YES!
Okay, I'm finished.
But seriously. What an awesome day. I spent about four hours fervently watching the AOLnews and MSNBC websites (a life, what's that?). Mostly waiting and growing increasingly hopeful as Obama gobbled up electoral votes and McCain stagnated.
At some point, I think about ten minutes before the west coast closed their polling centers, my buddy Amos said to me, "Some website says they're going to call in it ten minutes. Obama won."
I thought, "Bullshit. The west coast hasn't even finished polling yet! How could they call something so soon after what happened in 2000?" I was getting anxious because I had to go to work soon, and I wanted to see how Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida were going to end up, since they were so incredibly close (by the way, how awesome is it that Obama got Florida and Virginia?).
But, low and behold, ten minutes later, CNN declared it: Obama wins. MSNBC followed up a few minutes later with, "Obama Wins! First African American President!" accompanied by a really cheesy photograph of a black family with American flags.
I had to go to work right after that, but I remained cautiously optimistic. It's not like the networks hadn't dropped the ball before--uh, didn't Gore win that election in 2000? Wait, what? After I was at work two hours, though, Alexa texted me with the final news "O won. m concedes!"
Even the Kiwis were super excited. I was texting Alexa during my website monitoring, and she informed all her coworkers of how Obama was doing. And tonight they even threw a festival in his honor to celebrate! There was a band, a carnival, and some sweet fireworks down at the waterfront. Check it out:
Pretty sweet, eh?
Reading about different states' ballot initiatives was interesting too. I haven't had a chance to see the final results, but it looked like Massachusettes legalized pot (sort of), Maryland legalized video slots (right???), and a handful of states managed to continue keeping the gays from getting married. Congratulations, guys. It warms my heart to see that even in the face of war, our troubled environment, and economic disaster, there are still people bigoted enough to care about whether two dudes get married. Also, nice job putting a stop to stem cell research. Grow new organs, cure cancer, who wants any of that shit? Phew!
Anyway, to those of you who supported Obama: High five! To those of you who didn't, I'm sorry. If you were just mildly opposed to Obama and, really, were just voting along with your party for the sake of it, don't worry. Just be open-minded, sit back, and wait. Things will get better soon, and you will be bewildered when you realize just how appalling the past eight years have been.
On the other hand, if you were truly, passionately opposed to Obama... well, that's too bad for you, I guess. But I know how tough it is. When Kerry conceded to Bush I was inconsolably pissed off. I couldn't believe that Bush had, somehow, made it into the White House again. It's not a good feeling, thinking that your country is heading in a direction opposite your values. But just try to keep an open mind, and support Obama as your new president. The country needs unity, not more division, yeah?
Some brief other news (I'll post a proper update soon): as of yesterday it's been two months since we arrived in New Zealand. Crazy! No regrets yet, except that I brought Alexa with me (ha ha)!
Also, uh... I worked a couple FIFA World Cup games. The Women's Under-17 division. Why didn't I see you on the field, Zach?
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