This was bound to happen. I mean, I half expected it, sort of, but not really. It kind of crept up on me. I’ll confess. I’ve been mainlining for a few months now, and I didn’t really go cold turkey until about Friday. I mean, there was still an abundance on Wednesday. Plenty of it was around. It was just so easy to get. I mean, it was everywhere you looked. A hookup was the easiest thing in the world, so I really wasn’t worried about getting a fix.
Thursday was still good, too. Although, I could sense that things were changing. There was something in the air. And you could see it in people’s eyes: a glassiness. That’s when I realized that it was going to be harder to get my hourly fixes. Because by then, once daily wasn’t enough. I was up to six, seven hours a day, and I often went into the wee hours of the morning.
I wasn’t able to write on Thursday. I mean, there werethings that I could write about, but I just didn’t have it in me. I actually began an entry, but it died on the page, just kind of fizzled out like a defective sparkler on the Fourth of July.
I recognized it for what it was: I was starting to feel the withdrawal symptoms. It wasn’t too bad yet, but the beast from Moria was entering my brain, and I knew that it was coming: a withdrawal/stress migraine. And then, too, I was facing my worst day of the year. So I didn’t force it. I turned off my desk light, and hid under the covers. I tried to read a regular book, but it was so unsatisfying. Even my three hours of MSNBC didn’t soothe me: Hardball, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Rachel Maddow Show. Something was missing.
Friday arrived and the culmination of events finally proved to be my undoing. I took to my bed like a groundhog going into hibernation with no intention of emerging until Willard Scott and his Smucker’s jam called me out. I was certain that an invisible ice pick was protruding from my right eye.
On Saturday I finally faced the fact that I had an addiction that had to be faced: I was a political campaign news junkie. And now that Obama was president elect, I had to find a new way to carry on my everyday life. I mean sure, I could still write about politics in my blog, but it wouldn’t be the same. Sarah Palin had scurried back to Alaska with the claim that she had only ever asked for a Diet Dr. Pepper once in a while. John McCain wasn’t talking, and the Republicans had gone into hiding to try to figure out what to do about Senator Stevens. The only truly interesting thing going on was the custody battle over Joe Liebermann, and I had to face the fact that that simply wasn’t enough to feed my habit.
I mean, President-elect Obama gave us a scrap with his first press conference, but it that thirty minutes just wasn’t enough. I realized that it was going to be a long two months until January 20 unless W. did something really interesting, and let’s face it, anything that he tried to do, Obama was going to undo as soon as he took office.
I tried to recapture some of the high by watching Keith Olbermann’s hour-long review of the campaign, twice, but it just wasn’t the same. Who would I mock now that Joe the Plumber had retreated into obscurity? What would I do now that Thelma Drake had finally conceded to Glenn Nye in the 2nd Congressional District? The only things that I had to look forward to were Al Franken’s runoff election and what happened to the felon in Alaska . . .
It’s just not the same. I never thought I’d say this, but I kind of miss Sarah P. But not to worry, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her. Until then, I’ll just have to regulate my dosage, and satisfy myself with writing about the usual shenanigans of politics as usual, you know, people like Michele Bachman, Rush Limbaugh, and of course, Sarah P., who doesn’t have sense enough to let a spokesperson issue a statement for her, because she is, after all, a governor, and governor’s shouldn’t go around calling people “jerks” on the record.
As always, more later. Peace.
Lola's Curmudgeonly Musings 