2004-07-24 - 2:28 a.m.

It's almost time for the DNC. I've been secretly looking forward to this in the same way that people enjoy watching future shock or war movies--for the secret pleasure of being right up front for the action, yet behind the safety line of actual involvement.

It's the DNC--the event I've been reading and reading and reading about, but of which nobody really knows what to truly expect. I saw Chris Matthews about eighty times today--I hadn�t been planning on what to do in case that happened.

All I know is that the picket nonsense seems to have been resolved (I've read every related article for months--the thing that nobody has mentioned is that people are calling Mumbles Menino an "amateur" for not getting it resolved long before the convention, but the fact is, he has been trying to get it resolved for a very, very long time.), and that I want to punch that sub guy in the face.

People are taking their vacation time to get away from the mess--people that live in Needham and work in Brookline are doing this. I can�t do this, even though I live in Somerville and work in the heart of DNC county and I don�t drive. I have to either walk past the Fleet Center commute through Cambridge and then over the Salt and Pepper bridge in order to get to work. That's it. I can't go through Charlestown 'cause that goes through by North Station as well. If I go to Lechmere like I normally do, my shuttle bus will take me to Kendall in Cambridge. If I go to Davis, it's the Red Line as well. And there's no way I'm getting on the Red Line during the DNC unless it's to get out of Dorchester--I wanna see it all, but there�s no way I�m getting on the Red Line.

Today I walked past the Fleet because I still can, just to see all of the helicopters in the sky and the people running about trying to get stuff finalized, freaking out, locals either indifferent or gawking, or, unusually, doing both.

I want to see that stuff. I'm staying the hell out of the Free Speech Zone, bless them though, but otherwise I plan to walk through the heart of it if I'm allowed to (haven't read a single article about walking) to get to work.

When the Patriots won the Superbowl and they had that parade, I was able to get to work, and I think I'm going to be able to do it for another four or so days. By day two, I'll have it figured out.

The Roommate and I both have ads on craigslist advertising a stay in our apartment for the DNC--it�d be nice to cash in on the inconvenience.

But when all is said and done, I'm looking forward to the walk to work and all the wacky folks partying it up outside my work while I�m still working, the same way folks in Kansas jump in the pickup to videotape tornadoes.