hail to the chief

finally.  i love this picture.  our first family.  ::sigh:: 

yes we did

still exhilarating.

posting because i said i would

i am still exhausted from yesterday.  i watched about 15 hours of election coverage.  i wish i could say that i am exaggerating, but it’s true. i feel ill from watching that much tv, but i can’t help myself.  i do it every time there is an election.  it’s my crack.  or my porn.  or something.

it was exhilarating and monumental and breathtaking and fall-on-your-knees incredible to see barack obama on stage and hear the words “president elect” with his name.  it has been a long time coming.  as i put my baby to bed last night i told her that the world is changing, and it is good.  she is too little to know what it means, but i will make sure that she understands the significance of this event.  

i am leaving my obama/biden lawn signs up until my republican neighbors and/or the HOA complain and force me to take them down.  hell, we still have a kerry/edwards sticker on our car and they lost; i’m riding this victory for as long as i can.  

i am heartsick to see that proposition 8 was passed in california.  it makes me ill to think that in 2008 we are still denying the civil rights of an entire group of people based on their sexual orientation.  it is senseless, and it is sick. sick. sick.  bigots make me angry.  

oh yeah, i have pictures to post too, don’t i.  crap.  i’ll do it tomorrow.  i am zapped.

::bawling::

chris matthews is making me cry.  he’s talking about michelle obama being first lady, about malia and sasha obama being the first kids, and that african-american kids around the country will see this and feel that they too can be president some day.  shit.  this is wondrous.  it is amazing.

OMFG

i haven’t been this choked up and emotional since my daughter was born.  change is coming, and it feels good.

on undecided voters. my favorite quotes of the week

“there are three kinds of voters in america, according to the pollsters.  about forty-five percent firmly committed to the democrats, forty-five percent for the republicans, and in the middle about ten percent who can’t go outside in the rain because they might stare upwards with their mouths open and drown.”

-peter sagal, host of wait wait…don’t tell me! on npr

 

“To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. ‘Can I interest you in the chicken?’ she asks. ‘Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?’

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”

-david sedaris, in the new yorker

more nerve wracking than the SATs

i finally completed filling out my ballot….there were a few amendments i had to do some extra research about so it took me a while.  it is signed and sealed, just waiting to be delivered.  i was so nervous filling in the bubbles, taking care to mark them neatly and completely,  and then i read the submission instructions over and over to make sure i had done everything right.  now i am wondering if i need to put an extra stamp on there as if the additional $0.41 will ensure that my ballot reaches its destination, offering me the assurance that i know my vote will actually be counted.  i wasn’t this nervous taking tests in school.  this election just matters SO MUCH that i want to be sure that i do everything just right.

365 project: day 2

 

confession: i didn’t even step outside the house today.  my baby was up from about 4:30am, fussing in her crib.  i realized later that she was probably cold, but did i even go into her room to check?  nope.  that “mom of the year” award must be on its way any day now.  she was cranky all day.  is it teeth?  gas?  general toddler crankitude?  who knows.  whatever it is, i hope it doesn’t last long.

my picture-taking opportunities in the house are somewhat limited, but i snapped a quick picture (with my little point-and-shoot camera) during the VP debate.

i don’t want a pageant princess or hockey mom as our vice president.  i don’t want someone who can simply memorize a list of facts and pretend that she knows about foreign policy and our current economic crisis.  i want a candidate who has experience, who has a working knowledge of the constitution as it applies to 2008, who can identify a single landmark supreme court decision to which she is opposed, who doesn’t believe that dinosaurs roamed the earth 4000 years ago, who believes in a woman’s right to choose, and who doesn’t hunt animals for sport with high powered rifles.  i want someone who can respond to journalists’ questions with intelligent, factual answers instead of giving “shout outs” and “you betchas”.  i want someone who doesn’t lower the expectations of american political candidates. 

ignorance is not good.

up next: fire and brimstone

::zzzztttt  ppppfffffff::

that’s the sound of my brain shutting off.  it’s a matter of self-preservation at this point.  i can’t watch the news, i can’t think about politics, i can’t listen to one more word about wall street and the economy and trillion-dollar bailouts, and OHMYGOD if i have to hear another word out of sarah palin’s mouth i am going to reach through the tv and grab her fucking rifle and whack her over the head with it.  

it’s all just too much.

we are fortunate, though.  my husband has a job.  i have an education, so if push came to shove i could get a job.  we have a lovely, comfortable home.  we are not saddled with mountains of “bad” debt (let’s all agree that student loans are “good” debt, okay?), we have health insurance (unlike 46 million of my fellow americans – let’s talk about that for a second, senator mccain).

i care about politics, i care passionately about this election.  i am scared to think about what could happen if the republicans continue to control the white house.  i am terrified to imagine my daughter growing up in a country where women don’t have the right to choose, where she will not get a decent education, where human rights and civil liberties no longer exist.  

i urge every single person in this country to register AND vote.  study the candidates, study the issues, determine what is important to you and to the future of this country.  as a woman, as a mother, as an american, and as a human, i truly believe that the future is in OUR hands.  

if you hear me screaming at the tv during the debate tonight, please bring wine.

I could totally be the vice president

I served on student council and was treasurer of my junior class. I was co-captain of my college lacrosse team. I did a brief summer abroad program in costa rica and participated in various other “cultural exchanges” in the bars and discotheques of Tijuana throughout my entire freshman year, an experience in which I exhibited tremendous diplomacy and linguistic skill, and negotiated many international trade agreements. our success rate for getting friends back over the border was second to none; we never let a fallen friend stay in the drunk tank one minute more than was necessary for him to remember that his country of origin is actually america and that he really doesn’t hail from the fires of mount doom that are blazing over middle earth. That’s over four quarters of “on the ground” foreign policy experience right there. Granted, I wasn’t in charge of the Alaskan national guard during my service, but I was responsible for a squadron of brave soldiers (read: college freshmen looking to get as drunk as possible and maybe even find a little someone special to take back to his dormroom. But that topic will be discussed later when we talk about parents, teen pregnancy, religion and hypocrisy, and a woman’s right to choose.)

Now, I’m not a hockey mom yet, but give me a few years and I will be the best danm soccer mom you’ve ever seen. I don’t own any lipstick but by the time DC calls me up to serve as McCain’s number-two, I will be ready.

(edited to add: i wrote this before bed last night on my iphone when i was totally doped up on ambien.  sedatives and blogging don’t mix.)