TJ's Kaleidoscope

Union Station at Night

Missed the 8:30 pm train, figured I have time to kill till the 10:00 pm one so here are a couple of pictures of Union Station on a Friday night.

An Election of Firsts

Regardless of where in the political spectrum we are, or how different our world views maybe, we have look at wonderment this election cycle especially if you look at the Democrat primaries. It was the first time that a woman and a black man were the serious contenders for the nomination, that too among of group of contenders that have been more diverse than many in recent history. Even between Clinton and Obama, there were many firsts. Obama's campaign took a page from the Republican micro-marketing playbook and took it to a whole new level. It was perhaps the first time that political powerhouse fundraising was trounced by simple grass roots level contributions. Then there is that name. Who would have thought Barack Hussein Obama--a name with not a hint of Anglo-Saxon influence--would be as common place in the collective psyche of a people as apple pie.

Today's announcement just adds to that list of firsts. A sixty-five year old white man will ride shotgun with a forty-six year old black man in the most watched election race in the world. Among all the bad news going about lately about the decline of America's economic and political power, it is easy to ignore the historic significance of this moment. The fact that at this point of time, at the dawn of this century, in this country, a black man has a serious shot at being the leader of the free world. Awesome!

Quote of the Day

"I'm afraid they'll have to prove first,
That they'll watch the Black man move first
Then follow him with faith to kingdom come.
This rocky road is no paved for us,
So, I'll believe in the Liberals' aid for us
When I see a white man load a Black man's gun."

                                                      --Maya Angelou

Take me to the ball game

Angels versus the twins at the Angel stadium.

The Big Three O

So, I turned thirty this Saturday. I was trying to keep it low key, in fact, I tried to mask it as Dan's birthday and celebrate on August 9, but it turned out we'd be celebrating on mine. I dragged my feet a bit, with the result 95% of the plan came together in the last two days. All in all the celebration was a good one, between being tricked into eating a pound of chicken, singing my heart out to the tune of Rhinestone Cowboy, and testing my body's limit to withstand alcohol. Many thanks to the ones who came, and apologies for the last minute invites.
So how do I feel getting thirty? Well, some things that I wanted, didn't really happen, and yet many things I never imagined happened. All in all, it has been a nice ten years. As Chad put it, you have to look it from a macro perspective, if you look at every tiny goal, you're bound feel disappointed, but you also have to look at it from the macro level. So looking from a big picture, I think it's been a good run. As is usual, most of the disappointments have been that of schedule. Things that I expected to have achieved by thirty are taking longer than I expected, tamed mainly by more realistic expectations. So here's to the next ten years, to achieving what I deserve, and sharing what I achieve.

Speaking of low key, it would have been tough to keep a low key. Facebook already is treating me differently, from meeting "young singles" their micro marketing ads have switched to "Mature Singles" Man! how time flies!

 

Quote of the Day

Three-zero. Older than my Dad was when I was born. Older than Napoleon was when he ... did something that was probably extremely impressive at the time – I’m not a historian. 

                                           --tick, tick...BOOM!