I am the Walrus

It's a Thursday, so I refused to do anything productive today, even though I probably should have. This week went pretty well. I mostly continued to stay on top of things throughout the week, and I ended up having a nice balance of work and fun.

Dr. Absent-Minded Professor threw a party tonight. It wasn't a party for anything in particular, it was just a chance for past and present students to get together with Dr. AMP and Dr. AMP's spouse. I had no idea what it was going to be like. Dr. AMP is one of those people that I can't imagine even having a house or a life outside of the office and research, let alone being married, let alone wanting to invite people over for wine and snacks. But it ended up being a lot of fun. There was a ton of food, the house was lovely and full of interesting conversation pieces, Nicole, Emily, Cara, Cristin (a fellow grad student who is also kind of my boss since I TA the course she teaches), and Dr. H were there, so I already knew a lot of people, and several of Dr. AMP's former students were there as well as some current students who are ABD and not on campus much, so I met interesting new people as well. My favorite new person was a girl from Denmark doing an exchange program this year. She was a lot of fun and we exchanged e-mail addresses so hopefully she'll come hang out with me and Nic and Cara and the rest of the crew in the future. All in all, it was much more lively and fun than I was expecting. Dr. AMP, who usually strikes me as a little socially awkward, was surprisingly gracious and talkative and encouraged us to hang out until much later than I meant to stay. It was a good night. I hope we do it again in the future.

What else can I tell you about? My plan for the weekend is to do a whole lot of nothing. I have to take the cat to the vet tomorrow for his shots and I think I'm going to make some Valentine's Day cookies this weekend since it's my turn to bring snack to class on Tuesday (yes, my Tuesday night class has a snack schedule, like preschool). Other than that, I'll mostly sit on the couch watching TV and reading for classes. There are no plans to go out this weekend, but I'm actually okay with that. I got to go out both Tuesday and tonight, so I really need to work this weekend anyway.

One last thing, to change the subject completely, does anyone else find it really odd and disturbing that people keep calling Obama the next JFK and that he is actively encouraging that comparison? I understand the comparisons, don't get me wrong. If we're judging based on charisma, he's the only candidate that actually has any, in my opinion. But let's not forget that the whole Kennedy story ended tragically. Why actively encourage comparisons between yourself and that narrative? I can't help getting a chill every time someone makes that comparison. It just doesn't bode well. Anyway, I still don't feel like I can confidently (or even semi-confidently) support any candidate at this point. I didn't vote in the primary, partially because I'm registered independent anyway, but mostly because I still haven't been able to figure out whether or not I can vote in my new home or whether I have to get an absentee ballot from my old home. I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to find a straight answer on the internet. I feel like I read somewhere that if you're a student you're allowed to vote where you're attending school, and that's what I did in college, but maybe that doesn't apply if your school is in a different state? I'd rather vote here; my home state inevitably goes one way every single time so there's really no point in voting there (if you go with the dominant party, what was the point? They didn't need your vote on top of all those others. And if you go against it, you end up feeling like your vote was useless, too...I realize this is partially why lots of people in America don't vote so I hate to talk like this but it feels kind of true.) If I vote here in a state that tends to swing more, I at least feel like my vote could "count". I just haven't gotten my act together enough to figure out whether or not I can vote here if I'm not a state resident. I'll get it together before it's time to register for the November elections, though.