Orange, Red, and Blue

Well hello there!

I feel the need to update, so here we go. Last Friday was Halloween- I wore an orange shirt- which was the extent of my dressing up. My stake had a dance, but dances don't generally strike my fancy, so I went to Erin's instead. I carved my pumpkin and handed out candy, and ate all sorts of junk.

On Saturday I helped Erin keep Sawyer's attention as she tried to take his picture on the river trail. Then I went over to Katie's and we did as we usually do- talked and ate. I went to church on Sunday and ate dinner at Erin's. On Monday, I gave blood!

The Red Cross was doing a blood drive for our stake, and I decided I finally should. I hadn't given blood since high school and my only reasons for not doing so were because I was afraid and I never drink enough water and didn't want to pass out. So I spent my weekend drinking water. Which also meant I spent my weekend taking frequent trips to the bathroom. But, I gave blood on Monday! I have officially saved 1-3 lives. Or at least contributed to their saving. :) I was pretty proud of myself.

I think the nurse lady knew I was scared (It was rather obvious- I said "I'm scared!" and turned my head away from my donating arm the whole time) because she kept trying to reassure me and tell me how much longer I had left. It took me 7.5 minutes to donate. It took the three people around me about 5 and a 1/2. But oh well. I did it, and that's what counts :)

My ex-roommate Katie went with me, and she was supposed to hold my hand. But then she decided she wanted to donate too (for the first time) so she did. Which meant I had no one to hold my hand :( But I survived.

I'm just telling you all this because it was really a momentous occasion for me. I just wanted that brunette man who stands around watching other people do nasty things tell me "Fear (of needles and blood) is not a factor for you."

And hey, did you know that only about 38% of Americans are eligible to donate blood? Isn't that weird?

Moving on.

Tuesday, Election Day. Let me just say I am so glad Election Day is over! I was getting really tired of the blatant campaigning of friends and random acquaintances. Oh, and most of that was ineffective anyway because I mailed my absentee ballot two weeks ago. (I voted in my first presidential election!)

I went to Erin's because she was having a bye-bye Bush party, during which we ate food and watched CNN report. My brother Mike works for Google and got asked to go to Chicago to do data analysis for the Obama campaign, which he did. He told us at about 8 pm that "We won 2 hours ago", which would have meant at 6 pm here, it was over. CNN didn't announce a winner until about 9-9:30 ish. For those few hours when we had info. the rest of the country was waiting for, we felt pretty darn cool. We didn't have to worry about the CNN reporters saying they weren't sure which way it would go.

So, Obama won! I know I live in Utah, so... Obama supporters seem to be few and far between, but actually the results showed Utah was only 60% McCain- which surprised me. But I still went to work on Wednesday with no one to celebrate with.

True story:
me: "Hey guys- my brother worked for the Obama campaign last night, so he told us he knew like 4 hours before the news reported it, that Obama won. Isn't that cool??"
room of 10 people: silence
girl sitting next to me: "So, your brother voted for Obama?"

Oooooooook.

I listened to people all day talk about how they don't want our country to be socialist, how they're moving to Canada, and how the End of the World must be just around the corner because the country is sure "going to hell in a hand basket"- of course people say "heck" and not "hell" but that's besides the point. Seriously though? Seriously?!

Please, move to Canada. Then I won't have to hear your whining anymore- you're annoying me. I just think it's obnoxious. Because, you're NOT actually going to move to Canada. Because... regardless of who won, Obama IS the President Elect. And for all the talk about how Obama isn't American and doesn't support "Old Glory", if McCain supporters can't recognize their defeat and realize they should support ANYone who has the responsibility to run our country and solve the mess we're in, I just want to ask them, "Who's being un-American now?"

Urgh. I'm just saying. If McCain won, I would not be going around talking about how the world is ending. Would I be disappointed? Yes. But I would realize nothing will change it and I might as well deal with it. I would not be complaining about moving to Canada. And not only that but... Obama won by A LOT. I'm not saying the popular thing is always right, but... doesn't your opponent winning by something akin to a "landslide" make you (McCain supporters) feel a little sheepish about complaining as much as (some of you) are? I'm just saying, please stop complaining because it's not going to change anything, and it's (most likely) annoying the people around you. You're probably the same people that boo-ed McCain in his concession speech when he mentioned Obama. Oh so classy.

Ok. So politics annoy me. No. They don't. Whiny defeated (generally McCain) supporters annoy me. Sorry- had to get that out there. Because it's my blog and I can- and I have to bite my tongue in BYU public. I am not a confrontational person, so I want to get it all out on here, so I can continue not arguing with these types of people in real life. :P It'll just make me feel better if I know someone (even just my mom and siblings) know my real opinion on the matter. And I haven't written a ranting post in a while, so I think I've earned this one :)

I'm just saying- it's not that I hate McCain supporters or anything- I don't. I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and Hallelujah that people exercise their right to take part in the democratic process. I'm glad people are interested in their government. All I'm saying is "You lost. So support the new President, or at least stop complaining. And maybe you should hold your tongue about moving to other countries or socialist governments until you see what happens in the next four years." Ok really. Rant over. It's just funny because if I was in Connecticut right now, pretty much everyone would be cheering about Obama's win.

Anyway. I did think it was funny though, that while I was driving home on Tuesday night, I was listening to the radio DJ who was talking about how sad it must be to live in Alaska or Hawaii- your polls haven't even closed and the election is over. Talk about your vote not "counting". I thought, "That IS sad!" and then I laughed about it for a little while. Poor Alaskans and Hawaiians. Why go to the polls when the news stations are already reporting the winner?

So then after Election Day, not too much has been happening. On Wednesday morning I woke up to snow covering the ground and still falling. It has all melted since then.

Last night I curled up in my warm bed to read with a cup of hot cocoa. I think I burned every taste bud off my tongue because I was too impatient to wait for it to cool off, and kept thinking "surely, after these past 3 seconds have passed, it's cooled enough to drink". Nope.

I have a test I need to take soon- I'm thinking Monday though. And then another test next Thursday. It looks like the second round of mid-terms has officially started.

I only have one class on Fridays, but it got canceled today for "medical reasons [my professor] will explain on monday". I also had my consultation to read my paper to him and finally get a grade on the mid-term, but he had to cancel that too. Looks like I have to wait 7 more days.

I wouldn't have to go to school at all today, except I have a meeting with my students' professors at 2 pm. Blah.

Anyway I'm gonna go get dressed and do some reading.

Until again, dear readers,

-mollie