Excited for the future of my country

Big personal update to come tomorrow. Without giving too much away, I can very much say that my current excitement level -- as suggested by this post's title and to be explained below -- extends only to where my country is headed. I'd do a post on that now, but I already had this one drafted. And unless I post it today, it'll be dated, so here it is!

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Sometime in late 1996 or early 1997, just after Bill Clinton had been re-elected, Chris Rock hosted Saturday Night Live. I don't remember the entirety of his opening monologue, but for whatever reason, I vividly recall Rock questioning just how much life would change if your guy was or wasn't elected as president. Something like, "My guy lost? Damn! Trash won't get picked up this Tuesday!" Obviously, it was in the name of comedy, and obviously, on such a superficial level, it's absolutely true -- a president can only impact our daily lives so much.

But then there's Tuesday. (Or my Wednesday.) And even though I'm 9,761 miles and a 214-day walk (and kayak) away from the festivities, I'm still quite excited for the inauguration of our 44th president. And that's not wholly because I support most of his policies or admire his willingness and desire to work across party lines or think that he's a genuinely good guy. Those all go into the equation, yes. But what I'm really excited about is much more simple than that; he just seems to get it. He knows what he knows, he knows what he doesn't know and he's not afraid to admit it. He's just a normal guy who has worked hard and paid his dues throughout his career, loves playing basketball with his friends, and is going to make someone pry his Blackberry from his Greg Focker-like kung-fu grip.

On that last point of the Blackberry, the appeal for me isn't his apparent addiction, although that absolutely makes him out to be all the more normal and relatable. No -- what's so appealing to me is why he wants to keep it:

It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me. If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?' I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America.

How many leaders -- whether it be of a country, a corporation or some little neighborhood group -- have the humility to say something like that?

Barack Obama has inherited one seriously messed up situation. Yes, the trash will still be picked up on Tuesday. But with him now at the helm, I'm optimistic for so much more than that, confident that he has the knowledge, tools and temperament to right the larger ship. So for the first time in my adult life -- at a time when I'm surrounded by many people skeptical of the United States -- I can finally and thankfully say that I'm proud of and have faith in my government.

I'm mailing it in!

Today, for the third time in my life, I voted for a president for the United States of America.

So far, I'm 0-for-2 in voting for the dude who has won. Here's to hoping that I up that average to 1-for-3 with this latest vote.*

*Of course, considering I'm casting this ballot in New York -- where Obama currently holds a 33% lead in polls -- I'm guessing it will never be counted. But hey, at least I can still feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The toilet flusheth again

So! After establishing in The Precursor that when flushed, water in toilets in the Northern Hemisphere -- or perhaps more precisely, water in the toilet in my parents' house in the Northern Hemisphere* -- flows in a counter clockwise direction, Postcursor Numero Uno failed miserably. For in the follow-up of my extremely (un)scientific study, the water flushed neither clockwise (as I was hoping for) nor counter clockwise. No no. That would be too logical. This water flushed... straight down. Like in an airplane. But without the assistance of, you know, a massive frickin' difference in air pressure. I mean, what is that??!? That just defies any logic of physics.**

*Because really, do we actually know that this is a hemisphere issue, let alone any "issue" at all? Could it all be just a big, old wives' tale?

**Or at least the little of physics that I understand. Or can remember from Marté Paull's 12th grade physics class.

But as promised at the end of the follow-up study, I'm not going to let some little bump in the road get in the way of my pursuit of the truth. Oh no! I came Australia for all sorts of reasons, but to find out if the water in toilets really do flush in a different direction from those in the Northern Hemisphere? Okay, well that didn't crack the Top 10. But maybe Top 20. So, you know, there's that.

Therefore, here is the follow-up to my follow-up, which, well... (sigh)... just have a look:

Do we need to follow up on the follow-up of the follow-up? You better believe it.

A postcursor... of sorts

In the beginning, there was The Precursor. The first part of a study to answer an age-old question: Do toilets in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres really flow in opposite directions?

In The Precursor, we found that a toilet in the Northern Hemisphere flowed in a counter clockwise direction. Fascinating.

Then I came to Australia. I grew a ghastly beard. I filmed the follow up to this study (which even at the time I termed as "belated") in the bathroom of my friends' apartment. And somehow never posted it. It's reprehensible, it's completely indefensible, it's bewildering. I know. But now, over eight months since I posted the first half of this experiment on this blog comes the exciting (non-)conclusion that absolutely no one was clammoring for until three lunatics somehow coerced me into action by calling my non-existing Islamic roots into question (don't ask):

Do we need a follow-up to follow up on this? You better believe it.

This is it

As far as titles for a post go, I guess this one's a little cliché, but, well, this is it. So if that's not witty or original enough for you, then heed the words of what I'm now pronouncing as this blog's official motto: deal with it.

So, ummmm, last night in America?

LAST NIGHT IN AMERICA!!

Such conflicting emotions right now. I'm really excited, but also nervous about this whole "visa" thing. Why do countries have all sorts of hang-ups about visas? I'm from America, dammit, just let me work!

As I arrive on a Friday night, I think my first few days there are going to be hazy and drunken. So who knows when the next post will be. I would just say that if I don't post anything by the following Friday, I might be dead, so, uhhhhhh, keep your eye on that one.

A precursor

Urban legend has it that toilets in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere flush in the opposite direction. Thus follows part one of my extremely scientific study to get to the bottom of this.