Be the change you want to see.

Looking thru voting materials tonight.

Apparently I signed up, at some point, for Permanent Vote by Mail status.

I don't remember doing that.

Apparently Permanent Vote by Mail Status means I am supposed to have received an Official Ballot in the Mail...

This did NOT occur.

Jeff says there are many stories about Vote by Mail or Absentee Ballots going missing/never arriving, in at least 4 different states.

I am allowed to vote at the precinct if I bring my unvoted Vote by Mail ballot (you know, the one I didn't RECEIVE...) to the precinct.

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Shitting. Me.

Okay, the Contra Costa County Elections website has a phone number to call. I will call at 7 am and ask, very politely, exactly what the fuck I am supposed to do in order to vote.

... thank you, Livejournalians, for a place to throw my rant out into the universe.

I'ma digress for a moment before getting to my point - heh, like that surprises anyone but me...

There's this book I decided to leave on my work-desk, called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and it's all Small stuff." It's like this collection of short essays about stress, philosophy, relaxing, doing the things in your life that you value?

yeah.

so the almost first essay makes this point. which is, like that old story about how nobody, on their deathbeds, wishes they'd spent more time in the office... but this author phrases it differently... "your inbox will never be empty"... he says. that's the point of an inbox. and how if you get sick, leave that job, retire, die, whatever, that inbox will always have stuff in it, and it's like near-madness to expect that you will ever... have a perfectly clean kitchen 24/7 when you have an infant, or a perfectly clear desk as an english teacher...

on the way home from work today I took care of my late fines at the video store and picked up my favorite "fairy tale". Ladyhawke. So you could say I took 2 things out of my inbox and did them, since I'll show some pieces of Ladyhawke tomorrow to show the drama kids a "fractured fairy tale."



.
.
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was going to take a nap when I got home, but my husband said, "you have to listen to the message on the machine. I think you also have a message on the cellphone. I think it's important."

so I do. and it's my mom, and she sounds a little worried-frazzled-upset from the get-go...
and my cousin Jeff, the Nice Guy, big ol' bear of a dude who I always liked, and there really was never a reason NOT to call him and hang out, I just never did... there were complications after his surgery for testicular cancer...

mom says he was great, upbeat, perky for several days after the most recent surgery, but that I think yesterday, he started to experience breathing problems. She doesn't know if it was maybe a blood clot in the lung or what, but he's gone now.

My inbox isn't empty. It won't be.
his inbox isn't empty.

that doesn't help.

...

I'm glad I have a movie to show for tomorrow.