I've had a whole series of funny reactions starting Tuesday and the last two days.

I've wanted O to be president for so long...I could see it, really SEE it, for such a long time in my head. For at least four years I have been picturing him in that role, thinking he belonged there. And Tuesday, as exhilarating as it was at times...became sort of anticlimactic. I didn't expect that at all. There was so much to be excited about, even with all the hype drained away--and I was. But I couldn't sustain it for a whole day, and in fact, I found myself fairly well tapped-out. Not only that, although I was one of the people who even thought at the time his speech could have eased up a little and still been effective, since then I have felt the way his photos have looked the last few days. Which is: We've got work to do. I have work to do. There is no time to waste.

I spent three hours wrestling with insurance companies on the phone this morning, making just a merest dent in my own personal snarl of red tape and denials. I talked to people in four completely different walks of life yesterday whom had all been through layoffs in the last week. I idly called up the CircuitCity website to double check some electronics prices, only to find it bankrupt. Which isn't news, of course, but still--I hadn't been paying attention and there it is. All around me I see resources drying up that I need more and can afford less. I'm trying to squeeze 50 lbs of health coverage in a 20 lb bag, all before it vanishes in a puff of smoke, unless the new president interferes. The job market is horrible, not only for what's not there, but for what is--the jobs people are clinging to all seem to have two or three others folded into them. The work isn't going away, just the money to pay people. And jobs like that just make people sicker (see beginning of paragraph).

Anyhow, all of that has been true for a long time. But I think the fact that there is someone in office whom I now feel understands these issues (whether or not it's true, but it sure feels like it) is affecting my feelings about it all--much faster than I thought. Which is...no time to play. You're it, let's go, we have to try. I was too discouraged before to even want to try sometimes (I can see R*shLi*mbaughtypes pouncing on this fact, which I know I have in common with other people, but I think it's important to understand how far and how deep things have gone thelasteightyears for lack of a better term.) But now...party's over. Or just starting. I don't know. I didn't expect to feel this way so quickly, but one day was more than enough! Now I want to see what we can do.