Where were you at this time last week?

[democrattotheend]

Since it's been almost exactly a week since the networks projected President Obama's re-election, I figured it would be fun to share election night stories. Here's mine:

My boyfriend and I decided to watch the results in my apartment along with one of his friends. I had just gotten back to my apartment two days earlier, having been exiled for a week due to the lack of power and transportation after Sandy. Shortly after they called the election they showed the Empire State Building and we decided to go outside and see for ourselves. So we walked a few blocks until we had a good view, and we were going to go back home and drink champaign, but we heard people yelling in Washington Square Park, so we decided to go and yell with them. As more people gathered I started yelling "four more years" and a bunch of people joined with me. Then we went home and drank champaign, then decided to go to Times Square. It wasn't as crazy as it seems like it was earlier in the night, but watching the president's speech with the crowd there was still pretty awesome. This may be the only election I am in New York for, so I figured I had to experience it. The only thing I wish I had done that we didn't was go to Rockefeller Center to see the skating rink with the electoral map...somehow I wasn't aware of that. Oh well.

Amazingly, I was neither hungover or hoarse the next day, despite drinking almost three glasses of champaign and screaming my head off. I was pretty tired though.

[ffr]

1. At a Democratic convention hall watching the Democratic victories come in.

It was an excited crowd, lots of cheering and celebrating. I didn't win the $20 raffle though, picking how the swing states would go. I picked them all going blue, b/c that's what I felt they would do. I got one wrong.

[democrattotheend]

2. North Carolina?

Was that the one you got wrong?

[ffr]

8. Yes, of course.

Prior to the election, the early voter turnout was looking very positive. Several of the others I felt would go blue based on polling and the one I'm in, I was comfortable it was going to be blue. We fought very heard with a well organized, highly motivated volunteer war machine.

[elleng]

3. recovering from a day at the polls away from home,

having first meal of the day at motel, listening to 'breaking' news, and very happy! Got into bed about 3:30, after POTUS speech.

[democrattotheend]

4. I wish I could have done that

But I had an important interview Tuesday morning. Just found out I didn't get the job, so now I wish I had gone and done voter protection in a swing state.

[elleng]

6. Was interesting, cold, and tiring,

and you did the right thing, HAD to do interview after all.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. My daughter was having an election night party

she invited 30 people around to watch. I had to get up for work the next day after drinking a fair amount of wine.

[struggle4progress]

7. I'd knocked 100+ doors, watched the local BoE bring in the ballot boxes from the precincts

and total the initial counts, as well as the mail-in ballots, then came home and fell asleep

[SunSeeker]

9. I was all prepared for a long anxious night that never was. It was over by 8:30 pm Pacific Time.

Which left a lot more time for celebrating for us West Coast folks!

[DFW]

10. You can't be completely sober yet if you were drinking "champaign"

As for me, my wife was having a medical procedure done in Berlin, so we took a train out there Tuesday morning. It's a four hour plus ride from Düsseldorf to Berlin, so we got there in the afternoon. I got zero sleep that night, watching the returns come in from the States starting at midnight C.E.T. At 6:40 AM, German Radio News called for a previously scheduled interview as a rep of the Democrats Abroad-Germany. It went on for a while, maybe five or ten minutes long. It was over by 7:00 AM, and THEN I got maybe an hour of sleep, woke my wife with the good news, and then we went down to have breakfast and then drive her over to the clinic.

[freshwest]

11. Good news for good health. Take care of yourself and your lovely bride, DFW.

[DFW]

12. We were in Berlin for an accupuncture porcedure for her

She suffers from restless legs syndrome, and wasn't getting much sleep. A doctor in Berlin is a specialist in treating it with a special kind of accupuncture. He inserts 10 titanium needles into specific spots in each ear and they stay there if not rejected or infected. He said he has an 80% cure rate and the effects should kick in within 3 to 4 weeks. My wife said she is already sleeping better, if not completely cured. The doctor from Berlin calls almost every day to ask if she is OK and has been having any side effects (none so far).

Cross your fingers that she gets over this. Restless legs can be torture if an intense case (and she had one).

[freshwest]

14. I've found acupuncture remarkably affective, but can't afford it now. A half hour session repaired

a damaged nerve which led to imbalance and no reflexes in one leg, that the medical doctors told me I'd just have to live with. It lasted for twenty years and now that problem is gone, with just one session.

I've heard about ear treatments but never had any. I'm glad your wife will be able to get some good rest. Lack of restorative sleep really destroys one's health.

Ah, and is snowing there now? Take care.

[DFW]

17. They've already had snow down south in the mountains

The "lower (i.e. northern)" Rheinland is pretty flat and is slightly warmed by the flow of the river, so we get snow later and in far lesser quantities than they do down in the Alps.

[freshwest]

18. Hope you can herd the family to enjoy Thanksgiving if possible.

[DFW]

19. 3/4 of the family, but it will be a herd!

My elder daughter in New York will be heading to Dallas, spending Thanksgiving with our housemates there, as she has done for about ten years. My younger daughter, currently spending a 3 month training stint with her law form's HQ there, will be flying over, and her boyfriend will be coming up from Frankfurt. We have invited 3 other classmates of theirs so that they are alone in their age group. Other than that, we are having about ten German and Austrian friends over and a turkey we suspect was really an ostrich, it is so big.

[freshwest]

20. Oh, my. Or it might be one of those infamous emus. When the bottom dropped out of that bonanza,

they were running loose in the countryside. They are much harder to herd than cattle. But you'll know right away if they're offering you faux turkey!

Or I think you will. I don't think ostriches and emus have any 'white meat' and are both rather dry. Who's doing the cooking?

If the entire family and friends did get together, you'd have to rent a banquet room at a hotel. Still going to serenade the guests with music?

Everyone stay safe!

[DFW]

23. There will be about 15 of us

We will have an immense turkey, and my wife has become expert at it in the meantime. I always have to carve it. It's all good, I have been given thornier tasks in my life. We even order "Peppridge Faaahm" stuffing mix and cranberries from the USA so that everything tastes just right. My wife learned how to do the gravy from my mom when she was still alive.

I'll let Bruce Hornsby and Mark Knopfler take care of the music. I'll stuff myself to the gills and then fall asleep happy!

[BlueDemKev]

13. Pinching myself to make sure I hadn't dreamt the whole thing!

[forestpath]

15. On my laptop, refreshing DU obsessively!

[democrattotheend]

22. That's what I was doing until they called Ohio

DU and Twitter. Except it sort of ruined it for me, because we were watching CNN (which is usually slower than the other networks) and I saw on Twitter that Ohio had been called by MSNBC and Faux. So it ruined the surprise when Blitzer announced it.

[Filibuster Harry]

16. Started the day

by waking up at 4:30 and was first one at the voting site at 5:30. Helped set up tables outside (coffee, cookies, donuts, etc.) so I ended up being the 11th voter. Over my girlfriend's for an election night dinner party. Shocked that at 8:15 pm the Murphy - McMahon senate race was called. Watched election coverage all night between MSNBC, CNN, and FOX. Went back to my house at 11:45 and watched Romney's concession speech. Unfortunately so tired i fell asleep at 1:30am. So I didn't hear the president's speech but did wake up at 4 am with the TV. Just went back to sleep leaving it on. But I did have a very. very happy night.

[RebelOne]

21. I tried to stay awake to see the results, but I fell asleep.

I was so afraid to turn in the TV in the morning, so I came to DU to find Obama was a winner.