election day… was actually a pretty good day for me. it had definitely been the right decision to take monday off, to get some distance from the mindless unpleasantness of sunday. apart from having a much more enjoyable and productive time volunteering in the city (calling newly-registered, never-before-harrassed voters and munching on marathon grill goodies), i got to see these guys perform at the questionably-purposeful young voter alliance gotv concert at silk city, and sup lovely with louisa and marty. when it came out that our host wasn't planning to vote, i grit my teeth and laid into him for a good half-hour over pear-apple-cheddar cobbler and loadedfaster - hopefully it worked. and i enjoyed wandering around the city at night, taking a bunch of digipix to document philly on election eve.

that gave me a really good feeling, walking home and seeing kerry signs literally everywhere i turned. (even if i picked up a corner K that had been ripped off. i also picked up a card, face down, which turned out to be ♦A, with a staple in it. interpretations anyone?) the morning too was appropriately cheery and exuberant. voting was early and easy, although i had to put up with a raving woman in front of me in line who at first seemed typically liberal and hater-hating but then started in about islamic people and we shouldn't let them build their mosques in our country but only let in people that have something to contribute, like germany and the christian scientists(?!) i voted for kerry! and joe and some others, but i had to go green on at least a couple, y'know. and yes to the question! but they didn't have any "i voted" stickers! in fact, i didn't come across a single polling place all day that did have them, which i think is an outrage (seriously) - so i had to make my own.

and then i got to do all kinds of wonderful things to help us win the election. like rescuing a hermit crab with a camo-painted shell that was inexplicably in the parking lot (tara found it a home with a promising boy, but later on it pinched him so he rejected it, and then it disappeared, so actually we did a pretty bad job rescuing it), and taking a sunny nap on a lovely knoll while ruben and i spelled out "J" "K" with our bodies in an attempt to sway passing undecided aviators, and workin' "vis" with about five other kerry kids, totally dominating this intersection and way overpowering this one lady with a homemade bush sign, and getting an aftermath tour of this guy's awesome homemade haunted house, and also doing childcare (yay!) for about two seconds before hannah and jake decided they'd rather not have mommy go across the street to get a sandwich.

okay, i also did several rounds of canvassing, each more successful and exciting than the last, and also more organized since as the day went on i started asserting control over the logistics and gameplan rather than leave it to the usually undertrained and confused "crew leaders." talked to manymany folks that voted and only a tiny fraction who were too sick or stupid or in florida. honestly, it was a rather silly way to spend the day, compared to what i could have been doing (actually authorized volunteer coordination, for instance, or training sigourney weaver to canvass, as some of my officemates did in another county.) we did bring some water and snackies to folks that were still waiting in voting lines well past eight (a nonpartisan exercise, of course.) but at that point our work was mostly done anyway…

so. the after-party-or-was-it went down at the green room, i guess the best bar they could find that was willing to turn their tvs to various newschannels, and even let us hang out until three. we were i think the only ones there, which helped make it enjoyably social for a bar party. i drank some - a glass of beer, two shots (one was a lemon drop, and i ate the deliciously sugarsoaked peel of my lemon slice and a couple others') and, at ruben's surprise suggestion, a long island ice tea which i nursed for the latter half of the evening - but relatively little, and thankfully having eaten earlier (awesome donated guac and tacos in coatesville) it wasn't all that unduly affected. not much else to say, really - obviously a lot of folks were pretty upset, either in anger or in tears, though some refused to relinquish their optimism, and of course the alcohol made all of that more so. (but in a good way?)

i slept at tara's, nearby, hoped the best i could. the tv in the morning wasn't telling us what we wanted to hear, so we mostly kept it off in favor of basement and aim and smile, although there was a moment, with "good vibrations" in one ear and teleblather in the other (dunno which is worse, the announcers blithely treating all this a little too like a sporting event, or call-in-ers giving their inane, cringe-inducing reasons for supporting bush), that approached "silent night/7 o'clock news" levels of eeriness. i read a few passages from hi-fi aloud, and eventually we figured it wasn't too early to attempt a reconnoiter with the other troops before disbandment set in for certain.

they were at silk city, but t rebelled so we went to vietnam instead, then found ourselves in a lovely little park at vine and franklin, laying in ivy and admiring our loves the leaves while waiting for a pickup. i was so so glad the weather was there to contraindicate our outlook. the plan that emerged - josh's place in manayunk to settle for bad santa ondemand - might have been okay if the movie weren't so worthless, but mostly it just tired me out for huckabees, which i also found a bit underwhelming, deathly unfocused despite sparkling contents. (or maybe i was just too tired.) it was nice to see alyssa and martha.

days since then have been less and less distinct, though certainly not to their discredit. all the things i cling to are bringing smiles and smiles. i finally cashed in a pair of b&n graduation-gift-certificates, to hook up with the most recent slew you'll note to the left. so far all the ones i've listened to have been sooper: of course jb is hot, and the burke is better than i could have dreamed (although i vastly disprefer his version of the elvis tune - his vocal sounds off-key and uninterested), but most of all i've been listening to the junior boys, which may or may not be as amazing as they say, but at least is thoroughly enjoyable in every context i've tried yet.

meanwhile the rains came, and how, and perfectly cued too. enjoyed them from behind glass for a while, then i braved them, bid bye to the jen and liz for now (and got paid!), and kept a vague appointment. we planned to meet in the borders' astrology section, didn't, but put in applications there anyway. (they were playing joanna newsom so that's a good sign.) then came home and ate what, a fritatta. tara researched jobs online, i picked up my room and then we had a dancefloor (and cyclotron) to go with her silly like-minded idea, dance all night to chems, stevie, aaliyah, kylie. and panic.

next was the so-e-listed "activist academy," which turned out to be a community organizers meeting/training session for acorn. we stayed for a long discussion of power and structures and accountability (you'll be glad to know i refrained from mentioning foucault) but skipped out at the hour-late lunch break - likelihood that i'll be down to train in trenton for three months and then be shipped out to start a new office in some city somewhere is on the miniscule side. still, it was neat to be there and learn about their deal and hear folks say this is the time to get active. hers again. sleepless nap (concept?) dinner was hamburger on ezekiel bread (type O = no wheat) and broccoli-artichoke-pesto-t.o.s. mishmash.

friend drove her to new york city, i got off in old not york city, checked out some of the first friday galleries, walked north to play poker with the dj and his cronies (katie, alonso, aaron, j.b., more.) i call myself not a poker player, but it was a nice time, and i ended up with +$2.60 and an awesome new david byrne track (among many others) on this cd. then it was today, and i did some stuff and saw liza for a little while and made and ate a very tasty meal with meredith from work, and now it's now.

so, basically, we're up to date. i think i take back what i said about making assumptions. apparently even that was an assumption, and it turns out even declarative statements can't be depended on for constancy, so go ahead and let assumptions fly in their faces. anyway, i've told the more to the story twice now, to louisa the other day and to mere tonight over our spinach-leek soup, acorn squash, banana-carrot-ginger bread, and merlot. so i'm less compelled to write. x my fingers this wanakena trip doesn't fall through. (i think it won't.) ok, it's bedtime.

you keep me lit like antediluvian troy
but one always reveres what one's bound to destroy