The Great Restoration Part 2

Peace out.

The Great Restoration

Earlier in the night, Gabby, Gabby, Gina and I had taken a look into the lounge to check out an election watch party. It just so happened that everyone in their except for us was black (literally, every person), and we felt a little bit out of place, so we headed back up to Gabby B's room to watch the rest of it. We had gotten snacks from Louie's - Gabby R got chocolate Tastykake mini-donuts, and I got some Junior Mints, and Gabby B got some organic sun chips, or things along that line.

Gabby lives in a lounge that was made into a dorm room, so it's pretty spacious. They have a huge bed in the middle just to watch TV from, but it's bent up where your head is to make it easier to see. The sheets were blue, and there was a blue blanket on it. The TV was good, and we moved a tall green cup to make our view a little better. At first it was Gina, Gabby R and I sitting on it and watching, but eventually Gabby B took other Gabby's spot, and she then ended up sitting on a pillowchair right next to the bed.

I was giddy the entire time. I texted my friends about how excited I was. I couldn't believe it was happening. McCain had a tiny lead in the beginning - something like 8EV to 3EV - but after the northeast onslaught, we all felt a lot better. And then, early in the night, we heard that PA had been called for Obama, and then we saw it on the channel we were watching. We switched between CNN and ABC and NBC, and sometimes FOX to see if they were freaking out yet.

Once PA was called, I knew deep down that the election was over, but I didn't celebrate quite yet. We kept watching. For a long time it hovered around O:200 - M:130, and we got sort of impatient. Colbert and Stewart's live broadcast came on then, and we watched it, and switched to the news inbetween. I think I had eaten all of my Junior Mints by then - but that's okay, I think we actually started watching sometime around 8:15PM and it was 10PM by then. Colbert had a cockatiel and it was very cute and white.

We kept switching back and forth and back and forth, and nothing changed, and Colbert and Stewart weren't being too terribly funny. I had talked earlier of partying with all the black people in the lounge because I was sure they were a little more fun to hang around with than the lameos we were being, and eventually Gabby B took me up on that and we went down.

I feel like I should mention there was a naked roommate in the room with us for a long time, wearing a towel and nothing else after her shower, but she dressed eventually. Another roommate did some laundry and then hung around. A third roommate listened loudly to her headphones, and didn't hear us even when we all simultaneously screamed her name. The toweled roommate IMed her to get her attention.

Also, at one point I called my mom and screamed "OHIOOOOO!!!!" into the phone and then hung up on her just for fun, because we won Ohio. She called me back to ask what just happened.

Anyway, we went down. There were two other white people there; one was a photographer and one appeared to be writing in a notebook. Gabby and I stood in the back for a little, and then I suggested that we get closer to the front and take a seat, so we did that. The TV was on very loud, on CNN. As Gabby and I walked around to sit down on the floor, the photographer took a number of pictures of us - we suspected it was because we were the only white people there. We felt a little self-conscious, but it was okay.

This was about 10:42PM when we went down, because Colbert wasn't funny enough. I got a call sometime in there, and I believe someone told me we won Virginia. Our station wasn't reporting it, but I remember shortly after hanging up, I heard people saying things about Virginia. Maybe someone else got news from another station and brought it in. Eventually, CNN called Virginia as well, and everyone was really excited, and we all screamed.

There was a black guy behind me, thin with short hair, who was working quite intently on what looked like some studying for a biology class, with powerpoint notes printed out on plain white paper stapled in the corner. He was dressed nicely. He wasn't paying full attention to the election because he said he wasn't doing great in his class, and when we all freaked out about Virginia, he looked up from his work and asked, "Wait, what happened?!" So I told him that we won Virginia, and he gave me a very full smile.

And then I realized it was almost 11PM, and that the polls of California and Oceania were closing in a about a minute. We were at 225EV or so, and we were about to get at least three more states in a matter of seconds. I turned back to the guy behind me and said, "That's it! That means it's it! We won!" And he asked me why, and I told him we were about to take California, and that would be it.

The time until polls close came onto the screen. It was less than a minute. It was counting down in seconds. I was in the Stephens Lounge, with dozens of excited black people around me, a photograph, a writer, and Gabby B sitting to my left. The TV was on CNN, with the volume about all the way up. I was wearing my "Friends don't let friends vote Republican shirt," my nice jeans from Aeropostale, my embarrassing red Hanes underwear, and I believe mismatching white socks, as I'd left my shoes upstairs in the lounge. I had my camera in my pocket, and my cell phone, but I think everything else was upstairs. I hadn't shaved my chin in a while, and I didn't have a coat with me at all.

Twenty seconds left. Would this be it? I suppose somehow I knew that this would be it. I took my camera out of my pocket and set it on video mode, and set it on my knee (about shoulder level as I was sitting), and zoomed in on the screen. Just as the CNN "Breaking News" visual was coming on screen, I started filming, and the visual broke to Wolf Blitzer standing by a huge screen with a picture of Barack Obama on the left, head only, blue background, and words to his right

BARACK OBAMA

ELECTED PRESIDENT

Everyone was looking. Everyone saw. Everyone understood immediately. We all screamed. People jumped and danced and cried. I turned my camera off and struggled for a moment putting it in my pocket, and hugged Gabby. The photographer went wild taking pictures, and people continued to celebrate, dance, cry, laugh, text, call, hug. We chanted O-BA-MA and crowded around the screen, and some girls danced with Gabby for a moment.

And that was it.

We had done the impossible.

Peace out.