Playing Catchup on Election Day

Lots to say, and so little energy/time/brainspace. I got sick on Saturday and still haven't managed to shake it, so I'm moving way slower than usual.

Speaking of Saturday, let me back up a bit. Saturday morning we went to Eli's school for a cute (if somewhat disorganized) carnival. The kids wore their costumes, and got to eat sweets and play games and run around with their buddies. There was a "cake walk", bobbing for apples, arts & crafts, gourd tossing, donuts on strings, and even a haunted house. Josh's parents and my dad came with us for lots of grandparental kvelling (and picture taking). After the carnival, Josh, his parents, and Eli went to the movies to see Shark Tale (which the overly stimulated Eli apparently fell asleep during, so that's your movie review I guess), and I went to Petaluma to hang with the writer's group gals. I didn't really get any writing done (too much catch up chatting), but did get a chance to at least air some of the plot issues I've been twisted up in. It was at this point that I realized I had a fever and was probably going to be pretty sick soon.

Nonetheless (because I was determined to have my grownup fun, dammit), we met up with Dri and Jim around 5ish and got all dressed up in our various kinds of zombie costumes (Josh was a zombie sorcerer, I was a zombie Fertility Fairy, Jim was a zombie priest, and Dri was a zombie J.A.P.--well, technically she was a golem). Then we left Eli with Nana and Baba and drove out to Rancho Nicasio for dinner and the Lee Press-On and the Nails show (their last one ever). It was a great place, a good dinner, and a really fun show, although as the evening progressed even the Sudafed and Tylenol couldn't prevent me from sloooooowly fading into o-bleah-vion. We left around midnight (though the show was still going).

Sunday, we took Eli to a friend's house for a lunchtime playdate (this was the first time we'd met the parents for more than a few minutes of chatting during drop off), which worked out really well, and Eli had a great time. Then we had a purposely low key afternoon during which Josh napped, Eli watched a movie, and I actually started (and nearly finished) the painting I'd promised to do for my friend Chris' book of short stories--my first painting in over a year. (Nothing like a deadline to get you motivated.) Even though I was tired and still sick, it was great to do some painting again. It came back pretty easily, I must say. I'm hoping to do some more soon (yeah yeah, in all my copious spare time. Bite me.) Although in doing that painting, it was clear that I'll definitely need to do some physical rearrangements and possibly even find new equipment (e.g. a side table w/ drawers for holding supplies, a better easel) before I do this again too many more times.

Sunday night, of course, we went trick-or-treating! First we did a few houses in our own neighborhood, just for warm up (it was pretty tame, I must admit), and then we went over to the Coxes, whose neighborhood always goes all out for Halloween. By the time we got there, Maddie and Carson had already been out and were done with all their trick or treating, but Michelle gamely came out with Josh and Eli and me and we got our fill of the cool decorations and of course, lots more candy. Eli had a great time, and wasn't scared at all this year. He was absolutely adorable. Pictures tomorrow, really, I promise.

Yesterday (Monday) I woke up still feeling crappy, and decided that it would probably be smart to stay home from work for once, and nap and take it easy on the theory that I might actually get over the cold faster. I almost never take sick days for myself unless I'm deathly ill, which is kind of stupid, I know. But with pregnancy as an excuse this time, I decided to go for it. So after dropping the kid off at school, I came back home, puttered for a bit, and then took a solid deepsleep 2 hour nap. (I was awakened by kids screaming in the backyard during their lunchtime recess--ugh.) Then I puttered a bit more, read a magazine, processed some digipix, and finished my painting. By the time I'd taken the digipix of the painting and fooled around with cropping and contrast and all that, Josh was home with the kid and I was back on duty while he went out to yoga.

Unfortunately Eli had been tuckered out and fallen asleep in the car on the way home, so I had to wake him up for dinner, which triggered a nasty tantrum. But he eventually woke up all the way and recovered nicely in time for mac 'n cheese, and we even had fun trying all kinds of halloween candy together for dessert. (Watching him eat Laffy Taffy was a crack up--I told him it was called that because it makes you laugh when you eat it, so every once in awhile Eli would bust out with a totally fake "I'm-taking-over-the-world" evil cackle. It was hilarious.) Then it was bath and bed for Eli, and once he was down I spent my evening studying my ballot and all the editorials, mailers, and websites I'd gathered. I wanted to blog last night but somehow by the time I finished with my ballot it was bedtime and I knew I'd better get the sleep. And I slept really really poorly last night too, so I'm glad I did. (I had horrible nightmares, actually. Josh's response to that this morning was "oh, did you dream Bush won?" Har har.)

Today I woke up really bleary and stuffy but decided to go to work anyway, since I'm that kind of stupid. We did the morning crazies and then Josh went to vote, then he came back and took Eli off to Dawn's house and I went to vote on my way in to work. I have to say--I have *never* seen my sleepy little community center polling place so busy. When I got there at 8:45am there was a steady stream of people going in and out, and once I got inside (there was really no line to speak of) I was already #94 (usually I'm something like 20 or 30). There were backups of people waiting for a booth to vote in, amazingly. I've never seen that happen. I chatted a bit with the pollworker, and she too said that she'd never seen it so busy. We were both heartened at the great turnout and hoped it would happen again in other elections--maybe people would actually get in the habit of voting every time. Anyway, once I got to the booth the process was simple and as I left everyone seemed very cheerful. I got my "I Voted" sticker and everything.

I have to say, if there's one thing I hope comes out of this crazy, anxiety-provoking, too-close-to-call election, it's that we all as citizens have a renewed appreciation for the fact that we live in a country where we can (and must) vote--it is both our duty and our priviledge to make our opinions known. (And I think that means that it is our duty and our priviledge to form informed opnions, not just rely on TV commercials and pundits to tell us what to think.) I hope that the youth vote, as well as other traditionally disenfranchised or at least apathetic groups *do* turn out in unprededented numbers for this election, and remember that feeling of power enough to keep doing it in future elections. I hope that we as a country use these last two elections (2000 and now) to really jumpstart some thoughtful reform on how democracy can and should work, as far as the electoral process goes. (I mean come on, if we as humans and Americans are capable of creating and maintaining something as technically complicated as the Internet and space travel, surely we can come up with safe, effective, easy, unbiased ways to count votes, can't we?)

All that being said, I'm still shocked at how close this election is. Yes, I know that the closeness of the race might possibly be being played up by the media, looking for a dramatic story, but even still--with all the clear indicators about how poorly our current president is doing (both domestically and internationally), why isn't Kerry easily beating the proverbial pants off him? I am really concerned for how deeply divided this country is--and I can't help but think that it will only get worse. Coasts vs. heartlands? Class warfare? The manufacture of consent? What is it? I don't even pretend to be educated enough on the subject to offer a really good opinion. I still cling to my old golden rule type personal mottos ("Can't we all get along?" and "Be excellent to each other." spring to mind), and just find myself shaking my head in wonderment at how bitter and divisive and well, just plain hateful people seem to want to be much of the time. Maybe it's not that I *don't* understand it--maybe it's just that the optimist, Pollyanna/Anne Frank part of me just doesn't want to believe it.

Anyway...rant over. (/rant, for you geeks out there) Tonight we're going to go hang out with good friends and watch the election returns on TV and generally hope for the best. It can't hurt to hope for just a little while longer.