Happiness: November 17

THING SEVENTEEN: The voicemail from my sister that I got on Saturday night! My phone died, and I just checked my messages today because I'm lame at checking voicemail.

"[robot woman voice] Next message, received Saturday November 15th at 5:17pm [end robot woman voice, begin sister woman voice] I put Ruby in my sweatshirt, and it's really funny. Your phone went dead; I hope that you're not being mugged. Ruby's wearing my sweatshirt. Okbye!"

For anyone who is not familiar, this is Ruby:

(She's the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House)

Yes. She is very silly. This is why she makes me happy! Both Ruby, and my sister!!

Happiness: November 16

THING SIXTEEN: Soup. Soup makes me really happy.

TOO BAD I DON'T HAVE ANY.

Happiness: November 15

THING FIFTEEN: Protests!!!!

Today a friend from high school, who is in DC, and I had lunch on Capitol Hill, and then headed over towards the Capitol reflecting pool to find the protest against California Proposition 8. or perhaps, the rally in support of overturning Prop 8, or maybe just the rally in support of gay rights. In any case, we were like 2 hours late, so by the time we got to the reflecting pool, after walking through five minutes of torrential downpour, the march was already at the Washington Monument.

We didn't know it was quite that far ahead of us, so we ended up getting sidetracked in a bunch of people with Tibetan flags, which I finally realized was the protest against China at the G20 summit today, here in Washington. The Chinese guys were across the street, with Chinese and American flags. Go Tibet!!




Further down, past the Monument, we finally caught up with the couple thousand people marching. we were going towards the White House when suddenly Marine One flew over and landed on the South Lawn! so that was pretty cool. Then we ended up in Lafayette Park, which is where we were on Election Night, only there were far less people, but the same general spirit of excitement that comes when you have a large group of people together excited about doing things.


And so that was the first two protests, and then of course there is the protest against nuclear warfare that has been in front of the White House since the late 1980s, I believe. So those were my three protests today!!

(I edited the colors and stuff on this so you could read the sign a little better--it just looked like "Marriage Bigotry," which is not the point at all)

Then I protested going to choir by accidentally sleeping until 5 minutes after call time, so I showed up 35 minutes late. However, this turned out to be fortuitous, because first! I was walking up Massachusetts Avenue and saw two flying squirrels on a tree! and then there were loud sirens, which is not out of the ordinary, but it was for the South Korean Presidential Motorcade! So I saw some flying squirrels and the South Korean President('s limo and other cars)!!!

kitten is protesting the flash on my camera.

this is what happens when you wear your most favorite cushy comfy socks in your Danskos in the torrential rain. They're so soaking you can see my toes through them, and these are thick socks. You're lucky I didnt take a picture of the bottom... it's pretty gross.

Also, because I have been slacking on on-time posting lately, here is a bonus happy thing:



it starts a little lame but it gets really good, so just wait for it.

Happiness: November 14

THING FOURTEEN: This is an abstract thing, but hopefully it makes sense. The thing that makes me happy today is things that are familiar.

For example, I was in the elevator coming up from the Metro yesterday and saw a dude with an old Nokia candy bar phone, which just happened to be very similar to my mom's first (or maybe second) cell phone. Something about his phone was very comforting. Like a blast from the past. Simpler times, when phones didn't take pictures or video or have the internet. Not that I don't love those things, because I do.

And then tonight I had a meeting with a professor that I had in Freshman year. We weren't meeting on anything in particular, we planned just to have s soda or whatever, and chat about the election. We didn't talk much about the election, but instead mostly about me, which made me uncomfortable a little bit. In any case, she's one of my favorite professors ever, and she reminds me that good, intelligent people always exist somewhere.

Happiness: November 13

THING THIRTEEN: Ethiopian food! I'm craving it. no time this weekend, unfortunately. :( also, expensive, and far. but it will make me sooo happy when I get it!!

Happiness: November 12

THING TWELVE: THIS makes me so. freaking. happy.

Woo Oregon!

Keith Olbermann on Proposition 8

However much I think that Keith Olbermann is a tool, he has some very poignant and emotional things to say.



Too bad the man didn't vote...

Happiness: November 11

THING ELEVEN: Maybe this is a cop-out for today, but I'm cranky because I have to go to work on Armistice Day/Veterans' Day, and my eyeballs hurt and my head hurts and my face hurts.

Anyway! Complaining is not the point of November posts! the point is happiness.

What makes me happy on November 11, 2008:

SLEEP!!!!

Enough said, I believe.

Happiness: November 10

THING TEN: THIS GIRL!!! she is right here also-->


Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Ten happy things already! and still 20 more to come! I'm very excited.

Happiness: November 9

THING NINE: Planning surprises for other people. I can't say more than that, because of, you know, it being the internet and all. I'm terrible at it, though, I always want to tell the person what I got her! or him! my mother and sister both have extensive experience with this.

I was going to try and find a clip of the crazy surprise lady on Saturday Night Live, but now I'm just distracted watching funny sketches, so I'm just going to go ahead and post.

Edit: I can't find the first one, so here's the second one Surprise Lady sketch.

Happiness: November 8

THING EIGHT: Random dance parties. I just got home from dinner and a movie with some girls from freshman year, who I barely ever see. I texted Maeg to see if my friends were still awake when I got home, and when she didn't respond I just decided to go over anyway. The music was really loud and so I knocked for like an hour, and then I heard Tim say "I hope that's Marika!" and hey! It was. Everyone was there, playing Apples to Apples, and it was so fun, even though we stopped playing when Niki got home because she hates the game.

Then we danced around to Prince and Queen (total coincidence on the names) and the Beatles and a little bit of everything else. we couldn't get Maeg to dance but it's ok, because she's going to be my roommate, and I forgive her. She was very floppy, and it was very funny.

PS! me and Maeg are moving in together!

Happiness: November 7

THING SEVEN: Yogurt-covered pretzels. Seriously. These things are the shit. It's like, two of my favorite things, yogurt, and pretzels, but combined!

When I was in grade school I had pretzels in my lunch almost every day, and frequently yogurt as well, and at some point I got the brilliant idea to dip my pretzels in the yogurt. so good. Turns out it's even better when the store has already made it for you, with delicious caked-on yogurt that I'm sure is full of chemical additives to give it its wonderful sweetened hardness.

White chocolate covered pretzels are also delicious.

Happiness: November 6

THING SIX: Gummy LifeSavers. Chock full of delicious corn syrup, that is what it's all about!

Ok I lied. Really my favorite thing is this: finding new places that were there all along! For example, today I went into the WVAU studio for the first time ever. I'm pretty sure the only other time I've been in a radio station is KMUN, in Astoria, but that doesn't really count because I don't really remember it. The only time I was there for a substantial amount of time was to read bedtime stories once with Margit, and I think I might have been 12.

In any case, this awesome studio is tiny but really cool. I was there while my friend Michal was DJing, and it just seemed so magical that she could be working two turntables and two CD players and a complex-looking board that adjusted levels and I don't know what and she could make it all look so easy. So I hung out there for a while and was mystified by the workings of this place that has been there all along, I've just never seen it!

The kittens got a new bag of food, so Thing One is back in action.

Also, I really do love gummy LifeSavers. I ate a whole bag of them today in about 7 minutes. It was awesome.

Omnes una manet nox

One night awaits us all. 

I didn't take my camera last night downtown, which is probably good because it would have broken, I know it. So you'll just have to believe my saga.

Niki and I drove with Meris, Dashy, Tanya, and Mark to Dashy's apartment in Dupont-ish area. as soon as we got out of the garage, we see hundreds of people running. Of course, we decide to run with them! Niki and I get separated from the other 4, and we just kept running and running down the middle of the street, screaming and shouting "I love you!" and "We did it!" and high-fiving and hugging people leaning out their car windows. 

We had no idea where we were, so Niki and I hailed a cab and told him to take us to the White House. He said "Still?" and we said "YES!" and then I made friends with him. He is from Iran! I told him that I would like to go there someday. We got out of the cab and gave him like a 70% tip, and then started running some random way, screaming and hugging the whole way. 

Somehow we realized we were going the wrong way, so we turned around and went back towards our goal, the White House. We had just hugged and high-fived a block full of people and we did covered the same folks all over again. A random guy with a snare drum appeared out of nowhere, so we started following him and screaming "O-BA-MA!" to his drum beat, and it turned into a little mini-parade through the park that's behind the White House (Liberty Park? something like that. It's supposedly haunted. very creepy).

We finally got to the front/back of the White House (the back is technically the Ellipse side, and you can get much closer to the back, but most people don't know that, so we were at the front but it seems like it's the back), and there were at least a couple thousand people there. Throngs and throngs of people. A giant cardboard cutout of President Elect Obama, people with signs, people with flags, people with drums. Everyone hugging everyone. High fives for all. conversations with people who had to be at work at nine, just like me, about how we changed the world tonight. Everyone screaming Congratulations we did it, Yes We Can, Yes We Did. 

At some point we met a man from Kenya, who gave Niki his email address because she's going to Kenya next term. He's going to hook her up with his cousins in Nairobi! Hugs all around. 

We finally caught a cab, split with some random guy from some small news network, but then we actually drove past Mark, Meris, Tanya, and Dashy, so we hopped out, tipped the driver 120% or so (he drove us maybe 1/2 a mile, and we were in love with everyone), and got in Mark's car to get home. We drove all the way home with the windows down, screaming out the window at every person we saw. 

Oh, and at some point on the street we made friends with a random French dude, and he was on the phone with the French radio, so we were on the radio?? I screamed in French "VIVE LA FRANCE JE VOUZ AIMEZ" which I'm not sure is right. I spoke some French to someone else from France, and he said I had a good accent even though I spoke the wrong words to him (I told him "bonne nuit, which I knew is wrong, but still. Oops.) And then I ran across some people from Spain, and I yelled at them "VIVA ESPANA" as they were sucked back into the crowd. And I missed Lindsey, and everyone who is abroad, and wished that you all had been there dancing in front of the White House on this wonderful night of victory

VICTORY

OBAMERICA!!!!

Happiness, November 5

THING FIVE. Drinking tea to soothe my sore throat, but this only qualifies as a Happy Thing because of the source of my sore throat. Standing in front of the White House at 3am on Election Night with at least 1,000 other people and hugging literally every person I come across and screaming "We did it!" and "Congratulations!" and "Can you believe it!" and "O-Ba-Ma!" at the top of my lungs is a good reason to have a sore throat. And a sore throat is a good reason to have tea.

So really, this is kind of like Victory Tea.

Election Day, Part III (THREE!!!)

Guys. I just got back from the White House. THE WHITE HOUSE.

Remind me to post about it in the morning. OH WAIT IT IS THE MORNING. AAAH!!!!!

Omnes una manet nox

Oregon: unsafe at any speed

Election Day, Part II

WE WOONNNNNNNNNNN

Cheers, Senator McCain. Great concession speech. Good campaign, minus the whole Governor Palin bit. You're a good man. Great Senator.

MSNBC is reporting 338-156 EV

No news yet on CA Propositions 4 and 8, but SD defeated their abortion ban bill, and marijuana has been decriminalized in MA and MI.

FLORIDA, OHIO, NEVADA, VIRGINIA, this shit ROCKSSSSS

Edit 1: Tim just said, "Our work starts tomorrow." How true.

Election Day, Part I

So, folks. It's Election Day. I'm already going insane.

From fivethirtyeight.com, here is a list of 10 reasons why I should be ignoring exit polls.

1. Exit polls have a much larger intrinsic margin for error than regular polls.
2. Exit polls have consistently overstated the Democratic share of the vote.
3. Exit polls were particularly bad in this year's primaries.
4. Exit polls challenge the definition of a random sample.
5. Democrats may be more likely to participate in exit polls.
6. Exit polls may have problems calibrating results from early voting.
7. Exit polls may also miss late voters.
8. "Leaked" exit poll results may not be the genuine article.
9. A high-turnout election may make demographic weighting difficult.
10. You'll know the actual results soon enough anyway.

Nevertheless, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire, the first city to vote in primaries and general elections, there were 15 votes for Senator Obama, and 6 votes for Senator McCain. Of 21 voters. Woohoo Dixville Notch!

Earl Blumenauer has given me this lovely thing!! It is an Election Night Scorecard. Not sure how it works yet but I AM GOING TO FIND OUT. And update when I figure it out. I'm currently making predictions of states. I'm going to get SO much work done today. Just like the rest of America.

Edit 1: Read this article. It's beautiful, and reflects why I have my burning desire to get an "I Voted" sticker... which I will never get on my own so long as Oregon votes by mail. I'll just have to steal my coworkers'.

Happiness: November 4

THING FOUR. Ok judge all you want, but I really love instant oatmeal, Maple & Brown Sugar flavor. It's basically the highlight of my morning, when I get to work and have a ton of nervously exhausted energy, but my tummy is soooo empty. So then I dance around stand in front of the microwave for 2 minutes, and then ding! I have delicious warm globs of brown sugar to put into my mouth. My coworkers make fun of me for this, but I put in less water than you're "supposed" to, because if you put in the amount of water that it calls for, the sugar and maple gets all diluted! and that is not as delicious.

Month of Happiness, November 3

So, November is notoriously a month where one tries to do things. Such as:

1) Write a novel (see: NaNoWriMo)
2) Write a tune every day (see: my friend's crazy flute playing mom)
3) Post a picture every day (see: NaPhoPoMo, my sister)
4) One blog post every day (see: various)

I have decided to extrapolate on this theme, and post to my blog every day. Not only that! But the theme of the post will be something that makes me happy.

Today, since it's already November 3 and I have missed days 1 and 2, I will post THREE WHOLE THINGS that make me happy.


THING ONE. That my kitten will continually dig the old kitten food bag out of the trash and carry it around the apartment. He's a die hard kitten food fan. It's very cute.

THING TWO. Photos of friends. I recently printed many and got some of those frames that have many slots, and put them on my wall. Not only does it make my wall look less depressing, it is nice for my friends and family to tell me hello when I come home, or wake up in the morning.

THING THREE. The man who hands out Express at the Rockville Metro Station. He stands at the top of the stairs and hollers to everyone to have a great week. One of my roughest mornings was the first time he talked to me personally, probably a couple weeks ago, and he told me, "Stay strong, pretty eyes." I almost cried, because at that point I think I had no makeup on, I was probably about 30 minutes late to work, and I was starving and cranky. Several days since then he's told me the same thing, and I'm sure that he tells lots of people that, but I don't care.

This morning, he told me that I looked beautiful. I grinned all the way down the Pike to my office. I think I'm his biggest fan.