These days, I have too much and not enough to blog about.

Too much

Things are settling down and I’ve had more time to return to my old (entirely entangled) favorites: religion, social justice, and politics. I’m out of practice (a little) and still feeling a bit unfocused, so I’m hesitant to start sharing on topics that are even more inflammatory than they were when I was younger…and when I was more willing to engage in flame wars. There’s even less civility in our national discussion than there was when I was starting to get my philosophical sea legs, and I care far, far more about the outcome of causes near and dear to my heart than I did even then. Perhaps because, back then, I didn’t think certain things were up for real debate anymore, not Important Things like equal protection and the 1st Amendment and the cause and effect — and overall cultural value — of feminism. I thought these were settled matters of law that could only get better in a nation that claimed a reputation for equality and tolerance. I didn’t necessarily think I’d have a flying car by now, but I also sure as HELL didn’t think women would still be paid less and abortion providers would be assassinated and racist/eliminationist dogwhistles demeaning (or endangering) a U.S. president would be acceptable “rhetoric.”

This is not the country I thought it would be when I looked ahead from, say, 1996. I thought I was a bad-ass cynic, back then; today, 1996-me looks like a naive idealist of the highest freaking order.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last couple of months getting into Big Discussions on Facebook, which, however ubiquitous, ain’t the right space for the amount and kind of words I think these issues deserve. The trade-off, though, is that anyone who engages here is subject to my commenting policy (“Please use your inside voice. Opinions of all shades are welcome; malicious comments may be deleted at my discretion.”), which I’m sure is less fun…which means less engagement. So we’ll see.

There’s a US election coming up, though, and I can’t imagine I’m going to grow more comfortable about the State of This Union between now and November 2012, so I can either start writing or bust the blood vessels in my eyes from finally reaching the limit of their rolling capacity.

Not enough

Confession: We haven’t been exploring the city hardly at all — neither the city we live in nor The City across the Bay. I had a sense, when we decided to move back out here, that this blog might become “All About The O-A-K “or “San Francisco For People Who Came To Their Senses And Moved Back.” But…we like being at home. We like our simple routine with the dog walking and the dinner making and the Dr. Who watching. We like saving money, now that there’s some coming in and we can, slowly but surely, replenish the Move Without JOBZ fund. And so we spend a good deal of time at home, and our friends and family have all eaten at more restaurants in our neighborhood that we have.

So, from a “Welcome to the ‘hood!” perspective, I have little to report here…unless you want a veterinarian recommendation, because we’ve seen a lot of that guy. First for an ear infection because someone let the puppers go too long between groomings, then because Westies are prone to skin allergies and infections, and again this week because some paw swelling and tenderness that manifested at the end of a trip to Gardnerville got better but didn’t go away…and Daddy is admittedly hypochondriacal when it comes to his Rodney.

Bay Area pediatric call centers? You’re on notice for…well, sometime in the future, anyway. (I am calmer about these things, but I think that’s because I grew up with big outdoor dogs who rarely saw the vet and, as often as not, died less by illness than by vehicular dogslaughter. I have no data on which to base a puppy-related panic attack.)

Yes, we’ve become Those People, the ones who refer to each other as Mommy and Daddy when talking to the dog. Except Graham will sometimes tell Rodney to “Find Jen,” which, unsurprisingly, has mixed results.

Anyway. Comfort with the simple routine, combined with how much time I spend commuting and working each day (and how little I want to be held to account for STILL NOT RUNNING), means I haven’t set aside too much time for blogging. I’m hoping to change that, because I’ve got some things to talk about. I hope you’ll stick around.