Wednesday, November 26, 2008

ITS ONE OF THE MOST WONDERFUL TIMES OF THE YEAR

Tomorrow is a special day; Monica will turn the big 3-0. It also happens to be Thanksgiving. While the main festivities for Monica will be on Saturday, her birthday couldn’t be ignored and I got her a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. No pies at my house. We will keep ourselves entertained with Wii, PS3, TV karaoke, and if Netflix behaves Kung Fu Panda on blu-ray.

When I get home I will start the final stage of Thanksgiving preparations. Cleaning the living room and getting stage one of cooking going. When Tony gets home we will start cleaning our room. We might need the extra space. Our menu for thanksgiving is an awesome one:
Main dishes:
Turkey
Ham
Turkey Tofu (NOT tofurkey)

Sides:
Butter dipped rolls
Collard Greens
Macaroni and Cheese
Stuffing (turkey and vegetarian)
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes (regular and roasted garlic blue cheese)
Cranberry Sauce (homemade no cans here)
Asparagus soup
Brussel Sprouts
Vegetarian gravy

Dessert:
Gravy Cake
Aforementioned ice cream cake

Tonight I will help Monica’s turkey thaw, marinate the tofu and assemble the turkey tofu casserole, and make the cranberry sauce. The rest should be okay for tomorrow. I think we have 12 people confirmed and we may get up to 7 more stoppers by. It should be a good time. I hope everyone has as much fun as we will. I hope there is enough wine. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

THE MORNING AFTER

Here it is, Wednesday morning, I still don't entirely believe what happened last night but I'm so glad it did.

After work I headed home, tried to eat and completely failed. I then headed over to a friend’s house to watch the returns. By the time she put snacks out things were starting to look fairly secure so I was able to get something to eat. I talked to my cousin who I haven’t spoken to in quite a while. He was pretty amazed that I wasn’t down at Grant Park. I was a little amazed myself but I had plenty of reasons why I wasn’t there.

At my friend's apartment, we sat and talked and watched and before we even knew what was happening the election was called. I knew it I left then I could make it home in time to see the speech with Tony, who was getting off work at 10:30. As I walked got to the bus stop a young brother (probably too young to vote) was standing there holding the front page of the Red Eye paper that said Election Day and grinning as big as he possibly could. He turned to me and asked how my night was going. I replied that it was absolutely amazing and I was in disbelief. He smiled at me with this serene, otherworldly look and said, "It couldn't be more beautiful. What a great night". There was hope in his face and I knew it was no dream. This was our new reality.

Like Obama said, he has a hard road to walk. He is inheriting one of the biggest clusterfucks in recent American history. He pulled no punches. He admitted it was a long and hard road. He wasn’t claiming that he could change the world in the blink of an eye. That would be a lie. He said that the American people can’t let go of the passion that got him elected in the coming years. That we have to stay vigilant and continue to fight for what we believe in. He couldn’t be more right. It’s going to be touch, but we are all in it together.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

ELECTION DAY

It's election day. I got up an hour early to vote and beat the crowds. My polling place was so empty I almost thought they moved it and didn't let anyone know. Needless to say I arrived at work an hour early, so I get to go home an hour early. That's nice. I have contemplated going to the big Downtown Chicago secondary rally. Tickets to the main one in Grant Park were gone within 5 minutes and I just missed it. A friend is having a party but I'm not sure I want to be there. I think I either want to be at the huge thing or home mostly or completely alone. I predict many tears and I would rather cry in a huge crowd or at home.

My stomach is in knots and will be for the rest of the day. Luckily I have a relatively busy day at the office so I am hoping that I won't be thinking of the election too much. I am hoping wrong. I know that I should be more confident than I am in the outcome but I'm just not. The first presidential election I voted in was 2000 and I was pretty confident of the outcome then. Look how that one turned out.

Hope everyone is out there voting!