this is the only city, top hundred in the nation, that would vote 70/30 romney, but its county did. and that's fairly liberal for west texas, where some counties went 78/20, 83/16, etc. poll watchers encourage you to vote straight republican and lots of people do. libertarians often got maybe ten, fifteen. but one democrat won in lubbock county. he was running against a guy named ysidro guiterrez; there must have been something wrong there. it seemed like you had to go out of your way to find a democrat on the ballot.

at the corner, corner of flint and nineteenth, bane of my existence, there was an accident this afternoon. cars turned left in front of me but one car had to wait for me as i had a green light on my bike. he saw me; he waited, he slowed down and let me pedal hard up the crosswalk quick while i could. but he ran over little metal shards of car as he drove forward and these flew out into the street. some flew toward me. but that wasn't the danger, the danger was that a car was approaching on the other side, where i couldn't see it. he, fortunately, saw me too. the presence of the police i think made everyone on their best behavior. they wanted it calm so they could watch what was going on.

nights i sometimes work on my pop art or work on renovating my dad's photography page which sometimes takes a long time, because i kind of have to set it up and get in the mood, have time. i'm also walking a lot at night, 830 or 9, i might walk two or three miles barefoot in the park. lots of stars and fresh air out there, but dog poop too if you don't look down or even if you do. thought about the election last night when i went out. wisconsin and p-a had already gone obama when i went. it was coming down to ohio. i was pretty sure that if wisconsin went obama, iowa and minnesota would follow. ohio, apparently, was down to cuyahoga county.

the legalizing of marijuana will usher in a new era in the social history of the usa, with a generation, about thirteen now, wondering why the dare policemen made it sound like crack cocaine. the heavy medical restrictions were just the first step; now, as far as i can tell, it's entirely legal in some places; this is a trend, unstoppable i would guess. i hope texas eases off. we hear these stories of people getting life in jail for a samll quantity, then, hundred people die a year in the prisons, randomly and by whoever happens to be in the wrong place. maybe it's better to keep the pot-heads out of there, so that everybody is at their best behavior and full capacity, and fewer people will die. just dreaming. got my texas driver's license today, i'm full citizen of this place, no restrictions. but i don't even want to drive. i want to stay home and write more stories, which i'm doing. i'll keep you posted.

finally, things are happening on the professional front too. my main concern is the degree that technology impedes or influences language learning, but i'm researching lots of new media and, for example, emoticons which i never use and which apparently are flying all over the place in texting in general. or what about the differences between facebook, twitter, and phone-texting? i feel like studying emoticons only; it's broad enough; it's a kind of hieroglyphics; it's an interesting thing to be an expert on. i could call them "the new hieroglyphics"...check out their distribution, etc.

on facebook, i feel like gloating about the election. it went well for me; actually, i was proud that the usa pulled it off without outrageous ballot-stuffing, voter disenfranchisement, civil war etc. only trump seemed to be in for a civil war, he can fight one with his hair maybe. i myself am turning back to the rest of my life, such as it is, with special care toward flint and nineteenth, such as it is.