Some quick Q&A (mostly independent of any outside voices):

What gives? You largely disappear for months, then you come back asking us for help and shit!
Guilty. There have been many factors in my recent silence, most notably children, job and school (sometimes in that order, too). But I finished my summer class (and I got an 'A', too, thanks for helping out - your virgins are on the way), went on vacation from the job and can therefore spend more time with the kids, so for now, at least, I'll be making my presence known here a bit more.

I hope.

How come you don't seem so angry about the government anymore?
Oh, child, I am still angry. My government has been stolen from me by rich old white men (granted, I'm one-half those myself but I don't think I'll ever be rich and getting old is sadly, always in doubt).

But I'm still pissed. I think Rumsfield is sending kids off to stupid senseless deaths just like McNamara did four decades before. I still think Bush is a liar and Dick is a, well, dick (or the antichrist - but he doesn't look Jewish). I just figure that in my posts here, that vitriolic sort of talk is largely preaching to the choir, except for the miniscule-genitalia-ed brigade of Freepers who used to come here occasionally and leave angry comments questioning my heritage and intelligence.

How many times can you get comments like "If you don't know why we're in Iraq, well I guess you should go LIVE there." before you despair of ever again entering a reasonable discussion with someone whose viewpoints don't largely resemble your own?

So that's why I don't post much about being angry about the government anymore. Just know that it's still there.

Where exactly are you vacationing?
In the area around Muskegon, Michigan and somewhere to the north, south, east and west of there, to paraphrase the aforementioned Mr. Rumsfield.

You're sure talking about the past and getting older a lot lately. Are you dying or something?
No, I'm not dying, at least not more quickly than anyone else currently drawing breath on this lonely granite planet. I suppose I'm just entering some sort of midlife point (I turn 40 next year) that is nudging me into introspection and self-assessment and self-analysis. More so than usual, at any rate.

Enough from my own head. What do you wanna know?