Just a heads-up that I won't be here at the stroke of midnight to read your story (though I'd love to be. <3). We go to midnight mass every Christmas, so I'm afraid I'll be a bit more than an hour late in getting to read your story (and probably won't get a chance to comment on it till morning).
<3
AUUUUUUUUUGH FUCK YOU GLEE
I reserve the right to write more than a drabble if you give me a good prompt; you reserve the right not to repost if you don't feel like it.
I need to write some stuff that's short and I don't feel nervous about the outcome of. HIT ME, BABY, TEN MORE TIMES.
REQUESTS:
birchsalt - Berry/Maddie: Every day a little sting/in the heart, and in the head/every move and every breath, and you hardly feel a thing.
evilprodigy - Jasper/Susanna: nothing to win and nothing left to lose. - DONE 5/18/2009
metonymy - Oberon/Titania, dirty little war.
peppermintberry - Sadriel & Lucifer, an experiment gone awry.
shortcakegreen - Rahab/Achaiah, Perhaps this final act was meant / To clinch a lifetime's argument / That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could / For all those born beneath an angry star / Lest we forget how fragile we are.
evilprodigy (x2) - Sandor/Sansa, the west wing and the rose under glass.
There are probably several reasons I don't plan on buying a Mac anytime soon. I don't find their interface "intuitive" -- I find it kind of dumbed-down, juvenile, and sloppy. I don't want windows floating around willy-nilly, or fading in and out special-effectsily or dazzling me like a Twilight vampire. I like my white glassy iPod's white glassy look, but that's not really what I'm buying when I'm buying the product. I'm not buying a hip look or a trendy name, I don't want the Abercrombie & Fitch of the computing world. I'm buying a computer, and I want one that has an organizational scheme I feel is organized, not one that I feel was built for Alternative Education students at a private school where children are encouraged not to have "limitations" or what have you. I've seen that Simpsons episode where Bart puts his name on Martin's test and gets sent to the special genius school. He passes for a genius, but let's be honest, he's still Bart.
But all that's not the major reason I really don't want to buy a Mac, like ever. The major reason is the "I'm a PC. I'm a Mac." ad campaign, which is ever-so-gently, ever-so-sneakily sizist. Which pisses me off.
( Lots of hotlinked images within. )
Fuck you, Macintosh.
Taking a cue from
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
evilprodigy:I'd be in good hands with
I have also always trusted
because I felt she and the lemons on her head could understand me.
Yay :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Just a heads-up that I won't be here at the stroke of midnight to read your story (though I'd love to be. <3). We go to midnight mass every Christmas, so I'm afraid I'll be a bit more than an hour late in getting to read your story (and probably won't get a chance to comment on it till morning).
<3
Good luck, Santa! I promise I am easily made happy and will be overjoyed by whatever you write -- so I hope you're having fun writing it. <3
* Leah Jose
2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
* Arnold Attilio
3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name)
* Paandr
4.DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
* The Teal Unicorn
5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live)
* Susana Wenonah
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add "THE" to the beginning)
* The Gold Red-Headed Slut
7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
* Aner (???)
8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):
* Fudge Ripple Sugar
9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet's name, current street name)
* Greta Jackson
10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)
* Gigi Penn
LJ-compatible:
Please comment and give credit if you use either of these. <3
Currently Missouri has gone to McCain by a margin 5,853 votes.
Currently the Alaska Senate race is separated by 3,353 votes.
Currently the Minnesota Senate race is separated by just 571 votes.
We remember which states were lynchpins in the victory of an election; last election's swing states were Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Pennsylvania went blue early on -- I was thrilled -- Ohio and Florida ultimately went red. On Ohio and Florida, the election was won for Republicans.
So this year, I looked at CNN's electoral map weeks in advance, assigned Obama all his safe states at the time, as well as his leaning ones, assigned McCain the same way, then assigned many of the remaining tossup states (at the time, there were quite a few) to the party who'd carried them in 2004. I left the states that were less obvious wins to me blank, to see what Obama would need to pull off to win this election.
He needed to flip Florida, I decided. Ohio would work too, but carried fewer electoral votes, votes Obama might need if McCain succeeded in flipping any blue states.
As the election drew closer, I stalked CNN's electoral map for their projections; I was proud when New Jersey moved from "leaning Obama" to "safe Obama." I was proud when Pennsylvania went "leaning Obama." I was, finally, astounded -- and hopeful -- when former red states were declared tossups -- and then when New Mexico went "safe Obama," and Virginia went "leaning Obama." Virginia? Virginia's a battleground state? We can win Virginia? So I watched Virginia.
North Carolina was a quiet underdog. North Carolina, a tossup state? I admit I thought that was stretching it. But I thought Virginia was stretching it too -- watch Florida, I thought. Our chances are good in Ohio and Florida. We must win Florida.
So on election night, with three projection maps open on my computer and CNN on TV, I watched the nation -- Florida and everywhere else.
Polls closed and immediately early projections went flying up: McCain carries Georgia. Obama carries a run of states along the northeast corridor. Obama carries New Jersey. I threw my hands up and whooped for joy. Whooping is a rare verb; seldom do I whoop for anything. New Jersey is a stronghold of blue. Our message was clear -- New Jersey to Barack Obama: Not 'yes we can' in New Jersey, Senator Obama. 'Yes we do.'
An early projection; a major one. Obama carries Pennsylvania. A second whoop. Two whoops in a row. McCain had campaigned in Pennsylvania till the end.
Pennsylvania is an amazing state to me; if you've ever looked at the county-by-county maps, it is, indeed, a mostly red state (many states are like this). It is anchored by just two burning blue holdouts, Pittsburgh on one end and Philadelphia on the other. By their own these two cities can often provide enough of a power vote to win the state. But to win Pennsylvania, experts had said, Obama would need to prove he could carry the northeast extension; Allentown, Bethlehem, strongholds of blue-collar voters. That's you, Angie. Congratulations, you guys did it. Yes, you could. Yes, you did.
Virginia and North Carolina remained painfully tossed-up: I waited, and hoped. New Jersey and Pennsylvania gave me a personal sense of pride, but they had gone blue quickly in the previous election as well, and the map was starting to fill up with red.
Watch Virginia and North Carolina. Watch New Mexico and Colorado. But above all, above all, watch Ohio and watch Florida.
And then there was Ohio. Ohio, most networks were now prepared to project, was going blue. Obama had flipped Ohio. Ohio had flipped for Obama.
Did I whoop? You bet I fucking whooped.
New Mexico was called for Obama.
Networks were now finding it nigh impossible to see a path to victory for McCain; but the night was early, and these were, after all, projections. Watch Virginia, North Carolina doesn't look great right now. Wait, Virginia doesn't look great right now. Watch Florida.
And time passed. The map still filled.
"Wouldn't it be great for Obama if, when the polls closed on the west coast, the states that put him over the top were California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii?" said one CNN analyst.
Yes, said I. Yes it would.
And the polls closed.
And California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii were called for Barack Obama. Networks were now prepared to project Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.
And the crowd -- as the saying goes -- went wild.
Amidst the whooping, not just my own, but that of my fellow countrymen across the nation, and that of my fellow human beings across the planet, Virginia and Florida were quietly declared for Obama.
Good on you, Virgina -- where my mother was, for the first time, a Virginia resident and voter this year. She voted for Barack Obama. Way to go, Mom. Good on you, Florida -- where my maternal grandparents live. And good on us all.
I woke up to look at the final map this morning, to see how things played out. Two states remain undeclared for their candidates: Missouri put up a tough battle, which McCain seemes to have eked out just barely. And North Carolina, a true latecomer in the tossup, and even more southern a state than Virginia -- they fought their odds and it seems a narrow win will go to Obama there. I hope everyone in America who voted in this election understands what they have done here. I hope Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado, and the other flip states understand that yes -- every vote does count, and we can accomplish great things in the only way America, or anyone else, has ever accomplished them: one by one by one by one.
We voted. And it made a difference.
But I would just like to say, if you look at a state-by-state map today?
Run your mouse over the little state of Hawaii.
At a margin of 72% to 27%, Hawaii, the 50th and last state to be ratified -- and its four electoral votes -- showed, overwhelmingly, the highest percentage of support of any state for either candidate. Obama's grandmother -- who likely had cast her absentee ballot well before her death on Sunday evening, and therefore likely had a final hand in sending him to the White House -- is no doubt smiling from wherever she is. The state of Hawaii did not join New Jersey in saying their "Yes we do" to Barack Obama.
Because in the state of Hawaii, they fucking whooped it at the tops of their lungs.
Now, finally, I can use the icon I've been waiting to use for this entire election. Now it's time.
Unfortunately things look much bleaker for a lot of the ballot measures up for vote that I posted about earlier today.
I'll try and concentrate on my Obamajoy.
Vote Lando Calrissian.
http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2008/11/0
Definitely the most hilarious ad campaign I've seen this year.
I try to avoid being political, but I won't avoid being political ALL the time, so I encourage you now:
If you live in Arizona, Arkansas, California, or Florida:
Please vote against any ballot measures which would deny same-sex couples the same constitutional rights as male-female couples; whether directly or by defining "marriage" in such a way as to make it impossible for same-sex couples to access those rights.
If you live in California:
Please vote against Proposition 4. If the parents' consent is not required, there can be no purpose to this proposition except to serve as a force to shame and intimidate teenagers into doing what the government thinks they ought to be doing. A girl's body does not belong to her parents, it belongs to herself; so long as abortion is legal, a woman has the right to choose. Legally-required intimidation tactics and bullying of this sort are cruel and without honor.
If you live in Colorado:
Please vote against Amendment 48 - Human Life from the Moment of Conception. Please, just do. Every year, mind-boggling numbers of women -- most often women who wanted their baby to be born -- will have abortions because -- due to one of a few unfortunate medical conditions -- there is no way for them to birth their child without dying in the process. In many (most?) of these cases, even if the mother lost her life, the child still would not survive birth. This amendment would force death on any pregnant woman in that condition; aborting would be considered murder. I can never support an amendment which denies someone the right to safeguard their own life. If you live in Colorado, or know anyone who lives in Colorado, I urge you in the strongest of terms to stand against Amendment 48 and make your voice heard.
If you live in South Dakota:
I support a woman's right to choose. Even when outfitted with some good exceptions like Initiative 11 is, I wouldn't vote for it, myself. But I am not you nor am I your conscience, and what's more, I don't live in South Dakota. But I urge you to remember that the GOP's promise of "courage and compassion" -- courage on the part of the mother and compassion on the part of the nation that stands behind her -- is a hollow one. It is sad but true that some women seek abortions because they simply do not have enough money to afford the pregnancy, much less the birth and raising of a child. Until our government shows true compassion -- until it is willing to pay for all pre-natal care and sufficient needs for every pregnant woman in the country -- the compassion is hollow lip service. Urge your government that it should show true compassion on the part of the many before it demands such lonely and surpassing courage on the part of one individual in and of herself. We cannot often protect people from the slings and arrows of the community: that courage can only come from the individual herself. But this does not mean we are powerless to protect people from hardships, hardships brought on because we demanded "courage" from them and refused to limit what they had to be courageous in the face of.
I encourage you -- all of you -- to expect more than mediocrity from the government we've all created together -- we must demand of ourselves greatness. Remember the saying Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
They are not mutually exclusive groups. We are a country of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are our country. It's not some other people over there somewhere. It's us; it's no one but us.
Ask not alone, it should say, what everyone else in your country can do for you. Remember that you are your country, and ask what we can all do for each other, for ourselves, and for the continuation of our promise that we are all one nation, and we are all in this together.
