Thursday nights are Bible study at the Moon's. However, there was a death in the Moon family with the funeral held today. I am not sure what the circumstances are in the death. If it was sudden, sad, or joyful. We couldn't physically have Bible study while they were gone, so we had the evening off. It's hard to schedule in stuff for that free time, but when they pop up, I try (and fail) to use them.
I realized yesterday that Thursday is the last day to vote early. Not Friday. I won't be around on election day, so voting early wasn't optional. I figure very few people know that you can vote at the courthouse, and even fewer want to drive downtown and find metered parking. Technically I was right but didn't know it. Turned out to be an hour wait to vote. Holy Cow. It takes 10 minutes to get in an out on election day. Always has for me.
So I went home to get lunch and check on puppy and then headed out to try again. The closest early voting place to home is over on Knoxville, with just a hop on the highway to get back to work. Thinking "what a genius am I, it's after lunch time and should be clear" 
I saw a full room of people all sitting facing forward. "They must be in a class or something". I clearly saw the voting booths and a few people in that room, but they directed me down the hall and through a door instead...a door to the very back of the room full of people. The folks at the front of the room had been waiting for two hours too vote.So, I hunkered down next to an elderly couple who talked to me for a little while. As I mentioned in the G-ma post, I love hearing stories from other people, especially when I get to learn something new about what life is/was like somewhere else. Even just a friend's hometown and high school life. Storm's posts about life in Iraq (posted while there) were particularly captivating to me. The most notable story there was the buss trip they took somewhere with terrible service, questionable bus stops, and drunk guy they left stranded in the middle of nowhere. I later barged into a discussion about area churches with two other guys, realizing that I have a captive audience.
Eventually, the young black girl next to me opened up like a flood. It was her first time voting (20 years old). She was originally simply voting for a certain candidate because, in her words, "well...you know why". She admitted that she didn't know much about him. But the night before, she saw some of Obama's infomercial, and felt much more confident that she was making a good decision. Very sad, but it gets worse. All of that discussion was completely illegal of course. You can't talk about candidates at the polling place. But everyone else was doing it, so they clearly didn't care. I learned all about her current job at a nursing home and dreams of being a paralegal some day. Then, that she's engaged, to a dude in jail, convicted of drug dealing, serving 25 years, and has a four year old with him. I learned a ton about the judicial system. There's a new law that will cut several years off his sentence. With good behavior, he'll get another 15% taken off. And since he's engaged, yet another chunk. You can be in county lockup for year just waiting sentencing. Ok, that's all depressing. And worse, I never felt comfortable talking to her about her faith or assurance since we were so close to so many people. Didn't even have a tract with me!
So, in the end the two-hour wait room was filled with 30ish people. It took 6-15 minutes for a pair of people to vote at the two booths. When I finally got to the booth, the same type I voted in for primaries, I discovered the entire hold up was due to people who couldn't figure out the new electronic booths. The perfect topping to an election where so many people are voting for a candidate without having a clue what type of decisions they will make in office, and the consequences of them. Grr.Alright, that's enough of the long narrations. I'm not good at telling stories, and it's kinda sad to tell your own stories all the time with people you wouldn't talk to otherwise. What's new with you? Anything?
OK back to me.
After work we had some tree trimming at the 'rent's place, with free food of course!
Then a little snickers action.
And finished off with an oil change. Yes, I'm the guy that spent four hours at a decked-out service garage last weekend with 15 guys changing oil, looking at breaks and washing cars, and decided that I would do all those things in my cramped garage some other time...Changing oil is alot messier when you're not prepared with the equipment your old roommates had around. There should hopefully be some more car work tomorrow night. Aren't you lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment