"Happy New World!"

- text from Dad last night.

I got home from work around 6:30, housemate not there but the dogs were listening to NPR. I checked the NPR.org election map (we don't have tv). Our polls weren't going to close until 8pm, PDT.
Another great map:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/89154

As soon as she walked in I shouted the most recent news, "Ohio!"
"Pennsylvania!" she yelled back. It was like state turrets.
After we obsessed over the map and many failed attempts at watching Indecision 2008 streaming online, she headed for a bar on the next block that had cable tv while I stayed home to continue my physical therapy exercises. Halfway through, I thought 'Screw it! I need to be out where people are!'

At 7:59 PDT I opened the door to head out and heard fireworks going off and people cheering in the distance. Met up with my housemate at the crowded bar with tvs on different channels in every direction. Straight men were hugging each other tightly in the middle of a bar in celebration! We stayed through McCain's speech, have no idea what Palin said through all the shouting. Decided to try other bars and see what it was like in the streets while waiting for Obama to speak.

Another thing that had happened was the weather change - as I walked home from the bus through puddles, I passed firefighters raking leaves out of clogged drains. There had been rain showers for 2 days. Around 8, the rain had stopped and the puddles seem to be gone.

We realized our hippy/sustainable neighborhood doesn't really work well for catching cable - not that many bars and coffeehouses have TVs. We passed by a teahouse (just like a coffeehouse, but more laid back) and could see a small group of people crowded around one Macbook set up on a wicker coffeetable (er, teatable). There were small, random groups of people out on sidewalks, like the group of 4, one adorned in a horned helmet, carrying a scepter and all shouting "Woohoo!!!" We "woohoo"'d back.

As we passed the movie theatre, my housemate knocked on the window of the box office, getting the attention of two gray-haired ladies who had their backs turned. "Obama won," she said calmly when they turned around. The two ladies raised their arms in the air and gave "Yays!"

We decided to head back to the only bar that had all those tvs. We still had plenty of time before the acceptance speech. Dad and I were texting back and forth. I texted him:
"It's better than new years around here!"
Of course, new years happens once a year and this is the first time for, as Colbert said, a Hawaiian, to be elected president.
Dad's texted response is the title of this blog entry.

Here's a picture from the Seattle Times on what happened on.. well, you can see by the street signs where it was. There is also video someone took where you see how people all of a sudden pour out on to the street.

And The Stranger's online front page: