As 2016 flys on by —

Only a week left.

Yes, no matter what happens between now and then, one week from today is the General Election in which a new president will — hopefully — be elected.

I was thinking today that November is already here. It’s less than two months until a new year starts. It seems like this year flew by. That is a cliche of course. But it seems bizarre how the year has zipped on by and the election seems as if time was in slow motion. To be honest though, the election campaign season goes back for at least a year before this one. Some will say the run for the 2016 election has been in play since the last presidential election.

Maybe it has been the tenor of the Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump campaigns. Remember Primary Donald Trump? He would fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. He’d give opponents nicknames like Lying Ted Cruz or Little Marco Rubio. Trump had all the patience of a man on a week-long cocaine binge. The recent, Teleprompter Donald Trump talks in more subdued tones, with the cadence of a man whose three meals a day includes Seconal. Strange sh*t, man.

Politics aside, I thought I would be on my way to retirement by this time. But I have hung in there because I don’t have a clear idea as to how I might financially sustain myself after retirement. In the process of my everyday life, I have had to deal with medical annoyances. Then, a little more than a month ago, my pickup truck collided with a much bigger pickup. The other had little damage. I don’t know how much in a monetary sense. These days if a bird takes a crap on  your car, the cost would seem to soar higher than that bird. My liability insurance took care of the other party. I was stuck with my Tacoma, now almost 20 years old, bruised and bent all along my side. My driver side is dented from stem to stern. My door opens and shuts, but its dents make up the worst of all my damage. My window will not roll up. But it does still run.

So, I am searching for a driver side door for a 1998 Toyota Tacoma. Once I find it, and if it will fit and work, I will need to find someone to install it. All of that depends on “cost-benefit.” Doesn’t every thing?

For instance, a  cost-benefit analysis will also be required for those who still need to vote. Instead of a voter deciding to hold their nose to elect a presidential candidate, they might also determine whether they should hold their nose and cover their eyes. By cracky, at least we have choices.