R&R

Took the week off to write and unwind. I'm a little burned out at work and just needed the time to lay around, work on some writing projects, watch DVDs and lounge around. I haven't had a vacation in years and this was a welcome creak. Although I didn't actually go anywhere, I did take naps and sleep good for the first time in months.
Went to Atlantic City twice this week, once to hang out with friends at Tropicana and to watch a comedy show at Catch a Rising Star at Resorts. Jimmy Graham, my comedy mentor performed and he killed. The guy will be really big in the next couple of years. He's a total genius.
We talked about how Mike Tyson got pulled over for drugs in a car stop in Arizona.
I added, "Yeah, and President Ford died. How will our country deal with that?"
Okay, so I'm a smartass. Who's the budding comedian here?
I did watch Ford's funeral procession on the news and saw the military honor guard remove the flag-draped casket from Air Force One and saw the motorcade take the casket to Alexandria, Va., where Ford once lived, and then through the streets of Washington. The news commentators said how it was the passing of an era, that Ford embodied a political style that no longer existed. They said it was a time when Republicans and Democrats, after spending the day arguing on the Hill, shared a beer and talked after hours. There was real bipartisanship in the 1970s. There also was cocaine and swinging and disco, but the sentiment was clear. Both parties now resoundingly suck. They're too factionalized and nobody works together. I blame the Baby Boomers. During the 1970s, you had the World War II generation running things and they had this shared experience of war to bind them together. Now you have the hippies and establishment fighting the Vietnam War all over again. Fuck that shit.
It's great seeing these old guys come out of the woodwork and lionize Ford. Chevy Chase should stumble and fall one last time at the funeral. It'll be classic.
I like how these commentators praise Ford as a healing president who pardoned Nixon for the good of the nation. Pardoning Nixon was the dumbest thing Ford did. It cost him re-election and stuck us with Carter. Hey, I know Jimmy Carter meant well and is one of our most cherished ex-presidents. He's stood firm on civil rights, peace in the Middle East and did wonders with Habitat For Humanity. But as president, Carter sucked on ice.
Speaking of people who suck, I saw the execution of Saddam Hussein. I knew as soon as U.S. troops found him squatting in that spider hole in 2003, he was toast. It was only a matter of time before they'd execute him. Chalk it up as a belated Christmas present to President Bush who keeps Saddam's revolver as some kind of sacred relic in the White House. In ten years that revolver will be in the Smithsonian Museum or the Bush Presidential Library. Whatever.
Strange thing about the execution was Saddam refused to wear a hood. See, if it were me, I'd ask to wear a rubber mask of Bush. I mean, if they're gonna hang me, I might as well throw an additional "fuck you imperialist swine" in there and wear a Bush mask. But then again, I'm the budding comedian. Fuck you. That was funny.