This morning is filled with relief, happiness, pride for my country and hope for the future.
I woke up this morning after a restless night of unsatisfying sleep; between coughing fits and election nerves it was hard to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time. I would wake up every few hours and reload CNN and Pollster to catch bits of progress as the results were tallied up. This morning I fixed myself a cup of coffee and settled down to watch Obama's victory speech on CNN and was tickled when two minutes into it there was Aunt Tracy nodding along to what Obama was saying!
I've been thinking back to my experience at the DNC throughout these final days of the election. It is so satisfying that Obama will take the office. It feels like finally hope is going to be restored to a post-911 apathetic America. Pedicabbing for the DNC was an amazing experience. It kept me in the thick of down town crowds where I got to watch protesters, the iraq veterans against the war demonstrations, art projects, lobbyists working away, and even drive newscasters in full make-up to their camera-shot destinations. I was able to get in to the private Death Cab for Cutie concert for enviromental lobbyists, and a free Rage Against the Machine concert- never had their music felt more relevant than it did during the concert which turned into a march in support of Iraq Veterans against the war. The entire week stirred up an energy and passion for activism that had been subdued in the midst of college apathy. Obama and this election has brought that back, and brought back hope that change can and must happen in America.

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on an entirely different note- my bank is getting me down. Yesterday i noticed that i was charged twice for an ATM withdrawal i made when i took out money for rent. I can't afford to pay rent twice!! The orders were still pending on my online account status, and I thought everything would be fixed up by today, but to my horror things have only taken a turn for the worse. I currently have a negative balance on my account because somehow there are 3 or 4 false withdraws from my account! I have to wait a few hours before i can call my bank to sort these things out. I have my debit card, so it wasn't stolen and I don't understand how anyone could have access to my account.
ugh. this is so stressful.