30 Days of Thanks Day 21- My parents

I am so exceedingly grateful for my parents. I have the kind of parents I can brag about; the kind other people wish they had.
I grew up in an affectionate family, knowing I was loved unconditionally. My parents support me, they care about my happiness and well-being, they exposed me to art and music and different people and nurtured my talents and interests.
My parents taught me compassion and empathy and patience. They taught me how to read and how to cook, and most importantly, how to love. I can love other people freely and unconditionally because my parents loved each other and me that way. I can take risks in search of happiness because I know that I have the love of my parents.
Love isn't all you need, but knowing that your parents love you no matter what sure helps an awful lot.

Days 10-20

10. Cell phone.

11. Public transit.

12. A job.

13. Literacy.

14. Sunshine.

15. Fresh air.

16. Sleep.

17. Kissing.

18. Grocery stores.

19. Blankets.

20. Rain.

30 Days of Thanks 5-9

My weekend got away from me and I didn't update as I should have. So, without further ado:

5) Clean water. Not something we all think about, but we're very lucky to have regular access to clean drinking water.

6) The Library. All these books! And you can read them for free! Not to mention all the other vital services they provide for people.

7)A roof over my head. I live in DC, I get nearly daily reminders that I should not take having a home for granted.

8) Pleasure. I think this one goes without saying.

9) Modern medicine. Our healthcare system in the US is FUBAR'd, and modern medicine often pathologizes things it shouldn't (like pregnancy and childbirth). But it also keeps me from have horrible migraines 3-4 times a week, and makes many, many other people able to function on a daily basis, and gives them a fighting chance against diseases like cancer.

30 Days of Thanks Day 4

Vacation days.
I needed a new driver's license, so I had to go to the MVA (that's the MD version of the DMV). And yes, they're open on Saturdays, but only until noon.
So I took a day off, and the Gentleman Friend drove me there (another thing for which I am grateful). And got my license, and registered as an organ donor and a MD voter. And I will still get paid for the day. So, vacation days are good.

30 Days of Thanks - My Body

This is why I love going to the gym, because of the sense of peace and gratitude and love that the exercise endorphins give me. My quads hate me right now, because I've been doing squats, and I went swimming on Monday and did the stationary bike and rowing machine today. But I love them.
I am grateful for my body, even though it's not perfect. For the strength and endurance I do have, and for the way that I can build more. For my big hands and long fingers and the things that they can do. For my big feet, which give me better balance (and look fabulous in the right pair of heels). I am grateful that I do not have food allergies or chronic illness. Grateful for my body's ability to heal and to whether pain and discomfort.

30 Days of Thanks - 1 and 2

Two things I am grateful for.

1. Indoor plumbing. Hot and cold running water is a pretty amazing thing, and I am very grateful for it.

2. The Internet. Yeah, the Internet is full of people at their worst some times, but it's also full of people at their best. I have seen some amazing works of community and kindness organized and perpetuated on the Internet, and it always makes me smile, the way it brings people together who might otherwise not have anyone.

30 Days of Thanks - Grace

30 Days of Thanks
I only just found out about this today, so I'm going to write up a post I've been composing in my head for a while, and then move on to more specific things I am thankful for.

I didn't grow up saying grace before meals, but now that I live on my own, sometimes I do. Not the standard grace you may think of, but a moment to pause and meditate on two things: the miracle of food, and the chain of people who got that food to me.
I find that I am particularly moved to do this if I've been to the gym recently; the endorphins of a workout fill me with a sense of awe and love for the whole great wide world, which is one of the reasons that I like working out.

Anyway. I like to contemplate the way food illustrates the conservation of matter. Some time ago, two hydrogen atoms got smashed together to make helium, and in the process they let off a huge burst of energy in the form of heat and light. That energy reaches Earth where a plant uses it to convert water and soil nutrients into more plant. Which then gets harvested by somebody and either comes to me or goes to an animal who converts the plant into energy and/or more animal. Either way, it eventually comes to me and my body converts it into energy. Which is really really cool. What is also really really cool is the number of people who work together to make that happen. There's the farmer and the laborers who harvest, the people who pack and ship, the people who prepare it if it's prepared. If I'm cooking it, there's the people who taught me to cook, the people who made the pans I'm using. And the people who discovered and/or invented it. If I'm eating french fries, I'm connected to the earth, the sun, the guy who harvested the potatoes, the guy who shipped them, the guy who fried them, the oil, and the guy in Belgium who invented them. Isn't that cool?

So I like to pause and be grateful for the labor that got the food to my table, and also for the fact that I have food at all. I highly recommend it. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, taking a moment to reflect on what you're eating and how that came to happen can definitely improve your day.

New Year, New Beginnings?

I moved this weekend. I'm sitting here in my new place, feeling like the symbolism is pretty darn powerful. I was getting to be unhappy in my last place, for a number of reasons, none of which are really worth discussing in this forum. But the process of shedding that with the old year is really great. Not great enough to make me want to move every Jan 1, because I hate moving, but still good. New surroundings are always a great opportunity to try to establish new habits and behaviors, which coincides nicely with the idea of New Year's Resolutions.

But the thing I find myself really ruminating on right now is the gift of friendship. We're starting a new decade, and while there were many ups and downs in the last decade, I made some friendships that I hope will continue through this decade and beyond. And I rekindled some that predate even that. I have friends I've known for more than half my life. That's amazing.
And I'm feeling so grateful for those friends right now. Earlier this week, I sent out an email to a bunch of friends who have cars and might be willing to help me move. It was late notice, and a holiday, so some couldn't. But the number of people who were willing to made me happy. Even the number of people I felt I could ask was great. And it made me realize, again, how blessed I am to have the friends I do. I feel surrounded by love and community, there for me as long as I remember to reach out. I hope that the amazing quality of my friends is a reflection on my qualities as a friend. I hope that I have it in me to display the love, support, kindness and generosity they show me. And I hope they know that all they ever have to do is ask.

National Coming Out Day

I've written about my feelings on Colombus Day before.

So today I'm going to write about National Coming Out Day, which is also today.
This is a great day for people to come out as being Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Queer, but it's also a great day for those of us who are allies to the GLBTQ community to announce our support.

Given the recent spate of suicides as a result of anti-gay bullying, it's more important than ever for those of us who support civil rights and equal treatment for GLBTQ individuals to stand up and speak out. We have to make the world a more open and accepting place, where we celebrate the amazing diversity of humanity. People come in different shapes, colors, sizes and sexual expressions. Instead of trying to supress that, we should rejoice in it. Variation, evolutionarily speaking, is what makes a species strong. It also makes us more interesting. We all have different talents and perspectives to bring to the table. That's how we accomplish the work of civilization.

I want to raise my children in a world where everyone comes out, because heterosexuality isn't assumed to be the default. Or a world where no one does, because it's not a big deal. A world where the fact that someone's gay is part of their identity, and history, yes, but where it doesn't have to be the defining part of their identity. A world where openly queer people can live anywhere they like without fearing violence simply for being who they are and loving who they love. A world where we can all say "I am what I am, and what I am needs no excuses", regardless of our creeds, our colors, our genders, or our sexualities.

"Health Care Crisis" vs. "Culture Crisis"

At least three seperate people on my Facebook feed have shared this link. I've copied the text below, followed by my response, because after seeing it so many times, I decided that my common practice of holding my tongue when I see something I disagree with on Facebook won't work this time around.

Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.


While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture" a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD
If you agree...pass it on.



Why assume that the tattoos and gold tooth are recent acquisitions? Perhaps they were acquired during a period of employment, or at least better financial circumstances.

We don't know how the cell phone was acquired or paid for. Maybe it's prepaid, or paid for by a family member. And in this day and age, a cell phone is frequently considered one of life's necessities. Maybe the sneakers were a gift, or purchased on clearance.

Cigarette smoking is frequently an addiction. An expensive one, yes, but the tools to quit smoking aren't exactly cheap either. Not everyone can go cold-turkey without significant physical and emotional symptoms.

Fast food, while it might seem expensive to us, is frequently cheaper than purchasing healthy food to cook at home. This is one of the reasons that people in poverty are hardest hit by the obesity epidemic- fattening, unhealthy food is cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables, if any fresh produce is to be found at the grocery stores in poorer neighborhoods at all.

I'm not saying that the woman in this story is a shining example of personal responsibility, but there are plenty of people (myself included) who have been productive members of society and still lacked health insurance. I'm generally considered intelligent and well-educated by most of the standards our culture uses, and I get confused when trying to understand insurance. It is easy to buy a six-pack of beer. Let us not forget that any number of private insurance companies will turn down a person for a pre-existing condition, of which this woman may have several.

Lastly, while I certainly advocate responsibility and taking austerity measures when necessary, why do so many letters like this assume that the poor don't deserve anything nice? Why do we expect people to know how to take financial responsibility when we live in a culture of conspicuous consumption and don't teach young people how to manage money?

Where's the letter of outrage about the man who makes $100,000/year, drinks to excess, smokes, and eats red meat, and who drives up insurance premiums for everyone when he needs quadruple bypass surgery? Do only the wealthy deserve health care? Are only the rich entitled to pleasure?

I believe that government exists to provide essential services to its citizens, and to provide a safety net. I am grateful these programs exist, so that if I ever need them, they'll be there. I don't mind seeing my tax dollars go to social programs. That's what they're for, and it saves me the trouble of having to write a seperate check to charity to cover these services.

There are many things wrong with our culture, yes. One is the failure of many people to take personal responsibility. But another is a pervasive "me first, screw the other guy" attitude. No man is an island, and a fall from grace might be just around the corner for any of us. Treating others with the compassion you would want if the situation were reversed is the first step in creating a better world.

100 movies, 101 books, 104 weeks

The Goal

My 28th birthday was July 6. I set myself (the possibly crazy) goal of reading all the books on this list and watching all the movies on the AFI's 100 years, 100 movies list before I turn 30. That's a rate of 1 book and 1 movie per week for the next two years.

The Reason

Lots of movies on the list I've already seen. Some of the books I've read. Some I was assigned but never finished, many others I've simply never read.
I believe that exposure to good writing makes you a better writer. One of the most common pieces of advice is to read more. Beyond that, I think that reading great literature helps you think. And, whether you like a book or not, when it's a seminal work, having read it improves your understanding of other literature. All art exists in a dialog with the art that has gone before, with the audience, and with the time and place that created it (I would love to be able to teach a course that combined art history, literature, and history). Being conversant with many of the major works of the Western canon simply creates a richer understanding of the world and of the other books you read. Plus, books get to be classics for a reason, either because the story is so well-told or because of the impact they had. Either one of those reasons is a good one for reading a book.
The same thing holds true for film. Even if you don't like Gone With the Wind (for example), it's a major cultural influence. I like being familiar with the source material for references, quips, and quotes. And also understanding how those films influenced films that came later.
And, as my facebook profile says, I've always been a sucker for a well-told tale.

The Methodology
Unless I've watched the film or seen the book in the past 12 months, it goes on the list. You can argue all you want about whether the book list I picked is the best, but I think it's relatively inclusive, and you can't argue that any of those books aren't great, and they're not ranked. The film list was easier to pick a source, since I knew the AFI had done a list, and I tend to agree with their assessment.

Some of the movies on the list I own, but they're all in my Netflix queue (some of them are available on Netflix Instant Play).

The books are all available through my public library. The local branch is a short walk away and is open into the evening three nights a week. They don't have all of the books at my local branch, but they do have a fantastic hold system which allows me to order the books from the other branches and pick them up. They also have a great online account management system, which makes it easy to place holds or renewals from home. Many of them are also available free for the Kindle, which was my birthday present from my parents. This is great, because it allows me to carry multiple books with me, and because of the built-in dictionary. I'm pretty good at figuring out meaning from context (I've always had high reading comprehension skills), but the Kindle makes it super-easy to look up a word in the dictionary, which really helps me understand the shades of nuance better (and lets me confirm that I'm deducing the meaning correctly). And when reading older works, understanding the archaic meaning of a word that has a different usage today is important. I'm trying to avoid paying for books, unless I already own them or can get them for less than $5. Many of these books I have a copy of somewhere (I have Faust in the original German from when I read it in college), and I don't want duplicates, and I already have so many books and so little space that adding to it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Ideally, I'll post here on my thoughts about each book or movie. Currently, I'm partway through three different books (I was caught out without the paperback Grapes of Wrath, so I started Moby Dick, and when Mellville's prose got to be a little too intense, I started The Awakening), and I've watched Fargo.

If you follow me on Twitter (@evelynpchester), you'll see which movies I'm watching, which book I'm reading, and I may also tweet quotes from books via my Kindle.

Wish me luck!

SCOTUS Job Opening

Dear Mr. President:

Attached please find my CV for consideration for the Supreme Court Justice vacancy.
I believe that I possess the qualities you stated you are looking for in a Supreme Court Justice: a love of the Constitution, respect for the judicial process, and empathy. And while I do not possess a law degree, the Constitution does not make that a requirement. Nor does the Constitution stipulate an age requirement the way it does for elected office, and I believe that my youth would be an asset on the bench.

I look forward to discussing my qualifications with you at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,
Evelyn Chester

PS- I know the confirmation would be tricky, but with a solid Democratic majority in the Senate and the right strategy, we could manage it.

Seriously?

So, earlier this evening, a friend of mine sent me a link to this video:


Which piqued my curiousity, so I watched the original:


Which, unsurprisingly, made me angry. I wanted to do an eloquent, point-by-point rebuttal of their points, but I couldn't find the script online and I didn't think that watching the video enough times to transcribe it properly would be good for my blood pressure.

Fortunately, Keith Olbermann said basically what I want to say:



How does my right to marry whomever I choose hurt anyone? How does the expansion of rights take away anyone's rights? My faith teaches that all love should be honored and celebrated, so why does your faith get to be the one that defines marriage for everyone? How does saying that civil marriage has to be defined by civil law mean that a religious institution has to change the religious definition of marriage? There's already a difference! Gay couples get married in churches all the time. Plenty of clergy won't perform marriages that are otherwise legal under civil law, because the religious law they follow doesn't allow said marriage. The National Organization for Marriage says that it takes away their right to define marriage a certain way, and means that people are allowed to call them bigots. Guess what? I'm already allowed to call you a bigot, because a)the First Amendment says I am, and b) you are. Also, you can define marriage any darn way you want. You can define any word any darn way you want, though I wouldn't advise it, as it tends to make communication difficult. My marriage doesn't need your recognition to be valid, it only needs the government to recognize it. There are plenty of marriages I've seen and not approved of, but it's not my business.
You can teach your children whatever you want. Teach them that your god only wants people to have sex with their spouse (of the opposite sex!) in the dark in the missionary position with their eyes closed for the purposes of reproduction and will smite them down if they do it any other way. You're allowed. You're an idiot, but you're allowed. Teach them that homosexuality is wrong in the eyes of the god you believe in. Because that's not led to any suicides or anything. You don't have to teach your children to be tolerant and accepting if you don't want to. That's what I plan on teaching my kids, but hey, you know, whatever. I'll teach my kids that all men and women are brother and sisters and that "a wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men", you teach your kids that it's OK to tell people they're going to hell because of who they love. It's a free country, after all. But as Sondheim says, "be careful what you say, children will listen." Polls already show that as the next generation comes of age, support for same-sex marriage is growing, as is support for equality in general, so I'm actually not too worried.

Funny how once I start writing, I get on a roll. But oh, for a pen of fire, to match my muse.

Cherry blossoms 2009

You can see more of my pictures from this spring at my flickr.

To my children, who have not yet been conceived:

Today, we changed the world for you. OK, really we changed it in November, when we stood up and said "Yes We Can", but it became real today. I was at work, at the home of a man who helped make today possible, and I felt his presence with me. I nearly cried as President Obama made his speech, as he promised to help make America a country I can be proud to give to you.
For America is a gift. I was given America by my immigrant ancestors, who took a chance on a brave new world being better. I was given America by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, by Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, by Martin Luther King Jr and Gloria Steinhem. I was given the gift of America by millions of men and women of all races and creeds who worked to make it a better country, but whose names we don't remember. By the over 30,000 men and women buried in Arlington National Cemetery and the millions more buried in national cemeteries throughout the country. America was built by sweat and tears and toil and courage and joy and hope.
This America is an experiment, and sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it doesn't, but we can't ever give up. We work today to give our children a better America than the one our parents gave us, but we remember that our parents worked to make it better than the one they had. Our Constitution says "we the people" and "in order to make a more perfect union." Our union is not perfect, but daily we strive to make it more so, and today we took a step further in that direction.
So, to my children, who are as yet only a twinkle in my eye, I hope you can forgive me for not having a better story of Jan 20 2009, and I hope that the country you inherit is even better than the one I dream of today.

The love of my life

My love affair with the 21st Century in general and the Internet in particular continues unabated.
I got a new laptop for Christmas, it is shiny and I adore it, especially because it runs much faster and quieter than my old one (which probably could have been made to run faster with some extra TLC, but not quieter). I also got a Western Digital portable harddrive, which I just used to transfer all my important files (documents, pictures, music) from the old laptop, making updating my iPod much more straightforward.
I've had a USB thumb drive for years, and I love it too, it makes it much easier to keep important documents on hand.
I actually like Vista, though some things take a bit getting used to, and the new Office (though on my home computer I use Open Office, we have the latest MS Office at work). I like the games, even. And I really dig Microsoft Media Center, because it lets you interact with some cool online media (it has The Guild, which is a very cool web show).
And I love Twitter and other social networking sites, even though it's dorky. It's just silly and fun and reminds me that I have a post on social networking to finish.
I listen to music via Pandora, I save my favorite websites to Delicious (I'd tell you my name, but most of my bookmarks are fanfic or work-related, and thus not particularly interesting to a general audience).
I'm sitting here with my laptop on my lap (atop its cooling station) with a headset on (I was recording some spoken stuff) and typing away and I just feel very connected to everything. It's neat.

In other news, it is very cold in DC, and I am ready for the Inauguration to be over, as are, I think, most Washingtonians.

Thanksgiving

"To commemorate a past event you kill an animal and eat it. It's a ritual sacrifice. With pie." Anya, in "Pangs" Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Except we never really had much pie at our Thanksgivings. I think I was 24 the first time I had pumpkin pie. But I digress.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a roof over my head, heat, running water, suffrage, the Internet. I have wonderful friends and great parents.

And on Thanksgiving, I like to reflect not only on what I have that I'm thankful for, but on the story of Thanksgiving and on the courage of the people who made this country. The Pilgrims are not my favorite people in history, because Calvinism isn't my favorite thing, but to get on a boat and sail off to an unknown land to build the country you want takes guts. And the countless millions who followed, who came to this land both in search of opportunity and against their will. When I went to Berlin to study, I traveled in the relative luxury of an airplane, I had modern telecommunications to reach my loved ones at home, I'd studied the language for three years and I knew that I was going home again. My immigrant ancestors had none of that. They might never see the faces or hear the voices of their loved ones again. And yet they took that risk in the hopes of a better life for themselves and their descendants. And together they helped to build this country, a country that isn't perfect, but tries to be.

A day four centuries in the making

In 1608, the Mayflower had yet to set sail, and Pochontas saved John Smith's life, only for her people to be repaid with theft and smallpox and generations of reservations and cultural repression.
In 1708, the Americas were dotted with colonies controlled by European powers. The chances that anyone who wasn't a landowning white man could vote were slim to none, even in places where voting existed.
In 1808, the importation of slaves to the United States was banned, but slavery continued. Women were virtually property, and Native Americans were being "resettled" to make way for Western expansion.
In 1908, women still couldn't vote and segregation was the norm. There were immigration quotas and exclusion acts.
In 2008, the United States of America elected its first non-white president.

What will 2108 bring?
What victories will we have won for our grandchildren?
I have hope today. Because I stood in a line that Susan B. Anthony wasn't allowed to, because Barack Obama will take an oath that Frederick Douglass was only allowed to witness, I have hope that even if it doesn't happen for me, we will win the fights we fight today. The seeds that we plant will bear fruit, and though the plow may callous our hands, our children and grandchildren will reap fields of justice. Someday, we will tell children that it used to be illegal to marry the person you loved, and they will look at us with incredulity. Someday, learning that people used to go bankrupt because of their medical bills will make our grandchildren shake their heads and wonder what on earth was wrong with us. Some day, we will judge people not on their race, on their gender, on their religion, but on their character.
Some day, we will have formed the perfect union that our founders dreamed of on a hot Philadelphia afternoon, because "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."1 I may not live to see it, but because I have lived to see the dreams of my ancestors come true, I have faith that my dreams will come true. Some day.

I don't have the words

Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America. (Tom Friedman, today's NY Times)
"Hope" seems inadequate to describe what I feel. "Pride" equally so. I have never in my life felt the world to be so full of promise and potential as I do today. I have never felt so connected to the struggles of generations before me as I do right now.

Yesterday, I stood in line for 40 minutes to cast my ballot, for the first time in person. I took pictures with my cell phone and sent texts to twitter because I wanted to document it. In that line were men and women, young and old, all colors and ethnicities and we were all in that line in the hopes that we might help to make a more perfect union. And I thought about the fact that 100 years ago, I wouldn't have been allowed to be in that line. And that 50 years ago, I wasn't allowed to hold the job I have now. And that 40 years ago, men were shot for daring to hope that today might happen.

When it became clear that Senator Obama was about to become President-Elect Obama, I was so proud of America. As he says, in no other country in the world is his story even possible. And I was so afraid that I would be let down, that my hopes would be dashed, that there was enough lingering racism in this country that I would never get to write this blog post. But my fellow Americans rose above it and today I can stand in front of the world and I say I am an American and be proud of who we are.

I cried during his victory speech, during his story of Ann Nixon Cooper, the 106-year-old woman. To think how much the world has changed, what we've done, both as a nation and as a species. Do you think that our ancestors dreamed this world even in their most outlandish imaginings? I walked up the hill at work today, and I said "Do you know what happened, Mr. Douglass?"

I am so inspired, and so grateful, and so proud, and so full of hope.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Amen, Mr. President.

the final hours

I get to vote in person in a national election for the first time, which is exciting. I've voted in school board elections and the like, but never in a national election, because I've been away at school. I know myself well enough to know that I'm not likely to be up in time to be at the polls when they open at 7 AM. Though with the return of Eastern Standard Time, I suppose it's possible.

It's amazing, but 100 years ago, women couldn't vote. And now I'm going to go stand in line- in pants, sans chaperone- and cast my ballot for president. (Of course, as a DC resident, I'm still disenfranchised, but that's a whole different entry.) I want to bring the women of Seneca Falls forward in time so they can see me, to boost their spirits.

I just wish Election Day wasn't on a Tuesday, so I didn't have to spend 8 hours at work and worry about the lines at the polling place. And I know we'll all be glad when it's over, because this election has dragged on forever.