So, I don't know what to think...

I phone banked tonight for the third time, and got the most negative, and angry responses so far.  I completely sympathize with these people, I phone bank because I want to make a difference, but I'm just handed a list, I don't know if this person has been called once or 5 times.  I can see how someone would get pissed after getting two "Hi is this so and so?  Hi my name is Ben I'm a volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign and I'm calling to see if you know who you're voting for?".  I had one woman who went so far as to say that she had been an Obama supporter, but now she just isn't voting.  If I was the person in charge of publicity, and knew what was happening, I would be very tempted to just stop all phone banking, it just seems to be pissing people off.  

On the other hand I just saw Obama's 30 minute ad, and though it's a little ridiculus to have him spend 3 million dollars on an informercial across most major stations, seems kind of ridiculus.  I was just reading an article on the expenses that town have had to host one of the canidates.  I think the best thing he can do now is to pay back all those towns. Then he can use the other 200 million to solve world hunger and aids.

Anyway, I'll be canvassing in Walpole, NH on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday.  Emily is letting anyone who has been actively involved in the campaign already be excused from classes Tuesday.  A group of us is going to try and stay over Monday night so we can start leafletting early in the morning, so that should be fun(leafletting not canvassing, we won't be ringing doorbells at 5 am that would really piss people off).  

Anyway, work days tomorrow, which will be fun.  I will now end this massive political rant thing, hope everyone is doing well.  

Remember to VOTE Nov. 4th!

 

A little food for thought, taken from Bicycle Coalition of Maine http://www.bikemaine.org/national_stats.htm

Health

• Just three hours of bicycling per week can reduce risk of heart disease and stroke by 50%.⁹
• In just one generation, the percentage of kids who walk or bike to school has dropped by 70% while childhood obesity has tripled.¹⁰

Environment

• The U.S. could save 462 million gallons of gas a year by increasing cycling from 1% to 1.5% of all trips.¹²

Economics

• It costs about $11,000 a year to own and drive a car and as little as $120 to ride a bike.¹¹

⁹ League of American Biyclists
¹⁰ Centers for Disease Control
¹¹ Smart Trips/Active Transportation
¹² Chicagoland Bicycle Federation/Bike Traffic

Interesting Mcain/Bush Quiz.
http://Bush-McCainChallenge.com/?rc=challenge-friends&r_id=12561-9051488-NgQZ6A

I'm really annoyed right now, we got snow (as before mentioned) and we all know what happens when snow it snows and then you shovel/plow the snow off, ice!  So when the plow guy came to plow this kind of common walkway/road, my mom asked him about sanding it so people didn't slip, while she was talking another woman from our community came over and told my mom that it was none of her business whether it was sanded or not and she should stop talking to him.  This woman is a complete control freak and has been saying similar things to my mom for a while.  Well guess what happened! One of our elderly neighbours fell on the ice.  She did something bad to her arm, my mom took a look at her (she's a chiropractor) and thinks she either broke her arm or tore a muscle.  So another person from the community took her to the emergency room.  I don't think they've gotten back, and if they have I don't know what the outcome of it was.

The thing that pisses me off is that sanding the road would be so simple.  I think I have been out the most, or close to it, shoveling snow.  I am wearing my big winter boots that have gotten me through two minnesota and vermont winters, and am walking carefully, and still slip.  About the same time this woman slipped and about five before we found out she has slipped, I was outside with my dad and we both said to each other "someone's going to slip on this"

To add to the mess, my mom is talking about how she doesn't think she can stay here, and wants to move to Oregon.  She's been trying to set up a chiropractic practice here but is having trouble because of all the laws surounding it.  She has to be careful what she says in her yellow page add just to avoid getting in trouble.  I don't blame her for wanting to move, but if she moves I don't know what I'll do, at one point she was talking about commuting to and from Corvalis Oregon working down there a few days a week, but thats like a long days drive from here once you factor in all the ferry travel.  I know she wants me to be where I want to be, but I also know that she needs to be where she can do her work.  Though not everything is perfect for me here, I have the best learning opourtunity for theatre and though I've been here for five months or so am already booked to work on at least five shows before the end of the school year.  And knowing my mom like I do, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day she decides to drive down to Oregon and start up a practice.  Well end of that rant.  Sorry to keep having such long journals. 

By the way I'd love to talk to any of you, I know you're all going crazy with exams and project week/end of the term crap, but if any of you have a time when you're not going crazy I'd love to call.  I know I'll be home all day tommorow due to school being canceled. And then will be home at night every other day.

Well it has trickled off for now, we'll see what it does over night.  It was still coming down a little though. 

I was outside while being the resident techie by setting up a projector, computer, and speakers for a movie night in our "common house".  As you all probably know I live in a co-housing community, and so part of that is sharing resources and getting to know everyone etc.  So we have a central building that has a kitchen and a meeting space, a kid play area and two guest rooms.  So sometimes people show movies in it, which was what I was setting up for tonight.  Thats a whole nother story, but in short, never assume people will do what they should when it comes to tech stuff, always be ready to jump in and fix things.

Anyway, so after that was all over I took some pictures of the snow, the sky seems so open here, and something about it seems to spread the light (in this case from the town) over the sky creating a nice glow.  So here's one, I haven't mastered the art of live journal so I don't know if this will work but to see the rest of the photos you can click here

So, Caitlin suggested that I started a live journal, and since I has thought about starting a blog, but this looked better, I thought I'd give it a shot.

So, life has been pretty cool lately, I've been living in the theatre, and hanging out with the awesome technical director of one of said theatres (the other being school).  I just finished working backstage for a band festival, I'll get back to that in a second.  I added up all the hours and found I have spent about 20 hours out of the last 48 in the theatre.  Basically sitting backstage, or hanging out in the tech booth chatting with above mentioned TD or one of the other techs, for about 50 minutes at a time, and then going into about 5 minutes of rushed rearaingin gof chairs and stands, before repeating it all over again.  This was from 8 to 8 yesterday, and 8 to 5:30 today. I got to miss school to do it, one of the advantages of public school, I just tell them I'm going to go get some work experience, and they excuse me.

Anyway, back to the Band Festival itself.  This concept is something that amazes me, both with this band festival, and the similar drama festivals.  In this festival middle and high school bands, and choirs come from around the area I didn't do much with the choir so I'll just write about band.  So, the band comes in, has 1/2 hour to warm up before going on stage.   They get on stage and play for about 20 minutes and then one of the two judges, both of whom are university music professors, come up on stage, and for the next 35 to 40 minutes conduct the band and help them improve their playing.  I was amazed at how well the judges came up on stage, analyzed the band's skill level and ages range, before giving them tips, or having them play it a certain way.  Then after that band was done the next band would come one after having warmed up in a seperate room for the last half hour.  The way it's structured allows the bands to improve dramatically. 

So anyway, that's kept me very busy, I'll write another one of these things soon, but right now my bed is calling my name.

Ben

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Current Mood: Tired, Thankful,Content, Etc.