Now that the election is over, and for the time being before Barack takes the oath of office, things have quieted down. A lot. Issues and controversies are not longer of the daily (and sometimes hourly) urgency that they once seemed to be. For the next while, I'm going to take a break and just write about my life after the election. I hope that it's not too boring for all of you.

Life is funny. It can bring such interesting turns of events. I'm currently in Chicago, and sitting in Panera Bread at the corner of State & Congress. It's nice. Free wifi is always nice. So is their lack of caring when it comes to just hanging out without buying something (buying food being a luxury I don't currently have).

On Saturday, I'll be heading back to Missouri, and I'll be staying with one of the former NTL's (Neighborhood Team Leaders) from the election. Joplin, Missouri... Boy, who would have ever thought? I certainly wouldn't have. Never in my life did I ever think I would have any connection to the state of Missouri. Of every state in the country, Missouri certainly wasn't at the top of my list of states to either visit or live. And then Joplin, of all places. Deep red Joplin. Definitely not. But I'm going back, after coming here to Chicago to visit a friend. I guess the ultimate question then becomes: why?

I had two choices: either return to Washington state and live on Vashon Island... where I could find no work and do nothing of importance and be far away from my girlfriend. Not to mention the fact that I had moved to Washington only two weeks piror to moving to Missouri to work on the election. I have family there, sure. But I don't have friends. And I don't have connections. I have no network. I have no real possibilities.

Joplin, Missouri, however, offers me the exact opposite. In Joplin, I have friends. Lots of friends, and of course, my girlfriend. I have connections and a network of people to help me if I ever need it. And if there was a time that I needed some help to stay afloat, it's now.

But for all the anxiety and uncertainty for the future, and for what each day will bring past the previous, I don't feel afraid. A lack of money, as fearful as that sometimes makes me, does not trump my excitement for what the future, as unpredictable as it is, may birng. And why? It's because of Barack Obama. It's because, through him and his movement of change, I was able to become a part of the lives of so many other amazing people, and they, in turn, become a part of mine. A part that I know will last for years to come.

I don't know what's going to happen for the next four years. I don't know whether Obama will be a good President or not (though I certainly think he will be, and certainly will be lightyears ahead of what's moving out come January 20th), but I do know that he has provided for me people and a place as unexpected in its coming to me, as the Presidency was coming to him.