Way Too Calm Around Here

I suppose everyone is home now doing their last minute voting. Oregon has some interesting laws: you can't pump your own gas, there's no sales tax, and you get to vote by mail. This last one, I'm convinced, is what is keeping people at home, instead of patronizing their local. While the voters' pamphlets and ballots were mailed out weeks ago, many of us (I'm convinced) have just filled it out this morning over a pot of tea and some eggs and B.

I did. Well, I had coffee. Good coffee.

I've seen numerous stories in the press about pre- and post-election anxiety. This particular form of anxiety is described as "gripping" people, like some sort of industrial-grade adhesive, or a robot homunculus with it's frenzied oversized fists. But for me, it's not the State or National elections that are the concern. I'm more interested in the outcome of the local City Council, for which I'm not eligible to vote as I live outside the city limits. It will be the results of this contest that may have the most impact on local jobs, quality of life and overall civic demeanor. And I don't see how propping oneself up in front of the tube day in and day out watching CNN is going to make any whiff of difference.

They say that in periods of recession and times of national disquiet, people consume more beer. But bits of folding money are also a factor, and it's up to the president to fix that, or so they say. I think it's up to individuals exercising their personal responsibility. And their personal responsibility also extends towards supporting their local brewery.

I'm still waiting out that new IPA I put on this weekend. I think the strange odor is coming from the yeast - some sort of esters that need to mingle with the other beer molecules for a few more days. Perhaps it might be a fitting post-election brew.