Signs of mid-Autumn

A robin on your lawn is supposed to be the first sign of Spring. Leaves changing color herald the start of Autumn. The first snow means it's Winter.

Well, there are two other milestones that are so significant to me, they deserve a season. Since none is available, I just call it mid-Autumn. They are:

• Election day
• Nosebleeds

I know you don't want to hear about the nosebleed. It will tell you that it was spectacular - I considered asking a coworker to take me to the ER, and that's when it finally stopped.

Election day is a little easier to talk about. I don't know much (okay, I don't know anything) about any of the local elections, other than the mayoral one. In fact, I didn't even realize an election was coming until I read an editorial saying that Lang was going to win. It's my own fault for not keeping up with these things, although it would certainly help if we had sample ballots or something. (I didn't see any in the Standard-Times, though it's possible they printed one that didn't show up in their daily feed.) I'm glad there's one race I can vote in, at least, because I'd hate not to have a reason to vote at all.

Hell, even my sister is voting today. Her father-in-law holds an elected position in their city. I don't think she likes anything about the way he does his job, so I'm not sure why she votes for him... unless the competition is even worse. Either that or she's just saying she's voting for him when she's actually voting for his opponent.

I have a little election day routine. After work, I get some takeout at a nice restaurant and a bottle of pop wine (like Arbor Mist) and then I enjoy while the election results come in. The next day, I vow never to drink that cheap shit again.

However, given the lack of suspense in this year's election and the fact that I need to get up early tomorrow for more acronym training, I think I'll settle for a burger at the drive-through (I need the iron... and I promise to skip the fries) and maybe a shot of tequila later on.