President Obama

Holy freakin' heck.

I'm not sure what more there is to say. Congratulations President Obama and Vice-president Biden.

Finally. Finally, it's OVER. And finally it's begun.

Space cadet

I'm not sure if it's the time change or the election or just life in general, but today was a VERY strange day. I kept losing focus, catching myself literally staring off into space. People would talk to me, and I'd have to make a real, concerted effort to tune into what they were saying. For someone who prides herself on good communication and listening skills, it was just... weird.

The Time Between the Lightning and the Thunder

Cruising around my usual online haunts, I see the near-total obsession everyone has with the election... Facebook and IM statii make mention, conversations that normally don't pertain to politics in any way (baseball, parenting, finances) have gone off-topic to all-election all the time.

In just over 48 hours we're going to have a pretty good idea if this all works out or once again goes to shit in the final moments. We're heading into the time between the lightning and the thunder.

I love that image, as it comes from an (I think still) unreleased song by David Wilcox. The song tells a sad story, that captures perfectly that moment after something major shifts - something that can never go back to what it was before - and the time it takes for it to sink in and become part of a new reality. Hoo boy.

The time between the lightning and the thunder,
The time to wait before her fate arrives.
She looks out at the sky and starts to wonder
If a miracle might let it pass her by.

The time it takes the pain of it to reach her,
The moment that her world is blown apart.
The wisdom in the silence there to teach her,
His time had been this precious from the start.

The bullet changes everything and nothing.
Gunshots will echo down the block.
This life, this could have been something...
The door that he was running for was locked.

Chorus:
She's in the time between the lightning and the thunder,
Before the shock can hit that this is real.
The disbelieving spell she's falling under,
And the time it takes before her heart can feel.

She says:
Oh my love...
It's all right...
I'm right here...
You're just asleep now.
Oh my love...
Here's my coat...
You're so cold...
Beside the street now.

The time it takes to die in some old western
Is time enough to tell where gold is hid.
Time enough to answer one last question,
Pass the map and compass to the kid.

But this time there is nothing like that virtue.
Just stillness in the heart that used to beat.
The darkness that she is falling into
Is spreading on the pavement at her feet.

Chorus:
She's in the time between the lightning and the thunder,
Before the shock can hit that this is real.
The disbelieving spell she's falling under,
And the time it takes before her heart can feel.

She says:
Oh my love...
Here's my coat...
You're so cold...
Beside the street here.
Oh my love...
It's all right...
I'm right here...
You're just asleep here.

The time between the lightning and the thunder.
The time between the lightning and the thunder.

Here we go again

It's November 1, and because I'm too freakin' lazy to try to write a novel this month with the real writers, I'm vampiring off their group mojo to kick my bloggin' ass back into gear. KBloWriMo 3 begins!

For all 3 of you paying attention, yes it should be KBloWriMo4, if you consider that KBlowWiMo1 was back in 1995 (ouch, that was a lot of numbers - I hope I didn't lose anybody). But truth is that I forgot last year until a few days into the month and - completist that I am - I figured it was best to skip entirely. The missed days would always eat at me, I know they would. I obsess like that.

Happily, this year I'm presented with tons of potential November content to write about so it shouldn't be too painful (for any of us). Most obviously, Tuesday is the election. I'm... hopeful, though that hope is understandably mixed with a large dollop of terrified. I don't think I'm alone in this mix of feelings. We've been hopeful before and it didn't work out that well - I'm not sure I can survive another day after like last time .

But there's also plenty going on at work, stuff with friends, family, kids... there's tons navelgazing gold to mine, no doubt. Aren't we all so very lucky?