Branded memories

Yesterday was a turbulent day. Oakland and Berkeley were a little chilly. I had a few gonna-puke-soon moments in the office and while in line for Cheeseboard (feta, roma tomatoes, onions). Oh, and the ELECTION!

Memory 1:

I was walking out of the Preservation Park complex just when the sun had set. I had my cell phone strapped to my ear; I was giving a mouthful to my brother.
"Kamille, are you sure you voted 'no' on Prop 4?"
"Yes. I was just kidding earlier."
"Are you sure?!?!"
After this back-and-forth exchange for another five minutes...
"He won Pennsylvania."
"What?! No way! Are you sure?"
"Yeah, they just reported that he did."
"I can't believe he won Pennsylvania!"
At that very instant, a man walking next to me on 12th Street and MLK, who had overheard this, asked, "Who won Pennsylvania?"
"Obama!"
"HELL YEAH! It's in the bag now!"
We were about two more elated screams away from just hugging each other at the intersection.

Memory 2:

Mike and I consumed our four slices of Cheeseboard pizza in front of the TV. Red, blue, red, blue! I was still sickly (still am!), so Mike brought out our comforter, and I pleasantly situated myself on the couch. A good ten minutes later, I saw Alex through our door window.
"I couldn't watch the election alone!"
His arrival... Mike's interest... everything made me feel so proud of our age group, our civic-mindedness, and our refusal of apathy.
We both plopped ourselves down on the couch, chatted about recent and upcoming events and literally, within the five seconds we turned away from the TV to talk about Oracle, "Barack Obama Elected 44th President of the United States" runs on the television. I checked my watch. "7:59?" I thought out loud. "Come on NBC, gotta be that slanted?!" But no, no mistakes. He won. A beautiful silence invaded the living room.

Memory 3:

I pulled myself out of bed this morning so I could attend my Philippine diaspora literature class. I hadn't heard any news on Prop 8. I arrived to an empty class, but a couple of students arrived minutes later.
"Hey, have any of you guys heard the latest on Prop 8?"
"Uh, it passed."
"What?! *bleep*!"
"We can't win everything."

Ain't that the truth.

Again... 2008 has been the year.