the ocean

It's Thanksgiving weekend! And I am spending a surprising amount of it sleeping. Seriously, I've averaged about nine hours a night since the holiday began, and I've been having bizarre dreams involving international travel and high school music teachers. My personal theory is that I'm catching up from the few relatively sleepless weeks that preceded this one, but it's also possible that I'm just lazy. The sizable stack of Hallmark movies I've watched over the past few days certainly supports that hypothesis.

I did not go out yesterday morning to try to punch people for flat screen TVs, but we did put up the Christmas tree and put the dog in her Christmas dress. We also have been eating leftovers for the better part of the week, and if you've ever wondered how pigs in blankets fare after several days in the fridge, I can tell you they are not an encouraging sight. Pie seems to live forever, though. I'm actually to the point where I'm rooting for everything to spoil so I have an excuse to throw it away.

I am absolutely dying for this election to be over. I haven't been able to watch anything but Hallmark Channel for a week for fear of seeing a nasty political ad, and I'm starting to spout nonsense about pollster rankings and early voting totals without provocation. I actually have opinions about Nate Silver, an individual I should not even be aware of in the natural order of things. How I long to return to the days when I was more worried about the next shocking Top Model elimination than the long term future of our nation. On the other hand, at least I get a vote in this one, while Tyra ran a dictatorship through and through.

My vote was actually cast weeks ago. My office works for sixteen hours on election day, so I got to early vote at the swanky polling station they set up in the abandoned Walgreen's on Washington. So nice to weigh in on the fate of the world in the exact spot where I used to pick out decongestants. The whole thing went absolutely smoothly, though; no waiting and I personally observed that the machine did not change my vote over to Bob Dole or Jenna Jameson.

The actual election day will be a killer. A full day (and then some) driving from precinct to precinct looking for problems. And this year I worry that some of the problems may actually be armed. But this, I guess, is the price of democracy. You have to engage with people who don't agree with you, some of whom may not ever even have heard of the Real Housewives of New York.