Time to be irrational--it's Election Day

We have established in my poli sci classes that voting is an irrational act. it takes too long and your one vote doesnt make enough of a difference to truly matter. however, we crazy american idealists still roll out early to be crazy and put our drop in the bucket. you may be thinking "what if everyone thought it was irrational and didnt vote and no one voted?" indeed. this is why we are humans and not machine, because we can be motivated by higher ideals and hopes. We, the Family Hartle, went and voted as a family. We realized on some issues that we entirely cancelled each other out. hilarious. and yet, it's what democracy is all about. we had new, snazzy touch screen voting systems. at the end it makes a backup printout of your votes. my dad and i were both excited--it looked like we were going to get a little grocery printout of our votes..like a lottery ticket we could check to be sure. anyway, we were both mildly disappointed that it stayed there at the polling booth in case the electronic system somehow(i say that with a measure of sarcasm) failed. so our polling place...was in the garage of an apartment complex. in a garage that looked suspiciously like our own garage, with a bunch of stored crap and basketballs and tools in it. maybe we should make ourselves a neighborhood polling place next year. that would be easy. we would be far less irrational in that case.

my father surprises me with what an informed voter he is. even if we choose differently, at least he chooses intelligently. luckily, even if we mess ourselves up by ignorantly approving a crap bond or proposition, hopefully someone will redress it in the next election or two. sweet stability. the more poli sci i take the more i appreciate ye olde US political system, not that it is perfect at all in any way--of course it needs improvements. but compared to some of the other places in the world. phew. is all i have to say.

i think i may either be insane, or have been asia-fied. i find myself laughing at everything. everything gives me mirth. staring around the neighborhood garage i was voting in: adorable. the fact that the 50+ year old Mutterer, for whom nothing in the world is right or good, left her password to her computer and it was "iluvhorses": hilarious! the fact that i havent started a paper that was due last night: hysterical. crazy russian professor telling us that he saw diplomas for sale in the russian metro stations: totally hilarious. the fact that tv has made us more insulary and less likely to make face-toface contact with people...so much so that we watch reality shows to see other people react with each other in real life: morbidly funny. i freaked out trying to print out my week-late literature review and then left it at the coffee station as i was leaving: unfrickingbelievable and yet, hilarious. i had a mishap laden day yesterday and yet all i could do was sort of giggle through it. i cant tell if i am just so happy about being home and with my friends and family and work that all little problems seem trivial...or if i have some real, deep psychological problem. you know, like that hysterical uncontrollable laughter. i think irony makes me laugh more and more these days.
only 5 more weeks until semester is over for better or worse. deep breath.