Had a good day today

My god, what an amazing day.

Myt schedule was tight because I got enrolled in some weird class for work that doens't really have much to do with my day to day job. I was a bit late, but I (unlike the poor guy next to me) ended up with a working computer. And despite the class being about equipment and protocols I haven't seen for six years, I didn't have any problems with the material. It's been a really good refresher, actually.

In addition to the class that left very little flexibility for the day's schedule, I had a shitload of errands to do. I got each one that I set my mind to done. My new car passed the safety inspection, which enabled me to get it registered. I am now fully mobile without worries.

I managed to get this done and have a chance to stop for lunch.

In the post office I had mail waiting for me. All good stuff. My JSA Presents: Green Lantern. My absentee ballot. The latest issue of Weird Tales.

I took a wrong turn on the way back to the village and ended up finding a route that is actually going to be really useful in the future.

I made it to my landlady's office after work with two minutes to spare before her assistant left, and so was able to pay my rent by the due date.

I swung by the department store in the walkplatz to see if they still had that decorative metal table and chairs I wanted for my balcony, and they did. And I had cash leftover from the rent for it.

And it folded enough to fit nicely in my hatchback. (Yeah, my new car is a hatchback. And last week I managed to snag an automatic at a reasonable price -- so I own it.)

The bakery had a chocolate and cherry layer cake that I took a chance on and absolutely loved. That I got to eat while sitting outside on my balcony in my new chair.

I took another wrong turn, and found another potentially useful route for when I'm running errands. I also found a flower shop.

After a full day in high heels, my feet didn't hurt. My ankle should be good enough to run for real on. (I sprained it at the beginning of the month.)

I got home with plenty of time for my reading assignment and a relaxing bath.

I took a picture of my with my filled out ballot on a whim, and it turned out to be a pretty kickass Evil Red Riding Hood image. (Original and mood-altered.)

It was the perfect temperature all day, not too cold for my outfit and not too hot.

And while I heard the usual ravens cawing throughout the day (ravens are more common than pigeons here), I also heard something I hadn't noticed in this part of Germany before. Songbirds. I hadn't heard songbirds here yet.

And more amazingly than anything else, today Republicans and Democrats got together and in a rare show of sensibility went "You want us to give HOW MUCH to WHOM?!?!"

Elected officials actually looked at each other and agreed that yes, yes things were bad. Yes we had some rough times ahead. But no, we weren't going to panic and make things worse by giving money to a bunch of guys who are being investigated for fraud.  No, we're going to ride it until we come up with a plan that has a snowball's chance of working.

They presented a unified front in favor of common sense and against fear tactics.

That's fucking amazing.

That's seriously something you write home about.

And they listened to the voters, who even more amazingly went "Wait a minute... these guys piddled away the few hundred billion dollars they had on their OWN. Are sure this is a wise investment for OUR money?"

The infamous mob was the voice of reason.

That's fucking astounding.

Now Wall Street is panicking and plummeting.

That's not so surprising.

Don't get me wrong, I know there's bad stuff coming. I firmly believe there's already a depression (it's only now that the rich people noticed it), and it's going to get worse. It could be worse than 1929. Hell, in a few years I might even be camped out in DC with a sign demanding back pay. (Hopefully no one'll release a modern-day MacArthur on us.)

But today? I'm happy. I had good day personally. I had a good day professionally. Congress didn't panic. They didn't go for the quick fix that was guaranteed to backfire and screw us over. There was genuine bipartisan action to stop, collect their thoughts, and try to come up with a sane way to fix things rather than make the dollar worse less than the paper it's printed on.

We--as a people--can officially face a guaranteed period of hardship and still keep our heads.

That--more than any campaign speech or promise--that actually restores a lot of my faith in the government. That restores much of my faith in my fellow countrymen.