A good day

Despite a minor meltdown last night under the pressure of impending deadlines, summer internship hunting and a head cold, today was a good day.

I started out with a stop at my neighborhood polling place, where I was lending support to Barack Obama and encouraging folks to vote. And I brought folding chairs for the Obama volunteers to rest on. That was my civic duty of the day, seeing as independents can't vote in DC primaries.

On my way to the Metro, however, I saw a large group of people congregating on the corner. Rolling my eyes at the prospect of fighting through the crowd to reach the station, I steeled myself toward the center ... and then noticed the television cameras all around ... and then noticed that in the very core of the circle stood Barack Obama himself! Kicking myself for not getting a cell phone with a camera (and hating Blackberry for including one in my model), I waited to shake the man's hand. Which he did. Firmly. And with a piercing eye-to-eye gaze that kinda made my stomach flip in a good way. Seriously, the man has a way of making you feel like he would remember meeting you in this fleeting moment even months later. I excitedly texted the news to my sister, who then promptly called to say that she had been watching him on TV and had been looking for me in the crowd when she received my message.

The day at work was rather unremarkable, save for the fact that I met a man in his late 20s who has never been registered to vote. I just don't understand it. Voting is a privilege and even if you can't find a candidate to support, why would you so freely disregard or decline that privilege?

Classes were rather boring too. Except that during my last class of the night, my phone buzzed with the good news that Obama had won Virginia and Maryland and was likely to win DC (no surprise there). My camera-less but email-enabled phone redeemed itself.

Glad to be at home finally, I just came across a link to Senator Clinton's speech when she cast her now infamous vote for the President's Iraq resolution. And I just want to say that I'm so glad that the Democratic party has the luxury of choosing between two incredibly talented candidates (but please don't screw it up from here). Obama is hands-down the more inspirational of the pair, but reading this speech gave me a new appreciation for our first viable female candidate. And it helped counteract my exasperation with the Texas delegate system.

So, 24 hours after the mini meltdown, I'm not materially closer to landing a summer internship, my deadlines have not been pushed back, and my head is still clogged. But I'm glad to be here in the nation's capital during the most exciting U.S. election period that I've ever seen. It was definitely a good day.