A Chronicle of my Changing Times.

Something which I found of great interest was passed on to me by the ever vernerable James regarding a letter writing campaign sponsored by a newspaper in the United Kingdom, the Guardian attempting to provide their readers a way to reach out to voters in  Clark County Ohio.  I lived in Clark County, more specifically Springfield, for four years whilst I attended Wittenberg University and then a year afterwards when I worked there at a trucking firm.  The idea was that citizens of America's closest ally in the world could correspond over election providing a perspective that many voters might not otherwise consider or be exposed.  The paper purchased a list of unaffiliated voters from the county board of elections and distributed the mailing addresses to readers who wished to patricipate.  This very well intentioned effort to open dialoge in a battleground county in a battleground state as the Presidential election nears was aparently met with less than enthusiastic voters enthusiastic voters, aparently causing quite the a backlash.

Personally, I find the idea novel.  Knowing Springfield as I do, I can see where it backfired.  But I doubt it'll have any real impact with regards to the election in the end.  Both Bush and Kerry have made mutliple stops in the city - something which was previously unheard of.  When I attended Wittenberg stories were still told of how Kennedy visited 30 years earlier.  I have serious doubts that there are few who have not already made up their minds and those who protested the loudest were ones who see this as an attempt by Bush-haters in the UK to influence the vote.  I've had a chance at reading the selected letters on the Guardian site as well as hearing a number read from other media outlets.  None of the letters I've seen were disrespectful or mean - which is a large step up from what most American politics today.

I have half a mind of writing to the editor of the Guardian expressing support for the concept.  Heck, I might even offer myself as a pen pal for anyone who'd be willing to have an open dialoge on politics of the day.  Those of you who know me understand I am all about discussing important issues of the day, even when I'm at odds with those with whom I'm talking.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, you don't grow unless you're challenged in your beliefs.  I'm sure there'd be many an issue which I disagreed with a Brittish counterpart (especially one who reads the supposedly left leaning Guardian - I am still a Republican realist after all).  The issues facing the United States also face those who stand by us, like the Brits.  I've long had enormous respect for them, a sentiment which will forever be cemented in my mind by the reaction in the days following 9/11.  I was an Anglophile before that, but the Brits have shown me that they are one of the few who can be counted upon.  I really just need to find a good English girl to marry...

On a side note, I'm headed up to Cleveland tomorrow for the wedding of an ol' college friend, Kristen.  I'm looking forward to seeing her and being there to celebrate her wedding.  I'm also looking forward to getting out of Charlotte, seeing the leaves through the mountains, and going back to Cleveland one last time before I head off to Peace Corps.  I haven't been back there since before I graduated from college.  I'm also staying with a Fraternity brother who's going to law school at Case Western.  He stepped up earlier this week when my previous housing arrangements backed out.  I haven't really spoken to him in 3 years and he's giving me a place to crash.  Let me just say it's another example of what a Fraternity should be.  I'm truly lucky to have had the chance to join that band of brothers (not a term I use lightly) I did.  Say a prayer for my safe travels if you don't mind.

Posted by: mjmarble at October 29, 2004 01:12 | link | comments (1)

I voted early today.  Charlotte has a system which basically amounts to absentee balloting where you can show up at one of the public libraries or the board of elections and vote at your leisure (ie. Set hours for the 2-3 weeks prior to the election).  Or at least that was the thought process behind it.  It's a really good thing, especially since I stood in line for over 2 hours today to vote.  What I mean by that is the program appears to be immensely popular and has increased turnout throughout Mecklenburg County.

Personally, I voted my conscience - something I encourage everyone to do to the best of their ability.

Posted by: mjmarble at October 22, 2004 22:26 | link | comments

Well I sat down this past week at work and came up with my Life's To Do List - Draft I. I find it to be a bit selfish, and I'm working on that a bit. I broke it down into two categories: To See & To Do. It's a bit long, and it's definitely not complete; but here it is in no particular order:

To See:

Great Wall, Normandy, Paris, Ireland, New Zealand, Thailand, Hong Kong, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Victoria Falls, Israel, Istanbul, Edinburgh, Patigonia (Bariloche), Alaska, British Columbia, South Africa, Kyoto, Maldives, Bombay, Agra, Tomboutou, Marrakech, Switzerland, Seychelles, Luxor, Cairo, Kiribati, Hawaii, Cook Islands, Peru, Costa Rica, all of Europe, Nepal, Moscow, St Petersburg, Australia, Quebec, Cancun, The British Virgin Is, Jamaica, Mozambique, Kurdistan, Kabul, Mt. Fuji.

To Do:

Hang Glide over Rio De Janeiro, Parasail, Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef, Go on an African Safari, Graduate School, Zorb, Work fighting forest fires out west, Learn To Tango, Be a disaster relief worker, Grow my hair long, Sky Dive, See a baseball game in every Major League Park, Climb at least one 14'er, Learn a Martial Art, Take private voice lessons, Run with the Bulls, Retire to Tuscany, Sponsor a needy child, Kayak, See all 50 states, Take a trip down Nile-Mississippi-Amazon-Ganges, Bungee Jump in New Zealand, Live in London, Celebrate one New Year's Eve in Times Square, Water-ski, Work in a food bank on Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Speak 4 languages, Learn to Fence, Work on a ranch, Swim with Dolphins, write a novel, Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary with my (once and future) wife.

Posted by: mjmarble at October 16, 2004 23:46 | link | comments (1)

I really do love to sing.  Had an awsome practice tonight with the Chorale.  Joe Judge, the (new) director is probably the second best choir director I've ever worked with (and it's a close second to Dr B at Witt - who has like 40 yrs on him).  We spent 25 minutes of warm ups just working on production of sound which may sound tedious, but is actually where a good choir is made.  I throroughly enjoyed it even if my jaw/lips/mouth is really sore.  The music were working on is about 20 times better then what this group was working with just two years ago under the previous director.  Not necessarily much more technically difficult (although it is) but it's a clear move away from what a High School choir would perform.  My only complaint is that I won't be around over the next two years to watch them fully develop into the elite group I know they'll become.

Also went out with a number of members and Joe to a local establishment and had a nice time just chatting and started forming the friendly relations that turn a choir into and ensemble.  It was really nice to just get the low down on where we are and where we're going.  I'm excited for them.  I'm also helping out this Saturday with a fund raiser up at Lowes Motor Speedway helping direct parking.  Should be interesting.

On a final note, I've also quasi-volunteered to potentially do a solo (and hopefully work with Joe on my singing) for the Christmas season.  My hope is to be able to perform both with the Chorale as they do the nursing home/Biltmore/local church (my home church of Ascension this time) gambit as well as polish it up enough to sing at one of the Christmas services.  We'll see... I've always thought my voice was more suited towards choirs, but I've also never been trained to sing solo's.  Which is where working with Joe might come in...

One final note - I was thinking about how fortuitous life can be.  I was all worried a few weeks ago when I thought I might have something wrong with me, especially with my lungs.  So I had gone in to get a checkup with my doctor and consequentially got a chest X-ray.  I didn't have one before - yet PC required it.  As I mentioned yesterday PC sent some of my forms back for "clarification" and missing info including, you guessed it, a chest X-ray.  Aparently I mentioned I'd had bronchitis over the last 10 years (who hasn't?) and they wanted proof I'm healthy wealthy and wise.  Thus all my worrying and problems of last month take that unexpected twist of being for my benefit later on.  Maybe someone's watching out for me.

Posted by: mjmarble at October 11, 2004 23:50 | link | comments

I think I've gone and overextended myself again. I'm sure you're all surprised. I know I'm not. So I've spent the past few days tyring to figure out what's truly important to me. It's an ongoing debate to prioritize and actually follow through.  I'm also considering getting a second job (after getting rid of other activities).

Still working on that whole not smoking thing. With mixed results. It doesn't help that I smoked a pack this afternoon at the bar whilst watching football games. Please say a little prayer for me.

Update on PC: Got medical info back stating my doctor didn't correctly list out his "title", didn't include chest X-rays requested, and didn't include the actual test results from the mandatory HIV test. So, given tomorrow is Columbus day, I'll have to contact them Tuesday to see what can be done to remedy these situations. It's conforting to know it took the PC 2 weeks to even look through my papers. Someone please remind me frequently that I'm now dealing with beauracracy. It's gonna suck...

I've made up my mind to take a loan out from my 401k to pay off Jim. He's the one who lent me money last winter to pay off my Credit Cards and thus get out from under the weight of outrageous interest rates. Thus I have a bit more financial juggling to do over the next few months. Somehow I never seem to be able to get completely ahead of it all. I'm always just that little bit behind... It's frustrating. But I'm getting closer to being done every day.

I absolutely must study for the GRE (a lot) this week. There is no alternative.

I'm also going to ask Brian to go to Kristen Spalding's wedding with me. If I can't find a date to go with me I might as well bring someone I know. Kristen actually recomended I do so since she'd like for him to come and there's not going to be many other Witt alum going. This way I'll have someone with whom to speak. (Ok, that sentence sounded much too formal, but I'm trying to break myself of the habit of ending sentences with prepositions - I must continue to work on becoming a better writer even it's only in a informal setting such as this blog.)

Ok, that's about it. I should be heading off to bed.

Posted by: mjmarble at October 10, 2004 23:20 | link | comments