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Killer Spider and I Barack the Vote!
Thank you all for participating in my poll. I'm pleased to learn that, as I suspected, my friends are all smarter than the average employee of Tery's.
With the exception of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kavieshana, who was either trying to be funny or ironic. And who poo-poohed my gigantor fly photo. Well, I had this enormous fella in the hospital stairwell Saturday night:
His leg span was about an inch across. He was so big I thought he might be a Halloween decoration, except he was hanging out near the bottom of the wall, right by where I (and the dogs) pass through to get in and out. I wasn't even sure he was alive (didn't move through several nervous and increasingly closer shots with my phone) until I poked him with a flyswatter and determined he was very much so. I asked Tery to get on the internet to identify it; I really only cared about whether or not it was going to jump on my face and inject me with flesh-eating venom. She assured me that, despite its terrifying appearance, it was only a black house spider, characterized by having front legs much longer than back, and supposedly very timid and harmless.
I let him be with relief. By morning I thought he was gone, until I noticed him hanging onto the corner of the door to the stairwell. From there he scuttled into some leaves and I don't know what happened after that.
~*~
Yesterday MyFriendDeb and I, and 100,000 of our fellow Democrats, went to the Obama rally in Denver. She suggested it a few days ago. I agreed gamely, promising to call her as soon as I got in a quick nap after my shift. Over the course of the conversation though it became apparent she was concerned about crowds and wanted to get there "the earlier the better." So with horror I heard myself agree to go with her directly after my shift (keep in mind that the Saturday shift comes after my Saturday day job, which comes after my Friday shift, after my Friday day job. So Sunday mornings are traditionally the time I crash hard).
After a Dark Chocolate Mocha Frappucino and two Mountain Dews, I felt great. We got on the Light Rail, joined by many people already decked out in Obama bling (we had none). When we arrived at Civic Center Park, the line appeared sizable as we joined it, though over the next few hours it became obvious that we hadn't seen the half of it. We then spent the next two hours getting to know our fellow line-waiters, and freezing our asses off (though not nearly as cold as waiting for Lion King tickets). We got along great with the woman behind us, until we spotted the pro-life protest signs. "It's so hard these days to be a Catholic," she sighed. She was, and was also pro-life. I said only I could see both sides, but it boiled down to the fact that you can't tell other people how to live their lives (forgetting that most religious people feel quite the opposite). The conversation became sort of thin after that, but that might have been because we were finally being let into the park.
Before that there was literally one lone McCain supporter marching up and down with a sign calling Obama's tax plan "welfare" on one side and something about "acorn politics" on the other. One Obama fan jeered at him, "Yeah, where are the rest of you at?" It was pretty pathetic as far as protests went.
We entered the park through an airport-style security station (in fact being manned by TSA officials). We had to have all electronics turned on so they could verify there were no bomb detonation devices I suppose, necessitating me hastily switching my cellphone Snarry wallpaper over to the more innocent photo of Kitten Mitten I keep just for that purpose. Then we were in!
We had a plan -- secure a spot in the crowd, then take turns getting to the port-a-potties, because at that point we'd been standing in one place for about two and a half hours and it was TIME TO GO. Deb left and returned without incident. I, naturally, was not so lucky. By the time I got back the lawn area was filling in nicely, with a large crowd pressed very close together. With difficulty I navigated between people, working back to Deb, mostly successfully until I came up against a real first-class jackass. "Excuse me, sir," I asked politely.
He crossed his arms obstinately and announced, "I'm not moving."
Confused, I repeated, "Excuse me please."
"Nope. I'm not moving," he insisted again.
"I'm just trying to get back to my friend, can you let me by?" This was absolutely ridiculous. From where we stood I could see Deb a paltry 5 feet in front of us. Did he really think that spot was SO much more primo than his? Was I a 10-year-old cutting into the lunch line? More importantly, was waiting in line since before sunrise after working all night not enough to earn me a decent spot (being currently saved by my friend)?
"You're saying I can't go stand with my friend," I clarified.
"There's no room! I'm not moving!" he planted himself even more firmly.
"Fine. You're an ass," I said, as I went further down and progressed around someone else. I got back to Deb and told her how I'd almost come to blows with this guy. All the people surrounding our little pocket shook their heads with equal disbelief. If I was 6 foot 5 (like the guy we were stuck behind) you can get irked, but for heaven's sake, my 5 foot 6 frame wasn't impeding anyone's view overly much.
Bleah. He was the only negative part of the day. We had plenty of time to look around before Obama arrived. I was trying to take pictures and video, but it was tricky from my position.
To give you some idea where we were. Not very close, but we could have been a hell of a lot farther. We were about two rows behind this tall drink of water, the back of whose head makes up the majority of the video I tried taking. Also this shot was only possible by standing on my tiptoes and holding the camera high, high above my head.
I wanted to know what was up with the Cylon eye stuck in the spire of the County building. Backup crowd control?
The rally finally began properly, with speech after speech given by all the Colorado politicians. Blah blah blah, all the same words of encouragement about the campaign trail so far, as well as the interminable exhortations to get out and volunteer for the final push to Election Day that we'd endured while standing in line. The funniest line belonged to Senator Ken Salazar, who began a sentence, "If Barack Obama were here today,..." I don't know how it ended, because we had all turned to each other in alarm and asked, "What does he mean 'if he were here'?" Obviously he just misspoke, but it was pretty funny.
Most of the speeches (Barack's included) started with an expression of awe at the size of the crowd. I tried to get shots of it from my vantage point, but there was a much better one in the Denver Post:
100,000+ people. When I saw them stretching all the way to the steps of the Capitol it brought tears to my eyes, I tell you. But I'm always a little sappier after working all night
Finally the man himself got up to speak. By this time we thought we'd never be able to bend our knees again, our legs were so stiff and painful. Thankfully he only talked for 20 minutes or so. I got a couple of good glimpses, none with my camera, until I suddenly remembered I had a zoom.
May or may not be the next President of the United States
Deb was pretty disgruntled at not being able to see anything. I tried to console us with the sentiment that if you wanted clear shots of Obama you could watch TV. The point of today was getting out and representing and joining the crowd to show support. There was an even smaller Indian girl behind us who kept tapping on the shoulders of the tall folks in front of her (even multiple rows up) begging them to move a little so she could see. I don't think she realized how hard it would be to rearrange the entire crowd exactly to her liking.
We couldn't really see him, but we could hear him and we were seen by the media, and that's all that matters. We grabbed lunch in Fado's Irish Pub and headed home. By that time I felt like I'd been pressed through a potato ricer and I crashed harder than hard in my bed.
Coincidentally Tery brought the poster featured in my icon home from the bar. It's now framed and proudly displayed in our living room. It makes me feel like we're living in Stalinist Russia (but in a good way).
This morning I voted (my state allows early voting and therefore ROX). I also feel a bit like I'm coming down with a cold after being out all day in the cold and getting almost no sleep for 48 hours. All I can say is if Barack doesn't win, I'll be taking names (on my way to Canada).
With the exception of
kavieshana, who was either trying to be funny or ironic. And who poo-poohed my gigantor fly photo. Well, I had this enormous fella in the hospital stairwell Saturday night:His leg span was about an inch across. He was so big I thought he might be a Halloween decoration, except he was hanging out near the bottom of the wall, right by where I (and the dogs) pass through to get in and out. I wasn't even sure he was alive (didn't move through several nervous and increasingly closer shots with my phone) until I poked him with a flyswatter and determined he was very much so. I asked Tery to get on the internet to identify it; I really only cared about whether or not it was going to jump on my face and inject me with flesh-eating venom. She assured me that, despite its terrifying appearance, it was only a black house spider, characterized by having front legs much longer than back, and supposedly very timid and harmless.
I let him be with relief. By morning I thought he was gone, until I noticed him hanging onto the corner of the door to the stairwell. From there he scuttled into some leaves and I don't know what happened after that.
~*~
Yesterday MyFriendDeb and I, and 100,000 of our fellow Democrats, went to the Obama rally in Denver. She suggested it a few days ago. I agreed gamely, promising to call her as soon as I got in a quick nap after my shift. Over the course of the conversation though it became apparent she was concerned about crowds and wanted to get there "the earlier the better." So with horror I heard myself agree to go with her directly after my shift (keep in mind that the Saturday shift comes after my Saturday day job, which comes after my Friday shift, after my Friday day job. So Sunday mornings are traditionally the time I crash hard).
After a Dark Chocolate Mocha Frappucino and two Mountain Dews, I felt great. We got on the Light Rail, joined by many people already decked out in Obama bling (we had none). When we arrived at Civic Center Park, the line appeared sizable as we joined it, though over the next few hours it became obvious that we hadn't seen the half of it. We then spent the next two hours getting to know our fellow line-waiters, and freezing our asses off (though not nearly as cold as waiting for Lion King tickets). We got along great with the woman behind us, until we spotted the pro-life protest signs. "It's so hard these days to be a Catholic," she sighed. She was, and was also pro-life. I said only I could see both sides, but it boiled down to the fact that you can't tell other people how to live their lives (forgetting that most religious people feel quite the opposite). The conversation became sort of thin after that, but that might have been because we were finally being let into the park.
Before that there was literally one lone McCain supporter marching up and down with a sign calling Obama's tax plan "welfare" on one side and something about "acorn politics" on the other. One Obama fan jeered at him, "Yeah, where are the rest of you at?" It was pretty pathetic as far as protests went.
We entered the park through an airport-style security station (in fact being manned by TSA officials). We had to have all electronics turned on so they could verify there were no bomb detonation devices I suppose, necessitating me hastily switching my cellphone Snarry wallpaper over to the more innocent photo of Kitten Mitten I keep just for that purpose. Then we were in!
We had a plan -- secure a spot in the crowd, then take turns getting to the port-a-potties, because at that point we'd been standing in one place for about two and a half hours and it was TIME TO GO. Deb left and returned without incident. I, naturally, was not so lucky. By the time I got back the lawn area was filling in nicely, with a large crowd pressed very close together. With difficulty I navigated between people, working back to Deb, mostly successfully until I came up against a real first-class jackass. "Excuse me, sir," I asked politely.
He crossed his arms obstinately and announced, "I'm not moving."
Confused, I repeated, "Excuse me please."
"Nope. I'm not moving," he insisted again.
"I'm just trying to get back to my friend, can you let me by?" This was absolutely ridiculous. From where we stood I could see Deb a paltry 5 feet in front of us. Did he really think that spot was SO much more primo than his? Was I a 10-year-old cutting into the lunch line? More importantly, was waiting in line since before sunrise after working all night not enough to earn me a decent spot (being currently saved by my friend)?
"You're saying I can't go stand with my friend," I clarified.
"There's no room! I'm not moving!" he planted himself even more firmly.
"Fine. You're an ass," I said, as I went further down and progressed around someone else. I got back to Deb and told her how I'd almost come to blows with this guy. All the people surrounding our little pocket shook their heads with equal disbelief. If I was 6 foot 5 (like the guy we were stuck behind) you can get irked, but for heaven's sake, my 5 foot 6 frame wasn't impeding anyone's view overly much.
Bleah. He was the only negative part of the day. We had plenty of time to look around before Obama arrived. I was trying to take pictures and video, but it was tricky from my position.
To give you some idea where we were. Not very close, but we could have been a hell of a lot farther. We were about two rows behind this tall drink of water, the back of whose head makes up the majority of the video I tried taking. Also this shot was only possible by standing on my tiptoes and holding the camera high, high above my head.
I wanted to know what was up with the Cylon eye stuck in the spire of the County building. Backup crowd control?
The rally finally began properly, with speech after speech given by all the Colorado politicians. Blah blah blah, all the same words of encouragement about the campaign trail so far, as well as the interminable exhortations to get out and volunteer for the final push to Election Day that we'd endured while standing in line. The funniest line belonged to Senator Ken Salazar, who began a sentence, "If Barack Obama were here today,..." I don't know how it ended, because we had all turned to each other in alarm and asked, "What does he mean 'if he were here'?" Obviously he just misspoke, but it was pretty funny.
Most of the speeches (Barack's included) started with an expression of awe at the size of the crowd. I tried to get shots of it from my vantage point, but there was a much better one in the Denver Post:
100,000+ people. When I saw them stretching all the way to the steps of the Capitol it brought tears to my eyes, I tell you. But I'm always a little sappier after working all night
Finally the man himself got up to speak. By this time we thought we'd never be able to bend our knees again, our legs were so stiff and painful. Thankfully he only talked for 20 minutes or so. I got a couple of good glimpses, none with my camera, until I suddenly remembered I had a zoom.
May or may not be the next President of the United States
Deb was pretty disgruntled at not being able to see anything. I tried to console us with the sentiment that if you wanted clear shots of Obama you could watch TV. The point of today was getting out and representing and joining the crowd to show support. There was an even smaller Indian girl behind us who kept tapping on the shoulders of the tall folks in front of her (even multiple rows up) begging them to move a little so she could see. I don't think she realized how hard it would be to rearrange the entire crowd exactly to her liking.
We couldn't really see him, but we could hear him and we were seen by the media, and that's all that matters. We grabbed lunch in Fado's Irish Pub and headed home. By that time I felt like I'd been pressed through a potato ricer and I crashed harder than hard in my bed.
Coincidentally Tery brought the poster featured in my icon home from the bar. It's now framed and proudly displayed in our living room. It makes me feel like we're living in Stalinist Russia (but in a good way).
This morning I voted (my state allows early voting and therefore ROX). I also feel a bit like I'm coming down with a cold after being out all day in the cold and getting almost no sleep for 48 hours. All I can say is if Barack doesn't win, I'll be taking names (on my way to Canada).
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I'm glad you were able to get out and support Obama. I don't think he's been out in Arizona much (or at all, but maybe I just haven't noticed).
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It was so worth missing sleep over. Arizona probably isn't a battleground state like we are now, they probably figure you're a shoe-in for McCain (I really hope they're wrong!) Deb heard that Anchorage, AK endorses Obama LOL
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It's frustrating.
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Wow, this is going to be an intense week.
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It will still be too nervewracking to me to watch every second. I'm just going to go to bed Nov 4th and pray for the best.
Love your icon!
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Obama on Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) Thursday evening. I love me some Rachel Maddow!
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MyFriendDeb loves Rachel as well. You guys should totally hang out.
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until I suddenly remembered I had a zoom.
A-HA!
I'm so jealous that you got to see him in person, kind of! It doesn't seem like they're paying my state as much attention as politicians usually do. Last election there was a speech here every month.
I can't even imagine standing next to that many people. How did you even find Deb?
Do you watch Bill Maher's show?
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Yeah, Denver is way cool. But you shouldn't move here or anything. In fact we don't want you to.
Funnily enough, we were positioned kind of close to a father holding his little girl on his shoulders -- which we first thought was kind of obnoxious before we realized what a fabulous landmark she made.
Sometimes, not often. I like him, he's like Jon Stewart only waaaaay more mean-spirited.
I didn't see that sign, but the rally was also remarkable for the utterly pathetic protestor turnout. I was really hoping to see some conflicts. I heard a rumor of one which of course isn't the same.
I'm super tired, but I'm afraid that if I sleep, when I wake up they'll have taken it back.
Ah. I don't like him as much as Jon Stewart, personality-wise, but I like how passionate he is about his politics. Anyway, his show has been running a segment recently about places we could've gone to (other than Canada) had McCain won.
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GET BACK TO WORK.
I think I just experienced an anti-climax.
I TOOK OFF TWO HOURS TODAY TO VOTE. IT TOOK ME 35 MINUTES.