Disenfranchised!

Okay, not really. But it does sort of feel like it.

Hey, everyone who voted absentee in 2004, I hope your state, unlike mine, doesn't assume that you want to keep voting absentee from that address forever. (Actually, that isn't a bad assumption to make, and there was probably fine print somewhere on that ballot that said, "Write to us if you'll be in the country in 2006!" which I just didn't see, so in addition to my outrage I feel like a right idiot.)

Anyway, I tried to vote early today and found that out. After a call to the election commission, I find that I'm allowed to vote provisionally, and that I have to get a new registration card.

This is okay, I guess. I'm not totally convinced that provisional votes don't go into some black hole somewhere, never to be seen, but it's better than nothing. I don't actually care about any of the races; I only want to vote against the "definition of marriage" amendment that they're trying to add to the state constitution. (I do not have enough *rolls eyes* IN THE WORLD.)

Mostly, I was irritated that the bunch of old ladies running things kept asking me, "Are you sure you haven't voted already? You sure? You positive? Isn't there an absentee ballot laying around your house somewhere?" No! I would've noticed had it showed up, I promise! Also, their attitude of, "We don't really believe you and we can't do anything anyway; better luck in 2008" grated, particularly as when I called the election commission, I found out that they actually COULD HAVE done something for me, namely given me a provisional ballot. (Apparently even the person they called at the election commission didn't know this. Hmmm. I begin to wonder who is actually wrong, and what will happen when I try again to go vote.)

Bah, bureaucracy. Down with the system! (...even though it was almost certainly my own absent-mindedness that put me in this situation. But "Up with observation skills!" just doesn't have the same ring.)

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Awesome! Susanna Clarke, author of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has a new book of short stories out: The Ladies of Grace Adieu. All eight stories are set in the same world as JS&MN.

I'm hold number six on the library list. As of today, they've ordered fourteen copies. Yay. :)

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British novels always, always, always contain a character having a cup of tea, which inevitably makes me want tea, which consequently leads to me going to the bathroom every half hour because caffeine is a diuretic. Sigh. But it does taste good.

Speaking of British novels...Ellen, how does it feel to be a book addiction fairy? 'Cause I remembered you mentioning Nick Hornby, and I happened to be in the "H" section of the library the other day, and somehow About a Boy found its way into my hand. I seem to remember something similar happening with the first Bridget Jones book. Are you trying to take over my brain with snarky British chicklit?

At least, I think this was chicklit. Chicklit for boys? Chicklit for girls but from a male POV? Not chicklit at all, despite concerning many of the same themes and types of character? What was it? I'm trying to categorize it, but I think it might be uncategorizable. It was good, anyway; I very nearly pulled a book allnighter last night after starting it around 10 PM, but in the end decided to quit half-way through and get some sleep.

I particularly liked the bit where Will is going on and on to himself about how very good he felt after buying the cool shoes for Marcus so the kid wouldn't get beat up at school, how it was a natural high, how it was totally changing his life, not to mention Marcus's, and then ( spoiler )

Hornby, I think, is a man who probably feels a deep kinship with Marvin the Depressive Android. Or perhaps Murphy. Or, I dunno, any nerdy kid ever.

The fact that it wasn't a traditional love story and wasn't so girly and self-consciously life-affirming were big points in its favor, particularly as I just suffered through Practical Magic, for got knows what reason. Hoffman describes things beautifully, and for all I know writes great things outside of this book, but wow, the sugar. I was hoping for more witchcraft, less glurge. I think that might have been what kept me reading to the last freaking page, despite getting disgusted with the whole thing around page fifty.

Hmmm. What shall I read next, I wonder? Or maybe I could actually finish this neverending chapter I'm writing. That would be nice.