It has been an interesting few weeks. Good days, bad days, and many feelings whirling around. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't write anything public unless it's something I won't regret later. Reading over some things from these last few weeks I am very glad I have that rule! It's always easier to go back and make something public than to take it back in the other direction.

On that note, first impressions are always amazing. Thankfully we don't have to go out and make a whole new set of friends every six months, but when you do it is almost a whole re-learning of the rules of engagement. After you've been friends for a few months it's fun to look back to what happened during the "sniffing out" period of the relationship. Eventually you don't even care anymore, you just have your buddies.

There has been so much going on that I don't have time to get it down now, it has been 90% amazing ;) I am proud to report. I will make a date to catch everything up. Thanks for noticing my absence from public domain :). Hopefully it will be over now that I have calmed down a bit in all of this change.

I wish I could say that I was writing in the comfort of my new apartment...but alas, I came back to DG with Alex for one more week before classes start. The move went fine, much more smoothly than some past moves, but this time I actually had more help than my significant other!

All I need now is a wireless modem and the "new home" is complete...or maybe I should call it the "temporary home." It's sad to leave DG, even though I don't have many friends in the town proper (they mostly live in other suburbs) there is the bond that I feel I have reached with this town on nightly walks. Roaming the streets, seeing children playing, people walking their dogs. It could be anywhere in the world but for the first time in a long time those walks have made a place feel like it is my home. Of course, Alex's company really helps as well, and Frango (can't forget the cat, they have some sort of eerie perception of knowing when you haven't mentioned them in your blog...must have something to do with icanhazcheezburger or something...sneaky felines).

I feel prepared to tackle a new place. I am vaguely familiar with Illinois State, but overall I'm going in with my underwear, toothbrush and not much else :). Luckily I have managed to reconnect with many of my friends from high school. At moments it's uncomfortable to remember some of the times when I was a crazy 16 year old, but at other times it reminds me that I was so lucky to have a support group like them.

It's great to see us semi-grown up (hey, it's called regression) and see what we've done with the opportunities that we have had, how we have dealt with roadblocks and where we have finally become happy. I've kept up with their blogs over the years (we all admitted to cyber stalking each other...so, if you're reading this..."Hi guys!") but seeing them in person is refreshing. Since leaving college I have felt like social retardation was sucking my life away. I had trouble making friends, keeping friends, or keeping up with friends. Maybe it's because after the age of 18  (actually 16 in this state) there isn't an institution that everyone is forced by law to attend with their peers. We are allowed to drift aimlessly until we meet a buddy at work...at least until one of you leaves the company.

I'm just so excited and grateful that I could recognize what these people have done for me in the past and the social fulfillment I have felt when hanging out with them over the past two weeks. Moreso than anything it has made me feel like my life is on the right track because theirs are too. We may be at moments of indecision, between jobs, between significant others, or firmly rooted in a satisfying job, getting into a marriage, or at the very least at least every one of us is content about something. That makes the search for stability into something relative and attainable...rather than something that has driven me nuttier than calculating pi.

I've always wanted to hang on to every friend I have made, though inevitably social drift has made that impossible. There were some missing from our gatherings, hopefully just due to them being in other cities. A major taboo was broken when I finally saw my ex-boyfriend from the high school years though I'm really glad he showed up. We can't hold on to everything I know even though I say I only need a wireless modem to complete the new household there will always be small things trickling in and out. It's nice to accomplish tasks, to set and meet goals, to bring friendships full circle and listen to Radiohead singing "Everything in it's right place" while this fantasy montage reels through your head...but all in all, maybe we are never really done.

I suppose there can be resolution, but so far I've found that everything in my life cycles through and returns at the strangest, though sometimes the best, moments. To all the friends who were there on Friday, the one's who have no idea what I'm talking about, and those who may not call me a friend anymore (but are still cyber stalking me) I hope to never be done with you, see you on the next cycle through.

...but my opinion is still valid.

So, I've been struck with a bit of insomnia in the midst of packing for the BIG DEPARTURE...probably just nerves. Due to a warm front I've been packing in short shorts and a "smaller than I would wear in public top" with a cold beer or four.

While listening to news radio throughout the day and watching my normal news pattern of comparing what different networks think of one event I just saw something from the back of my mind spring to the front of my TV screen on BBC America.

Obama...THE WORLD TOUR! Maybe this shouldn't strike me as funny. Honestly, since the first time I heard this story surface to the front of the AP newswire this morning it has made perfect sense. To me, the next president of our country needs to show the rest of the world that we aren't the sum of our current dude (I won't call him a leader anymore, he's just some dude that tricked a lot of people, or yanked on their conservative pubes.). It's a political step to show that as a person he is willing to reach out to the world...setting up a logical transition to being a president who will have a global mindset. I love it!

I shied away from Poli-sci in college, I wouldn't even take a PS CLEP test because I was so against actually studying politics...because I feel that politics shouldn't cause as much BS and analysis as it does...but I still like to be informed about what is going on. As an individual I don't have a mold in mind that I want the next president to jump into but Barack Obama is constantly changing what I think.

In my uneducated (in this field) opinion I would call this the ultimate PRemptive strike. Meaning, that even reporters are comparing BObama (my nickname for him after a few drinks) to Kennedy. We decided as a populace during World War II to give up our renewed isolationist tendencies that had existed since WWI. Perhaps Roosevelt was irresponsible in waiting for public backing. However, deciding on a global community meant that we have to cooperate with other nations and pick and choose our aid, battles, and political deployments (such as Iraq, which I think the dude and his dudettes made this part up). Since September 11th all I have seen is our country alienating other nations to the point where they hate our current "dude" (notice it isn't even capitalized) as much as we do.

BObama is making such a smart move showing that he will help to mend this rift. To those who recognize that global politics may have a bit of an impact on those of us sitting awake typing at 2 in the AM CST this is valuable. I have travelled to Europe twice, once as a member of People to People student ambassadors, and once on a singing tour...it really makes one realize that we're all stuck to this spinning rock (until the conservatives build their moonbase and overpopulate it by ignoring family "planning"...I bet you money I don't have that Jenna Bush is either on the pill or already pregnant) and we'd better get along.

I'm impressed, in short...finally, because Mr. Obama solidified something important for me in this political race. Our government is so tortuous that I don't believe any promise made to alter politics here in the US of A, but I would be proud to have a future president who could help us ameliorate what this dude has done to our perception and involvement in the world/global community.

 

On a side note, since I have a few drinks in me and am actually writing about politics....I want to see Jesse Jackson SPANKED....publicly, maybe by the Picasso in Daley plaza....double standard holding jerk. A single person should not be able to automate a dynasty in politics...especially building it on race, only to turn around and cause a divide in the argument he started...geez. For more on this subject, check out "Our Kind of People" by Lawrence Otis Graham, excellent book! (explains why he sees a difference, maybe? Read it cover to cover, it will change your mind about many things aside from race.)