone nasty gets his or her comeuppance and we all cheer, but then the tides turn back to ridiculousness. Everyone has something to say, or nothing to say (but they say it anyway) and it all gets overdone, like the amazing potato chips you can't get enough of until suddenly you've eaten one chip too many and you just feel salty and greasy and fat. Maybe watching The West Wing taught me too much about politics, and now I'm just suspicious of everyones' intentions. That doesn't mean I think they're up to no good, I just think it's all a show, aiming to the lowest common denominator who might take interest or hear one word and swing the other direction. I'm over it.
Maybe the Olympics will take center stage for a while and people will forget about the ridiculousness of the race, the it's-about-time-we-caught-him Ted Stevens scandal, the appalling conclusion of the attorney general's office investigation, all which perhaps signal the end of an era in which ridiculousness reigned supreme. Let's stand agog at the fantastic feats of strength and endurance of worldwide top-notch athleticism, which we hope won't be ruined by pollution or the ridiculousness of another country's attempts to control the free exchange of information and culture. Maybe August will be like a weird dream, which we eventually awaken from, relieved to find that life is somewhat more manageable than the awful circumstances our psyches feared would take over.
