Robocalls up the wazoo!

With election day only 4 days away, the frequency of me being bombarded with political ads is increasing at an alarming rate. How do we tell the robocalls that we've already voted? And they're getting nastier too. Elizabeth Dole's latest attack made national news, calling Kay Hagan an atheist through somewhat tenuous reasoning. Elizabeth Dole knows perfectly well that Kay Hagan is a Christian. To imply is one thing, but to flat-out lie? I thought I'd seen the worst when Dole's campaign compared Hagan to a dog two months ago. Showed me.

There's something else I feel compelled to address: Name-calling. We've heard everything every candidate has been called, and all that does is make the name-caller's side lose more credibility, no matter who it is: The candidate, a prominent supporter, or just some other blogger. They've got nothing substantial to call their nemesis out on, so they flash back to elementary school. It's just plain pathetic. We'll see just how effective name-calling really is next Tuesday night.

Moving beyond politics, it's Halloween yet again. We'll probably just forget about trying to have anyone come here and leave the lights off. If anyone braves our dark driveway, I don't think we have any candy, but we have some change.

Update

Just my luck: On the morning of the would-be fair trip, a severe burning sensation in my upper right thigh sent me to the doctor, where I was diagnosed with a prostate infection. So the fair trip was canceled and I missed the fair completely, along with a few other things I wanted to do this weekend. I'm taking some antibiotics and some pain medication, so this should clear up soon.

The world series is on instead of The Simpsons, so I apologize for my misleading information in the last review. Next week, for sure, I hope. In the meantime, I must slog on through my life and we'll see what happens.

I Voted

At least that's what the little sticker says. I voted early, though I'm not exactly sure why. Everyone's been saying to, so I did. And this time, I had done my research and knew who I wanted, instead of taking guesses like I had to do during the primary. I had a piece of paper with all the "non-partisan" candidates I liked and referred to it. So if you haven't voted yet and can before November 4... get there early, the line's pretty long.

Double Double Boy in Trouble

Continuing the upward inching in quality of this season's Simpsons episodes, this week's episode was... okay. There were a few good lines, and there was closure for a change. Sweet, sweet closure. Hopefully, next week's Treehouse of Horror XIX will be a bigger step up, lest they repeat last year's wipeout.

My dad has finally gotten fed up with Time Warner Cable and is switching to DirecTV. Whether or not DirecTV will have the same issues involving the box spontaneously crashing during an earth-shattering endorsement of a Democratic presidential candidate by a prominent Republican remains to be seen. The switch comes on October 28. Our plans are currently to keep Time Warner's high-speed internet.

It's that time of year again. The State Fair has come to Raleigh. And this year, I'm going with Ashley. That's right, a girl. No further comment... yet.

Lost Verizon

On its own, this week's episode was incredibly average. But compared to last week, it was pretty good. I did like some parts, especially Bart's international prank calls. Prank calls on any geographic level were WAY past due for a comeback.

Fall break starts Thursday, not soon enough. Things have been piling up a bit lately. Last week, I had a huge headache that lasted from Saturday about Noon until about Wednesday night. I missed a day of school, during a week when I had a test in all four classes. I think it's safe to say my scores on the four tests cumulatively broke 300, to put it lightly. Add to that, my depression is on the rise again. I feel like I'm back in high school. I actually had a dream about a week ago where I was back in high school, had left my backpack in my car, and wasn't allowed to go get it. It sure was a long week. I didn't mention it, but last weekend, I went to visit my grandparents in Hickory, where I also got to see a few of my mom's cousins, as well as my great uncle Jake's four-year-old great-grandson, Henry. He's a good kid, he's definitely got those infamous Blackburn genes in him, as my grandpa would say. Grandpa compiled a book of anecdotes about the family, which I contributed to some time before he published it. I can see how different my writing style is in the book. I'm talking about all this now because I can't believe I was in Hickory just a week ago. It feels like a month. Maybe because the calendar has flipped to October since then. But still...