is it just me?

I braved the cold and went to see the person that I hope is the next president. I arrived at 6pm, got in a line, and did not enter the doors until 7:15. That's a long time to stand around in the cold by yourself. Fortunately for me, I love eavesdropping. A lot. If eavesdropping were a sport, I would be an olympian. If it were a career path, I would be CEO. Sadly, it is just a hobby, and not a particularly impressive one, though I practice extensively. So imagine my dismay when I realized that the group of people behind me, a full 50% of my eavesdropping opportunity, was speaking japanese. Which I do not speak. Japanese! What are the odds. Anyway, I was in this line which appeared to be necessary but in the end was a colossal waste of time because there was not a single person trying to manage the entrance in any way, shape or form so it was all very chaotic and the line got eaten by the mob. It should be said that I picked up a sandwich on the way, and while I was waiting for my hands to be warm enough to eat it, I put it (wrapped of course) in my coat pocket. In my other coat pocket, since bags were not allowed, I had a book in case I was sitting around for a long time with nothing to do. And as I crossed the street with a sandwich in one pocket and a book in the other, I decided that I had also crossed some line into...what? I don't know exactly. Something along the lines of old/dorky/weird/crazy. And I am pretty sure that I never get to cross back, but oh well. We all knew it was coming.

Anyway, after standing outside trying to get in for more than one hour, which is what happens with the human equivalent of 8000 lanes merging into, say, twenty. At the head of each of these 20 lanes is a "security" person who made us all unzip our coats and gave cursory glances inside purses. I am actually terrified of firearms so of course would not have dreamt of bringing one in, but I will say that if I had wanted to I almost certainly could have. Which is a little terrifying. (Perhaps the lady I work with who is convinced that he is going to be assassinated is getting into my head.) I finally found a seat up in the rafters, saved by the fact that I was traveling alone and a seat had been orphaned mid-row. I had a good view of the stage, which is a benefit when viewing something in a basketball arena since the entire place has been constructed with an eye towards, you know, watching stuff. Anyway these sorts of events are little more than a pep rally, but who doesn't love some pep? It's exciting sitting there with all these other cheering people, participating in democracy. I am a total sucker for that kind of stuff. I love democracy. (Interestingly, I keep mis-typing that as democrazy and while I think there's probably a good joke in there somewhere, I can't find it.) I love to vote. I don't do absentee because I love going to some school, waiting for the little old lady to find my name on the list, handing me my tiny slip of paper, getting that ridiculously giant ballot, going into the 'booth' which is little more than a table with a half assed attempt at a curtain, and using my marker to fill in the arrows. It never gets old. Really. I bring my kid with me to vote. I think it is good for her.

Back to Obama. He is a good speaker, people didn't lie about that. He is inspirational and funny. And he seems like a good person. And he is very magnetic. And maybe he has no idea what he is getting himself into, but what worries me more are the people that do know exactly what they are getting themselves into and the STILL want to do it. Perhaps he is naive and no way will he be able to do everything he says he wants to do, but for me that's okay. And truthfully, it's not like he has to do it all by himself. They don't hand you the keys to the White House and Air Force One and say "good luck!" Just ask the current president. He knows a thing or two about helpers. So, we'll see. Bill Clinton is speaking just around the corner from my office in a half hour, but I can't go (boo to that, since I would like to see him speak again). Wisconsin is going to be very popular in the next few days. And when you see a picture of Bill Clinton speaking in a weird building with a dirt floor, you cannot say that I didn't warn you that things are different here.

more later.