I made a new LJ icon! I am far too entertained.



So I just got back from the Kerry N' Clinton rally downtown (my pictures turned out rather worthless, but I'll probably post a few tomorrow), which was quite awesome. There were so many people it boggled the mind! I hear they're estimating 100-120 thousand people! We were packed in so tightly that I probably could have lifted my feet up and hung, suspended by the shoulders, by the press of bodies. They must have brought out every Democratic elected official (and those running for office) the city had to offer! Including Carol Moseley-Braun, w00t! I'm so glad I was able to get back to Philly on an earlier train this morning, because otherwise I doubt I would have gotten a good spot. The lines were unbelieveable, and I arrived at the time the gates opened, two hours before the rally began! Zounds.

So yes! I spent Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday in NYC with Mum, where we got to see Avenue Q and Hairspray. The shows were fabulous, and the "George Bush is only for now" line from Avenue Q received riotous applause. I asked Jennifer Barnhart what they were going to do when this was no longer the case, and she just said she hoped it was sooner rather than later. :D And in one of the final numbers of Hairspray, I started thinking about the message of "Men at Arms", and if I should consider doing "Feet of Clay" instead (I've been going through a lot of MAA angst lately), and it suddenly came to me how I could give the show actual meaning and purpose, and a message beyond "um, yay diversity, and terrorism is bad, mkay?". Finally, it clicked! Oh, life is so good now.

And Sunday evening, after the Hairspray matinee, I got to have dinner with Maggie! *tackles her with love* We talked about her work, my schooling, and a lot of politics, which is pretty much staple for my conversations now. The woman I shared a table with today at Corner Bakery after the Kerry rally because there were no free tables because the place was swamped with Democrats? Politics. Dinners and lunches with Mum in NYC? Politics. God, 8 days. I am so terrified.

Anyway, Maggie looked great, and she's clearly having a ball with her job. She's definitely chosen a niche where she can thrive. I can't wait to see the ad campaigns she's been working on! She promised to post them in her LJ as soon as they were released into the public, and were no longer confidential. And I also wheedled her about drawing Good Omens fanart and reading more of the Watch books when her projects calmed down. Tra-la!

On the other end of the emotional spectrum, however, I am terrified for Jamie Lee, the older brother of Tiffany Lee, the girl who was my best friend all through Lower and most of Middle School. I found out a few days ago that he had enlisted, and he has already been to both Afganistan and Iraq. He's back in America now, but we don't know if he'll be able to leave the service on the day originally scheduled, or if he'll be forced to stay on, like so many other soldiers around him. And if he stays on, we don't know if he'll have any say in where he is dispatched. The sudden "disappearance" of the 380 tons of RDX and HMX explosive in Iraq is terrifying. How the hell do you lose 380 tons of anything? The White House's response:

"In the grand scheme -- and on a grand scale -- there are hundreds of tons of weapons, munitions, artillery, explosives that are unaccounted for in Iraq," the official said. "And like the Pentagon has said, there is really no way the U.S. military could safeguard all of these weapons depots or find all of these missing materials."

Is that supposed to make us feel better? Especially when Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt added

"John Kerry has no vision for fighting and winning the war on terror, so he is basing his attack on the headlines he wakes up to each day."

Shouldn't breaking news have some relevance in this election? What a fool. It reminds me of that time when Rumsfeld was asked how many soldiers had died in Iraq, and he said "about 500" when the number was over 700. Shouldn't the administration keep tabs on this kind of thing? The way this war has been managed is appalling. So who are you going to vote for? Bush and Dick "Looting Happens" Cheney, or John "read this Newsweek article and tell me again I have a weak national security and foreign policy record" Kerry and John Edwards?

Please keep Jamie in your thoughts and prayers. And for God's ssake, vote for Kerry-Edwards.