All is Reasonably Well Again

I was truly feeling like hell after the election. Perhaps it is stupid of me to have felt this way, since my one small voice could not have affected change enough to have made much of a difference. I am still disappointed in Ohio and Florida, but that is simply the choice of their population. I truly think Kerry would have been able to steer us back into a far better position.... on the world front, on the national economic front, and also in terms of looking forward to a future of positive goals and aspirations for our country (such as increased funding for the arts, increased funding and support of all sciences, not just those that can be used militarily, and a goal for fostering creativity and discussion in all people).

My solution for getting out of the horrid mood worked well. I arrived at "The Pit" as promised (roughly 11:45) and got down to the business of defragmenting the hardrive of my brain and cleansing out the viruses with ample boilermakers (for those of you too young to know, a traditional boilermaker is a mug of beer and a shot of whiskey... as a person who embraces tradition, I consumed them in the traditional manner as well... drank down a few inches of the beer in the mug, getting adequate foam in my moustache and beard to necessitate wiping my mouth on my shirtsleeve and then dropping the whiskey filled shot-glass into the mug of beer before finishing the drink. My trusty pipe was at my side or gripped between my teeth the entire afternoon as well.

As I was starting my third boilermaker, the first of four of my students came to sit and talk with me. Of the four, three had read my invitation and the fourth simply happened to see me when he entered the establishment. I bought the first young fellow a beer and we started a long, beery discussion about politics and the disappointment we both felt. By the time I started my fourth boilermaker, two young ladies had arrived to join the discussion and I purchased each a diet cola (they were under 21) and we continued the discussion. By the time I had consumed the third and fourth boilermaker I had started to feel relaxed, and by the time the fourth fellow arrived, I had just received my sixth and final boilermaker and was feeling downright pleasant. This fourth fellow would have liked to have a beer, but because he was going to work in an hour (at the 7-11) he declined and had a Pepsi instead. Talk continued at a feverish and animated pace. Most of the discussion was still about politics, though each of us discussed our lives and the variances and similarities we felt. By 3:30 it was time to close up shop and I bid the students farewell and walked back to my office.

I quickly gave my research animals their afternoon injections (a vitamin milieu) and proceeded grade the multipage essay exams I had given to my advanced physiology students the day before. The students were happy with their scores as I tend to grade a bit more leniently after a session at "The Pit". When I finished, I went home and took a nap until dinner.

The medicinal use of the boilermakers did help immensely. That evening I no longer fussed and fumed about the sad turn of events and by the time I awoke Thursday morning, I had developed a resigned acceptance that the next four years will be much the same as the previous.... namely that my hopes and dreams and desires for the nation will not likely be addressed, but that I am still fully capable of guiding and promoting positive change in my own local environment. And this is what I shall continue to focus upon.

PipeTobacco