It's been a while since I've just blogged my little face off, so instead of sitting in my favorite green recliner and watching the latest edition of Tool Academy (which I do watch and love) - I'll log in a few minutes before the Ambien kicks in. If I start ranting about elves in the Colosseum, totally ignore me.

 I've been relaxing a lot this last week. I needed it, my batteries were low. One of my best times to chill is right after I get Jack on the bus in the morning, around 8 am. Granted, sometimes I go back to bed for about an hour- I am so not a morning person. But sometimes I'll make my coffee (with vanilla carmel creamer and splenda) and curl up on the couch and flip through the 300 channels I'm rockin. Most parents of young kids know that you cannot watch a movie with them around. Period. So for that hour or so before Bella wakes up, I can catch up on random shit I would never rent.

 One morning I watched Penelope, a really sweet little fairytale starring Christina Ricci, o she of the formerly huge bosoms sister of mine. But actually, it was an awesome movie. And Peter Dinklage, the dwarf tabloid reporter in the movie - is pretty freaking hot. And not just "for a dwarf" hot. (Not elves, but close.)

 Then just the other day, I watched Warren Miller's Playground - a documentary that takes place in some of the finest powder in the world. No, not cocaine. Snow! He takes all these skiers and snowboarders and they helicopter to the tops of huge peaks and drop them off. They plunge hundreds of feet at a time and it's just breathtaking. They guys are laughing and flipping and spinning in the air...it was amazing. It showed about their lives, and what it'slike to grow up on a mountain...and I'll be honest, I was coveting like a mother fucker. I was like, I need to move my kids to the mountains! I'll make them become little snowboarders. They even showed the "smalls" - kids who were doing tricks you wouldn't believe. But when I watched the dudes who where strapping parachutes on their backs and just jumping out over 4000 foot high mountains, I was like - okay, do they ever show the footage where someone breaks their fucking back and is paralyzed for life?

But I was jealous, because it doesn't seem like there's anything like that around here. I mean, we have LBL, and Ky Lake, and I like all the cool stuff they have out there,like the Nature Station and the Elks and Bison prairie, but the water...yetch. I hate it. Everytime I would go to Kuttawa and jump off the cliffs there would be like an oil slick and brown lathery bubble scum all on the top. Who wants to jump into that?

 So I started thinking that if I made a million bucks, maybe I should move the kids somewhere cool, somewhere not polluted as hell from the uranium plant. Or, I could try to find things cool close to home. I want them to be good at something, something that makes them happy, gives them a thrill. Horse riding is awesome, but so expensive. If anyone has horses and wants to take us riding this summer, I'm down. I suck at it, but I'd be willing to risk a broken leg to relearn.

I'm really on the fence about all this political development. Part of me says, yes, we need these things to make our town a little more desirable, and if they create jobs, even better. But I'm just now learning about the multi-million dollar sports complex, the downtown Riverfront development, and all this other stuff. And it's hella expensive. I'm wondering if right now, as tight as things are, if maybe the city is just spending too much money. If maybe giving everyone a little tax break would help more. Did you know that they're talking right now about the gross receipts tax? I think it means you get taxed on whatever you make, not taking into consideration operating costs. Gretchen knows about it, I need to get schooled on it.

I worked at Duncan's Saturday night, and saw a lot of old friends and new fans. It was great. I had so many people tell me what I great job I'm doing, and one dude who I've known for a long time said, "I'm so glad you're doing the politics stuff, we really needed that!" I told him, "Man, I don't know. That last story took me about 25 hours to write, when you include all the meetings, phone conversations, research, and writing and rewriting. I don't know if I have time to do that every issue! I may chill with it for a bit." And he's like - "That's the best part! Please don't stop. In fact, I think you should run for City Council. That would be wonderful!" I said, "Man, I don't know if I'd want the job if they gave it to me!" He said, "The people need this, you are their voice. You need to get in there and start helping make decisions for this town. In fact, if you ever want to run for office, let me know - I can contribute a good chunk to your campaigning costs."

Whew. Really? Naw. I much prefer being a journalist. All politics all the time would bore the shit out of me. I want to be able to research stories at biker clubhouses and swinger's retreats. I need the fun stuff! But who knows, civic duty and all that. Johnette Worak said something similar, when I was telling her what Lowertown Arts Fest needed to do to get the crowd back this year, and some other ideas - she was like, "You need to get on some of these boards!"

Well, I doubt they'd have me. Hell, when I was there meeting the Governor, Bill Fox was trying to get a picture of me and Terry Reeves of Entre Paducah - I was asking him about grants for the mag - and I said, whoa, I don't know if he wants his picture with me! But he just laughed it off and posed with me.

Anyway - time to wrap this up. Who knows - is there a write-in vote for city council? Wait, don't you have to live in the city? And I'm thinking all that time logged in bars downtown doesn't count.