Yes, that's right, I'm in the process of filling out my request for a ballot so that I can progressively have a hand in hopefully ousting the Shrub, aka. Bush. I've taken to calling him The Shrub because shrubs are like trees only they never become majestic, instead they are stunted and serve to fill space. And that's what I feel George W. is busy doing: taking up space. I want him and his cronies out of office. He didn't deserve to be there in the first place and now is the time to get him out.
Anyway, I phoned Democrats Abroad because I couldn't figure out how to register my vote and I spoke with a lovely man (whom I'll meet tonight, presumably, and have been warned by someone who knows him that he's a little, um, bombastic) who was more than helpful.
"I am calling because I'd really like to vote in the next election but I don't know how to register."
"And am I to presume that you'll be voting Democrat?"
"That's the idea, yes."
"Good, I was just checking, I'd hate for you to be a misguided Republican..." He paused and chuckled.
"They would have to be if they're planning to vote for Bush." I hoped he was making a joke and filled in what I believed to be the answer. Not knowing for sure, he might have just been one of those gigglers who can't seem to finish a thought without giggling or chuckling, whether it was funny or not.
"Exactly !"
Phew. Well, he was indeed helpful and I have spent the better part of three breaks sorting through the links and information he directed me to. There is a lot of information out there and it's a bit confusing. I sent an email to my mother asking her to dig out the address of our house in Brooklyn, as that's my last US residence. Heh, I was nearly six years old when we moved. Twenty years in Canada, but I can still vote in the country of my birth. Hopefully, she will be able to track it down and I can get on this quickly. I want the ball rolling as I was warned that New York got its ballots out late last time around.
In the meantime, I'm sitting around in the office, frittering time away. I'm trying to do some cartoons based on my friend Kelly's crazy little cadence. She posted it in her livejournal and it would make a great clapping or skipping song. It's kind of dark, but it makes me think of the Lizzie Borden rhyme
Lizzie Borden took an ax
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
she gave her father forty-one.
even though the rhythm is quite different. I'm going to try to cartoon the whole thing and maybe turn it into a mini graphic novel when I've worked out all the ideas. I've signed myself up for the Art By The Inch competition.
Based on the idea of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and its goal to have everyone write a 50000 word novel, this competition is designed to get artists of all types producing 10000 square inches of art. There are three levels: gold at 10000", silver at 5000", and bronze at 2500". I'm afraid I'm aiming for the bronze catagory. I just don't think I have it in me to produce more than that. Of course, if I go over my goal, that's not so bad, either, but if I have no goal whatsoever, it wouldn't be any more than what I'm usually doing. Besides, since the weather got nice, I haven't touched my sketchbook (with the exception of the painted Mothers' Day postcard I sent my mom).
I suspect I'll do a bunch of other things, too, in order to fill up space. I'm considering doing some larger painted works with broad brushes to blast me out of my miniaturist attention to detail storybook illustration rut. It won't matter if the works come out nicely or not, the idea is to stretch myself. I've never undertaken such a project before, so we'll see how it goes.
