Convention

• 1a way in which something is usually done, especially within a particular area or activity:the woman who overturned so many conventions of children’s literature
• behavior that is considered acceptable or polite to most members of a society:he was an upholder of convention and correct formsocial conventions
• Bridge an artificial bid by which a bidder tries to convey specific information about the hand to their partner.

• 2an agreement between countries covering particular matters, especially one less formal than a treaty.

• 3a large meeting or conference, especially of members of a political party or a particular profession:a convention of retail merchants
• (in the US) an assembly of the delegates of a political party to select candidates for office.
• an organized meeting of enthusiasts for a television program, movie, or literary genre:a Star Trek convention

a body set up by agreement to deal with a particular issue:the convention is a UN body responsible for the regulation of sea dumping.
I went to the Democratic State convention last Saturday. I was a delegate for Elizabeth Warren. This was a huge problem for me. First off the Convention, but  I'm guessing every Convention since this was my first one, struck me as a strange land of sharks and sheep. The sharks show up with an agenda that includes obtaining power, status, and benefits with in the shell of a political event. The sheep show up as good citizens intent on doing their civic duty and maybe feeling like they have some control over the way things work. Almost everybody there had taken a good healthy swig of the kool-aid. I hate kool-aid.

Red State? Blue State? Doesn't matter; Kool Aid sucks!

 Chanting? What is this, Cub Scouts? Hand claps? Yep, Cub Scouts. Flattery? For showing up? For participating? Do I get a massage with a happy ending if I actually do something, or will a hefty campaign contribution suffice? Meet the stars? Over greasy eggs in a hall full of other people that "showed up" ? Stand in line, I guess a handshake is better than a pat on the head. You get the gist, yet for all the moments I rejected as cheese-ball, corrupt, or corruptly cheesy I still tip my hat to the folks that at least try to get in the fight. As sad as the process got, and trust me sometimes it was killing Old Yeller sad, at least all of the people in that hall have picked a team, taken a position, supported a side. I imagine the same is true at a Republican convention only with more blazers and a side serving of KKK. What bothers me is most registered voters in this country self identify as having no identity. Independent? WTF? Pick a team people. Do the research. Convention is good, convention is how society holds together, convention is how things get done. More importantly you aren't unconventional by refusing to choose. You are conceding the fight to those that do.

Yeah Fat man, maybe you have time for politics but I have important things to do.

Rich sociopaths run our country. They bath in babies tears. They pay $20,000 dollars for a court-side ticket to tonights Celtic game then don't bother to go because they're tired. They feed porterhouse to their dogs while they rail against food-stamps. They hate welfare but put their hand in your pocket when their too big to fail schemes actually fail. They own factories full of illegal aliens unless their factory is in Bangladesh avoiding our environmental and safety laws. They have spent literally billions of dollars over the last 30 years to convince you that freedom and them bending you over a chair are the same thing. (billions) 

Oh no! He's going for the sports metaphor!

Convention has it that a team, instilled with the fundamentals, working together, with a singular goal, can beat a crap load of money, privileged behavior and a loaded deck. Game 6 of the Celtics/Heat series is still a couple of hours away so that theory is still in flux right now, which is how I want it to always be. I want the working people of this country to rejoin the process. I want you to join a team and out work the sociopaths.
 If you are a right winger who thinks that corporations should run free and unchecked, that social security and medicare are a scam, that illegal aliens are horrible unless you need a nanny or a gardner or cheap factory labor, that health care isn't a right, that banks should be able to play roulette with your savings, that poor people deserve to be poor, and that Obama was born in Kenya I want you to go down to the local registry and sign up as a republican.

...but I'm a liberal!

Well that makes 4 of us. So if you are a left winger who believes that if only everyone had a collage degree toilets would start cleaning themselves, that the money that Clinton, Bush, and Obama stole from the the social security fund to make their budgets look better doesn't matter because social security is fine dammit! that instead of the worlds biggest military we don't need any military at all, that you can wallow in consumer goods and still be a good lefty, that unions didn't abandon the rest of us these last 30 years while they tried desperately to "keep theirs", that there is no difference between a public and private union, I want you to go down to the local registry and sign up as a democrat.
Neither of you is going to get exactly what you want, because you're both bat-shit crazy, but at least if you participate you might learn a little more about how thing work than Rush or the Kardashians have been telling you. Maybe I won't have to go to a convention and rubber stamp a bunch of candidates the got picked in back rooms by party hacks, and maybe when you step into the voting booth you won't have to hold your nose and vote for your "side", but rather pull a lever for your choice. There are only two parties in this country with serious power; decide, pick, and get on with it. Join the convention and maybe it won't be so lame anymore.
When I got back from the convention I went right to G-girls house for Greek food. If you are going to be unconventional that is a great place to start. Hell I wasn't there 20 minutes and I was stuffing my face with carp eggs and taboli, and hummus and chickpea salad and fresh feta, and olives and that was just the crudites. By the time I was on my second plate of pastichio (greek mac and cheese) I had a full bore food coma coming on. G-girl was relentless though and rolled out the galaktoboureko.

The next time I hire a hooker, after I've paid for my hour and done my business, I'm going to use the other 57 minutes to have her make galaktoboureko.

I'm not even going to give you a recipe for this stuff. I've never made it myself so I don't know what pitfalls you might run in to so I'll just say find a recipe and give it a try. I've never seen this in any store and it is way to good to not eat all the time. A party in my mouth sums it up. What I will tell you to make since the fresh mint is already in season is mojitos.

Sunshine in a glass.

Muddle that thing into submission

You will need fresh mint, limes, light rum, simple syrup, and sparkling water. A muddler can be obtained from you better stocked liquor stores.

1. Put 5 or 10 mint leave in a Collins glass.
2. Add a hefty wedge of lime, but not that hefty. You want to perfume the drink not overwhelm it.
3. Add a squirt of simple syrup. 
4. Muddle. Downward pressure with a twist. Torture that stuff. Don't break the glass!
5. Add a couple of shots of rum, maybe 3.
6. Ice. Crushed if you have it cubes if you don't.
7. Top it with sparking water or club soda.
8. Drink, repeat.

Go Celtics! I'm a conventional guy, confirm my world view.