Refreshing
After one terrible day and one mediocre/passable day, I think that today is going to be my good day. Though I didn't wake up at 6:15 like I wanted to (I slept through several strategically timed alarms all the way up until 6:58, actually), I did wake up by 7, go to the gym, get back, shower, and buy fruit and veggies for my lunch later. For now, this delicious yogurt parfait is the first breakfast I've eaten all year. I haven't been up for breakfast since December. :-) I have a lot of reading to do before classes, but class doesn't start until 4 and it is only 9. I'm really hoping my backed up reading isn't more than 7 hours worth! And I've resigned myself to doing nothing but that until it is finished.
I do have to give a little hopeful/excited/happy rant about the MA elections, but I will put it under a cut (assuming I can remember/figure out how to do the cut on LJ) so you don't have to read it if you don't want to. :-)
Scott Brown. Many people didn't think it was possible. As I read the news articles and looked up a little information, I didn't think it was possible. This is MA. This is a liberal state which had relected the (late) great Ted Kennedy over and over and over again. A state where Coakley was favored to win and many people didn't even believe that Brown was a threat. And then the upset came. I was sitting in Amanda's room when I got the text from a close friend - 'the republican just won in Mass.' And I realized that this was exactly what this nation needs right now, in my opinion.
Now, I know that I'm not the most knowledgeable person. Maybe some of my ideas here are wrong, but they are how I view the situation. I'm open to other opinions and ideas, of course, I just want to make that known. I'm not a 'this is the way things should be' sort of person, if someone can argue their point well enough to convince me. I also want to state that I am not 100% against reforming healthcare. The system is broken, and it needs to be fixed. But it needs to be different than the bill that is being proposed now. And more than half of the 2 million people who showed up in MA yesterday knew that, too. This is one of the most interesting positions that our government has been in for a while. Since Obama took office the Republicans have been all talk, because they didn't have the votes to do anything. Then there was the deadlock after Kennedy's seat vacancy, and not a whole lot o anything was accomplished. Now the Republicans have a voice again. Now things are going to get interesting. Instead of standing around going "we don't matter", they have a chance to make real changes. The President can turn to them now and go "Alright, I get the message, people don't like how I'm doing things. How can we make this bill a bipartisan effort? How can we please a bigger majority." This is the sort of change that we need, the one that involves both parties having to work together and truly represent both halves of this nation.
There was even a Democratic Senator who stood up last night and said there should be no more votes on healthcare until Scott Brown is sworn in. Even the Dems know that he represents the people, and if that if they ignore what the majority are saying it will only hurt them in the end. This is a message, and now that it has sent shockwaves across the US I am excited to see what our government will do with it. This is why I love politics. This is why I chose Political Science, and why I want to enter politics. I'm not saying I agree with everything Scott stands for as an individual (though it was he, and not the Democratic candidate, who backed Obama's efforts to send more troops overseas), but I am curious to see what he'll do now that he's
"While the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person, no one political party. This is the people's seat." - Scott Brown
Sorry if I lost any followers there. I promise that political rants, though a large part of my thought process, are a very rare occasion on Livejournal, so you don't have to worry about reading any more about that. So now on to things that aren't me being reminded why I love my chosen career path. I need to play the piano sometime soon. I've recently heard a few songs that I thought would be fun to learn, but finding sheet music for them is proving difficult. If I can just take some time to buckle down and catch up on my school work, though (yes, yes, I've started yet another semester WAY behind in my readings) I can make the free time I need to do those fun things.
For now, I've got the news on in the background, a playlist made for study-time, and a day ahead of me that is mine to make or break.