La la la, I can't hear you

Denial can be a helpful thing at times. This would be one of them. Let me tell you, I am not happy about yesterday's election - not one whit. It's looking more and more like we've re-elected the cowboy, and - even more embarrassing - Marion "Bitch Set Me Up" Barry is back in public office. What is WRONG with people? Jebus.

So, I'm going to cast my mind back to a happier time...three years ago. In September 2001, I was working for an activist group on Capitol Hill. I'd finally escaped the clutches of the military-industrial complex, for whom I'd been working since graduation, and was doing something I believed in. Of course, everything changed very quickly. My organization lost a lot of its funding after Sept. 11, so I was laid off. I'd never had a job choose for me to leave before. Then the anthrax attacks hit. You'd think with the general malaise in DC, the world, and my personal life at that point, it would've been a bad time for me.

But it wasn't. Between unused vacation days and unemployment, I was fine financially. I'd sleep in, go to the gym when it wasn't crowded (Results on U Street - shout-out to all my boyz!), meander on to my alma mater so I could use the computer lab to look for work, then meet up with my friends for happy hour and cap off the day with a few drinks at the Raven. I remember kicking through multi-hued leaves while walking around on yet another sparkling fall day. One of my best friends had just moved back into town after having been abroad for a couple of years. And surprisingly, networking, as painful as it was, paid off swimmingly. I ended up with what has turned out to be my dream job. On Saturday it'll be my three-year anniversary - the longest I've ever worked anywhere.

So, I'm trying to keep the big picture in mind here.

But goddamn it's going to be a long four years.