Thirty-seven?!

Geez, it's early. 6AM shifts all this week. Chocolate cake left in the fridge for us, for some reason, though. Some fun from the polling station:

-The requirement for each voter to state their name and address, immediately after giving us their voter card with their name and address on it. (Of course, woe betide anyone who told us a different name and address--they would have to produce ID. oooooo)

-Several voters wondered why some voting procedures were different in the federal than the provincial election. This was particularly amusing when they were remembering things that so far as I know (and I worked that one too) didn't actually happen. e.g., "Why don't you have one of those automatic counting machines like they use in the provincial?" That would have been nice, to be sure, but I think you're imagining that, sir...

-Several angry voters demanding to know why the polling station wasn't in the usual place. Thanks for the ol' heads up, there, Elections Canada.

-Lots of funny voters who under any other circumstances I would have enjoyed joshing with.

-Amazing peoplewatching fun: numerous families, parents with little kids, and couples voting. Dozens of new Canadians from all over and at least six or seven languages spoken.

-Many occasions to use (sometimes with deep regret) the phrase "I'm not legally allowed to express an opinion on that until about 8 this evening." Much love goes out to one particular poor woman who was genuinely agonizing over who to choose.

-A complete lack of any appreciable morning rush, followed by extremely irregular spurts and starts of people. At one point we had a lineup of ten people at our station while the other four were empty.

-The young people voting for the first time.

-As we were situated in a church hall with a toy basketball hoop, little kids cccompanying their parents got to run around and shoot minature baskets. W00t!

-Tracking the progress of the family where everyone came to vote over the course of the day except for and I quote "the asshole watching TV".

-A crowd of polite and helpful scrutineers. I thought the Conservative and Liberal volunteers were going to come to handshakes and hugging by the end of the count.

-A really tight race in my poll, with a final margin of only three votes--and going counter to the eventual result, at that.

-A woman who came in to vote with her trained rabbit sitting on her shoulder...

...Followed immediately by a woman allergic to rabbits. Ah, democracy.


Line of the day:
me: "You can mark one X for one candidate"
voter:" "I don't want more than one!

October 17, 1991...

...that would be the last time I woke up angry at the leader of the free world and at living under Provincial and Federal governments fundamentally opposed to my ways of thinking. But...looks like things will be back to the 1980's for real come Tuesday morning. Republican president, check. Nitwit right winger Premier...check. Latest entry in the "worst Prime minister ever" competition? Come on down, Steve.

42, Level

Quiet day, today, sifting out the mess that had accumulated at work while I was playing third-string goalie. Basically, If I'm on the ice on the tech support side of things, gonna be a long day. But onward and upward. After finding out that the Harpy candidate in Richmond is an ex-president of Focus on the family (yikes), I feel very good about my vote. I don't think the riding is likely to go blue anyway, but--this is an important point in history. Time to be counted.

M minus 43

Hmmm. February may be a short month, but there's still 43 days between us and the new (and at this point theoretical) place. But things are in motion, a decision has been made, I feel good. No more feeling like a hostage in my own space. No more jacktards thumping my floor and screaming obscenities when I step through the door, vacumn, or kiss my fiance. No fucking more. $1100 a month for this? Try again.

Not all grim news, though. We had our elections Canada training tonight, there've been a few legislative tweaks since the last election, but it's pretty much unchanged. 12 hours (really 14 plus), bring a pillow, food, water, possibly a book. Pick up the ballot box on Sunday afternoon, all done by this time Monday. Ms.W is enjoying the new job, our sick kitten is feeling much better (still no test results, tho) and it's all very...full.

43 days. I can do this. Not so hard. I've done much harder for far longer.

I'm just tired of having to.

I do not like you, 2006.

Ugh. The insane downstairs neighbours (who are, it turns out, "known to police") have finally forced our hand and so we'll be moving March 1st. Terrific. After a first week sick as a dog and a second week working the dawn shift and worrying about a sick kitten, now this. 2006 is really pulling out all the stops to leave a lasting impression.