I got sucked in…

Well, even after I’d complained about the beginning of the election cycle, I found that I was quite interested in the Iowa results, especially since they were as quirky as they were. I find myself not entirely sure what to think. I think that the most traditional political result for the parties’ nominations would be Clinton and Romney, and I frankly find that head-to-head rather boring. (Yeah, I know she’s the first woman running with a serious shot at president, but… well, it’s just been expected for too long. Besides, being a woman doesn’t make you any less susceptible to being a predictable politician.)

But Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee??? Crazy! I guess I’ll be watching with interest to see what the rest of the states say as they have people weigh in. If I turned in my absentee ballot change-of-address form on time, I might even be tempted to participate in the primaries in Washington State. We shall see.

I find that I can’t let myself get too invested in politics–when I do, I can be horribly crushed if the guy I’m rooting for doesn’t get into office. My first and most vivid recollection of this was during the 1992 election, which happened during my senior year of high school. All of us had to volunteer a certain number of hours with one of the local political organizations for our AP Government class, that winter. Since I was a good church kid and military brat, I was about as conservative as a person could be, and thus was part of the Young Republicans. I’m not really an intensely-motivated political activist, nor was I then, but it was interesting, I got very involved in following the race, and was shocked and horrified when Clinton won the election. How could the American people do this??? I wondered, with the same sort of betrayed horror that most of the Seattleites I knew in 2000 evinced after the election then.

Of course, in 1992, I could stuff envelopes, but I still couldn’t vote (I was 16 at the time of the election). Since then I’ve tried to keep emotionally separate from the races so that, even if the American people get the bit between their teeth and barge forward on some idiotic path for the sake of CHANGE alone (or some other equally short-sighted motivation), I can smile and shrug and wonder how people can be so silly. (And not have to spend a few days in bed crying my eyes out.)

I tend to have rather intense loyalties, so when something evokes them (like politics), it can be a little out of proportion. I’ve found this with sports as well, and my extreme anger at even the outcome of reality shows at times seems to originate from the same source. Thus, for the most part, I keep out of that sort of thing. Why guarantee yourself extreme disappointment when you didn’t have to care in the first place? Though perhaps that’s avoidant…

Well, I’m not sure where I was going with this. I’ve been finishing up a sweater (my first!) and watching a marathon of America’s Next Top Model this weekend, which I’m allowing myself to do because I’m going to be starting a round of SOS (Squadron Officer School) on Monday. Oh joy–five weeks of obstacle courses and team-building exercises and learning about Air Force Doctrine and military history. Delightful… But at least I can be living at home as I do it (it’s held two buildings down from my office) so that means I don’t have to make special arrangements for my cats, and I won’t have to sleep in a strange bed. I never sleep well in hotels.