All Apologies

In the interest of joining the "era of responsibility" demonstrated by our new President's admission that he "screwed up" in pushing forward the nomination of Tom Daschile for Secretary of Health and Human Services despite a possible ethical lapse on top of unpaid taxes, I am going to take this opportunity to admit some failings of my own. (Memo to Democrats: If were going to tout service and infrastructure and civic responsibilities, it's important that we pay our taxes. George Lakoff suggests we reframe them as Membership Fees.)

• In my last post, I should have included more about how much I rely upon my wife. I love her very, very much and I feel like I glossed over that in "25 Theses 25" in favor of things that were cutesy or philosophical. Kirsten has a large burden to bear in essentially raising three boys into manhood, and her ability to manage the household and just plain get stuff done are aspects I too often take for granted. That I've responded to the boys' recent illnesses (and my own) with crankiness and sulking hasn't helped any. Kirsten, you are a fantastic mom and a fantasticker partner, and I screwed up.



• As recently as April 2008, I ordered books from a well-known online bookstore. With Schwartz's going out of business, I regret this. I should have bought local, but instead I screwed up.
  


• In the early eighties, I passed on an opportunity to see The Clash opening for The Who at Mecca Arena, and also declined to attend a concert by the Smiths in support of Meat Is Murder. Instead, I managed to attend concerts by KISS in their "no makeup" phase, and Culture Club in their "tons of makeup" phase. These were poor decisions, in retrospect. I screwed up.
  


• In the first bullet above, I used the word "fantasticker," which I totally made up. I should have written "equally fantastic." I regret the error, and admit that I screwed up.
  


• In a year or so, Sony will release called DC Universe Online, available only for the Playstation 3. This game will allow a player to create his or her own superhero, who will be able to interact with established characters within the DC Comics universe like Superman and Batman. As a long time comics nerd, I will want to play this game and I will have a hard time resisting the temptation to buy a PS3 and thereby allocate fiscal and time/space resources that would otherwise go to more noble pursuits, including my family. This will be irresponsible and selfish of me, and while I regret it already, I will screw up.
  


• In the 8th Grade, I wrote a book report on a Star Wars-themed book called Splinter of the Mind's Eye despite never having finished reading it. It was a pretty bad book, and the appearance of Darth Vader on its cover was totally misleading, but nonetheless: I screwed up.