happy election day
I was a little bit worried all day that I wouldn’t make it back to Vallejo in time to vote. Ridiculous, right? Even on the worst day of traffic it couldn’t be THAT bad. But still, I worried – because I actually cared about what was going on, and because it would be my first time voting. Four years ago I was 17, of course, and I managed to slip on any in-between smaller chances to vote.
I listened to NPR on the hour-plus drive home from school. I decided I liked election day, because interesting talk radio was on all day (I always mourn my loss of morning shows on the drive home.) I actually talked to NPR at one point, which made me feel really, really old. (It was an interview with a guy who said, as much respect as he had for McCain, he just couldn’t vote for a guy who chose Palin as his VP. Me too, guy; me too.)
I picked Dan up and made him come A Votin’ with me. He was lame and never registered, so really only I could fill in the ovals, but he did come along for the experience. Back in high school I volunteered at the polls several times (well, you get paid a teensy bit, like $5 an hour, which is pretty much volunteering) so it wasn’t unlike my previous experience, except they were Scantron ballots instead of punchy-chaddy or computerized ballots. There wasn’t much of a line, which was nice, and it was exciting to see my name (my new name, which I never see because PUC refuses to change it) on their list.
On the way home, I dragged Dan to Starbucks so I could get my Voting Coffee (and that’s exactly what I ordered – “can I get my Voting Coffee *holding up my telltale tag*, no cream or sugar?”) and we ran into Safeway for what was supposed to be stamps, and ended up being $40 worth of groceries. But so it goes.
Because we don’t have TV, I’ve had to get my regular political updates via the internet. First, I was happy, excited and yes, relieved to see that Obama won the presidency. Then I was frustrated because I could not find out which California props had passed, and because Prop 8 looked like it was passing (it still does, as far as I know, but that was with only 30% of the data collected… *crosses fingers*).
Finally, I was amused when I checked Myspace and discovered that the vast majority of my friends on there are Republicans, prophysying doom and the end of days because of our “stupid terrorist” (yes, that’s a direct quote) president elect. (I make it a rule to only add people I know on Myspace, and since I went to a private Christian high school and currently attend a private Christian college – yeah, people are mostly conservative. Makes it rather interested for us open-minded ones, yes?)
Currently, I am still angsty about the props, but I suppose I’ll just suck it up and go to bed. It’s not like obsessively checking the internet is going to make anything happen. It will, on the other hand, reveal wonderous things, and in this situation, wonderous things about the Obama campaign – who knew it was so widespread?
My very own keets might be avid Obama supporters, and I never knew it!
Here are just a few of Obama’s feathered fans:
(Nice try, but while the last one was cute, it still doesn’t qualify as a “little birdy”. But good job with that balancing act, both of you!)
