An Aside

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. Long time, I know. These two weeks have been ridiculously busy, with all kinds of stuff at school and outside of school. In particular, the last 5 days have been insane. To be honest, I don't even remember much of the stuff that happened during the weekend. Well, just for the heck of it, I'll describe what it was like.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11TH

First thing in the morning, homework. After homework, it's off to the campaign office for the final weekend of volunteering in the Canadian federal election. I got to go shop for goodies for election day as well as do a literature drop in a couple apartment buildings. After coming back to the office, some friends and I organized a few kits of things. We were done by 3, earlier than we expected and decided to go play some baseball. Sandlot style of course. We did that for a couple hours. I came home. I was tired. I somehow still managed to stay up until 1 o'clock.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12TH

First thing in the morning, homework. After homework, it's off to more campaigning, this time at another MP's office. We were sent on a drop in the Warden/McNicoll area (for those who live in Toronto) and finished our work at around 3 again. I rushed off to violin lessons at 4:30 and came back at 5. More homework during the evening and I was really tired again.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13TH

First thing in the morning, homework! Finally, homework was finished! At arond 11, a friend and I made our way, one last time, to the campaign office. It was the day before election day, so there was loads of stuff to do at the office. We did things like typing and drawing charts. The lunch was particularly delicious with the potato salad and the chicken strips. We finished around 3. I went home to see the Dow close up 900 points. Completed some work for my school's newspaper and was tired by the time I went to bed.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14TH

Ha, the big day. Election day 2008 for Canadians. I just couldn't wait to finish school so we could get the scrutineering started. School itself was busy as usual with an SLC meeting at lunch and a not so smooth science period tucked in the end. I went home, got rid of whatever I didn't need for the night and headed out to GET OUT THE VOTE.

Four friends and I were assigned to Kingslake Public School for the evening. We made our way on foot there and swore into the polling stations. There were 7 polls in that one gym. After cross-referencing stats on who's voted and who has not, we hit the streets to knock on some doors. The group of five decided to split into 3 and 2. I was part of the 2. We walked up and down the streets in our polling area and knocked on dozens of doors to remind voters of Election Day. We even stopped by at a rather ugly apartment building. Across the street from the apartment, we found a nearby washroom, tucked nicely on the lower level of a strip mall, which we needed to use pretty badly.

After about 2 hours and 15 minutes of knocking, we strolled back to the school to do more cross referencing. After we did that, it was time to hit the phones to pull out the last lazy bunch of voters. In the meanwhile, we also got to catch up on some homework in the school's front lobby. At around 9:15, the five of us made it into the gym to do one more cross referencing. As the clock slowly ticked to 9:30 and the doors closed, we grabbed a chair and sat at our respective counting tables.

At my table, there was some initial confusion as to how many voters hit the polls on the day. But we got that sorted out after about 20 minutes. The counting took about 20 more minutes. The paperwork took a few more minutes and we were off out of that gym. We had requested a ride to the victory party, but there was very little sign anybody was coming to pick us up. We waited for more than half an hour before we finally decided to take public transit and as we just stepped out the door, we caught up with our ride. We squeezed into the car and finally arrived at the party at quarter after 11.

The results were already flooding in. The Conservatives had emerged victorious once again. They had strengthened their majority and the Libs (who I was working for) lost significant ground. After some desparately needed food, we shared a few laughs, took some pictures, and ordered some very unique drinks. After Stephane Dion, the Liberal leader had made his concession speech, we all parted ways. It had been a really long day and actually, I didn't feel extremely tired for some reason. As the clock struck 2 AM, I drifted away to sleep.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH

Morning paper-"MINORITY FOR CONS". After lunch, there was this thing called Club Olympics being organized by the SLC. It was where extra curricular clubs compete against one another in small games like Capture the Flag. It was fun and I got to miss class. So, things were good. After school, I headed to an editorial board meeting with the school's newspaper and now I'm back at home, feeling very drowsy.

Anyway, so the party I disliked the most won another election. But at least the two candidates I campaigned held their seats. The stock markets are on a roller coaster ride. No body seems to know what the hell's gonna happen to the economy. Obama's still owning McCain in the polls. Debate tonight. I need serious work on the violin. The Leafs are just what they promised to be. The Rays and Phillies look to be in good position to set up a very interesting World Series. And it's 1380 days until London 2012!

I am tired.

-D

PS: This is my 100th post! Woohoo!