Work, Pain, and the Politics of High Drama

The last few days for me have been a bit distracting...I've been learning and getting used to a new job assignment at work, suffering from a nagging backache, and naturally...just when I wanted to get off from work and rest and recover...a sudden, excessive amount of overtime.  Well, I think I have my new assignment down pretty well, the back is much better (but still sore), and that overtime thankfully dried up for the time being.  Still, I think I'd better wait a few days before I am ready to resume any sort of running.  As for working extra hours, part of that is my own responsibility since I signed up to get overtime: I'd just like it in more moderate amounts, please...

In spite of work and physical pain, I've been noticing what's going down in the news and am dismayed by the total level of disfunction in our elected national government.  The latest chapter in this nonsense has President Trump abruptly cancelling a secret trip by House Speaker Pelosi to visit our troops serving overseas...and in doing so betraying the secret publicly.  This is in apparent retaliation to Pelosi's hesitation in allowing him to deliver his State of the Union address on January 29th if the government is still shut down.  She has the authority to do so...the President is obligated by the U.S. Constitution to give Congress an annual report on the state of the union, but he can accomplish this with a written report.  Still, I'd like to see him deliver the speech in person...his State of the Union address last year was one of his best speeches.  Too bad Mr. Trump is incapable of sticking with a script...if ever there was someone who needs to, it's him...

And I'm sure there will be more high drama coming out of the White House, since being a drama queen is one of the things our president is truly competent in and is something that his "base" seems to relish.  What saddens me the most about all this is that I happen to agree with some of his proposals and policies, but he seems more interested in making everything an issue about himself, first and foremost.  Well, there's not a whole lot I can do about that...I feel sorry for all the federal workers who are not being paid and for those Americans who are not receiving important services due to the shutdown...