2099 Election Day, TBBT, Boston Legal, other bits

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

12:42 pm. I overslept. Woke at 11 this morning. I went to bed at 11 last night, worked some crosswords and logic problems and fell asleep at about midnight, and had several nightmares. Strange. I woke myself up crying twice, choking once. I can't remember the dreams, but at least I'm certain they were not political.

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I cracked up at Denny Crane's explanation last night on "Boston Legal" as to why he was voting for McCain: "salmon and sex". The northern salmon is in trouble. If McCain wins, all the intelligent people will move to Canada, thus raising the general IQ level of Canada, and all those smart people will figure out a way to save the salmon. And if McCain wins, all the women left in the US will be depressed, and "everyone knows" depressed women are easy. So it all comes down to spawning. Salmon and sex.

I love that show. But I strongly object to the depiction of the Asperger guy, Jerry. Asperger's Syndrome shows up in a variety of ways, but the show's writers have concentrated on the odd physical patterns, which they have carried to excess, while ignoring the low empathy, emotional paralysis, and inability to pick up social signals. He's not a typical Aspie any more than Denny Crane has Mad Cow. In fact, I think there's a lot more Tourette's syndrome and OCD than Asperger's in Jerry.

Viewers get the Mad Cow joke, but I'm afraid they don't see through the exaggerated and inaccurate Aspy depiction. For a better depiction of Asperger's, see Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday at 8 pm on CBS).

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5:02 pm. I'm back. I voted. I'd heard so much about the long lines, but there were only three other people in line when I arrived. We're still using the mechanical lever machines, which is comforting (and the place I went to had only one machine). I split my vote all over the place. In the state and local elections I voted not so much for a particular candidate as against the one that had the nastiest commercials - sending my own message that nasty doesn't work with me. It happened to work that way in the presidential vote, too, but that wasn't the main criteria there.

I dropped off some dry cleaning - five silk sweaters, one silk blouse, $37. Ouch!

I arranged to have my snowthrower picked up for service. (I hate winter!)

I also stopped at the post office and the grocery store.

I forgot to stop at the bank. Well, I'll be fresh for that tomorrow.
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