My birthday, and election thoughts

Yesterday was my 48th birthday. I got several nice presents: Isaac called, Jane got me Neil Young's new cd "Le Noise", some cashews and some bing cherries; and Drew Carrie got me 2 movies: "Up" and "The Jerk." I also got some cash from my parents. All good stuff.

I was also completely overwhelmed by birthday greetings on Facebook. That is the most I have ever received (by far). And I know lots of people will say Facebook isn't real, that FB friends aren't the same as real friends, and whatever else... but to be perfectly honest... it felt darn good. I really did feel the love. That probably shows how pathetic my life is, but it really was nice to hear from so many people - old friends and new friends alike. I was truly humbled.

It was at least an eventful day too. As I said in my previous post, the day started at 4:45 am when I had to get up and unlock the church doors for the election people. Our church building is a polling place, so I made coffee and set out cookies all day long for the voters and workers. It was really nice outside early in the morning too. It was pitch dark and there were a million stars, and it had frosted pretty heavily. I thought I might go back to sleep for a bit after that, but when I got home I couldn't sleep. So at 6 am I drove to the Waynedale McDonald's and got myself a birthday breakfast (sausage & egg biscuit). After that I went over to the office and kept the coffee pots full, listened to my new cd, talked to a few people, and watched Greg and Meredith insulate the well pit for awhile - as well as the usual office stuff (reading, typing, printing, copying, thinking, calling, listening, etc.).

Jane had the day off work so we went out for a birthday lunch. I chose the JP food court and went to Panda Express. I got the Panda Bowl with steamed rice and black pepper chicken (my usual). I worked the rest of the afternoon and left the office around 4:45, went home and did an hour on the treadmill, took a shower, and we went out for my birthday supper. I think that might be the first time I've ever eaten all 3 meals out in a day (other than when traveling). I used the money my parents gave me and we splurged and went to Biaggi's. I like their big silverware; plus that's where Bob Dylan hung out after his last show in the Fort. I was going to get the pork chops, but at the last minute I decided to go with the filet mignon. I've never had it there, and since it was my birthday and all I thought, what the heck. It was good. I wasn't overly impressed with our server though. Our drinks were empty about halfway through the meal and he didn't come back until we were done eating. Whatever.

After supper we stopped by and saw Carrie and Lady and they gave me their presents. Of course Lady eventually took up her usual spot of sitting on my lap, and she eventually dozed off. Then we headed for home and were looking forward to watching Parenthood, but there was stupid election coverage (like anybody didn't already know what was going to happen), so we watched Sons of Anarchy again. We used to watch it every week, but since the squabble between Dish and Fox we kind of lost interest. Damn Fox anyway.

Speaking of the election... I thought about live blogging a few times, but, you know, I had other things to do. Some things I noticed though...

• There were 5 election workers at our place, and the 3 Republican workers were all gray-haired old women; the 2 Democrats were both my age or younger - one man and one woman. Also, the 3 older ladies all lived in the country, and the 2 Democrats were from the city. That pretty much summed things up, I thought.
• The turnout seemed pretty good for an in-between election, and voters were overwhelmingly OLDER than during the election 2 years ago. There were very few younger people at all. I was not really surprised. And I'll be honest, I did not really care for the smugness of some of the older folk. You know, contrary to what most people might suspect, it actually seems to me that the seniors we have today are some of the most insensitive and self-centered people there are. In fact, and I know some of you will not like this, but it seems to me the new breed of Republicans (and Tea Partiers) pretty much have a "we care about ourselves and no one else" attitude towards everything and everyone. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my personal take.
• At any rate, I was a little bummed out last night. I knew the Dem's would probably lose ground; and I'm not really a Democrat anyway. I think it was more about feeding the Republican superiority complex that bothered me more than anything. I mean, as long as I'm being honest here (and that's all I'm being; I'm not trying to be mean or judgmental - just openly sharing my opinion - which I know could be wrong), I don't understand how the American public can think that the very people who got our country into this recession (Republican President and Congress) are in any way, shape, or form going to somehow get us out of it??? I mean, how stupid are we? Well, yeah, never mind; we're pretty stupid. As my friend, JB, posted on FB, "(her name), private citizen, is listening to the election results with an unusual sense of uneasiness - for the poor, for the handicapped, for the elderly and ill, for the strangers in our land. I, too, claim Christian values - mostly that 'whatsoever you do to the least of these...'" That pretty much summed up my feelings.
• So, today I will try to go back to ignoring politics. I have lost all hope in our political system, and feel embarrassed that I ever started to have any. Things will never change (for the better anyway). The old people with money will always get their way. I don't care.

In the end, it was an okay birthday. It started out well, but I kind of ran out of gas later on. I suppose it's better to be depressed about politics than about getting older (even though I'm not really depressed about politics). I didn't really even think about my age yesterday - which is good. Today is a new day. Yep. Same as it ever was...

Peace out, my friends; and in.