with the 2008 democratic party of hawaii state convention a few days behind me, i want to take this time to reflect on the experience. i’ve been thinking about this post since i left the hilton sunday afternoon and i’m still not quite sure how to put all my jumbled thoughts and feelings into some coherent structure, but here i go nonetheless….

after a long, but somewhat restless sleep thursday night, i arose bright and early friday morning to attend to last minute errands and tasks before arriving at the convention hall before 10am. i started to setup the registration and credentials stations in preparation for the opening of registration at 1pm. in the frenzy of preparation and the with the stress of a first-timer, the 1 o’clock hour passed as volunteers and delegates began to arrive, without being thoroughly prepared.

for those of you not in the know, that’s State Central Committee.  communist party?  not so much….  the state central committee is the, some days more than others, the governing body of the party.  by a very rough count, it’s comprised of 80, or so people: two from every state senate district.

who cares?  i do.

eight years ago, i got a fix, a high.  and not from drugs, at least not in this context.  i watched, transfixed, as the results came in from the presidential contest between george w. bush and al gore.  gore won, technically, but the debacle and media circus that ensued got me interested in politics.  admittedly, it was a casual interest.  it came along at a time in my life when i wasn’t quite prepared to be interested in anything but myself.  then i read the people’s history of the united states, by howard zinn, and my eyes were opened.

these days, i don’t get out much.  my work on the state convention (now just less than three weeks away), has sucked up my life… not to mention my ability to get a good night’s sleep, but this is not the topic i wish to discuss….

i went out friday night, at the end of a long day and even longer week, with a friend of mine, to go see another friend kick ass with her band (which she did).

admittedly, i wasn’t particularly excited about going out.  i was really tired and, at least at the beginning of the night, i just wanted to go home.  but i’ve learned over the years that when an attractive girl asks you to join her for a night on the town, you say yes.  and so i did and spent the evening with two attractive women.  what are the odds?

here’s where i start to wonder how much i should actually divulge….  no names is the general policy and, as my readership grows (ever so slowly) i’m never sure who’s reading this shit….

yeah, sorry.  not only can i not find the right combination of words to lay this out in a way that would make sense, but can’t help but be worried about who might read this.  cowardly?  perhaps, but i am what i am.  if you really must know, you can always ask, though i won’t promise to share.

now the hour is growing late and i must try to get some sleep.  g’night.

i now have a hawaii driver’s license.  hurray!  does that make me officially a local?