Fearful Outcome

Well, the election has come and gone with little change to the government. Republicans now hold not only the presidency, but also the majority in Congress. I, for one, am a little frightened by this. I do not have any faith in Bush as president, and I can't bear to think of the freedoms that an executive and legislative together can take away from the citizens in the name of "security" or "morality". We're likely to lose at least one member of the Supreme Court (Rehnquist) and I'm nervous about who will be put on the Court to replace him. It looks like we may soon have every branch of the government in the hands of the Republicans. This is not to say that ALL Republicans are bad, but since I disagree with much of the Republican platform, I think the nation is in trouble. I'm beginning to lose hope and considering going to seminary in another country. That way by the time I get back we'll be ready to have a new president, and this time it CAN'T be Bush again. Maybe we'll actually get someone into office who isn't misogynistic, homophobic, anti-environment, or lacking in essential communication and critical thinking skills. We can hope... (This is where my FBI file will start. Next thing they'll be using the USA Patriot act to look up my library records...)

In other news, I've survived another week of classes. There are only 4 more weeks of classes, which means 20 more Greek classes. I'm looking forward to being done. I'm ready for this semester to be over, so I can relax a bit. For that matter, I'm also desperately looking forward to Thanksgiving break, which is only 2 weeks away. This weekend should be relaxing if I can just get past all of the papers. I have an awesome Wesley movie night, then tomorrow I'm having dinner with the wombat. Nothing big or exciting, but no pressure either. I like the lack of pressure.

There are all sorts of prospective students crawling the campus today, following tour guides, visiting the dorms. They make me sort of dread the grad school admissions process. I really hate wandering around campuses being schmoozed by admissions people and trying to figure out if I like the school while being looked at like an alien by the current students. I hate trying to figure out whether the school runs liberal or conservative, whether it is a hotbed of misogyny or feminism, whether I could fit in socially (as one of the youngest students EVERYWHERE). I don't want to be that outsider awkwardly trying to get a sense of the campus through the admissions office and the tour. It's a lot of pressure, but it's also pretty cool to have that kind of open-ended freedom. I can go anywhere I want to any school I want, provided I can get in. It's a cool feeling to have an open plain ahead of you, waiting to be explored.

But for now, I'm not going to explore or do anything else, I'm going to go eat pizza. Happy Friday everyone!

Bizarro World

I would say the stuff about not writing and being really busy and apologizing but, face facts, it's getting really redundant, so I'll just skip it. Consider yourself apologized-to.

I just had the best weekend I've had all semester. I got to run off to Fright Fest (Six Flags) with the Wombat and meet Rachel there and see her for the first time since the summer. It was a blast just talking and hanging out with them all day. Also, I got to go to the Cheesecake Factory for the first time and it was amazing. The whole weekend was like a mini-vacation until I came back on Sunday, which was exactly what I needed. Everything was great until I had to come back and study for a Greek test. With the way the Greek test went, I'm going to start taking tightrope-walking lessons to prepare for my future career.

If I hadn't given up dating, I'd be slightly peeved with some people right now. Do you know those girls who just HAVE to have guys drooling over them and following them around constantly? I know way too many of them and they make me physically ill. I mean, why do they need to have every guy they meet fall head over heals for them? Why can't they just be happy with breaking one heart at a time, instead of having a small collection of men at their fingertips "just in case"? Nearly every one of the guys in my life that I've been interested in has bee interested in some other girl, always one of these heartbreakers. Then these girls have the nerve to complain about their situation. I am incredibly glad that I gave up guys for the time being. I simply don't have the time or energy required to compete with those girls, and I wouldn't win anyway.

As for the rest of life, I'm seriously excited about Thanksgiving break. The week before Thanksgiving is crazy, with three big papers, two quizzes, and a test, but that will make Thanksgiving break even sweeter. I can't wait to go home, see my family, catch up with my buddies, and finally get to relax.

Tomorrow is the big day: THE ELECTION. While my vote has already been cast (behold the wonders of the absentee ballot), I have a few things to say. First: Bush lied to us. He lied to the American people, and I cannot support a leader who doesn't tell truth to the people he represents. Second: I have not been impressed with Bush's actions. His tax cuts made no sense, his education plan stinks, and his foreign policy has made the vast majority of the world hate us. Why would we want four more years of that? Third: Bush passed the USA PATRIOT Act. This is a piece of legislation reminiscent of the years of McCarthyism and the Sedition Acts, making it possible for the government to check citizens' library records and to hold prisoners, without charge or proof, indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay. I cannot vote for any president who would uphold our freedoms like that. It is unconstitutional and dangerous to the freedoms upon which this nation was founded. I have excellent reasons beyond these for voting for Kerry, but I won't preach them here. But regardless of your opinions, get out and vote tomorrow. If you don't use your power to vote, you may as well be a monkey locked up in a zoo. (Which is actually what may happen to you if Bush gets re-elected...) I plan to sit by my TV tomorrow night and monitor this first presidential election I have been able to vote in. You have no idea how excited I am to see democracy at work. This will certainly be an exciting election.

On that note, I'm going to go try to do homework, since I obviously won't be doing any tomorrow... so get out there and VOTE!