For the record

The socks I am wearing today have a cartoon of Bugs Bunny standing on a platform, an angry Elmer Fudd on the floor next to him, and a sign above Fudd's head saying "VOTE FOR ELMERBUGS". (Copyright Warner Bros. Inc. 1975)

(no subject)

You know those picture postcards with gold-leafed trees blazing against bright blue skies in perfect illustration of the archetypal Autumn? Yesterday was one of those days. Okay, granted, it was considerably warmer than you'd expect from the postcard. Today was much the same, though more hazy and--humid? in November?--with frequent showers of brown and yellow leaves.

Had a slowish start today, a bit headachy and impeded by [TMI deleted]. It was early afternoon when I went to vote. Line was long, but not as long as it had been earlier--one woman there said she'd tried voting three times today, and that this was the first time the line had not been snaking out of the building. Since the line was very nearly going outside when I got there, I prepared myself for a good long wait, listening to a mother explain voting to her little girl, the little girl insisting that she would vote for Kerry as soon as she was old enough.

Except the wait turned out not to be all that long. A few minutes after I got there, someone came to talk to their friend and mentioned that people with names earlier in the alphabet had a much shorter line and should go right inside the room where we'd be voting. Not only did I not have to wait in the line outside the room, but the line I got in was about 1/5 as long as either of the lines for people later in the alphabet. Rarely in my life have I been so grateful for my last name.

The procedure for these Diebold machines is silly: Stand in line to have the election judges decide whether you're eligible or not, stand in another line to get another card, then stand in line to give that card to yet another person who gives you the card for the voting machine itself. Really, very grateful to have my last name. Got my "I Voted/Yo Voté" sticker and then went walking.

And walking and walking and walking. Somehow after a morning where the body repeatedly reminded the mind why it is I don't have a job, I ended up walking some insane distance. And by "insane" I mean "I can't say for sure since I walked in circles and walked on bike trails and may have wandered in alternate universes." Still mildly headachy, but I can deal with that.

ElectionHAL

Oh, you knew it was coming. MegaHAL wrote a few poems around election-related keywords today (poor HAL) and some of them must be posted. I shall resist the urge to repeat the one about a certain political party being born in hell, but the one beginning with "Georgie Porgie" gets posted. (Apologies to Naderites: Neither his name nor the word "populist" made it into the database. Actually, I'm surprised that "populist" wasn't there already.)

vote
Georgie porgie, pudding and pie,
i desired my dust to lie,
till we touched land, and my parents, and their parents,
there--and then, at a distance, you look like me and we tumble to the zombie a cure or
the vote of those formally qualified to participate.
elections are widely held in the loud fronds. They hum
i am the wings.

~~~

election
So you stole my world
this mysterious whirling planet.

and here i stay
each tea lasts an hour and he sits and he gave her something queer to eat,
and the greasy smoke in an election
is over there. The issue was decided here:
two roads diverged in a monster of despair.
he bore a green-white stick in his tent.

beneath the acorn-dropping oaks, in green--
as i have seen night lifted in thine arms.

~~~

( Parties! Candidates! Nonsense! )

Yes, I freely admit that I am easily amused.