The thing about writing for me is, it’s hard.* It’s hard in that it takes a tremendous amount of mental effort for me to crystalize my thoughts to a point where I am satisfied with the accuracy of the translation. I am not so meticulous when speaking aloud obviously, mostly because of practical time requirements. But when I produce a piece of writing, it’s a semi-permanent representation of my ideas, and that’s important to me. I genuinely care about the quality of my written words, and it actually pains me to share writing I’m not yet happy with.†

And so while I actually enjoy writing, I have generally done it very infrequently.  Aside from the mental tax, it also takes me a significant amount of time. Finding the phrasing, building the sentences, revising and recombining until it speaks true, I easily find myself lost in the process.

So one hope for this blog is to remedy this relationship I have with writing. If I just make myself post with some reasonable frequency, I’m optimistic that either it will start to come to easier, or I’ll start to lower my standards.

* Yeah, I know she said that.
† Which is why I will never, for the life of me, understand most youtube commenters.

So it’s been about three days since the beginning of the Obama Administration. Just what has our new commander in chief been up to? Oh not much, just:

• Restoring transparency to the White House by revoking Bush’s limitations on the Freedom of Information Act (money quote: “A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency… The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”)
• Establishing new ethics standards for staff members and lobbyists
• Closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility
• Ending the despicable and illegal use of torture by the United States

Wow, that’s not bad! All these steps in the right direction, not the kind of thing I’m accustomed to. It’s not even the weekend yet.

John A. Thain, former Merrill Lynch CEO, resigned last week from his Bank of America post after continued losses related to the bank’s acquisition of Merrill. This comes amid revelations that Thain had orchestrated a quick and surreptitious payout of large bonuses to employees just before the buyout deal closed. I am almost sympathetic to this last point; Thain made a last ditch effort to protect his employees in an uncertain time (albeit using government money). I am less sympathetic to his recent $1.2 million office remodeling; I’m pretty sure I could find some classy and sophisticated office decor for no more than five, maybe six, hundred thousand dollars. But where he really comes off as a mismanaging, opportunistic prick:

But after Merrill appeared to be safely in Bank of America’s arms, Merrill’s traders began buying risky mortgage assets, thinking that the market had bottomed out, according to two people familiar with the firm’s trading. Merrill also began to run up losses on equity derivatives and other instruments, they said.

So after virtually going bankrupt from bad mortgage investments, Merrill went and lost another five billion dollars doing the exact same thing, leaving Bank of America in even deeper shit than the considerably deep pile of shit it was already in. Kind of a dick move, John.

You know how sometimes you come home at the end of the day and there are long strips of brown paper on the floor in the hallway of your apartment building? “Who put these here?” you might wonder to yourself. Why would someone put these here?

Is it to protect the floor against something messy? But then what about the section of carpet not covered? What about the brown paper discontinuity between the sheet going down the hall and the sheet near the elevators? Not that there’s any evidence of mess. Even so, why leave it here? If its for some chore, why lay it out beforehand or leave it afterwards?

It must just be another one of those days.

And now for something that doesn’t at all matter in the grand scheme of things, or even in the lesser scheme of things, but is nonetheless fun to talk (and argue) about. The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were released today. The list looks mostly uncontroversial, except that somehow Gran Torino was completely shunned, seemingly in favor of The Strange Case of Benjamin Button. Seems inappropriate to me, as I thought Eastwood put together a great film and delivered a fantastic performance, but I have not seen the latest Brad Pitt effort.

Some predictions (stuff I think should be a given):

• Micky Rourke as Best Actor (for The Wrestler, hands down)
• Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor (for Dark Knight, again, no question on this one)
• WALL-E as Best Animated Feature Film (it’s WALL-E!)

I also like, but am less sure about:

• Man on Wire for Best Documentary (simply amazing film)
• Marisa Tomei for Best Supporting Actress (for The Wrestler, she’s great, although to be fair, I haven’t seen any of her competition)
• Dark Knight for Makeup and Visuals (the Joker, ’nuff said)

I’ve only seen Frost/Nixon of the five movies nominated for Best Picture! I’d like to at least see Milk and Slumdog Millionaire before the awards. Benjamin Button keeps popping up in these everywhere despite warm but not glowing reviews. Now I’ll have to see if just to see if it justifies the fanfare.

Well, we’re finally here: the end of the Bush administration. The country survived, albeit significantly worse for wear, eight years of mismanagement from a incompetent, delusional, nepotistic faux everyman. So, it’ll be nice not to have to worry about that anymore.

Enter Obama, calm, cool, and eminently reasonable: truly a President in all the ways Bush could never be. Already refreshingly transparent before entering office, he’s on track to restore public faith to an office that hasn’t deserved any since Nixon. Will Obama manage to heal a broken nation? It seems like too much to hope for, although for today at least, hope feels appropriate.

• Science: As a way of finding out what’s true about the universe, accept no substitutes. Thanks for all the quality of life and knowledge!
• Technology: It’s drastically and fundamentally changed the way the human race lives and interacts, and it continues to evolve at an exponential rate. Plus, it comes in a super cute and compact package with multiple color options and BlueTooth-enabled magic.
• Food: It helps me live, plus it’s freaking delicious. That’s a win-win if I’ve ever heard it.
• Cooking: I’m fascinated by the variety of preparation methods, the multitude of ingredients available, and the limitless flavor combinations. And I find the practice relaxing and rewarding (food is a by-product!).
• Stories: I enjoy a good story in any form. They’re one of my favorite outputs of humanity.
• People: All the best stuff comes from people. And all of the best people come from people. We’ve got our flaws, but ultimately we’re all just trying to figure out how to live, with endlessly surprising results.