Flabbergasted

hey kids.

i was going to write about this yesterday, but, after a full day of work and a full stint of ridiculous ESOL education shortly thereafter, by the time i finally made it back to my humble abode last night it was nearly 8pm. and by that time, dear readers, i didn't feel like doing anything but having a drink and going to bed.

you see, i had about four hours of sleep tuesday night. i'm sure many of you did as well. after following the primaries and general election for the last 21 months - most likely closer than most americans and those of you who read this (though i know of plenty of exceptions and like-minded souls on either side of the partisan line) - i felt like it was my solemn duty to see this crapfest through... all the way to the end. that meant staying up to watch the polls close, and staying up even later to watch the speeches. perhaps not the most impressive of feats to some, but this guy - me - has the internal clock of an old man... and gets to wake up every morning at 5am and spew learning at barbarian teenagers all day long. furthermore, like i've said before, on wednesdays i also get to attend a three hour ESOL (english as a second language) instructional method course directly after work. loads of fun wednesdays are.

(pfft.)

anyway, i'm not about to go into a political rant here, folks, so don't worry. nobody wants that. the purpose of me writing this is to vocalize a concern i'm sure a great deal of us now have at this point in time:

what the hell do we do with all of our spare time now?

some folks aren't 'news' people. they don't care that much, they find it boring, whatever. more power to 'em. me? i'm a 'news' person. can't get enough of the crap, even if it is biased, dramatized and skewed beyond all rational thought. i used to religiously check online and read the headlines at least a few dozen times a day. i'd watch political analysts and chief strategists on tv, i'd listen to experts on NPR, i'd watch the polls and track the electoral map during whatever spare moment i could get my hands on. and now that barack obama has clenched the presidency, i'm at a loss.

i have absolutely nothing to focus my attention on.

work? yeah, sure. i suppose i could focus more on work. after all, kids need teaching, kids need social studies. but honestly... who enjoys devoting their free time to work? i mean really? i love my job - don't get me wrong, here - but i don't love it that much. i suppose what little free time i have now, and that i used to devote towards tracking mud-slinging through the associated press, will soon be devoted towards grad school and homework.

i can't even begin to tell all you folks how thrilled and excited i am for that hellfest to begin.

but in all seriousness, i have no idea what to do with myself now. i need to pick up a new hobby.

flabbergasted,

- brian

Election Day

hi readers.

now, while florida has been known to suck on occasion since we’ve been down here, it has also proven to be quite awesome from time to time. take the weather, for instance. when not bracing for a hurricane, one really can’t beat the tropics. palm trees and 80 degree weather in november? yeah, i’ll take that over the cold drizzle and grey overcast skies of snowless michigan right now. and being this close to all of the theme parks, ocean, and beaches? slightly more stuff to do here than in clare. granted, you have to pay $1200 a month in rent, and you do run the risk of being shot at or killed in a car accident via one of the many, many stellar drivers we have down here... but, that's the price you pay for location.

what i’m getting at, folks, is that florida has a tendency of surprising you with little flashes of awesome when you’re least expecting it (of course, this also swings the opposite way, but let’s try to stay optimistic here). the hough family was recently made aware of yet another one of florida’s perks: the ability to vote early.

florida isn’t the only state in the union that does this, i know, so i’d urge you to look into whether or not that’s available to you in your own backyard. here in America’s Penis (if you look at a map of the continental united states, this is what florida looks like… seriously, people), kris and i decided to take full advantage of this and ‘get our vote on.’ as its somewhat still frowned upon to leave babies unattended down here (apparently the ol’ 'leave-the-baby-under-an- upside-down-laundry-basket-with-a-brick-on-top' trick doesn’t "fly" anymore), we had to take the cannonball with us to the local early voting location – the nearest branch of the orange county library.

expecting a four-hour stand-a-thon, the hough family geared up like we were setting off into the serengeti. parking was terrible, and we had to fight our way through hordes of volunteers out supporting their candidate of choice (mostly local positions - county commissioners, stuff like that - no mccain people about... though there were plenty of obama people to be seen). the circus ended up being a little easier than we had anticipated, and running the entire gauntlet ended up only taking about an hour. i had alayna strapped to me in a harness, and she only started acting up when i was in the voting booth.

the people around me most likely did not appreciate this.

anyway, the moral of the story (if there even is one) is this: vote early. do it. get it out of the way. seriously. regardless of whether or not you’re voting for the erratic old guy/bat-shit crazy lady combo or the socialist/foot-in-mouth combo, save yourself the trouble of standing in line for hours and hours on november 4th and make that crap happen.

if you don’t, you don’t get to complain about anything for the next four years. and complaining is an american right.

fight for your rights, america... fight for your rights.