November Sweeps - Day 277

 It's Day 275's double-sized anniversary issue!*

So, the election didn't get resolved last night.  I guess that's obvious--it's all ancient history to you, right?  

I watched the states get called for Trump or Biden with baited breath, but moving very, very slowly now.  I have to admit that I felt guilty going to the cabin with this unresolved, but there's actually cellphone service in the area where the lake receded (and up on the dam), so I figured I could see the numbers there.  It's been strange to be this emotionally invested in the election--more so even than the Reagan/Mondale one in '84 where our whole class was supposed to monitor it and do a report on what we felt about the electoral process.

It's not just me, kids, because as of this morning, Joe Biden had received more votes than any other candidate in U.S. history.  I think there were people galvanized, motivated to get out and vote this year, that would've sat it out in previous years.

My cousin and I meet on Tuesday nights at Taco Bell and have dinner before we go to his house, and it's been a tradition long enough the employees know our names.  But when we got there this Tuesday, they had already locked their doors.  One of the employees came to tell us that they've gone to winter hours since November started, and we'd have to do the drive-thru.

So we did, and had a frustrating experience.  First off, Ryan didn't get all of his order, even though he was charged for it.  And me, I handed the employee (who was someone we didn't know) my cash, and then waited for the change, which never came.  We got our food, and I said, "What about my change?"  "Change?"  "I gave you six dollars.  Don't I get any change?"  And she simply said, "No," and closed the window.  Ryan and I sat there for a minute, waiting for her come back, but she walked away, willing to be elsewhere until someone new showed up to make an order.

My cousin said that maybe we could go back there and talk to a manager, show him or her our receipts and explain that we weren't given . . . but then we realized neither of us had gotten receipts.

So, we eventually drove off.  Now, normal people would just say, "Eff these guys.  Let's never go to Taco Bell again."  But it's something we do, every week, before we watch "Seinfeld" and now, "The Mandalorian" again.  It might be hard for me to end the tradition.

It was a nice enough night (perhaps the last one) that we drove over to a Mexican restaurant by the freeway, where they close early and have outdoor dining.  We tend to go there a couple of nights a month and hope not to be told to go to hell by the employees going home for the night.  But while we were eating, we heard an big engine revving, and watched an oversized pick-up truck vroom down the street, do a U-turn, honk his horn (at us?), and then head back up the road.  He had a TRUMP 2020 flag waving from the truck's bed.

My niece had texted me earlier in the day, saying that there were trucks driving around with flags and looking for fights, but I had dismissed it.  Now, though, I had to think about what exactly was going on there.  While a certain president would no doubt call this guy "a very good person showing off his fine patriotism," it did appear that he was looking for trouble, hoping to find somebody who took umbrage with his display, which would totally make his night.

This isn't what we need, guys.  It reminds me of the guys who would drive up and down Main Street in the rival town of our high school every single weekend, looking for fights.  So in a way, not much has changed.

Anyway, it's supposed to get really cold next week, with rain and snow and I dunno, spontaneous human combustion, so I felt like I HAD to come to the cabin this week, in case it's the last time.  That makes me wonder what to do with the metric ton of garbage I took out of my car last week so I could get it worked on this week, only to find out the soonest they could work on the car is next Tuesday.  If I leave the food and toys and books and boxes and suitcase and jackets and junk here . . . they may be stuck here until 2021.  Or, I can come up in a couple of weeks and just use the ground as my toilet, like I did last year around this time.

I got my exercise--the squats were fairly easy on Monday, so today I got the metal milkcan and used it as an extra weight while I did them (a hundred), and it was harder/better.

Sit-ups Today: 250

Sit-ups In November: 572

So, I really like this werewolf idea I had, and I sort of spoke it through during my drive up here, at least hitting the main points and trying to figure out where it would go.  I'm enthusiastic, because it's a fun idea, but it'll probably never get written, because in my head, it's a screenplay, not a story, and you know the drill, I don't bother with those.  Humongous waste of time, screenplays.  I wrote down a couple more paragraphs, and could set aside an hour to jot down everything I have so far, including the final shot, which is of the Now Leaving ____ town sign, and the cute pun they have written there.  

So, I've worked quite a bit on that . . . but it doesn't count as a single bloody word.  Not one.

The only thing I can count as writing is the bit I've written on the third Will Choner story--the one I'd imagined writing for years now, and talked about in the (infamous to me) Rish Outcast that I released before people had read the story.  It's not nearly enough writing today, but it's all I'm going to get done.

And I can't beat myself up too badly.  If this is my last trip to the cabin, then I want to make the most of it--but still have a good time.

Words Today: 1074

Words In November: 2465

*Originally, I fell two days behind in my numbering, so I thought this was 275, but it's either actually 277 or 278.