This is Going to be SO Great

Oh, man, oh, man.

You know how I said the other day that I've been thinking alot about whether God has a plan for me?

Well, I figured it out! Monday morning, I'm going to quit my job and get started on my new life goal . . .

. . . to play electric violin in a Led Zeppelin cover band!

Seriously, it's going to be so cool! I'll grow my hair out kind of like that super cool chick that used to be in the band on the Happy Days, and I'll get a tattoo, and I'll wear leather and stuff, and I'll pierce something else, like maybe my lip or my eyebrow, and I'll sleep late every day and play smoky dive bars every night and probably get to meet Barack Obama because he's cool, too, and man oh man, will it be cool!

I'm so not kidding, people.

[And lest you think that there is no such thing as an electric violin player in a Led Zeppelin cover band, I saw one tonight, with the Louisville Orchestra, so it's a totally workable plan.]

Monday morning. Quittin' my job.

I'm Coming Down From My Election High, Now

What I am about to tell you is so scary, so potentially traumatizing, that I warned my mother about it in advance so she would be prepared.

We have a mouse.

Like, living in the same house that we live in.

Oh, the horror. Tuesday I was lying on the couch, watching The Lost Room, and I saw a little black shape dart from the door to the TV stand.

"Odd," I thought.

A while later, I saw it dart back. That's when I called Todd at work.

"There's a mouse. In our house and I'm scared."

"Go get Tom and tell him to catch it."

"Tom doesn't like me, he only catches things for you, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

So I went out and got the dogs, and they sat around and stretched and yawned and played rope, and didn't catch the damn mouse, which is apparently smart enought that when it saw Penny come into the room, it thought to its mouse self, "holy crap, that dog is CRAZY and I'm staying right here under the cozy TV stand where it's safe."

It hid out all day until just before the wondrousness that is Barack Obama was declared King of the World, and just as the TV was announcing that news, the damn mouse ran across the floor again, and all of us -- me, Todd, Dan His Brother, and Kelley Dan's Wife, AND Tom the Cat -- freaked out and didn't know where to look. We all pretty much agreed on the king declaration, and the mouse stayed hidden some more.

This morning I was sitting on the couch, eating some cereal, and that mouse came out from under the TV stand, and I SWEAR, he stopped, looked at me, said, "Oh, having some breakfast? I wouldn't mind having some myself, and by the way, when you go to work, can you please leave the TV on CNN so I can keep up with any Cabinet appointments?"

I'm not kidding. If this keeps up, I'm coming to live with you.

Yes, YOU.

Maybe Tomorrow I'll Be More Coherent

Okay, one more post on the happiness that is the 2008 election, then I'll shush it.

It's been just a surreal day! All of the displays around the world of sheer joy are just amazing. So many people in so many different places who are finally smiling and laughing with us, and PROUD of us again . . . it's just wonderful.

I will never forget that moment when President-Elect Obama and his family emerged onto the stage, to take their place as our future.

Hope is a wonderful thing.

Election Day

Okay, in an effort to keep up the blog-a-day thing, I'm posting NOW, because I'm afraid I'll be too caught up in the TV later.

As in, when the totals start coming in.

As in, when hopefully we can wave goodbye to the last eight years.

As I type that, though, I'm reminded that the last eight years haven't been ALL bad. During those years, I became single, graduated from law school, and got oh-so-happily married again. I became a public defender, and later switched sides to be a prosecutor. I saw my mother get oh-so-happily married. I adopted two loveable mutts. My husband became the first Division Chief of the first ever Elder Abuse unit of the Commonwealth's Attorney's office, and later moved onward and upward to the Attorney General's office. I read a lot of good books, saw Hedwig on stage, and learned to play the violin (sort of).

In retrospect, it's only the parts of the last eight years that George W. Bush had control of that sucked all kinds of ass. Like money, and gas, and religion, and the environment and stuff. So I guess I'll keep the proverbial baby and throw out that icky Republican bathwater.

It feels like New Year's Eve around here. Like the night before Christmas. Aren't you excited?

Thank You, Mrs. Dunham

I just heard on the radio that Barack Obama's grandmother died in this morning's early hours. The irony is thick enough to be considered trite if you tried to write it into a novel. If all goes well, Obama will, within 48 hours of her death, become his own little chapter in the history books, as the first African-American president. Many times over the past weeks I have thought a fervent little prayer to myself that the woman who raised him be allowed to see it happen.

I've been thinking alot lately about God's plan for me, because I believe whole-heartedly that he has one for each of us. And I've been thinking that while not everyone is destined for greatness, maybe those not-so-great of us are destined to help someone else on their road.

And isn't that a pretty big form of greatness all of its own?

If I didn't believe in God, I would be just too heartbreakingly sad to think of this woman missing out on the history she helped to create. And since I DO believe in God, I admit to shaking my head a little at what seems to be just not quite fair -- that just like Moses and his Promised Land, Mrs. Dunham ALMOST got to see a dream come true.

Then again, since I believe in the KIND of God that I do, I have to laugh a little at the humdinger of a victory party she'll be throwing in heaven.

For those of us still muddling along down here on Earth . . . don't forget to vote. It's important.

A Bit of Improv Never Hurts

Yesterday I dragged my party-pooped self to one of the local Democratic Party headquarters to make calls for -- I thought -- the Obama campaign. I for some reason assumed I would be calling people in other states where Obama still has a fighting chance, but I was actually calling local people who are registered Democrats, just to remind them to vote and to ask if they were voting for the Democratic ticket.

It was easier than I expected, what with the script and all. The worst problem was the automated calling system, which I think gave itself away as soon as the person answered the phone, because most people just hung up before I could even say hello.

Then there were the people that managed to listen to, "Hi, I'm Kara from the Louisville Democratic Party," before they hung up on me. I tried talking faster -- hii'mkarafromthedemocraticparty -- but they usually still hung up before I got out the whole spiel, which is a shame, because people, I was going to offer you a RIDE, for fuck's sake.

Seriously. I'm tempted to call and request a ride to the polls myself, just because I don't like to drive, you know. I mean, the polls are just around the corner from my house, but maybe they could be persuaded to take me to the store, since they were already out and about.

The calls did get a bit dull after awhile, so some improvisation was tempting:

Me: Hi, I'm Kara from the Democratic Party, calling to remind you about the election this Tuesday. Can the Democrats count on your vote this year?

Callee: No, I'm going to be voting Republican this year, actually.

Me: Oh, well don't forget, they've moved the election to Wednesday. That's WEDNESDAY -- we wouldn't want you to miss out.

Just doin' my civic duty.

The Great Blog Experiment, Day One

Wait, what time is it?

Dang! It's just a smidge after midnight on November 2, but since I'm making the rules around here, we're calling it November 1, okay?

So, yeah. I'm going to blog every day this month. Some days will probably be better than others, just to give you fair warning.

There's been a lot going on in the past week around here. Wednesday was my third wedding anniversary. All I have to say is, I STILL think I married the right guy, and how cool is that?

Last night we hosted our annual Pass Out Candy and Have General Fun Halloween Party, and a good time was had by all. I think I'm quite fortunate that I can have parents, in-laws, step-parents, siblings, and friends, all in the same house, and everyone gets along swimmingly! Even the Republicans were on pretty good behavior, outnumbered as they were.

I didn't really want to go all out in a costume, but I wanted to wear a blue wig, and since it was my party, that's just what I did. I love my snazzy blue wig. I wish I could wear it to work. Heck, I wish I could just post a picture of it, but since we've still got those two broken cameras, there are no blue wig pictures in the foreseeable future.

Tonight, I knitted my poor fingers to nubs, but more on that tomorrow . . .