And So It Goes

No ballot faxed from California was waiting for me at the office: not that it would have made a difference, it seems. Yes, I know that my single vote would have been less than a rounding error in this election, but I would like to have had the chance to at least add my voice to the minority and to have given me the sense I was doing my part against the onslaught of the barbarians.

Polls closed back in California at noon Tokyo time, about the time I went to lunch with a co-worker at a nearby Indian buffett. We had finished and were walking to the cash register when a college-age Japanese guy (presumably from nearby Keio University) walked past us to join his buddies at a table. As I sat down, I distinctly heard him say something that used the word "Schwarzenegger"--do NOT ask me to reproduce the Japanese pronunciation--causing me to turn and ask what he meant.

What he meant was that the kid had heard that--less than two hours since the polls closed--Schwarzenegger had been declared the winner. "Are you sure?" I asked

"Yes, Schwarzenegger won," said one of them in English. I took the news rather well, I thought.

"FUCK," I said.

"I'm from California," I told everyone who had looked up, including the waiters, "and this is just STUPID. Fuck!"

Well, at least I'm registered to voter with Alameda County now, so I'll be able vote on Arnold's recall when it comes up in a few months.