I am, by far, not the only one anxious about the outcome of tomorrow’s election. I know this, this is obvious. I’m just amazed at how different my experience is this year than it was with the 2000 and 2004 elections.
The first time I was elegible to vote, I was ready. I leaned what I could about the issues that were important to me (and even some that weren’t so much). I was appaled, though, to listen to others’ ideas about presidential electing. As I was sitting outside one of my English classes in 2000, I overheard one woman tell a friend, “My dad is voting for Bush, so that’s who I’ll vote for.” Yeah, thanks a bunch. I was so upset that this is how she would decide how to vote (although, imitation is a form of flattery no?…maybe she just really admired and trusted her father. But still…that is no excuse for that being the sole reason to vote for anyone). I also heard the argument that Bush had a nicer smile. Really? Really? I can never understand that whole, “He [and now she] is cute, so I’ll pick that one.” I think that says something disturbing about us, that sometimes we would rather choose our next leader based on looks.
Anyhow, I didn’t think that the people I heard discussing the 2004 election soundded all that much more informed. This is not at all a fair comment on other people and their research and critical thinking abilities. Part of it is that I just tend to isolate myself. How can I determine how involved people are when I refuse to associate with most people?
This election feels different, though. Perhaps every election I live through will feel more charged to me, as I continue to follow the campaigns and issues more. I know that if we suddenly succumb to complete group insanity and Palin secures the candidacy for the Republican party in four years, that election will be much more charged. And, I’ll watch the coverage from my new home in Calgary.
Anyhow, I’m excited that there is such a buzz about this election on campus. I’m excited that so many of my students are informed on at least a few of the issues and that they are excited (or upset or something) enough to get out and vote. Many of my students have already voted and, like me, are anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s (or whenever’s) outcome.
I certainly don’t agree with much of what I overhear people discussing, but I’m excited that there is discussion ongoing. I’ve been doing a lot of listening-in lately (i.e. eavesdropping), gauging what side of this election people are supporting. (It’s all Democrat or Republican. I haven’t overheard any talk about the Green Party or the Independent American Party, ecc). I love to hear others’ opinions.
One of my students said, just today, regarding her anticipation of the election results, “I’m going to freak out!” I told her, “I know exactly how you feel.” She and the student next to her asked each other, “What are you going to do if he wins?” I love that they are concerned about how their lives are going to change depending on the new administration. (I can only guess which candidate they meant by “he” and I didn’t ask them to elaborate. Either way.)
I hope that I never become disinterested in politics. I’m only barely politically literate right now (well, I suppose that depends on who I am comparing myself to), but I hope my interest never wanes. I also hope, though, that I can maintain some semblance of sanity because I have a lot of elections to live through still, I hope. I also hope that Pic grows up to take a similar interest. I know that it’s scary to get so caught up in such large issues and I know that it’s actually somewhat idealistic to believe that my little vote makes much of a difference (hello US representative democracy with your electoral college), but I think that apathy is scarier.
Okay, this is crappy rambling. Sorry. Before I sign off, though, one more note. I was listening to NPR this morning (because you know us soccer moms, business men and idiots listen to that) and they were profiling some voter. She’s a Republican who had been supporting Clinton. After the candidates and their running mates were chosen, though, she threw her support behind Palin, specifically. She said, “I’m not a feminist or anything….” She said more, but I can’t remember the exact quote. Let me just respond to that comment. Um, yeah, y’think? (She is now supporting Obama, because she feels that he is actually talking about/responding to the issues, but I’m caught up on the feminist comment.)
Okay, really…the end.
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This post brought to you today by the words “excited” and “hope.” Sorry for the repetition.
Monday, November 3, 2008
feel the buzz
ah, sandwiches
I sincerely hoped that I'd be in bed before I was able to post so freaking early today, but who am I kidding? That's right...no one. Anyhow, I'm going to sit here and do productive (but not reproductive) work, munch on challah and post about food.
Stories of surviving those first few years of broke collegedom on ramen noodles abound. My experience of undernourishing, monotonous fare is similar, but the food in question is different. I survived on sandwiches for the first year of college. I would eat a crunchy peanut butter on wheat bread sandwich for breakfast and lunch and a turkey or a ham sandwich (with cheese, tomatoes and lettuce) on Dutch crunch bread for dinner. I mixed this up a bit with cafeteria buffet food, but I mainly remember eating the sandwiches. (Amazingly, I did not gain seven hundred pounds my first year of college…I’ve drawn my weight gain out into a much longer experience.)
When I was pregnant with Pic, I, again, mainly lived off of sandwiches. Every-minute-of-the-day sickness overtook me from about three weeks in until a bit after my first trimester was over. (I lost seventeen pounds before I went on to gain thirty-five. I kept freaking out that I was going to miscarry because I didn’t understand how anything (anyone?) could survive inside of me during that time). Also, I didn’t work at all during my pregnancy. I had just quit my stupid, stupid serving job and I was finishing up a semester. I applied for a few jobs, but I was actually relieved that I didn’t have to work while trying to live through throwing up six or seven times a day. After the morning sickness passed, I was already back in school for my final two semesters of undergrad study. Cardo and I were broke. Fortune was on our side in that Cardo works somewhere food is made and sold, so he always had something to eat. (Actually, I don’t remember what he ate while I was in that first hellish trimester. I suppose he ate something, though, because he’s still here.) I ate a lot of sandwiches. For whatever reason, this was the only food item I could hold down. Once I figured that out, I was unwilling to try too many other foods because finding out what everything tastes like coming back up is a horrible, grody experience.
You’d think that my early and late undergrad sandwich consumption would turn me off of sandwiches forever, but, well, no. I still love sandwiches. I could eat them every day, I think. I don’t like a lot on my sandwiches, especially saucy-stuff (mayonnaise in particular), but I do love me some sandwiches.
Just yesterday, after our usual Sunday library time, Pic and I walked over to Beach Hut Deli and ordered sandwiches for lunch. Pic got her usual turkey, provolone and sprouts and I got something new: turkey, bacon, cream cheese, avocado and sprouts (because I was going for something light and healthy). My sandwich was freaking good. I think I’ll go for something minus the cream cheese and bacon next time, but this was great for an indulgence. Both Pic and I had leftover sandwich for our lunches.
Another great recent sandwich: the Nancy Taylor from Dish Café. Cardo and I went to eat here (for the first time…I’ll have to one day update my 101/1001) the other day after his cardiologist appointment. My sandwich was ham, dijon, apple, spinach and cheddar on apple cinnamon bread. I skipped the mayo and only had half of a sandwich (and a cup of minestrone). Mmm, it was good. I’m looking forward to going back. Cardo actually liked the restaurant also, especially that it is a local joint, and he’s looking forward to going back soon. Actually, we’ve got to grocery shop sometime this week, so I’ll grab some ingredients and we can make some of these up this week for a quick dinner.
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Edit: I just read that 11/3 is Sandwich Day. I must be weirdly connected to the bs holiday calendar without knowing it. Hmm.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
a movie for all seasons
Okay, so I'm not actually going to choose movies for all seasons. I'm just interested in what movies represent what seasons for people. Here are my Halloween and rest-of-the-year picks.
Halloween:
Hocus Pocus (I did not watch this this year because I couldn't find the freaking movie...anyone want to lend it to me, please?)
The Addams Family (I was so in love with Raul Julia in this movie...maybe I still am)
Ghostbusters (watched it this year) (When I was younger, I was so in love with Egon.)
Beetlejuice (watched it this year)
Casper (bought it at Goodwill, but didn't watch it)
I'm not really into horror flicks, in case you couldn't tell. When I was younger (elementary school days), I watched things like Dolls (just looking that up for the link made me recoil), Nightmare on Elm Street (one, two, Freddy's comin' for you) and some disgusting movie involving throat milk (you'd have to ask Peecho, because I can't remember what this movie is...I believe it was the fourth in whatever series). I have Dolls to thank for my fear of life-like dolls. I also used to watch Tales from the Crypt and Friday the 13th (the tv series). Some of those were disturbing and still freak me out.
Okay, enough of that. Now for the remaining two months of the year:
Mixed Nuts
Home for the Holidays
Nothing else really on my own list. Several years ago, I decided that I'd always watch It's a Wonderful Life just after Thanksgiving, but that hasn't happened. I do own It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street (the one with Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara, not the new one), but I don't watch them. Maybe when Pic gets older.
What about you guys? There might be more that I'd add or that I already watch, I just can't think of any.
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P.S. Happy End of Daylight Savings Time for those of us participants. I have one more hour to read Cicero (in translation) and fold laundry! (Ah, the sarcastic exclamation point.)
we're almost there
Okay, I just got this link from sweetney. I'm also about to watch McCain on SNL. Apparently, I've got a middle-of-the-darkness election thing going on right now.
(By the way, click around on all of the stuff in the office in the link.)
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Time travel, people. I posted the movie post first, but this one occurred after DST ended. I think I might need sleep if this is this entertaining to me.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
i would walk 500 miles...
Happy November! Happy NaBloPoMo! And, for those of you participating, Happy NaNoWriMo! For yesterday: Happy Halloween and Happy Nevada Day!
Speaking of festive greetings, here's a short conversation between Pic and me yesterday:
Me: Happy Halloween, baby!
Pic: Happy Halloween, Mamma!
Me: Happy Nevada Day!
Pic: Happy Halloween!
Okay, so she knows where her priorities lie.
On Thursday, Cardo, Pic and I all went to the Halloween party at Pic's school. She got a chance to don her costume a day early and hang out with all of her kids (she calls them "my kids"*). We got there really early but we were able to help set up. The spread was great: pizza, raw veggies, fruits, homemade pumpkin bread, juice and homemade cupcakes (not those nasty, nasty storebought ones with the mounds of Crisco-looking frosting).
Today, Cardo was at work, so Pic and I were left to ourselves for most of the day. Cardo's car is still sucking big time, so he took mine to work. After I finally forced myself into some kind of conscious state, Pic and I readied ourselves and headed out, on foot, for Too Expensive Grocery Store That I Actually Kind of Despise. (It's the closest grocery store and we were running late and were without (motorized) wheels. We bought frijoles, arroz y galletas de animalitos and headed over to Starbucks. (The Purple Bean Too closed. Depressing, but not shocking...which makes it more depressing.) I had a salted caramel hot chocolate (someone please explain to me why I still think that I like hot chocolate more than I do, which is barely) and part of a pumpkin scone. Neither of my items were that great and I ended up trashing some of my scone. Pic had a petite vanilla scone. She seemed to like it.
At home, I cajoled the child until she finally took all of the toys scattered downstairs and deposited them upstairs. I made the beans and rice. We ate bananas and kind of watched the episode of Gilmore Girls featuring Rory's twenty-first birthday. I chatted with my older sister, who at last talked to Pic on the phone. I had Pic answer the phone and just about the first thing she said was "Who are you?" Once she'd established who she was talking to, she made certain that Auntie L had seen her Halloween pictures.
At about three-thirty, we headed out for our walk to a local business/office that was hosting trick-or-treating. Pic walked about half of the way there, but I finally made her sit in the stroller because we were taking forever. Outside of the building we happened to see some aquaintances from storytime and we trick-or-treated with them. Our hosts had done a fabulous job. The interior of the building was completely decked out. Almost every employee was in costume and they were all incredibly nice. It only took us about a half-hour to get through the whole place, but Pic got a good amount of candy. She remembered to say "Trick or treat" most of the time (the rest of the time, she lead with "What are you for Halloween?") and she mostly remembered to say "thank you" without me having to remind her. I kept telling her, "We should come back here next year," and then I kept remembering that we probably won't live here anymore next year.
We walked home, grabbed the rice and beans and headed right back out. Ms J had invited us over for dinner, trick-or-treating and a movie. About halfway to Ms J's, Pic fell asleep in the stroller. I tucked one of my jackets around her and pulled the shade down to protect her face from the very light rain that was beginning to fall. We made decent time on this walk and Cardo even made it there from work in time to eat with us (okay, so he had eaten at work so he didn't really eat there, but he was present). We had tacos, burritos, rice, beans and taco dip. Ms J also made pumpkin squares and apple cider for post-trick-or-treating treats. We had quite a group going out, although some left shortly after we set out on our candy quest. Both Pic and Baby K had a blast going door-to-door. Pic was enthusiastic with her "trick or treat" plea. Baby K ambled up the driveways, saying "knock, knock." They both said "thank you" after they received their treats. Mr M was the lucky one who got to pull both of the kidlets around in Baby K's wagon because my peach of a child decided that she was "too scared" to not sit in the wagon. There was a lot of maneuvering in and out of the wagon and there were several escape attempts by each child.
Overall, Pic's first time out trick-or-treating was great.** We had some sketchy moments at the beginning where she wanted to cry hysterically and I wanted to melt down, but we got over that. We didn't stick around for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, although Pic certainly wanted to. It would have been nice, but we needed to get all of us home for some much-needed rest. (Oh, and because Cardo had joined us, I didn't have to walk home, which was very nice, indeed.)
I'm already looking forward to next Halloween, though.
* Dooce wrote at some point that her daughter called her preschool classmates, "My kids." I remember thinking how cute this was. Then, one day, Pic came home and started using the same term. I guess this affectionately possessive feeling is somewhat universal among kids.
** Yes, this was Pic's first time trick-or-treating. We managed to avoid it her first three Halloweens. I'm not really opposed to it or anything. We just didn't take her. I'm glad this time was so great.
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Only three more days until voting ends. My anxiety has ebbed for now. We'll see what next week brings.
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