My Mind is Time, My Mind is Space: 11-4-08

Schedule for the day:
8am-4pm OMax.
4:15-4:30 Went into the Gap to pick up my "Vote for___" shirt.
4:30 Voted at Aldrich Middle School.
4:30-5:45 Ironed on letters for my t-shirt, sat around talked about politics with both my mom and dad.
6:00pm arrive at the bar for a crazy fuckin night.

First off, this song was stuck in my head ALLLL DAYYY and I kept singing it for everyone. (just the Obama part of course) =]

Naturally, I was asking everyone all day yesterday if they had voted and if they hadn't to encourage them to go out and do so. You would be surprised at all the feedback I got from everyone. The majority of the people that came into Office Max had voted already, strictly Republicans bashing Obama, (including a good 10 people I work with). I tried not to get involved too much, but apparently no one reminded me of the saying, "There are two things you don't talk about, politics and religion." Throughout the day I didn't say much only said a few statements here and there, but when the majority of the people you work with are strict Republicans you can't tell them shit.

When I got off work I went into the Gap to decorate my free "Vote for_____" shirt that was given to every employee. We had to wear it if we were working that day and I wasn't but I still wanted to wear it. They had iron on letters and a peace sign patch decorated in the American flag that I put on. After that I went to go vote for the first time EVER. I was really excited, and even though it wasn't all I thought it up to be in made me feel really good. It went by really quick and I afterwards I felt so relieved. My mom and I both voted for Obama, while my dad voted for Mccain. When I got home I spelled out Change, ironed it on my shirt and went to work.

When I walked into the bar I got nothin but stares and glares. Only 3 people mentioned anything about my shirt the whole night. Heather was the first saying, "Did you get in trouble for wearing that today?" No.... "Oh well I heard you get in trouble if you wear and Obama shirt to the polls." My shirt doesn't say anything about Obama, it says "Vote for Change" and I didn't wear it to the polls. She began to tell me a story about some girl she saw on the news that wore an Obama shirt in to vote and was kicked out until she changed her shirt. That just sounded ridiculous. What happened to freedom of speech? I understand its promoting Obama and that your'e not supposed to suid people either way, but...it's a fuckin shirt, and....isn't that the point?
The 2nd & 3rd people to say anything abotu my shirt was a couple I waited on when I first got there. The lady had asked me where I got it and said she saw it on Oprah. I explained to her that I work for the Gap and we got them for free and that she probably could've got one for free also since we didn't sell any of them and ended up passing them out to customers. She told me it was really cool and that of course ,"People listen to Oprah."
CNN and Fox News were both playing on all of our tv's the whole night. CNN was only on 2 out of the 15, 16 tv's we have. It was interesting to see the separation between people and how outrageously Republican that bar is. I went around asking people if they had voted and the majority took one look at my shirt and immediately hated on me saying, "You voted for Obama didn't you," "One day youll wake up and realize," "Obama hates America," and even a CLASSIC, "You're stupid," was thrown out there. I felt overwhelmed and didn't want to say too much. There were also a good handful of people I talked to that WEREN'T EVEN REGISTERED. The same people that come in there every Tuesday complaining about their jobs, the economy, their wages, and they're not even registered to vote? Get the fuck outta here and shut up! How can you sit there and complain when you dont even wanna have a say in it?? Ridiculoussss!

Once the polls were up for Nebraska I was amazed.
Mccain 57%
Obama 41%
The majority of those votes for Obama came from Douglas, Lancaster, Saline, and Thurston Countys ALONE! Thats fuckin crazy you guys! Even though Nebraska is still a red state, we really made a difference here. I am just so exstatic about this. The only thing that pisses me off is the Affirmative Action law. Apparently we still have some racist mother fuckers. (58% yes, 42% no) Ridiculous.
When you take a look at the National reports its outrageous.
56% Female.
49% Male.
66% Between the ages of 18-29.
Thats AMAZING!
We made history yesterday and it was all of us standing up for what we believe in and it feels sooooo fuckin good.

After Obama was announced President I was standing next to one of the regulars that comes into the bar all the time, Geoff. It happened to be his birthday and all of his friends (more regulars) were all gathered together. I was waiting on all of them the whole night, making sure I was on top of it and making sure they were takin care of at all times. I turned to Geoff and said, "See I told you, I told you it was gunna happen, It's all over." He turned to me and went off, angry saying, "No thats bull shit, Obama wants to get rid of small businesses, thats ME, Obama wants to fuck ME over." I wasn't sure what to say without making him even more mad and just said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what to say." Apparently he spit in the trash can and walked out. His friend cashed out a little later and gave her tab to Dawn saying, "Make sure you keep this, this is for you, don't give any to Kramer she made Geoff mad on his birthday." WHAT THE FUCK! I'm sorry for voicing my opinion, I'm sorry I was given the right TO SPEAK MY OPINION and you want to sit there and be drunk and ignorant and not tip me because of that? Fuck that. That's the pettiest thing I've ever come across and I was livid. I left not long after that I couldn't stand it anymore. Everyone started bickering, an old man walked out after saying all of us demorats and the youth were stupid, that we didnt know anything, that he served in WWII and blah blah blah. You don't know how much I wanted to tell him and everyone in that bar to fuck off. This country needs a change, America has spoken, get over your ignorance and your racism and help support Obama. I was so angry after I left there. I came home and had to sit and talk to my mom for a little bit before I could go to sleep.

Watching Obama's speech in Grant Park made me wanna cry. I was so overjoyed and wished I could have been there. You have no idea. Take a look at these pictures! They are really amazing and touched me in a way I can't describe. You can see more at www.chicagotribune.com