Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Great. Now I'll be hearing the Scorpions in my head all day.

Can I just join the collective excitement and sigh of relief racing through the Internet today by adding my own great big "WHOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" to the mix?

Thanks. That felt good. Barack Obama is my new president. That feels good, too.

I am tired but ecstatic today and so caught up in the ecstatic part that I almost don't even care about the tired part. The less than five hours of sleep I got last night wasn't sufficient to help me make it through the day, so I'm relying on adrenaline to remain upright with eyes open at this point. It was totally worth a day of bloodshot eyes to witness history the way we did last night, though.

My friends and I started the evening with an Election Night dinner party. As per usual, I brought the baked goods. Witness my "Yes We Can" cake. Looks full of delicious hope, doesn't it? Mmmm. Tasty democracy.



Then we headed to downtown St. Paul for the official Minnesota DFL Victory Party. I can think of no better way to have spent last night than with thousands of people just as excited and passionate about this year's race as we were. When the giant screen projecting CNN coverage flashed the message, "Obama Elected President," the whole room erupted in cheers and applause. A tiny, well-dressed Somali man turned to me and shouted, "I need to hug you!!" and I threw my arms around him and cried, "I WILL HUG YOU!!!" Another stranger nearby pulled out a giant bottle of champagne and started passing it around to anyone who would grab it. I refuse to drink out of the communal cup of wine at my parents' church, and yet I took a swig off that without even thinking twice about it. So did my friend Carrie.





So in all, it was a fantastic night. When we walked out of the party, it was still an unseasonably warm November night, but the wind had picked up significantly, and as a gust of it twirled my hair in front of my face, I said, "Look guys! It's the winds of change!!" Let's hope so.

I'm in the middle of a NaBloPoMo theme, as you know, and yet I sort of don't feel like telling a date story today. Instead, then, I'll ask you a question. I received a Facebook friend request today from the guy who plagiarized my "I'm just not that into you" e-mail. You know--the semicolon-stealer? In all honesty, I have nothing against this man. I mean, sure, he did conveniently forget his wallet on our first date, but he sent flowers to make up for it. And he did steal my words to blow off a good friend of mine, but maybe that means he thought I said it better than he could himself? In any case, all of this was years ago. Again, I have no lingering qualms against this man. But are we friends? No. Were we ever friends? Not particularly. It's OK to click the "Ignore" button on this one, isn't it?

14 comments:

The Dutchess of Kickball said...

OMG Obama cake! That is awesome!

Anonymous said...

I share your woo-hoo-ness. I think the winds of change mean you should adjust your typical friendly demeanor actually ignore his facebook request instead of just going along with it.
Also awesome cake! You are a decorating goddess. I couldn't even carve my pumpkin right WITH a stencil.

NGS said...

That cake is pretty fabulous!!

Yeah, it's okay to ignore. You don't need constant reminders of bad dates past. At least that's what I tell myself when I ignore my ex-boyfriends' emails and phone calls. And this was just one date, not a steady relationship - ignore him and don't give him anymore of your time worrying about it!!

Sauntering Soul said...

I think ignoring him would be fine.

And I love that cake!

steve said...

WOO! And furthermore, HOO!

My enthusiasm is a little bit tempered as a Californian, however, by my fellow Californians and their inexplicable homophobia.

That was a badass lookin' cake, btw.

Maddie said...

Beautiful cake, excellent night!

Mickey said...

Yes it is.

And yay.

Courtney said...

Great-looking cake! I've had the warm fuzzies all day too.

shelleycoughlin said...

So you're saying you're dating a Somali man now? Awesome!

Seriously though, woo to the goddamn hoo! I actually woke up this morning and cried a little before I even got out of bed, I was so relieved.

Anonymous said...

I love the hug story!

Noelle said...

If you ignore the new friend, that person will never know.

Also, I'm totally digging your cake. I should have gone to your house for election night!

lizgwiz said...

I wish I had been with thousands of cheering people. I had to settle for hundreds--this is the reddest state in the country, you know. (And oh, how sad that makes me. Sigh.)

I'm sure it's okay to ignore him. I haven't yet chosen that option in my limited time on Facebook, but I'm sure it's okay. ;)

Alice said...

THAT IS ONE SERIOUSLY AWESOME CAKE.

my friends and i had a wee mini-obama party, complete with champagne, but i do wish i could have been in one of the huge masses... i had friends downtown, where dc was gridlocked for hours because there were literally throngs of people dancing in the streets for hours. that's just AMAZING. :-)

Aaron said...

1. The ignore button exists for a reason, SS.

2. Nice, nice, nice work on the Obama cake. I suddenly want cake. Cake...caaaakeee.

3. Cake.