Visits, Voting, Values

Today I received a visit from my Dad and step-mom, Stacey, the first I've seen anybody from home, except for pictures, since August. I got to hear about my brother David, my Dad's work, and life in general back in Springfield. We ate at a little diner in South Orange, which was nice. During the course of the lunch, Stacey and I managed to get into an argument over whether or not I was using enough of my meals in the cafeteria or spending too much money (about $25/week) on wraps for lunch. This was a very retarded discussion, and generally put me into a bad mood for most of the rest of their two-hour visit up here (though luckily we'd already been talking for about 80 minutes). I felt like I was a seventh grader being chastised about whether I was getting a $0.75 cookie with my school lunch. Utterly idiotic.

Tomorrow America elects the 44th president of the United States. Now, I realize there are a number of things wrong with that statement. Americans have been voting for probably three or four weeks now, thanks to early voting in a lot of states. Election Day has become like Christmas: there's Election Day, and then there's election season. And, I know, Americans aren't really electing the president. We're voting for the nameless members of the Electoral College to vote instead of us. And it's debatable whether or not America can really be said to elect anything when 30-40% (and that’s being generous) of people don’t participate. But, in principle, tomorrow America elects our 44th president. Unless the courts get involved. Then we may or may not know who the next president is going to be tomorrow, or next week for that matter. Tomorrow some of America is voting. We’ll just leave it at that.

Classic teenage paragraph starter: As I face a lot of the uncertainty surrounding my future in college (and life in general, for that matter), I’m reminded of the things that are truly important to me. Unfortunately this isn’t a feel-good movie, so there are actually some problems with that idea. Instead of being reminded of the things that are truly important to me, I’m more reminded that I don’t really know what’s truly important to me. Maslow’s hierarchy seems more like a maze than a map. I’ve been very unsettled about my social standing at Seton Hall, and my relation to other people. However, one of the pluses that I don’t have to worry about is, so far, I’m making very good grades. I’m doing very well in Speech, especially compared to the other freshmen. I absolutely love most of my classes, and those that I don’t are at least bearable. I’m sixty minutes or less from the top of the Empire State Building basically whenever I want. There’s a lot that’s going right for me, but I have a tendency to try and fix everything I feel is wrong. I’m still adjusting, still getting used to New Jersey being, well, home. Time passes, and it will all work out.

At least, that’s what happens in the movies.