Beyond the beyond

Yesterday I was having one of those days when you feel kinda blue, for no apparent reason. Really, the sun was out, I had a productive day at work, I even received a few compliments just for doing my job competently.

Oh, there are things that I could point to for my unease. I am supposed to submit an RFP for a year-long project today, and as the lead on our 3-person team I have to be sure I'm game for what is - for me - a long professional commitment. My gut is balking and I can't put my finger on why, which is unsettling. I have one week left in this quarter's PI school, and I have two entire homework assignments to finish (belatedly) and find myself actually thinking of skipping the last quarter entirely. I like the content, I find, but I just don't want to do homework. I'm too damn old for homework. At least the written kind - finding the scenes and taking photos and stuff was fun. But a written report on the forensics topic of my choice? Myeh.

But perhaps most importantly, I find myself just overwhelmed by the idiocy of world events. I know, only a third of our nation's citizens approve of the job the president is doing, and I appreciate the validation, but it doesn't change the fact that he and his minions are really, really screwing up the world, and it's going to last for a good long time. It's stunning, the incompetence.

When Enrico got home I informed him that I had a case of the blue meanies and I required food from a specific restaurant whose precise name and location I couldn't remember. (My husband is a saint.) Over comfort food and wine, I explained all this to his sympathetic ear. "It's just beyond...." I said, trying to find the words, "it's just beyond the beyond."

He laughed. That's a good way of describing the state of the world, he said. Beyond the beyond.

On The Daily Show the other night, Jon Stewart was interviewing "correspondent" Rob Corddry about the Dubai ports thing. "Is this deal in fact likely to have any effect on the security of US ports, Rob?"

"No, Jon. The American people can feel assured that the nation's ports will be run with the same criminally negligent disregard for security as they have been for the past five years. This deal will in no way interfere with that."

It was very funny. They put their finger right on the Beyond the Beyond-ness of it all.