Why I Threw My Vote Away
Yeah, a little thing went on today called an election. Guess you guys might have heard a thing or two about it. I wasn't at the polls today. Most of the day, I've been trying to work on another Annotated Bib, the one on Auden. I got to write a paper this weekend, and this thing's due Friday, so I gotta get it knocked out. This election's been tough for me, and I went through some tough decision I thought I'd never make. First, I thought I wouldn't vote at all. Then, I decided I'd vote but not for President. I voted absentee because there was no way I could get all the way down to my polling place today. I think I voted absentee before; it looked familiar, but I can't remember. When I got my ballot, I just decided I couldn't leave the president part blank. So, I did what a lot of people in my family did--a write-in. I voted for Ari Ne'eman. Hey, if 1 out of 150 people really is autistic, if he was running, he'd probably win, right? But I know it's useless 'cause he's not running. I'm not 100% sure if they got my ballot. My neighbors won't pick up their mail, and even when I put the little flag on the mailbox up, the postman wouldn't take it probably because he coudln't see the envelope. I ended up using my sister's mailbox, and I let her know what I was doing. Personally, I think if Obama wins, America's made a huge mistake. We'll regret it by the end of his term. And that comment has nothing to do with race. If McCain wins, it's not going to be much better. I don't understand why my friends who are fearful of Obama taking the Oval Office think that McCain is the answer. The man's got loose morals! I don't agree with either of them--their morals, their principles. I could not endorse either one of them. I just couldn't! I'm trying to think of the Clinton years. I experienced very similar distress when he won, and that was before I was old enough to vote. Morals did crumble at the end of his term there, and it got a little scary for the Church for a little bit since Ken Star is a member of the Church. But you know, the world didn't end. In fact, most of the 90's were ok, pretty good maybe. I'm hoping it'll be like that, disappointing still, but we can still get by. All the same, though, I feel a dread that something terrible's going to happen. Pick your poison, America. Hope it makes you happy.
OK, to lighter news. The Halloween party on Friday was fun. The costumes there were a lot better, so I didn't win the costume contest there. I was just impressed that at that party, some people actually got my costume without me having to explain it. See, I just wore normal clothes and put fake blood on my forehead. I planned to tell people, "Well, I ran into this guy on the way here. Said his name was Sylar. I don't remember much about it, but I had this really splitting headache afterwards." A couple of times, I didn't even have to go into that spiel. People were like, "So, are you dead--oh wait! You're a Sylar victim!" Anyway, that was cool. I think people there were getting tired of my Frankenstein fingers. I had plenty left over, and when I was getting food I heard somebody say, "We had these last year." Well, I got quite a few Halloween-themed recipes I can try for next year. I hope they won't be tired of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas cookies. Well, who can get tired of those? Oh, and my prize for winning the costume contest at the English department party was a $20 amazon.com gift card. I know I'm going to use it for something, but I hadn't really had time to think about what. I'm not complaining about that!
I had my first teaching experience on Friday, too. It didn't go as well as I was hoping. I was all set to get down there early, but at the last second, I couldn't find my keys. I was panicking big time, and I didn't get over my panic when I made it over there. It turned out it was under a sheet of paper. I turned my apartment upside-down and searched through trash, and it was hiding in plain sight! That was a pretty nasty Halloween prank my absent-mindedness played on me. Well, once I got settled, it went OK. I was more of a master of ceremonies for a group presentation. It went over pretty well. One student got kinda worked up over the "his/her" rule, and I tried to assuage his anxiety by explaining that most people think "they" and "their" is going to be acceptable in the near future; we just need the official ruling from MLA. I made them Frankenstein fingers, too. About half the class didn't eat them, too weirded out by them, I guess.
My sister was in a play this week. I saw her last night. She did a pretty good job. It was kinda a weird role; she played a flirty baseball fan screaming for her favorite player to call her as his wife spoke to the wife of another baseball player, played by one of my sister's friends, about the seedy underbelly of the sports world. We saw seven one-act plays, and most of them had controversial stuff in them like that, but they were still somewhat amusing. There was one play that had very crude language, but it also had a funny sequence that mimicked snowboarding, and then a badmitton game with three birdies. So it was a fun time. Tonight was her last night. I hope it was good.