November, one day at a time

• Posted on Dan
• in Berkeley, concerts, family, friends, San Francisco, we're crazy liberals
• on November 9, 2008
• 2 Comments.

Well, it’s already the second weekend of November, and I haven’t told you all thank you so much for my birthday wishes yet, which is not cool of me. So, THANK YOU! I feel very loved and appreciated. Thanks for the cards, Facebook notes, phone calls, flowers, emails, etc. You are all awesome. A lot of people have asked what we did for my birthday. So…

November 1…
Hooray for birthdays! We woke up actually later than planned – we had wanted to go to brunch at my favorite place, and by the time we got down there (in the pouring rain) and realized how long the wait would be, Dan realized that I would be late for my birthday present, which was a 90 minute massage! So, we ate birthday lunch at Baja Fresh (fancy, I know) and then headed to the spa…in the pouring rain. Dan had booked a deep tissue massage for me, because of the class I had taken that week, which was great but it was intense. When I left, Dan wasn’t back yet, but the ladies at the spa were sure to tell me that my husband would be back soon to pick me up. A little weird.

That night we set out for a night out in SF because we had tickets to a Matt Nathanson concert at the Warfield, which is this incredibly historic venue in downtown SF (the locals call it the Tenderloin district. Could there be a more unappealing name for a location?) Anyway, we went to one of our favorite local places for dinner (Burmese!) and then headed across the bay, still in the pouring rain. Luckily, we got to the Warfield in plenty of time, and the concert was GREAT. If you’ve never heard of him, you should check him out. He’s in the Jason Mraz/John Mayer sort of vein. Anyway, he put on a great show, and is a really funny guy, so the in between song bits were good times.

November 2…
Another day, another concert. We saw Jason Mraz at the Greek Theater (on campus venue, where I went to see Dave Matthews) – it was a weekend full of skinny white guys playing guitars really. The concert strangely started at 3pm, which was especially weird on the same day as Daylight Savings. Anyhow, he’s also great live. He was a little too happy, the world is made of sunshine and unicorns, every little thing is gonna be alright for this sarcastic heart though. BUT, I really appreciated that live, he really sounds like he does on his album, which is important to me.

November 3…
Good things! My staff had broken into my office over the weekend and decorated – all week I was tripping over the balloons that were all over the floor. They were all really proud of themselves, coming by to make sure that I liked it. Also, I left the office early, because I had to get home to watch Monday Night Football. (Early, because that crap starts at 5 pm here. Which is ridiculous). Anyway, I know Redskins fans know the outcome of the game, but I just wanted to reiterate that the Steelers were victorious. And I was happy about it.

November 4…
So, I’m not sure if I really need to state the fact that the candidate I voted for won the presidential race, or the fact that he won in quite an impressive fashion, or the fact that I am SO HAPPY ABOUT IT. Yeah, I didn’t think so. Election day was interesting here – I was still at work at like, 4 pm, when they started announcing that some of the East Coast states were either going red or blue. The polls had barely closed in California before they called the whole election – it was crazy. Students basically rushed out of the buildings and had a celebration in the courtyard, complete with cheering, chanting “Yes we can” and all out screaming. Luckily, they left the unit, but only to join the cheering MOB that took over all of downtown Berkeley and the whole campus. It was pretty intense apparently. There are pictures all over CNN and Facebook. Also – VIRGINIA? OHIO? I am SO proud!!! I couldn’t believe it. What a time to be a proud Northern Virginia Democrat.

I didn’t do any of the rejoicing and running about, which I’m now regretting. I wish I had taken the time to celebrate, because all of my exhiliration was basically completely sucked out when I clicked over on cnn.com to check on the ballot measures and saw that it was likely that Prop 8 was going to pass in California. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Prop 8 is the measure that banned gay marriage in California. It ended up actually passing 52% to 46%. I was and still am shocked and completely appalled. I didn’t realize how much I was emotionally invested in the measure until it passed…and now, I just don’t even know what to say.

Of course though, I am thrilled to have contributed to the historic moment of Obama getting elected.

November 5…
Moping still about Prop 8.

November 6…
Tech beat Maryland on Thursday night. Fear the turtle my ass.

November 7…
I actually missed the Prop 8 march in San Francisco on Friday night, because I had to teach my class. But, on the up side, class went really well, and I think a lot of them are really starting to make some progress, which is of course what’s really important.

November 8…
Wow, a lot of good football today. Most of the games didn’t end up the way I would have liked, but good games. Penn State, loser. LSU (who I was rooting for after the PSU loss), loser. Cal, loser – which is fine, because they couldn’t catch a pass to save their lives. And wow, penalties much?

In other news, I’m on my second to last book for the year – I’m actually reading the Diary of Anne Frank for the first time ever, and having some trouble getting into it. I find myself forgetting while I’m reading that she was a real person, in this REAL situation. Crazy. Any suggestions for the 50th book?

Also, my grandparents (mom’s parents) just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Friday. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the concept of sixty years. Six decades! They are pretty awesome. I updated you all on the status of my grandmother actually, and I wanted to say thanks for the warm thoughts – she will be going into surgery to remove a tumor, but she is in very high spirits, her doctors are positive and the prognosis is good. So, we will keep hoping for things to go well!

Saw my first Christmas themed commercial yesterday. Ugh.

The rain has started here almost every day, which means winter is actually here. Between that and the sun going down so GD early, I’m kind of depressed about the weather and out of doors. I hope everyone is staying warm!
**Update: So, I was reading through my old posts today and realized that I’m a total hypocrite. When it was March, and Daylight Savings Time went the other way, I was all “Woo Daylight Savings! Extra daylight is the best thing ever!” and now…where’s the loyalty? *shakes head sadly*