You had me at I accept.

So Obama did it for me last night. America has not seen a speech like that in years. It restored my patriotism, made me want to fight again, made me want to give a shit about politics after being on the fence since 2000.

Alot of my conservative friends have been telling me the same conservative line: "Don't believe the hype."

What hype?

Hype that someone who is running for president worked his way up from nothing, someone who actually understands what it is like to have to pay for college, someone who only owns one house, someone who is not wheelchair bound and clinging to ideas that haven't been current in 20 years.

But what Obama said that really made my heart pitter patter was that he pointed out that it's not solely government's job to take care of everyone, which I believe has been the Democratic party downfall for many years. He emphasized both individual responsibility and mutual responsibility. We cannot keep voting for a whole party because of one issue like fiscal "conservatism" (what does that mean anymore anyway?) or abortion or gun rights. The stakes are too high to get caught up in one thing.

One great moment from a great speech that I might carry in my pocket from now until eternity:

"But what I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."

Boo yah! Words cannot express my elation that someone on a national podium finally stood up and said this.

And for the first time in 8 years I will be giving money to a political campaign- to Obama. Especially now that a 72 year old man has picked a crazy woman who has less experience than Obama to succeed him in the oval office. What kind of judgement was that? McCain just opened the doors wide for criticism and I'm joining the masses in keeping him on the defensive until he is defeated.

YAY America!

How Daisy Spends Her Days, These Days

Ole Daisy here hasn't had a job in over a month. While she does enjoy waking up every morning with a completely blank slate, she has found that the old saying is true:
idle hands are the devil's whatever... and the devil's whatever has forced Daisy into indulging in her lesser natures, mainly Hypochondria and Astrological Forecasts.

First I start off at my computer to put together my resume. Then I realize that I have some sort of symptom somewhere: numbness, excess cold, does this spot on my arm feel hotter than the rest?, was this mole always this color?, is that my lymph node swollen?, there is a pain in my abdomen....Anyhoo, thanks to Al Gore, bearer of all bad news, I then get on the available interwebs to do some quality symptom research. I discover at least ten conditions I could have, most of them fatal, some only permanently damaging to the central nervous system. The realization that my time on this earth might well be drawing nigh sends me into a righteous blind panic, and since I'm not a religious person with a savior to save me, I do what comes naturally next: astrology.

I start off with astrologyzone.com- a rather bland sight that gives very overarching yet terrifying details about how this month will suck. My panic not assuaged I then head to the Chinese astrology at iVillage where the man who writes the column is prone to saying, "This will not be a good day for you." Finally, when my fretting has reached a spiraling apex of misery and self-recrimination I get mad at the asshole who writes for iVillage and the d-bag that pens astrologyzone. How dare they tell ME how my day is going to suck. "This is bullshit!" I scream at my computer. At this point in my morning I go outside and smoke a cigarette, which is probably the one thing that I do that will guarantee me an illness, and which ironically is the one thing that always calms me down.

What did unemployed hypochondriacs with an anxiety disorder do before the Internet?

I guess they went and got a job.

Or! they stalked the aisles of their local library or Barnes and Noble darting furtive glances between "Health" and "New Age" while trying to look casual, holding a magazine that normal girls read like Cosmo.

Daisy, of course, has never sunk to Option 2 before. Not even when her Internet was out for a week and she discovered a lump on her neck that looked suspiciously like cancer masquerading as a bug bite. Certainly not then. No way.

Yes!

I saw Smashing Pumpkins tonight.

Yes, it was without D'Arcy or Iha....but I was literally sitting at my computer at 7PM when my roommate told me that the SP was playing tonight. We rolled up, bought tickets and one hour later I was 20 ft away from Mr. Corgan: without whom, I would not have survived junior/senior high.

Yes, the show was the Billy Corgan Ego Tour 2008. Yes, he only played three songs of past merit while talking deridingly about, "well, most of the fans over thirty want to hear old stuff."

Yes, Billy! I want to hear old stuff. Your music defined my youth and gave my angst a constructive outlet. I want to mosh and be despondent and quote Reality Bites while listening to Disarm or 1979 or Cherub Rock.

And while they did play Today, Tonight, Tonight, and Bullet with Butterfly Wings...the little 14 year old in me died inside as the whole newly formed (and might I add creepily look-a-like band) played "In the Summertime" on kazoos. (This was the band that I listened to while I dyed my hair red with ManicPanic! And they were on kazoos!)

All in all, not at all the best concert I've ever seen. But I was beside myself with happiness to see Corgan in all his goulish best thrash, skulk, and gesture around the stage. The Pumpkins are definitely dying- but I was glad I got a front row seat.

Archaeology

Since I'm in the middle of a move I decided to use this time to really go through everything (I mean everything!) I own to purge and organize.

While sifting through, I've been finding some pretty awesome blasts from my past: Like the notebook I found today from 1989, a notebook solely devoted to expressing my love for Joe McIntyre from New Kids On the Block.

On every page of a 72 page notebook I had drawn hearts, written I LOVE JOE, or an artful combination of the two.

So here's to you Joey McIntyre, you made '89 a very special year and for the next couple of weeks, I'll be a new kid on a block too.