(no subject)

Today at work, my manager Kevin (why the hell do I always work for Kevins?) gave me an actual project to do, as opposed to just having me stand at the register, staring vacantly into space between customers and reminding myself of Shaun of the Dead. (Specifically, of Dianne describing the zombies' faces: "Vacant, with a hint of sadness. Like a drunk who's lost a bet.") So, this meant I was working alone and had plenty of time to think, and here's what I thought about:

* My favourite thing about this election: most of the rest of the world is staring at us right now, going, "Holy shit, they're even stupider than we thought!"

* My least favourite thing about this election: I am staring at us right now, going, "Holy shit, we're even stupider than I thought!" I mean, damn, I knew this country thrived on stupidity, but it's not the kind of thing you like to see proven, you know?

* Well, sure, but also there are forty-eight percent of us who are as smart as I'd hoped. And now we're pissed, and if Dubya thinks that he can win us over with a facile remark about support then he is sadly mistaken. Go ahead and fuck up, Mr President. Feel free. Because we can't wait.

So this was on a loop in my head for a good part of the day.

Then I went downtown, where among other things I finally, finally purchased the last volume of Transmetropolitan, which I'd been putting off all summer because once I finish it, it's over. Transmet, incidentally, centers its primary plot around a journalist who takes on the nasty SOB deeply fucked up corrupt US President, so I've been relating rather closely to the story over the past couple of years. (This series, by the way, is one dark messy futuristic bleak hilarious heartbreaking piece of storytelling, so don't think for one second that it's as cliche as that little sentence makes it sound.) I know at least one person who reads this also reads Transmet and has not gotten all the way through, so I shan't say any more than this: I couldn't have asked for a more satisfying, more Transmet ending.

Then I came home, and I read this, and I caught up on the posts at johnxjohn. Then I had a startling epiphany.

I don't entirely loathe my country.

Actually, I kind of love it. Just a little bit, mind you, the way you "love" your younger (or older, whatever) sibling when you're seven and s/he's the bane of your existence, but I do.

I guess I should have realized that on Tuesday, when I filled in that little oval next to Kerry's name. Or before then, when I was worrying about if I'd be able to get out to vote at all. Because if I didn't love this stupid, stupid country even that one little bit, I wouldn't have cared enough to vote, and I wouldn't have cared enough to vote for Kerry.

(It's like Holly said on Red Dwarf: "I may be slow, but I get there in the end.")

Not that I'm gonna go all patriotic and start wearing shit with the flag on it and standing when the anthem plays on TV and all that crap.

But I'm also not gonna run screaming for the border. I think I might stick around and see what us forty-eight percent can do.

(no subject)

Things - Okay, One Thing - I Have Learned In The Past Two Days:

* Nobody knows how to spell "concede." Yes, it does have two E's. However, the D goes smack in the middle of 'em. Okay?

In other news, I finally bought a paid account. Keep an eye out for the next couple of days as I flaunt my new icons because I can.