Election Year: 2008 and 2012

I was just remembering back four years ago, when I was in Chicago with all of my friends on Election night. That was the month where we watched V for Vendetta a dozen times, so I was feeling particularly strong feelings about what I wanted in the government. I had no idea if America was finally willing to break racial biases and  vote for a (half-) black man, who of course had his qualifications. I was so happy when they did. It changed so much.

Everyone went to the rally, but I was so sick I couldn't have been in the cold for so long. Asthma problems and a very bad chest cold. Anna, thankfully (:p), was sick as well. The rally would have been a blast, and most of my friends were there, celebrating history being made and being with the Obamas.

But Anna and I were on the 2nd floor of SSV-North, watching the election in the lounge, sitting on the comfy couches. Campus was empty. People were either inside studying or at the rally. We were getting high on marshmallows and laughing and taking pictures. It was a 2-person election party.

I was just thinking of some important differences between then and now in my life... Now, I'm at home and too poor to afford cable with no clue how to hook an antennae up to get tv, so I'm reading on my laptop. But I'm not less satisfied. I have a treat of a mini mint Mcflurry, a good step over the bag of marshmallows and container full of medicine I had before. I don't feel as passionately about the results (okay, there's still plenty there), because there's a 50% chance I may be living out of the country next year, and a 90% within the next 5 years. And also cause I don't agree with either of the candidates that truly have a chance. For Election Year: 2016, part of me hopes I'm in a European country somewhere and cursing out the Republican in another language.

And then I start to think of some more differences, like I was in a field wholly unsuitable for me, yet almost on the mark. I hadn't even started writing my book yet, but I had been dreaming up the characters for about a year. I felt completely peaceful because I finally had independence  I was the happiest I have ever been. But now I have a hamster and a nice boyfriend and a half-finished book and a whole lot of dreams and plans and I KNOW what I want much more than I ever did back then. I have much more control and I'm a lot less... volatile person. So.... I call these four years a success for me personally. Plus I've been to Japan and France and Canada and soon, Israel! =D And travel triumphs almost over any other thing.

All in all, I hope Obama wins. I do not want to go back to the 1920s in women's rights. No, THANKS.