My Life: A big day.

Did I resolve to write something new every week? You bet!

Did I fail to do just that last week, at least? You bet!

So it goes. This has been a busier month than usual even. For one, it's National Novel Writing Month, which I'm sure I mentioned before. If not, here's the summary: write 50,000 words in 30 days. Fun! I also have to finish a Dungeons and Dragons adventure for my group by Saturday morning, and tonight I had to write the questions for my writer's group exercises. Oh, and I was a little busy last Tuesday. Just a tad.

In fact, in lieu of a fully detailed new entry, I'll explain what I did on that fateful day of Tuesday, November 4th. Warning: you know how I mentioned before that I'll try to keep my religious and political views out of this blog? That'll be less true this time around. It's not like my position is a controversial one, though, especially around here.

And now, my harrowing tale! I left for work about 5, letting me get to the train station in time for the 5:37 train to the city. I met a friend of mine from my church (Unitarian Universalist, for those who missed it,) young adults group. Her brother worked in the campaign, so she and her family got free tickets up close with the Man himself. Lucky jerks.

I never saw the train so packed. And EVERYONE was an Obama fan. There were pins, T-shirts, stickers, the whole lot. My friend's mother was getting calls from her friend, I think, with election results. We learned Kentucky and Vermont en route. For a second, she said she thought McCain quickly won Virginia, making us panic, but the friend got it wrong; it was Kentucky. On the other hand, she did learn that Obama won Pennsylvania just as we pulled into the station. The entire car cheered.

My friend and I separated here so I could walk to the rally. I stopped at Wendy's en route, which was disappointing; the Mexican place I discovered last time I visited the city closed at 7. I originally thought that ALL of Grant Park was the ticket-only area, so I planned on stopping around Millenium Park instead. But that one was closed off completely, so confused, I followed the throng south.

And by now, it was a throng. There were at least thousands of people arriving at the same time, plus vendors of pins, T-shirts, and other souveneirs. There were even Tribune newspapers with the "Obama wins!" headline. I don't know if there were genuine, since I doubt the newspaper wanted a "Dewey Defeats Truman" on its hands should the unthinkable have happened. Of course, even before I left Wendy's, Obama was up 102-51, but still.

There were decorations and lights, of course. One building's lights spelled out "USA," another had "Vote 2008." The history museum had red, white, and blue lights shining from within. Amusingly, one of the "No dogs allowed" signs had pictures of McCain and Palin on it. Political satire!

Most entrances to Grant Park were closed, so we funneled in through the solitary open one, where the ticket holders were separated from us schmucks. This took longer, and we were virtually at a standstill for a good ten minutes, but we soon came out to Jackson, and at least initially, things were much more open. Giant TV screens projected CNN's latest results, which begs a question: why CNN? I know Fox News was unlikely, but what did make them decide on the network? And would it have killed them to switch one to Comedy Central at 9? Eh well, I taped it.

By the time I reached the screens, Obama was already at almost 200, and we were guessing this would be over when California and the rest of the West Coast could officially be counted. Even the news realized things were probably over when Ohio went to Obama, to the cheers of tens of thousands of people. Most people gathered in the street leading to the ticket area, but many of us, self included, opted to rest in the lawns of the park instead.

The first hour and a half were quiet besides the occasional minor, expected declaration. Mississippi and Texas went to McCain? Really? I made small talk with others nearby and eventually broke down and bought a shirt. And then it happened. First Virginia was declared for Obama, one minute from 10. So we were already cheering when the entire west coast went Obama. In sixty seconds, we had a new president.

The Man himself didn't get the chance to speak until almost 11, so in the meantime there was a lot of cheering, a lot of applause, and finally McCain's concession speech. We kept it mostly respectable; there were boos at his introduction and when he mentioned Palin, but otherwise it was quiet and we even applauded at times. At least he ended classy.

I thought the speech itself was an impressive one. It was the first one I didn't youtube. Save for the promise to buy his daughters a puppy, there were few jokes. And though he mentioned his grandmother, it didn't dominate his speech either. His focus, as always, was on the capacity for positive change and emphasis on having to work hard. It's hard to believe anyone calls this guy a socialist; he embraces the spirit of capitalism more than practically any politician I've seen.

And then it was over. Many stayed behind to celebrate, but I wanted to catch a train before it got too late. The exit was as packed as the entrance, but after leaving Grant Park, it got much easier. Of course, it helps when they cleared the streets! There's something surreal about walking up a busy Chicago street and seeing not one car. Things were overall peaceful; I didn't see anything resembling violence and barely even any inebriation.

And that's my story of the night. What was yours?