Nevermind the destination, just sit back and enjoy the ride

There's nothing sexy about turning 24.
I've already turned 21, therefore there's Nothing to Look Forward To in the landmark birthday department, ever again, except being 80 or 90 and not cacking over dead. The only thing turning 24 has going is that it's the last birthday before I turn 25, and then 30, and 40, and 50 ...
But somehow, being halfway to 48 is slightly less scary than being halfway to 46. Maybe that's why god made the ability to see gray areas something that improves with age.
When I was about 9, I conflated the term "adult" with "grown-up." I thought that I would wake up on my 18th birthday a grown-up.
When I was 18, I thought going to college would make me a grown-up. Then I realized that college (at least for the first couple of years) was like summer camp, but with more reading and fewer rules. Around that time, I said screw this grown-up stuff. I figured that I would graduate, enter the world of grown-ups, and become Old and Boring.
And then I came here.
Which was a jarring experience. One day I was eating generic macaroni and cheese, pulling all-nighters, driving a car my dad owned while my mom still made my doctor appointments. A few weeks later I was sitting in MY apartment — just mine, no one else's — working a full-time job and drinking responsibly. And buying my own health insurance.
Maybe I'm biased because I've never been anything resembling a grown-up back at home. But here it just seems a lot easier to be a fully functional adult — as opposed to a post-college student who isn't sure how to proceed — without becoming Old and Boring.
Most of the people I hang out with are older than me. As one of them puts it, I see people out until 4 in the morning who are old enough to be my grandparents. And they're having more fun than I am.
The biggest fear I've ever had is that someday I'll look back and realize that I spent so much time trying to grow up and focus on what I'm supposed to do that I haven't really done anything, and then I'll look forward and realize that, barring random life-changing events that tend to crop up when you least expect them, all the uncertainty is gone. It's not that I don't have any direction, but I've always thought of life more as a series of crazy-ass stories to write — anecdotes, even — than a series of goals to achieve.
Which is the joy of living here — so many random people and places and movements and ideas all in one place, I don't get the urge to dash across the country/world every time I get existentially stir-crazy. I can just go outside.

Things I am Thankful For

In honor of the upcoming holiday, naturally.

I'm thankful ...
that my boss let me change my shift so I can go to at least part of a Thanksgiving dinner.
that I *have* said job, in the best city in the world.
for my fabulous friends and family and fantastic boyfriend.
for getting to go home and see everyone for 10 days.
for my apartment, and my random Craigslist roommate who is, thankfully, sane.
for the fact that I can get around without a car.
for the fact that Alex has a car.
for all of the workers at the food establishments around my work who remember me when I come in.
for elaine's and all the people thereof.
for getting to sleep in most days.
for the people in the city who know how to walk in public.
for the fact that the hamsters staying in my apartment are only temporary.

(Did you know hamsters are nocturnal? And louder than you would think.)

*edit* Another thing I'm thankful for — 99-cent lattes from Dunkin' Donuts. Best way to get through the last day of my work week. On that note, I'm thankful that I don't have to work tomorrow.

President Obama!

There's nothing to be said about the joyousness of Barack Hussein Obama's resounding thwomp of John McCain that has not already been said by every journalist and pundit and blogger on earth (yes, on earth, not just in America. Foreigners are ecstatic that we finally pulled our heads out of our collective ass and voted for the smart guy for once.) But a few things come to mind:

1. Every time something goes wrong, I think of the fact that Barack Obama will soon be president and my mood gets a little better.

2. I think it's time for me to take a little siesta from politics. At least until Inauguration Day.

3. That point aside, I have a very important question for you all. When you think of the fact that after eight long, dark years, Obama made it to the White House, and you think of the future, what song comes to mind? I'm making a CD chronicling the Bush presidency, and I need something really good to end it with. I know you guys are not big commenters, but please enlighten me if you have a suggestion. Thoughts on other songs that bring to mind other key moments in the Bush presidency are welcome as well.

4. Obama represents a lot of things to a lot of people. He comes into the presidency after several months of promising everything up to the receding of the of the oceans, and is about to step up to govern a giant clusterfuck. I hope he doesn't disappoint us too much.

Happy Thoughts from the McCain Campaign

"Crystal meth. Me, personally, that’s how I’m going to do it.”

McCain adviser, speechwriter and biographer Mark Salter, on how he was going to cope with the last day of the campaign.

(Via Gawker.)

Election Day Buzz ... Buzz ... Buzzzzzzz

Babeland is giving out free vibrators to people who vote.

But if you're not into the kinds of things that are illegal in Alabama, you can also get a scoop of ben & Jerry's ice cream or a cup of Starbucks coffee for voting (or even just saying you voted.)