I voted today and it was alright.

Heaven bless absentee voting. Given the hours that my job has (highly unpredictable and long at times -- 18 hour stretches sometimes aren't uncommon some days), I figured it'd be prudent to vote absentee this year and make sure that I got it out of the way, so I wouldn't have to think about it too hard.

It was amazing. At the City-County Building in Madison, there was a line to vote. I saw state Senator Chuck Chvala (currently facing charges for the pay-to-play allegations during his time in the Senate) standing in line with other folks. And it was awesome -- I mean, there was black, white, Hispanic, old, young, rich elitists, students, soldiers and all these other people just standing in line. Not to get some free shit or buy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but to vote. To do their fucking civil duty.

I get sentimental a times, and admittedly, standing in line, with my Onion (which is already skewering the election) and playing Tetris on my cell phone made me feel good. I don't know if my vote will really count, or if we'll see lawsuits out the ying-yang or if it'll all go to hell in a handbasket and I'll flee to Canada, but for that moment, I felt like I was empowered with the ability to do something.

That's the whole damn point of this. For all of ya'll that's been feeling like they have had no voice these past four years this is one moment where you feel like you're being heard. I always get this way when I vote. I always get that "Damn! I did something," feeling when I draw the little line connecting the arrow together. It's an awesome feeling. For a moment, you feel like the boss.

It'll probably fade after whoever gets into office (or the nation erupts into chaos over disputed electoral votes). But for that one brief moment and the knowledge that you're doing something -- even if it's a drop in the bucket, even if the Supreme Court annoints our president, even if you flee to France or Canada -- I highly recommend it.