OBAMA the 44TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH! I voted and my votee WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rock on, Obama!

I'm not political, so I won't get more into it than that. However, and it is a rather sad and depressing yet truth of this country that I speak of this, please don't get assassinated. Stay safe. Don't become more than a swift martyr. We have had enough of those.

In other news, nothing written. I'm beginning to think that I have signed up for NaNoWriMo for nothing. At the same time, I feel validated in how I am spending my time. I went to the bookstore, and in a matter of two trips I bought seven books, and would have bought another had it been in stock. First day of five books, I read two - one small the other big. It was great. I slowly started a YA that I am familiar with while waiting for Swallowing Darkness to come out. It came out, on election day. How perfect is that? So... I read the comic I bought today with SD, giggled aloud, watched election news for a couple hours while reading, moved on to SD and got absolutely shit done today. No homework, none. I am moving on to it now, sacrificing sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day, Thursday an even harder one in all the homework I am trying to catch up on. I am finding that I am willing to shunt more and more aside as things get busier, and that is bad. I should be able to better manage my time than this, to get stuff done, to succeed in life. So far, my only gratification lies in maintaining that 4.0, which was harder than I expected this year. I kind of want to go back to being easy. Kind of. At the same time, I am enjoying the challenge and the material. Anyways, nothing written on anything. But, I am reading. My joy in life is once again a part of my daily routine. Finally. I missed it.

Ok, I lied. More politics

Arpaio is still on. Yes, that puts me in AZ. Not sure how I feel on that. I voted against him, but at the same time kind of wanted him to stay on. I like quite a bit of what he has done, but in other areas he has crossed the line. It almost reminds me of the movie coming out, Frost/Nixon. Don't know if I'll go see it, but there is this one striking line. "Mr. President, are you saying the president can do illegal things? -- No, I'm saying when the president does it, it's not illegal." Not properly quoted, I'm sure, but that is what I am reminded of. Arpaio has crossed a line, somewhere. So while I kind of like him, he has crossed that line and should thus be kicked out. Interesting that he stayed on. I thought for sure that he wouldn't make it another term. Very interesting. For that matter, I thought AZ would go blue. I really wanted it to, but in the end I am glad McCain at least kept his own state. He had a great "I lost" speech. Glad I watched it, honorably done. It seemed memorized, as did Obama's. Do they both memorize a winning and losing speech for either instance? How strange to have to prep for that. I would fear of slipping between speeches and suddenly start spouting the wrong one. Major oops on national television.

Prop 102 won, which makes me very sad. It wasn't even by a small margin, which would have made it a bit more bearable. I had thought we could move forward in this. Perhaps next time we can get another prop out there to fix this one. I liked how in Obama's speech he mentions gays and lesbians. Very nice inclusion - definately touched more people that way.

Prop 105 lost, good.

And that's pretty much all I specifically remember voting for. I voted for more, but mostly just went down the line of democrats. Next time, I shall be better prepared. This time, I had two things to vote for: Obama and 102. Glad I won on at least one count.

Yet another matter. I disliked, when it was announced that Obama won and they cameras kept showing diffeent views of cheering people, that at one location it was all white people in a group, and at the other location it was all blacks in smaller groups. There are more than just the black/African Americans that voted for Obama, and while this is certainly a momentuous occasion for them, and I don't want to lessen that (perish the thought), I kind of felt slighted at that one location. And I'm white - I had the other bloody location. What about the other minorities that voted for him, that helped him win Florida and other states, that were continually mentioned by the newscasters (at least on my station)? Obama represnts the black man as president, but also the non-white man, which is much more than just black. I was kind of mad that they failed to represent this with their views. I'll probably get hate mail, or comments, if anyone ever reads this, because I recognize how racist this could be taken. Reverse-racism, is what I believe the term is called. If not, I made it up and it sounded good. I am offended as a white person by the one city, and yet also offended at the other city of only white people. I guess it is simply interesting, at the very least, that we still seperate into colors on national television celebrating a momentous, racial moment. We can't seem to overcome that hurdle, to move beyond being one or two groups, but all groups, because as the United States, that is certainly what we are.

For that matter, certainly useless at this point, but simple reflection. What about Jane the Plumber? Or Jane Sixpack? (It tickles me pink that it is hard to translate sixpack into another language like French.) OR, what about Jesus (is that even spelled right?? Hesus?) the Plumber? Or Jamal? Or any other racial name? I'm not enough of a connieseur of names to name too many more, so I shall cut it off there. I just feel the need to point out that Joe the Plumber is extremely limiting in what it translates as to the public. Maybe we should be challenging Joe with Jane or Jamal. Yet, for Obama to have done so, it would have seemed like throwing stones, which we all kind of hate. And I don't think that McCain really wanted to limit the group he was addressing - it was just a common phrase used.

And, I was rather pleased with out democratic audiene in Chicago vs. the republican one in Phoenix. When Obama was mentioned by McCain, the crowd booed. He trid to shut them up, and to his great credit he applauded his opponent and gave a great speech. When Obama spoke, and mentioned McCain and his greatness, the democrats politely clapped and cheered. We were more mature. Pointing it out now certainly isn't, but oh well. :)

Finally, less political but still in that arena. I felt like I should be whooping with joy like at football when your team scores and you win the game last minute. I went and listend to the theme song of Remember the Titans directly after the news, so I really had this feeling. Yet I couldn't really whoop. I went and told my roommate and her date that Obama just won, and I called a few people but that was it. I wanted that occasion where everyone is tensely waiting in all their Obama shirts and then cheer and hug and whatnot. I'll need to have a baby party next time. I want to whoop with joy, and be in a situation where I can. Definate goal in the next four years. And I'm not even a fan of football. Hehe. :)

I think it is great thing to finally have children in the Whitehouse once more. I would love to be there to see the changes wrought. So different from everything that we have now. So much more, more vivacity and life. I like how they won that new puppy to bring home. I laughed out loud at that. And then, everybody kept saying how they get to house-train a puppy in the Whitehouse. Does anybody else imagine a little a puppy ruining hugely expensive rugs that have been there for generations of presidents? I kind of cringed while lauging at that thought.

Democrats hold more seats in Congress now. Woot!

When I went to vote, I had to go in the afternoon since I was afraid I would miss my classes if I had to wait in line too long, and that would have majorly sucked with tests coming up. I also had to drive a bit to get there since I registered where my parents live, since I live there when not on campus. I was expecting at least an hour to two hour wait. Everyone even told me to expect a wait. So I packed an entertainment bag - a new boo, homework, candy, water, sweatshirt in case I got cold, etc. I got there... NO LINE! I was so shocked and surprised. I didn't even have to fight for parking in a really small parking spot. Afterwards I called my dad who had to come in the morning before work since he wouldn't be able to go afterwards, and he had to wait at least an hour. Hehe! Sweet reversal. So, I get in there. I have no idea what I am supposed to do, having no idea what even the setup is. I'm lead to the proper table, and they ask me, "Is this your first time voting? -- Yep! -- WE HAVE A FIRST VOTER OVER HERE!" And the whole room broke out into small cheering and clapping. It was great. I turned around and did a small bow, grinning all the time. It was awesome. We really empowered our first time voters this year. How awesome. Of course I can't say if they do the same thing every election, since this is my first. But I'm thinking it's rather special. At least it was to me. It occured two more times while I was filling out my ballot. :) Then, when I was done, my envelope, sealed with my own spit - making it rather more patriotic and individual, was slid into a box. And I was done. My very first vote. I almost forgot to write about this, which is why it is at the end of the post. It was overwhelmed by the election. Yet, it is hugely important. I felt a great connectione with my grandparents when I learned they vote, an vote democrat. I am loving that connection. It's another link between the family. One great moment in Obama's speech that I absolutely loved was when he spoke of a voter, I forget the name, who was casting her ballot at 106 years old. She is over a century old. Thinking in my fantasy-world, I want to go something along the lines of she seems kind of elven, when you can say over a century old. Or vampire or fairy or something. Elf sounds nicest. And Obama spoke of how she was born a generation after slavery, black and a woman, and she represented the change in America, the change of freedom and voting. Damn, that was an awesome point. If nothing else, I want to live that long to see the changes. That would be an awesome moment to be able to identify moments like that. Much more so that 'in my day' moments. :)

And finally, I think that is all I have to say on the election. *sigh* It is all done for another four years. Peace out.

BK