When I got home today, there were three or four messages from nurses responding to an ad I had placed in the paper. Good news for me, as I was getting a little anxious about finding a new person. Now to call them all back and see which ones are truly interested. I just have to make sure that I keep the other nurses away from them so that they won’t reveal what an obnoxious brat I am. I only need to maintain the sweet-and-innocent act for the initial interview. After that, the gloves come off.
Heh. I should probably be careful what I write. One of my previous nurses found this blog when she was Googling me after she saw an ad in the paper. Wouldn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. So if you’re a potential nurse checking me out, I’m really a swell guy and this will be the best job you’ll ever have. I mean, just look through my blog. You’ll get to do all kinds of cool stuff like go to movies, concerts, maybe even trips to exotic locales like Miami. What’s not to like?

Feeling almost back to normal. My voice is still a bit hoarse, though. But it feels good to be back at work and resuming my regular routine.
Over the weekend, I watched a film called Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Cameron Crowe did a remake of this movie a few years later called Vanilla Sky. The remake was okay; a lot of unnecessary exposition and a little too smug in its references to certain pop culture imagery. But the original Spanish version is really good. You should check it out if you can. I can’t say too much without giving the whole plot away, but the original has a much more nuanced perspective on the main character and his psyche. Crowe did away with a lot of that subtext, like he didn’t trust American audiences to get at any deeper meaning. If you compare the two, you’ll see what I mean.
Okay, film geek mode OFF.
Al Franken is thinking about challenging Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman in the 2008 election. Norm Coleman is a former Democratic mayor of St. Paul who became a Republican mostly because it served his own political ambitions. He’s the American cheese of Republican senators; bland and artificial. I certainly would love a Democrat to take back his seat, but I’m not sure Al’s the guy. He hasn’t lived in Minnesota for many years and I think he’d have to work hard to convince us that he can reconnect with those Midwestern roots. Maybe he can do it, but he needs to get out of New York pretty soon and start hanging out in places like Brainerd and Ely.

No, I’m not dead, although there were a few times yesterday when I wished I was. My temp was hovering between 100 and 101 most of the day and my heart was beating faster than a hummingbird’s. Throw in some nausea and you have a block-rockin’ party going on inside me. I feel a bit more with it today. I can actually formulate coherent sentences, as opposed to staring at my screen in a semi-comatosed state. If this follows the usual course of other respiratory infections I’ve had, things should start clearing up in the next day or two.
Speaking of things that will turn your stomach, the photos depicting Coalition forces abusing Iraqi prisoners are truly disgusting. People of Iraq, meet your liberators. The road to democracy is a long one and a few of you will get fucked (literally) along the way, but that’s the price of freedom. Bush can’t be too happy with this latest public relations blunder. We have managed to give the Arab and Muslin worlds yet another reason to despise us and I can’t imagine Bush will make a big effort to do damage control. And this isn’t important, but who were the geniuses that took these photos in the first place? Are they completely ignorant of this thing called the Internet?

These are strange times we’re living in. Case in point: Operation Take One For The Country. You can read the details on their website, but what it basically boils down to is some young women (and I guess the occasional token man) expressing their patriotism by putting out for soldiers bound for Iraq. And they’re organized into secret cells and they keep their identities secret, like some sexed-up version of the French Resistance. I’m grappling with the sexual politics of this idea. A little recreational sex is a fine thing, but does it need to be wrapped up in the flag? Aren’t these women going to engage in casual sex anyway, and this is just a way to put some went post-9/11 spin on it? Maybe I’m missing the point. Just be safe out there, people.

Bush is in Minneapolis today, going on about the benefits of broadband Internet access. He’ll get around to universal broadband access right after he finalizes plans for a manned mission to Mars and gets Congress to vote on a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages. You see, our President is all about thinking the big ideas. Oh, and follow-through. He’s big on the follow-through. The transparency of Bush’s election-year pabulum is more than a little amusing. I imagine his speechwriters sitting around late at night, eating pizza and trying to think of any topic that has absolutely nothing to do with Iraq.
“Mars! Mars is cool!”
“Yeah! Like that movie with Val Kilmer and the guy that beat up his girlfriend.”
“What are you talking about? That movie blew! The De Palma one, now that was cool!”
“Please. We’re all descended from Martians? What kind of starry-eyed hippie crap is that? What else we got?”
“Internet access!”
“I like it, I like it. Appeals to the tech sector from a money angle and the Joe NASCARs jonesing for their porn. What else?”
“I know, I know! Gay marriage!”
“Hmm…could work. It’s got God, it’s got sex. The Bob Jones crowd will be creaming their jeans. Run with it!”