Getting There and Thankful For It

I am in the last two weeks of this term and ready for it to be completed. I have one last speech to give tomorrow night, which is 99% complete. The Powerpoint is probably only 35% complete, so I have work to do tonight. I am looking forward to it, since it is about college football and (even though I have not blogged about it much this year) I do still love college football AND my Gators... even when they suck!

So, finish the speech and the Powerpoint, write one paper about a speech given by someone else (imagine, I chose Jon Stewart's end of Rally speech) and take two final exams. Hooray! I am ready.

Our Thanksgiving was fun. DSD's oldest boy decided he wasn't coming for dinner if he couldn't bring his dog... who has never met any of us OR Lola. It would have been a nightmare. He wasn't missed. A friend who normally comes brought her mother and her mother's boyfriend. SleepyEd is our nickname for him. They arrived at 2 and he had to be awakened for dinner... at 3. Then he was in the kitchen with BabyBoy demanding dessert before most of us were done with dinner. No offers to help with the cooking or the cleanup. He then proceeded to go BACK to sleep until time to go. WOW!

There was a slight discussion on taxes and how unfair it is to raise taxes on the rich, but it was held outside of my hearing, because they were afraid they weren't going to get dinner if I overheard probably.

Still in a funk, but I am blaming it on hormones and exhaustion (and the exhaustion can be partially blamed on the hormones and the fact that I am not sleeping).

So for the rest of you in a funk. Read this. It is a really beautiful story. It may not help your funk, but it may give you a nice happy tears cry.

AND, I just received an Email from the NewYorkTimes saying that the Senate passed a bill on food safety. 75-25. Huh. Bi-partisan? Must be something wrong.

Do You Just Get Tired Also?

Maybe it is the demise of Daylight Savings Time. This year I think I can blame the election and the vitriol of it, both before and after.

DSD and I just returned from his parents' home in the central portion of the state. They are wonderful people, but I just don't relax when I am around his mother. I am always terrified I will spill something.

So I have been out of town for an extended amount of time for 3 of the last 5 weekends. And I'm tired.

And a little depressed. I look around at the stupid. I read glaring examples of it. I see it at work. I see it on TV (if I watch it).  I even see it in my college classes, people who can not (or do not) use the English language correctly in the written form, an instructor who is too lazy to even think of the weekly questions on her own.

But classes are winding up. Less than a month to go. And everyone who stops in here makes me smile. Especially those who comment. Hint. Hint.

So please be patient. With me. With each other.

And I will eventually get the post up about the rest of my DC trip and the lovely little (really, she is TINY) DC blogger I met in person!

And Why Not?

I'm glad someone is getting it right. I wish we would!

STRAIGHT COUPLE SEEKS GAY RELATIONSHIP IN THE U.K.

Why didn't I think of that???

A Couple of Pictures from the Rally

The Rally

BabyBoy, my friend, Em, and I left our hotel on Saturday 30 October about 8:30 am.  We quickly made our way to the Foggy-Bottom/GWU metro stop.  There weren't a lot of people milling about on the platform.. but, WOW, that first train was packed. PACKED.  We looked at each other and moved closer to the place where the first car of the next train would be (just a note... in DC, no one seems to want to move all the way to the front, so it is the car that will be the least full) and we waited a little nervously.  A man showed up with an ENORMOUS paper mache' head of his own head with a look of fear on its face. We were a little nervous for him. But the next train was not packed and the first car was almost empty and he and his big head were safe.  As we were. We even managed to sit... which was a good thing.

A few stops later, we emerged at the Smithsonian stop, into the sun, with what appeared to be quite a few others. We meandered. We shopped. We got FREE stuff! We took pictures of signs. And of BabyBoy with QuailMan. We wandered as far up to the stage as we could.  Em wanted to shove our way into the front group, but I am not into shoving if I can help it. So we turned around a found a nice spot close to some port-a-potties and a jumbotron where we could still see the stage.  We spread our free Rally towels out to sit on (I only forgot a couple of things but a large sheet and/or blanket was the one I missed the most!) and made ourselves comfortable. This was about 10:30ish.  We had a beautiful day and a lot of space and a great spot. Em and BabyBoy decided they wanted to walk some more, so I got comfortable, and I visited with many around me. And I waited. And waited. And waited. As the crowd got closer and closer and closer.

I started texting the other 2 members of my group about 11. I wasn't worried yet, but I was concerned that they would not be able to find me by the time they returned, because the demographics had changed. Text. Text. No replies. Then I had to go potty. And I didn't want to leave our STUFF. Text. Text. No replies. Who knew the overwhelming crowd would make Verizon virtually worthless?

They did finally make it back about 11:30, with a pretty warm Diet Pepsi. And wasn't I the hit of the group surrounding us? Guess who remembered the hand sanitizer? It sure came it handy after using the Port - A - Potties!

Then! It was time!

The Rally to Restore Sanity.

The Roots. For 40 minutes. The Roots. And some guy. Wow. Wow. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Really? I got up off the ground, where I was in danger of being trampled, for this? Not my bag, baby. What if this is all there is? Ok music and sore feet?

Wait, ok, it's 12:40 and Look! It's Adam and the.. other.. guy.. from "The Mythbusters." And they want us to.. WHAT??

Ok, the Wave was fun. The rest of the stuff (cry, laugh, jump) was pretty lame.

Finally at approximately 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time, with the Capital Building in the background and a crowd of OMG! in the front, Jon Stewart took the stage. And the crowd went wild. It felt right to stand with 200,000 of  my closest friends to sing the National Anthem. And it felt right to yell for Stephen Colbert (stuck 2,000 feet under us in his bunker, because he was afraid no one would show up) to come out and join us.

There was a lot of silliness, which was a lot of fun. BabyBoy is still not sure if his favorite part was seeing Ozzy in person.. or R2D2.

The people around us were great; we shared cough drops and napkins and someone's airplane bottle of vodka. And I'm also certain we all shared at least one contact high. What's a rally without a little pot?

Then the silliness ended and Jon Stewart gave a great speech on how Americans work together every single day to accomplish things that we probably never wanted to do in the first place. It's all over YouTube, but if you can't find it, give me a shout and I will post it here.

It was the best of times and I am so glad that I was able to be there. I wish I had managed to meet up with the other bloggers who were there, but maybe next time.

I will be starting a post soon about the blogger I DID manage to meet on Sunday and the rest of my DC trip. But school must come first.

Home Safe and Sound and Sane

Wow! What a great time! What a great city!

I'm home, FINALLY losing that cough, and, of course, behind in school and work.

But I have some great pictures and some great stories and I am hoping to get them up soon. I will probably just write a bunch of short posts, because no one wants the entire 4 1/2 days in one 4 1/2 day post.

Soon... I hope.

Because I don't want to discuss the elections. At least not until the wound has a nice scab.