The weather here is gloooomy. It makes the fall leaves strand out even more. I'm excited about the election, Halloween, and November in general. Today my friends and I went to the Salvation Army to buy costumes. Claudia is going to be Sherlock Holmes and recruited me to be Dr. Watson. I'm not sure how convincing we're going to be in said roles (crossdressing again...hmm...), but it sounded fun!

John Kerry is going to win. I can feel it.

Hobbits Lived!
All the major papers are talking about this, but at BBC News, the headline actually uses the nickname "hobbit" to describe the 3-and-a-half-foot human species that lived on an Indonesian island of Flores 13,000 yeaars ago. For those non-anthro majors out there, this was about the time that the Americas were first being settled. All previous hominid species had been thought to have been extinct for millennia. I'm not sure if this is for real -- it's a huge shock after my human evolution class! Very cool.

Things I miss about home:
1. The people
2. My dog (I dreamt about him last night)
3. Tivo
4. Free time
5. Little holiday feelings that my subconcious has arbitrarily attached to things
6. Restaurants
7. Driving (woah...)
8. Having a single

Things I don't miss about home:
1. Lack of fall
2. Being stuck in a little room when I want to go online
3. Not being with my college friends
4. Feeling like I should be doing something productive but not
5. No gym
6. Having to drive to get anywhere

Can't decide if I should major in Anthro or Archaeo... I love these non-dilemmas.

I love the Peabody.

I must remember to take my camera wherever I go.

One more week until the election! Bush's incompetent war is coming back to bite him.

My Mood is the New Swing State...
This afternoon I was really depressed, stressed, and frustrated. Now I feel better, mostly because I finished the larger of tow midterm essays and have decide I have time to do the second tomorrow. I was so upset because this entire month I have felt like I'm drowning in work, which I can't fully enjoy because I don't have time to really soak it up. Then there's the looming spectre of the election, and then there are a host of personal issues weighing on me, some of which I thought were done with. I feel like I haven't been able to enjoy life compared to last year, when I did fun things all the time and could afford to hang out with my friends without feeling guilty. I don't even have that many activities that I do anymore. I'm taking a hiatus from climate, frequently skipping tai chi, ignoring church, etc.

Kate's dad advised me that work fills the time allotted, so I was actually setting aside too much time (if that makes sense) to do my midterm, making my work very sporadic, painful, prone to distraction, and drawn-out. I ignored the paper all day and did it in one burst at night, which was a much better way to do it.

I am still worried that I'm not enjoying things enough, though. It's way too early for me to be waiting for Christmas, but I am. Sometimes I'm really happy and five minuts later I want to die. This morning when I awoke, I pondered the repurcussions of just staying in bed all day long. I didn't want to get up. Part of that comes from horrible insomnia. Almost every night it takes me almost two hours to fall asleep. At first I blamed increased caffeine consumption, but I cut that and it didn't get better. I think it's from my anxiety, but it just compounds it.

Oh well. I'll pull through.

Another wasted half hour...
Mood:  irritated
I hate Sterling Memorial Library.

Notwithstanding that it one of the most majestic buildings on campus; regardless of the fact that is my favorite place to study; as a library (ie, for checking out actual books) it is worthless.

Three times I have tried to get a book from there and three times it hasn't been where it's supposed to be. I never have this problem at the Kline science library. Grrrr.

Philosophering
I had always assumed that every person tries to be the best person they can be, but apparently this isn't the case. Kate acknowledges that she never admits she's wrong. She mentioned that she would be a "better person" if she didn't do this, but that she doesn't want to because it wouldn't be her. She feels like it would be changing her character, which is a valid point I hadn't considered. I had always felt that changing your character is okay if you're improving it. I gave the analogy of sports: you want to be better at a certain position because it's better for the team and you feel better about it, so you practice. Of course you change as a player when you do this, but that's a good thing rather than a compromise of integrity. Kate said she felt uncomfortable trying to be "better," and pushing yourself in sports is always uncomfortable.

Of course, what "better" is is subject to one's own standards, but I wonder if Kate or I am (to quote the GOP-FOX bloc) "out of the mainstream" on this. Do people want to be the best person they can be, or do they have different standards for themselves compared to others?

Random non-ethical stuff:

There are more opportunities to go to swing states the weekend before the election. Kate and I are considering going together. We haven't done anything fun together in a while, and this election is so much more important than anything else!

I have a midterm tomorrow. Pleh.

If Bush wins the election I'll probably stop eating.

Pleh.

Going Upriver

John Kerry is great. I don't know how anyone can vote for Bush. I wish I could make intelligent, rational comments on this, but it is so obvious.

This is a very good film, and not only as propaganda but also as a picture of a movement. It's so scary how we are reliving the 60s. I do wish Kerry hadn't voted for the Iraq war. It hadn't bothered me much before, but now it does.

But no matter. It is a different situation, after all. He is such a strong, brave, moral, person.

I am so scared for this election. The days now are short. Either our hope cometh, or all hope's end.

Kerry It On, Kerry It On
Mood:  cool
Yesterday I went to Pennsylvania with a busful of Democrats to spread the good word about John Kerry. It was great. Getting out of New Haven is really refreshing, especially to a new part of the country. There are so many trees in Pennsylvania, and many of them were brilliantly orange.We knocked on doors and encountered a slew of strange characters, not the least of which was our own driver. Being in a middle class suburban Eastern neightboorhood in October hit me with a strange sense of deja vu -- this was the image of fall emnblazoned on my memory from childhood books and movies, I guess. The pumpkins on the doorsteps looked comfortable. I'm rethinking my decision to return to the West when this is all over. Seasons are wonderful. I downloaded a bunch of Christmas songs today. I'm getting ahead of myself, but there just aren't a lot of Thanksgiving songs, much less Halloween ones.

I was struck by the number of people who claimed they were truly undecided. How is this possible? These two could not be more different. I do think I convinced a couple of these uncertain types to give Kerry a good look. I felt like what I was doing was so important that I was able to forget about schoolwork for a whole afternoon. Alas, it was still there when I got home :)

If Kerry wins the elcetion, I'm going to be the most happy person on earth. Well, maybe tied with about half the country.

Three for Three
Kerry won tonight's debate without a doubt. It was not a through flogging of the President like the first one, but I feel the Senator seemed more assured than he did Friday night. He particularly nailed the sticky questions like abortion, faith, and gay marriage. I hereby propose a toast to the lovely fall that is now upon us, and to the hope of another fall to come -- that of the Bush regime!