it’s election day–go vote if you haven’t already

  • I voted early. My partner voted today. Took 2 hours. We both have anxiety because of the 2016 result. All the polls were looking good, then we woke up in what felt like the wrong reality.

    It’s all everyone is talking about. At work, in my apartment building. Even the sports bar down the block had election coverage on. It’s unavoidable and inescapable. I’m watching a movie to distract myself. Then I’ll turn on the news once the polls start to close.

    I was an election judge in 2020. I’m kind of feeling guilty for not doing it this year. But I don’t have the capacity. I’ve been feeling straight up burnt out for most of the year with no end in sight. I’m actually thinking about calling the employer EAP.

    I always celebrate all the wins in life , no matter how small. October and so far November have not had any of these. I really hope I wake up with good news.

  •  Alice   ( @Alice@beehaw.org ) 
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    2015 days ago

    I know this is selfish and stupid but everyone is so wound up about the election that I didn’t really get a birthday this year. Half my family didn’t even text me.

    A friend still wanted to do a birthday dinner so I texted my sibling asking if they were free, but they somehow missed that it was about my birthday plans and they were having a breakdown (not about the election) so we had to cancel birthday plans to keep them company. I shouldn’t complain because I love my sibling, but whenever I told my family about mental health stuff, they always just yelled at me and made it worse. I don’t understand why they suddenly believe in depression and think depressed people deserve support.

    Also like I said, I know it’s selfish and stupid, but I just wanted a day to pretend things were normal before I start scraping money together for my passport and getting my tubes tied.

  • Absolutely horrible. Keeps getting worse. But hey some good news, at least I won’t be alive when the US of A finally fucking implodes on itself due to recent events. 🤬 Bigots and fascists; and this is what I served for, to ‘protect’?? Fuck ya’ll.

      •  PenguinCoder   ( @Penguincoder@beehaw.org ) 
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        17 days ago

        I am not. Wish there where a better answer. I’ve died three times in as many years for different reasons. This next years outlook is dwindling mine.

        But thanks for asking. Doing the best I can, which is admittily not stellar and not even “OK”. I exist, inefficiently.

        • Ugh i had no clue and this makes me so sad to hear, you are such a cornerstone for this community bee sob emoji I can’t speak to all of the ways that you have “served” over the years, but your service here has not gone unnoticed. I don’t pray, but i’m holding you in my thoughts today ❤

        • So sorry for getting back so late, I didn’t get a notification for your reply for some reason.

          Breaks my heart to hear you’re struggling so hard. I’m glad you’re doing your best, its the most anyone can ask of you. I hope that whatever circumstances can shift in your favour, do so.

  • got my early vote in on friday, since i suspected the lines were going to be long today.

    today is my birthday. 🥳

    sheepdog festival last weekend was great. echo got to hang out and get a billion pets from all kinds of people, which is her favorite thing! she also had her first hotel stay, which went really well. she only barked three times (at the shower).

    last night, our first rally submission was recorded, which i sent in today for judging. pretty sure we’ll get a passing score, easy peasy. i want to look into some more virtual titles we can do, since i get ring stress pretty bad. 😅

    •  hdnclr   ( @hdnclr@beehaw.org ) 
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      1217 days ago

      same! just moved to a safe state and started a new job and was about to try to buy a house. just got my gender marker updated on everything. was (still am, inshallah and the creek don’t rise) scheduled for bottom surgery next year. everything seemed to be going in the right direction and I had so much hope, especially in the last couple of days before the election when the energy and enthusiasm seemed to be peaking and I was thinking that Harris might actually win.

      Now, fuck, I don’t know if I’ll have a job next year.

    • I started a job with the federal government two months ago. I’d been applying for like 18yrs; finally got one! Now a part of me wonders if I’ll even have a job next year. Potential for Schedule F designation, layoffs of the federal bureaucracy, whatever other shit a hostile administration throws at us.

        • Oof. I’m in DHS. I’m assuming that in the event of any shenanigans, that’d be a “safer” place to be (though some components like FEMA and TSA maybe less so). But HUD? Definitely top of their list.

          Here’s hoping for the best. Because that’s all we can do right now.

  • I’m curious if this is the last resemblance of democracy the United States will see.

    I’m worried for the people stuck in red states, and worried this is going to spread outside America again like it did in 2016. I feel like I must live in a very different world compared to rural americans. I can’t imagine how a fascist authoritarian would be the logical choice ever.

    •  viking   ( @viking@beehaw.org ) 
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      513 days ago

      I’ve been trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who voted for the orange man. It seems like inflation was the biggest factor for a lot of people. I guess I can understand that when it’s hard to afford groceries anymore, the correlation equals causation argument that Trump pushed becomes more alluring. Biden/Harris were in charge when inflation happened. Would it have been much worse with Trump in power? I think so, but maybe a lot of people are just thinking that a change was needed, enough to ignore literally everything else about Trump. I dunno, but I refuse to believe that most people who voted for Trump are fascist or racist or bigots or misogynist. Just trying to stay hopeful.

  •  rozwud   ( @rozwud@beehaw.org ) 
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    1119 days ago

    Dropped off my absentee ballot earlier today.

    Update on Linus (our kitty who experienced kidney failure last week): Last I posted we were waiting to find out how much his numbers had gone up. It turns out his creatine went up quite a bit. It was over 3, when normally it should be 1.5 or lower. The vet said at this point it’s possible it could go back down (he didn’t seem optimistic about this), stay the same, or go up more. We’re taking him in again on Thursday to see what it is then. If it stays the same, we probably only have about two or three years left with him if we keep him on a renal diet.

    He has a lot of his personality back and has his full appetite back (yesterday was the first time he ate his usual amount of food since he’s been hospitalized), but his energy level is definitely lower than it was before.