Voting day or Dia de Votante?

The polls closed at 8, we weren't finished counting ballots and cleaning up the poll site till 11:30. That is crazy....Wow. If only you were there you would understand. Have pity on your poll clerks next time you go to the polls. We are just regular people following the orders of the federal government. Some of us not even by our own choice!

Here is an example of the craziness. I was a poll clerk in a small community with 410 registered voters. Of the 410 over 75% are Spanish speaking individuals. Of the 4 poll workers only one of us signed that we were bilingual. I never sign bilingual, because I am not fluent and have grammatical construction problems. But our bilingual clerk...was a nightmare she was confusing the voters with weird words that don't even exist. So I had to take over translations. Yet, How do you do you explain to an illiterate Spanish speaking individual how to use an audio touch screen ballot machine with 4 years of conversational High School Spanish?

Or even more confusing how do you say what Republican and Democrat or American Independent political parties are? They don't translate straight across. I take my hat of to all of you that have the golden tongue of language…bilinguals, trilinguals, English 2nd language speakers...etc. But don't worry your votes are safe...I think…just because I started the day not know how to say “Would you like to vote in Spanish?” doesn’t mean I can’t count…uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis,….Goodnight Cyberspace…Good dreams, Good Health and Good Hearts!

Sleep is Overated

Last night, for once I felt tired. Can you imagine? Usually I am up for hours till 2 or 3 am...fighting the battle of inconsistent insominia. Yet, last night I thought ...lets try to go to sleep early. Explore the unknown realm of sleep. Allow the Sandman an easy trick this time. It was a terrible experience I woke up every hour on the hour. Exhausting...finally I turned the light on and opened Popular Science. I think the Sandman slipped a little bit of nightterror into to that dust. There is something traumatic about moving from sleeping to waking over and over all night long. Anxiety, frustration, sour stomach...accompany the experience. Its one long game of cloak and dagger where I am running from something I can't see. Have you ever been there?
I've made the decision, never to again. Tonight I am staying awake til at least 2, then I should sleep like a dream. I find it curious to think that this system should work. During this night; of on and off consciousness I didn't dream. I never fell into REM sleep to dream. Dreaming seems to be an important part of my ability to rest. Freud asserts dreams are wish-fulfillments, of those wishes that are the result of repressed or frustrated sexual desires. THANK GOD, such assertions are no longer accepted as true. Others like my dear Mother insist it isn't the dreams we should worry about, but the absence of dreams.We have all had a few wierd dreams. I had a dream about a chess board that recurred throughout my youth. After mastering a mediorce ability to play chess, I never experience this plague of chess again. Wierd? Any one out there want to guess what frustrated sexual desire that is? No...please don't! Foolishness ruled the roost in my childhood, I had nightmares by the dozen. Know anyone who doesn't dream? I think they are lying...everyone dreams in some fashion...Don't they?

Prince Charming...?

I've been tagged by a fellow blogger Mr. Stark Files to open up on a what I believe my ideal guy would be...but boy is that like opening a can of worms. I could say he would be tall dark and handsome...but truly that is much more my idea of an ideal chocolate bar. My ideal man really has no physical profile. I am much more the emotional, intellectual type. Appearance always has been and will be of very small consequence to me. I do appreciate someone who dresses for the occasion whatever it might be...and cares about himself. Really that's all that matters in the appearance section...although I use to have a thing for long hair...those adolescent days are behind me....When ever a friend asks me what my ideal guy is I always wonder if their is a recipe? I haven't met him yet, so I don't know. I am attracted to men who care about the actions they do and present to the world. That converse in more than four letter words, that care about what goes on in the world and look in depth at politics, life and the norm. Who questions absolute conformity, but enjoys the striaght and narrow. They must be critical, thoughtful, well read, and love to talk. He has to love to talk....and not about video games, but about what really counts: himself, the world...etc. I don't want a guy that views a relationship out of bed more important than in it. Mostly, I am looking for a man willing to spend his life as my partner, who will involve me in his with goals and dreams as well as care about mine. With a large helping of integrity, humor and true character and a dash of sarcasm.
So if your out there...Look me up!
p.s. Someone who doesn't mind an opinionated female would be helpful.

Please To Remember The Fifth of November

Do you know what holiday is celebrated in Britain on November 5th in England? Guy Fawkes Day. I have always heard of Guy Fawkes day, yet never knew what it meant. I figured it was likely a famous British man celebrated for some noble accomplishment. Interestingly however it might be said that Guy Fawkes is celebrated for his notoriety. I guess you might say it is an English Nationalist holiday reinforcing a national narrative of how good forces won over the devilish plot of a treasonist. Guy Fawkes planned to blow up the Parliament and James Stewart with barrels of gun powder. The Plot is commonly called the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes was apprehended in vault below the house with barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes and 3 other men were executed for their treason. The Holiday is celebrated by young teens running the streets with blackened faces begging for pennies "penny for a guy", chanting rhymes "please to remember the fifth of November, Guy Fawkes die, hit him in the eye" or "Remember, remember, the fifth of November Gunpowder treason and plot I see no reason why Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot" and the burning of life size effigies of Guy Fawkes on large bonfires. Hmmm...very interesting...guess where I learned this? The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes episode 'the gunpowder plot'...but don't worry, I researched it too....interesting. Can you believe it? Did you know it? Is there more too it? What about possible prejudice towards Catholics?

A Few Good Tips For College Students

Some of these tips are from personal experience, a couple in retrospect watching of friends, but mostly reflection on my last year of College. Honestly, I just wanted to collect some interesting things I have discovered:

Fun Tips:

1. A free lunch from a credit card company is never free
2. Credit cards may come in bright colors and promise big rewards, but the fees are brighter and bigger
3. Expensive books don't always mean Big pictures, but can be bought for half price from other students
4. Professors may have PHDs but that doesn't make them God
5. Sell ideas, not your soul to classes
6. Make Professors work hard, they make you work hard
7. Don't decide to send a nasty email to a professor until after the Final Exam
8. Just because you don't see the Campus Police checking for parking permits doesn't mean they don't
9. Going to the pub after failing an exam is a recipe for disaster
10. Motorcycle parking really is for Motorcycles
11. A speed bump at 55 mph or faster will ripe the exhaust pipe right out from under most mid-size cars

A little more serious:

1. Alcohol may seem like a good remedy for stress, but really it just creates more problems
2. College is the only time in your life where you get the chance to soak in so much knowledge, people, activities and networks don't waste it by partying to hard
3. Grades are insignificant measurements of learning and only follow you for a short time, Integrity or Dishonesty will follow you for the rest of your life.
4. College is 10% work, 50% using your head and 40% showing up
5. Just because your an adult doesn't mean give up on your Parents
6. Keep an Open mind, Don't forget where you came from and Leave your drama at home