WE DID IT! OBAMA 08!!!!!!!

I went to my voice class this morning with a terribly sad, downtrodden mindset. My voice teacher, who is totally amazing and positive, gave me the best pep-talk and really just made me feel better about who I am and what I’m doing. It has just been easier to get all sidetracked by the ferocity of it all than to fight off the negative thoughts and smile my way through it. So even though I can’t take both days off from work, I’m taking time away from school (that won’t leave me behind).

I plan on doing the homework that is due Thursday at my leisure, cleaning up my apartment, doing some class reading (to stay ahead), and maybe even cook some food to bring with me to work/school for the rest of the week.

So looking forward to it. Oh man. Tuesday morning awaits.

Classes are going well, despite one bad first impression they’re all really great. RIC Amnesty International (hereby known as RICAI) kicked off the year with a totally successful Student Activities Day demonstration to obtain signatures to help save Troy Davis.

Troy Davis has been on Georgia Death Row for the last sixteen years for the murder of Office Mark MacPhail in Savannah. There is no physical evidence against Troy and the murder weapon was never found. The only case against Troy is witness testimony which has proved to be unreliable, as several of the witnesses came forth and gave signed affidavits stating they were coerced by police offices to accuse Troy.

Troy’s scheduled execution date is September 23, 2008. Five days from today.

Yesterday, RICAI rocked it and got 225 signatures in about an hour and a half. I am overnighting them via UPS to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles tonight. We don’t have much time, but that isn’t a reason to stop trying.

Other than that life is good. So busy I don’t even know what to do with myself. Anyway, it’s almost class time. Should go, see ya.

John McCain announces Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate and people are really “thrilled” by this?

Did anyone hear the speech she just gave? She’s a complete joke! She stands there next to a man who votes with the “Good Ole’ Boys” of Washington ninety percent of the time and says she’s there to challenge those ideals? She’s walking right into them and if she thinks that she’ll have a say in any of the policy making (should the world end and America elect McCain) she’s out of her damn mind.

All during the campaigning everyone has been complaining about Obama’s lack of experience. When he chose Joe Biden as a running mate, a man who has plenty of credibility in the foreign policy area, they said that a VP couldn’t band-aid Obama’s shortcomings. The GOP has been drumming it into everyone’s minds that experience is the only way to go and McCain is the clear choice there… and then McCain picks Palin. Though doctors claim the guy is in perfect health, should something happen to McCain… THIS IS THE WOMAN WHO WOULD BE IN CHARGE?

How is this not completely hypocritical?

I can’t wait to see Palin debate Biden on foreign policy. I can’t wait to hear and read all over the news that women, once supporters of Hillary Clinton, are flocking to the GOP as they said they would because they have a female candidate on the ticket. I can’t wait to shake my head until it falls off at how people will say that Palin can juice up the race and how McCain/Palin exemplifies change for Washington.

McCain = Bush #3
Palin = Anti-abortion, gun-friendly, oil-loving newbie.

McCain + Palin = a Bush-impersonating ventriloquist and his puppet “Perky”.

This can’t be happening.

I’m home but only for a day. I’ll be getting into a car Saturday morning and traveling the same roads I just traversed in my second trip to New Jersey for the week.

I need to be honest… I’m tired, stressed, and irritated over a bunch of things, most of which are out of my control. I just need to lie down on my own bed and fall into a dreamless sleep. I don’t want to think about anything or anyone, I don’t want to worry about money and bills, I don’t want to make lists or plans… I just want to drift away into a cloud of white and wake up tomorrow feeling like myself again.

Seeing my brother was wonderful but incredibly surreal with a touch of bittersweet. I had to rush myself around this morning when I was getting ready to leave because I knew if I looked at him for longer than a minute I’d burst into tears and I didn’t want to cry for the entire four-hour drive home. He’s leaving soon and I don’t know when I’ll see him again… I know it’s best for him but it’s no less painful to know he’ll be so far away. He made this birthday week amazing, but a piece of me is still so incredibly sad.

I think I might lie down for that rest now… before my emotions catch up with me…

Today: Go to work, then out with a semi-large group of people to celebrate my birthday which is actually next Wednesday. One person is still on the maybe side and would have to travel four hours from NJ to get here - it’s 3:19 and I have no final answer. As I was getting ready today I was helping a friend through a personal crisis but I can’t do anything other than talk because they are extremely far away and it makes me feel like shit.

Tomorrow: Get up, get over hangover, do some things around the house, and pack. Yes, pack (see Sunday for details). Go to party at Reese’s in the evening.

Sunday-Tuesday: Get up, get over hangover, load up the car and drive to NJ. Turns out my big bro is flying in and will be here for a week. I haven’t seen him in nearly two years and in a month he will be leaving the country for an unnamed length of time so this is my one and only shot to see him. See my brother, run around NJ like a mad-woman, etc.

Tuesday afternoon: Drive back from NJ, meet with RIC’s Amnesty Int’l president and discuss the plans for the coming semester.

Tuesday evening: Finish A Long Way Gone and finish notes and write up for the OBOM book discussion. Apply for RIC bookstore credit and pick up ALL fall semester books.

Wednesday: My birthday. Finish A Long Way Gone because I’m sure I won’t have finished it Tuesday night no matter how ambitious I think I am. Clean my place, get school supplies ready, etc.

Thursday: Get a hold of vocal teacher and set up schedule for fall semester voice classes. Come up with possible event/fundraiser ideas for RIC AI. Laundry, housework, get oil changed, and other miscellany.

Friday: Pack. Yes, again.

Saturday: Leave for NJ, get to J’s house and settled… rest for long drive following day to farthest corner of NJ.

Sunday: Drive to LBI, wedding, party, hotel, sleep.

Monday: Drive ALLL the way back RI.

Tuesday: First day of classes.

Wah.

It’s 10:39 p.m. and I’m sitting on the bed in my hotel room feeling a myriad of feelings that I thought were long gone. I feel like the world is my own. It is as though I stepped out of myself - the person I am when I am dragging myself out of bed each morning to walk into a job that means nothing to me, the feeling of confusion that seems to take hold of me when I wake up in the morning and I don’t know who I am, why I am in the place I’m in - and became who I really am. I am only beginning to understand.

I feel connected to everything around me.

Tonight, I walked alone on the streets of Boston in the rain. I let the rain soak through my shirt, seep into my skin, and I felt so unbelievably alive…

Faces from the past, the now, and the future ran through my mind and all I could do was smile, and walk.

I feel connected to the street, the sky, each person aside of me on the subway… most of all I feel connected to me.

I am in love with the world.

Goodnight.