Home for a few days.

Next week is the annual Geological Society of America conference in Colorado. Many of my professors will be attending next week, so some of my geology classes are cancelled. I’ll be taking advantage of this situation and flying back home to So Cal for a few days to visit family and friends. Then on Tuesday I will be driving back up, which means I’ll have my car! It will be nice to be mobile again. However, it was still pretty easy to survive up here without a car for the last 10 months.

I went with a friend from Berkeley and saw a play entitled “The Real Thing” last night at a theater downtown. That was fun, especially since I hadn’t been to a play in quite awhile. I think I prefer live theater to seeing movies. It’s a lot more fun, and interesting how complex and large stories can be told using a simple set and few props. Pretty powerful experience in my opinion.

My temper has kind of cooled the last few days and I’m not as angry over the results of the election as I previously was. However, I saw some pretty sketchy stuff at school on Tuesday that made me sad at how people have to act. I posted about it on a friend’s website:

The dread I was feeling probably represents what can/might/will happen on both sides of the political spectrum, and it was especially evident today at school. I get to school to find a large protest forming in our quad and chants of “NO MORE WAR”. Noble I suppose.However, as I approached, I noticed a table in the center of the crowd and two people sitting down at it with emotionless looks on their faces. Turns out it was a Bush/Cheney table. Not sure why they were setup on November 3rd, but regardless!

Anyway, I guess this whole crowd and makeshift protest started when two Muslim women ran up to their table with a Palestinian flag and started irrationally yelling at these two Bush/Cheney supporters, as if every problem in the world is specifically these two students faults. How they had the balls to sit in the middle of this crowd that was yelling all manner of obscenities at them, I don’t know. But I admire them for that and I am truly ashamed at the complete bullshit that “my” side was giving them. I walked away in embarrassment.

At lunch, I sit back in the quad to see what new antics are going on. These four girls were making quite a big deal of the failed prospects of Kerry and espouting such insightful lines like “Bush had to cheat to get through Yale and had to cheat to get through this election!”

Maybe I’m confused, but even through my ultra liberal eyes, I think Bush handily won fair and square, and by a large margin. The claims of cheating were LUDICROUS. Then a group of guys decides to tell them to, in a polite way, “Shut the Fuck Up!” Of course this sets the crazy women off and a screaming match ensures about who can say “George Bush Sucks!” or “Fuck You!” the loudest.

Ugh. The hypocracy that the liberal side showed today was downright shameful and embarrassing. Many of us have claimed that we get the “Patriotic = No Dissent” quite often from conservatives and are shouted down for offering our point of view. Yet, these exact same people turned the tables and did it to others! Yelling at people, insulting them, dehumanizing them and screaming profanity at them, all because they believe that their guy is doing the right thing. It makes me sick.

I’m not happy with the results of this election, and I was angry/depressed this morning. But the majority of Americans spoke and approved of Bush’s policies. I accept that fact. It makes me unhappy, but I am willing to accept it and move on. While I still disagree on many of his policies, I will not shout people down simply because they voted for him.

Ugh. At the moment, I don’t see how the nation can be unified. We are so completely polarized (and the split was still almost 50-50 for all intents and purposes). There are many angry with each other on both sides.

Regardless of who is our President, I think it’s a sad state of affairs when we degrade our brothers and sisters simply based on their idealogical beliefs.

Anyway, it’s time to finish packing!

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