2002-11-05 - 11:59 p.m.

One Last Time

Well, it's Tuesday again, but I was swamped with things I needed to do so it looked like I was not going to be able to go down and visit the Brooklyn Public Library today.

So of course I went anyway. BECAUSE I AM AN OBSESSED MONKEY!

A major barrier to going down to Brooklyn was the fact that today was Election Day. Although voting for the Republicrats or the Democans is somewhat farcical, it's a responsibility I take seriously. I think people that don't vote are weenies, and after the Illuminati do away with voting entirely, they'll be really sorry.

However, I found out that the polls opened at 6 a.m., so that meant I could vote, THEN drive down to New York. I love it when a plan works out...

Anyway, I showed up at the polling place at 6:05 a.m. and they just weren't ready. There were these old ladies staggering around trying feebly to set everything up, and it seemed to be taking forever. One of the ancient voting machines refused to reset to zero, so they were fussing over it. One lady suggested that the city should spring for some new machines, and there was a chorus of "Hell, no! They'll raise our taxes!"

This is the first time in all my years of voting that I'd witnessed such chaos, although it must have always been there. I nervously thought about what a frail flower our democracy seemed to be, being inexpertly handled by these confused grandmothers.

There was one guy standing in front of me, and I could tell by the look on his face he was not amused by the delay. I decided that rather than standing there and fuming like him, I'd go do something useful, so I went and put gas in the car, something I needed to do anyway. When I got back to the polling place the cranky guy was just leaving, so I timed it perfectly.

When I finished, I saw that I was leaving a full 40 minutes later than I had the week before. Oh well. However through the miracle of good traffic, I arrived at the Brooklyn Library only six minutes later than the week before, about 5 minutes of 10 a.m. I guess I just must live right.

In fact, the whole trip went even more smoothly than the time before. Even though I got less sleep the night before, I didn't feel nearly as tired, even when I was on the way back.

After the library closed I decided that I'd eat dinner someplace different this time. There was a place on Flatbush Avenue called "Junior's" that looked attractive, so I ate there.

What I didn't realize, until I walked into the place, was that Junior's was famous, and a local landmark. Right by the front door there were a bunch of pictures of Bill Clinton shaking hands with all the staff. He seemed unusually gleeful in the photos, and it was easy to figure out why - he was going to get some of Junior's famous cheesecake.

Sadly, I didn't have any cheesecake. I'm not really a fan, but even if I was the dinner special I ordered was so huge that I couldn't have eaten anything else if I tried. I'd ordered the homemade meatloaf and I got more than I could eat for $16.50, which was a darn good deal.

At the table next to mine there were two guys having a loud conversation, and it took me a while to realize they were talking about chess. I looked at them: were they anyone I should know? However, after listening to them for a while I realized that they were just a couple of average club players, telling fish stories.

On the drive home it occurred to me that, in some ways, these weekly trips down to Brooklyn have been to toughen myself up for my upcoming trip to China. The fact that I'm able to get up at 5 a.m., drive down to Brooklyn, work hard all day until 8 p.m., and then drive home again without being utterly destroyed means that I've come a long way in the couple of months since Lily has been away. Well, in just a few days I'm going to find out how ready I am.

Bring it on!