The U.S. political party system: epic FAIL.

As I jumped up to level 16 on the gym treadmill around 8:30 pm Wednesday night, I saw President Obama’s face plastered across TVs, giving his Congressional speech on health care.

With random rock songs blaring in my ear, I simply took in the visuals of him talking, people clapping and standing up/sitting down repeatedly in unison, some people not standing, random guests and some guys with pamphlets of some sort standing near the back. (Hey, I wasn’t paying that much attention.)

I have no idea what they were talking about and honestly, I don’t care. I assume health care which is apparently going to be the chasm that splits this country in half yet again. I’m a jaded 31-year-old with no party affiliation, but yet, I’ve been called a liberal about 100 times since last year’s election. Why? Because I simply said I liked Obama and would like to see him succeed. To some, that makes me a fool or a rube.

Get Lost

Armed with my first ice cream of the summer, my curious nature and a car with some gas in it, I decided to take a little drive tonight.

After leaving a friend’s house, I was really craving a DQ Blizzard. Like REALLY craving one ever since I started seeing ads on the gym TV’s for the Wendy’s equivalent (ain’t that a bitch?) and driving past what has seemingly been an endless stream of summer ice cream places for the past two months. So bored and needing some dinner, a small chocolate Blizzard with Heath Bar in it was exactly what the unhealthy doctor ordered.

But the thing about living in the city is that there’s no place to just sit and eat it alone without either a) feeling like a dork for being by yourself and b) feeling like a pervert hanging out in a parking lot by yourself. I decided to go for a drive and find a spot to enjoy my cold treat, except the more I drove, the more asphalt and artificial light I found.

(I also discovered that driving and eating ice cream isn’t as difficult as it sounds.)

Not finding the scratch for my location itch, I took a right to jump on the highway I’ve driven on hundreds of times before. But at the last second, I decided to divert course and go straight on the connecting road instead. For years, I’ve always wondered where ’straight’ goes, so I threw caution to the wind and decided it was time to find out.

I went through Bedford and then Merrimack and then back to Bedford. Along the way, I saw nice houses, quaint neighborhoods, lots of trees and tons of peace and quiet in New Hampshire suburbia. I cruised past roads I used to see on database mailings six times a year, always wondering where exactly the hell they were. Suddenly, they were right next to me in their tucked away American splendor.

10 minutes passed, then 20 and then, 30 – all without consulting a GPS or any directions. I just drove, thought and spaced out for a while. I tend to need these disappearing acts when there’s a lot on my mind, sometimes thinking how awesome it would be to just go into the woods and start life anew.

Finally, one road led to another and within a few turns, I was right back where I started. Feeling accomplished, my journey had come to an end and I headed home – satisfied with my Sunday journey and the curiosity cat still alive and purring.

In a way, life is a lot like my trip tonight and what so many people yearn but never try. Think about it: every day you generally go the same path to work, to school, to the gym, etc. It’s the safe path, you’re not going to encounter any crazy surprises and you don’t want to waste anytime.

But every once in a while at that same stop light you’ve been at 100 times, you look to the left and see a street that you’ve always been curious about but a bit nervous to drive down because you don’t know where it goes. It’s intimidating but damn it, you want to know what’s there and where it goes.

Finally – if you’re one of the lucky ones – you jump in the lane and head down that road, answering questions and perhaps changing your perspective. Maybe it’s not what you expected but perhaps, you discover an awesome coffee shop or a quicker way to work or a house that you didn’t see in your realtor’s listings – all because you took the leap of faith and went down the road.

There’s too many of us out there going down the same safe path that everyone else goes down. We’re afraid to tread new ground and see how life on the other side is like. We live a life we think we like as opposed to a life we might like better – terrified of the unknown and the emotions that uncertainty can bring. But isn’t that what life is about? Testing boundaries and feeling uneasy at times? I think it’s a hell of a lot better to live and lose than to live and be full of regret and frustration.

Do yourself a favor: get lost. Don’t worry – if you get scared, the path to safety and the lights and asphalt is a lot closer than you think.

Why Chinese Democracy is a better Guns N’Roses disc than you think

“Sorry, Chinese Democracy barely qualifies as GnR.”

While I was traveling on the T last month in Boston, I started listening to Guns N’ Roses’ latest effort, Chinese Democracy. If you haven’t heard of this disc or any of the production drama behind said disc, chances are that you probably aren’t into rock music, lived in Antarctica or simply decided to erase the thought of Axl Rose from your conscious being at some point over the past decade.

I had heard from some friends that they really liked it, but I was prepared to be less than blown away. I had purchased Democracy months ago and only briefly skipped through some tracks, never really fully embracing what I was hearing. But I made the commitment and focused into what Rose and his group of mostly non-original Gunners had to tell my ears and mind and I gotta tell you…I really liked what I heard.

“That album mostly sucks. I gave it three tries.”

I’m not a mega-fan of the band, but like many other white guys in their early 30s, I had the Appetite for Destruction tape that spun repeatedly in my yellow Walkman and participated in the debate over what Use Your Illusion disc I liked better (for the record, the blue one). While my musical taste has grown over the years, I still looked forward to hearing this new cd eventually – even if the path to get there took way too long to begin with.

What I heard was fantastic. From the title track to songs like Better, Madagascar and my personal favorite Shackler’s Revenge, this is a great disc. Totaling 14 tracks in all, you can throw this on and just listen to it from start-to-finish. While there is no Sweet Child O’Mine, Patience or even You Could Be Mine, the release of Democracy has added some good music to the G N’R catalog – even if a vocal group won’t allow these songs to enter the conversation.

“Sorry Josh, that was not worth the wait.”

But as you can see by the italicized comments throughout this blog, my opinion apparently is in the minority. Unfortunately for the band, they were in a no-win situation with the CD for several reasons:

- The on-again, off-again release of the disc over the last decade became a running pop culture joke. There was more stops and false starts than a ‘85 Ford Escort with no oil so when the impending launch became very real, people didn’t take it seriously. I was in a Best Buy and saw a display that helped spark my memory. Marketers and fans just got burned out from the entire game and thus, killed a lot of buzz for the November release. Strike 1.

- This isn’t the original crew. A cop-out from some critics has been that Slash isn’t in the group and thus, it really isn’t Guns. I can see where they are coming from because Axl and Slash were like a well-tuned WWF tag team of the 80s. But bands evolve and change and while this version has been bastardized over the last 10 years, it’s still Axl’s voice and I think that should count for something.

Being Axl is obviously its own curse as he’s one of the most polarizing figures in rock, even when he was holed up somewhere in the desert working on Democracy. Easy to overcome? For some, yes. For many others, not so much. Ah, the curse of a frontman that believes too many of his own clippings. Strike 2.

- If this disc was put out by someone other than Guns, it would have been hailed as one of 2008’s top rock discs. When you factor in all of the above, it would have taken a miracle for this to get the credit it truly deserved. Just out of spite alone, I feel that critics would never give Chinese Democracy a fair shake. It was either Appetite for Destruction II or bust and I don’t think that’s fair. If any number of bands had released this under a different name, there would be a huge buzz but because it was Guns N’Roses, the disc was seen as average at best.

Yes, they are a better band with Slash…but he’s not coming back. Yes, it shouldn’t have taken a decade to get this on the shelves…but it did, so deal with it. Yes, they should be touring to help support this…which I actually don’t understand at all but that’s beside the point.

Let go of your prejudices and give Chinese Democracy a shot. G N’R got you through the late 80s and 90s – you owe Axl that much.

Serial killers and sex addicts: how Showtime suddenly became very awesome

I’m in love with two men. And no, it’s definitely not like you’re thinking.

I have just finished the first season of one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen. Focused around a man struggling with the inner desire to kill (bad people only) and struggling to deal with it while attempting to life a somewhat normal life, Dexter isn’t just awesome – it’s absolutely amazing.

To understand the Dexter Morgan character is challenging in a lot of ways as it forces the viewer to assess their own inner dark alleys and assess what they would do given Morgan’s near-insatiable desire to kill, his role as a real Dark Knight to avenge the wrongs that slip by the rights.

Funny, violent and emotionally charged, the show has rich character development, well-thought out stories and people you actually care about watching. I was hooked from the first hour and just began Season 2. (It’ll be done within a week – guaranteed.)

Heading back to work: the strange end of an unemployment story

Next Monday, yours truly will walk into work for the first time since mid-July. Oddly enough, it’s the same place I was laid off from.

Confused? You’re telling me.