Champion of the Semicolon

Ah, the joys of living, but not voting, in a swing state. Partisan fire-spitting, hostile college groups, and we can't forget the endless, ENDLESS canvassers looking to "get out the vote." (Incidentally, I hate that phrase for grammatical and content-related reasons. Get it out where? Just one?) I get asked several times daily on and off campus if I'm registered to vote, if I'm registered at my current address, if I want Bush out of office, if I want a job (canvassing.) All of these pitches aren't just getting old -- they're staler than green and blue cinnamon buns. I'm dead sick of being approached while I'm walking to class because I'm either talking to someone or I'm thinking. Even if it's just, "Goodness, it looks like rain!" I passionately dislike being taken out of my reverie. Repeatedly. It came to a bit of a fever pitch yesterday, when a group of trustafarians* that had been lingering around Starbucks' outdoor tables with clipboards asked me as I passed if I wanted Bush out of office. Resorting to one of my pre-fabricated, get-the-fuck-out-of-my-face responses, I said, "Sorry, not today." The lead stoner monkey said to my back, in a tone of voice designed to show his buddies how apathetic and callous I was, "If not today then when?" This was met with a small murmur of assent. So I turned around and walked back at him, shouting about the fact that I can't change my voter registration without losing my dividend (Alaska oil money share) and that I was sick of being approached by all kinds of people who think they have the right to harass anyone on the street by nature of holding a clipboard. I would have gone on about how I'm just as much a valid liberal as he, and that he should stop wasting his time on people that don't want to talk to him, but Kyle sort of dragged me away. After a cooling off period (which involved petting a local cat for a good ten minutes), I felt quite satisfied with myself.

I watched part of the presidential debate tonight. It was shockingly boring. As expected, Kerry was well-spoken and Bush was a bumbling incompetent. Big news. We left early and hung out in Marc's dorm for a little bit. Then we came back to the apartment and made cookies. I've been feeling sick off and on for the past few days. It's like my cold can't quite decide what to do with itself.

It's that time of rainy season: I'm really starting to miss a lot of people. Mostly Anchoragers, or displaced ones. Maybe I should write more letters.

*Trust-a-far-i-an: noun. One who emulates or embraces the stoner/Bob Marley worship/Rastafarian lifestyle, but is fully funded by parents.