Politics

Well, it’s quite a night in New York City politics: Mike Bloomberg wins in an upset to become the next mayor of New York. What the fuck? Actually, I was thinking in the last couple of days that if I were a New York City resident, I’d probably vote for him. I don’t like him very much (he’s giving his victory speech as I type… *snore!*), but I like Mark Green even less. I think Mark Green’s pretty much a schmuck, he was an obnoxious publicity hog in his role as public advocate — but I just watched him concede, and I don’t want to kick a man when he’s down.

Still, I’m dubious about Mike Bloomberg. I mean, come on. Mike Bloomberg is going to be the mayor of New York? The mayor of New York City is supposed to be big, brash, larger than life. New York City mayors are supposed to smell and sound like New York. Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, even David Dinkins to a degree fit that role. New York mayors work their way up through the political ranks. Bloomberg… well, he seems like the mayor of Los Angeles, maybe, but not the mayor of New York. He’s totally colorless. Actually, he seems strangely like Barry Bostwick, who plays the mayor of New York City on “Spin City.”

Well, the race was tightening in the last couple of days, but frankly, I’m still stunned. This will all be interesting.

As far as my home state, hooray! Democrat Jim McGreevey beat Republican Bret Schundler, in what looks like a damn big margin; at this point it looks like the arch-conservative Schundler got only 42 percent of the vote. Schundler and I have the same voting location, actually — the Jersey City Public Library. I voted at about 7:30 this morning (for McGreevey), and I’m sure Schundler was there several hours later, photographers in tow. As for McGreevey, he gets to move into the governor’s residence, Drumthwacket.

And then there’s Virginia, my one-time home state, where Democrat Mark Warner beat Republican Mark Earley. (I voted for Warner in the U.S. Senate race in 1996, but he lost at the time to the incumbent senator, John Warner.) A Democratic governor for Virginia! Hooray for that, too! It’s about damn time. Okay, it’s only been eight years, but it sure feels like it’s been longer.

So that was the night in politics…

As for me, I finally got sworn into my new position today. All state offices were closed for election day, but almost everyone in my division had election duty, and those of us in our division who didn’t get election duty still had to report to work. I started my day by taking the train down to Trenton to get sworn in — which took about two minutes — and then I had to take the train all the way back up to Newark and go to my office. There was almost nobody there — just me and one other guy. No secretaries, nobody. It was really nice, actually. Very, very quiet, no distractions.

In the evening I had therapy, and I think I ended tonight’s session feeling better than I ever had. It started off strange, because, in a surprise, my therapist has moved into the office next door to her old one. I was sitting in the waiting area and she came out through a different door. Her new office is more spacious with taller ceilings. Hey — I’ve moved, she’s moved. Why not?

You know what? There are no problems in my life right now. This is so weird. I love my apartment, my job is tolerable and stable… what were formerly the two biggest problem areas in my life are no longer problematic, really.

I talked with her about the Piano Man and went from there into an involved discussion about relationships in general. I realized that there’s nothing wrong with not feeling as interested in the Piano Man as I used to be. See, I’ve been annoyed that I’m 27 years old and still haven’t really found someone with whom I’m in love. But my therapist helped me remember that I only came out at 24. It’s been just over three years since I’ve begun dating and having sex. If I were a straight person, I’d be about 19 or 20 years old right now. One wouldn’t expect a 19- or 20-year-old to meet the person they want to spend the rest of their life with.

And I was surprised to hear my therapist tell me that it’s okay for me to continue to explore and to hook up with people, as long as I’m always safe, which I am. It’s okay for me to continue to sow my wild oats and figure out what I want in a guy. To enjoy myself. I mean, I wanted Piano Man to be the one. On paper, we seem to have so much in common. As for a boyfriend, though — I don’t know. I just don’t know. And that’s okay. At the least, I’ve made a new friend.

I’ve realized that I’ve made progress in my social life in the year since I’ve moved back to the New York environs. I’ve met new people. My social circle has widened. What would be really great would be to be part of an urban tribe. I have several friends here now, but I tend to hang out with them one on one. None of my friends know any of my other friends. (Well, except for Wes and TRHG, as of recently.) I want to be part of a tight circle of friends, like I had back in college.

I’ve heard several people say that once you move to a new area, it takes about two years to develop a solid social life. I’ve been back here a year, so I’m at about where I should be.

Anyway — I left therapy tonight feeling so optimistic and so good about where my life stands right now. It all comes down to appreciating what you have and being patient about the things you don’t have.

Afterwards, I went to Mike’s place to watch a special epsiode of “Buffy.” It was a musical. I’ve seen “Buffy” maybe four times before. Sometimes I think I’d like to get into watching it regularly, but I watch “The X-Files” and I think I only have room for one offbeat monster-type show. “The X-Files” appears to be going downhill this upcoming season, but I’m gonna continue to watch, at least for now. Anyway — maybe I’ll give “Buffy” a more extended try. But I can’t seem to get into its plot. And everyone’s always talking about James Marsden (Spike), but he just doesn’t do much for me. I don’t get it.

Still, the show has great dialogue. My favorite line from tonight: “Ergo, the weirdness.”

I was surprised to realize that among Mike’s guests was East/West’s Mr. 7500, the Jersey City recipient of a pizza! Wow, the memories. Anyway, he and I wound up riding the PATH back to Jersey City together after hanging around at Mike’s to watch the election returns for a couple of hours. It turns out he reads my blog. So, Jersey City Pizza Recipient, you’re probably reading this.

Thanks for the goatee feedback, everyone. I was thinking I’d be Clintonesque about it, like taking a poll to decide where I should go on vacation. I appreciate the feeback and I’ll make my decision shortly. Aw, who’m I kidding? It’ll take me forever to decide.

Finally, I took my novel-in-progress off the site. I decided I was feeling a little uncomfortable about leaving it up there for all to see. I’d say it was a political decision, but that would only mean I was trying to bring this entry full circle. And that would be lame.