What's worse, a step that's not there or an unexpected one that is?

I came downstairs last night in the dark, needing to grab some clean clothes from the basement. Having lived in my house for six years now, I'm pretty good with it in low-light conditions.

But last night I misjudged and thought I had gotten to the bottom of the stairs when I hadn't. I took a big step forward with my left foot, fell forward into thin air and my trailing right big toe ended up hitting the floor straight down like a piston.

Not normally a "potty mouth," I was cursing so loud that Adalia opened her door to see if I was OK and Ian came downstairs in his PJs to see what was happening. I recovered well, but it's still sore. It's not broken, because I have full range of movement, but it does hurt whenever I go up stairs or get up from sitting but on ground (as I did at the BART station this morning).

In academic news, I got my microeconomics final back yesterday and missed three questions to get a straight B on the exam. One wrong answer was a stupid mistake on my part, another I'm still not convinced I was in error and the third was just a random guess on my part. In the end, it may or may not matter depending on the professor's whim. I got 90 and 90 on my two midterms (each worth 30 percent of the grade) and an 85 on the final (worth the remaining 40 percent). That gives me an 88 total for the class, which probably means I just barely missed an A.

Though I thought of trying to push on the one answer I thought I was right, it's not worth fighting over as I had only needed a B (and since I'm not going to SFSU this spring now, I didn't even need that), but it's still a small blow to my pride.

Speaking of blows to my pride, I shot an e-mail off this morning to the head of the public administration program at SFSU asking if she had any tips on improving my chances with another application. I used many of the same points I listed in this blog the other day. Fingers crossed!

I can't wait until it's Nov. 5

Perhaps the worst part of election season is seeing people who normally promote themselves as forward-thinking individuals admit to actually hating people who run on a platform of beliefs different from theirs. Maybe I'm a bit idealistic, but short of advocating genocide, I really can't see a belief that your possessing would make me hate you. I might think you're an idiot or naive, but that's an entirely different thing.

Am I voting for these guys? Maybe.
We've seen it from both sides in this election. In fact, for the extremes, this election is not about the candidates. The far right, not happy with the Republican candidate, are putting together a nasty assault against the Democratic candidate instead of promoting John McCain (I had originally written "nastier than usual" there, but it's almost always this nasty). The far left, looking past any merits Barack Obama might have, are operating a smug-sounding campaign against a decent candidate simply because he's from the same party as the failed incumbent.

Are these folks worthy of my vote? Possibly.

It's been so bad that I refuse to be associated with either side. The college student who rents our spare room put an "Obama" sticker up in her (street-facing) window last month. As someone who tries to keep a neutral front (thanks to my days as a print journalist), I was actually a bit offended, because I didn't want the neighbors making presumptions about us. I even bought a McCain sticker to put up as a counter, but it's still in its envelope because I don't want anyone in the household to make assumptions about me. (I would have gotten some third-party stickers as well, but Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader all charge more for their stickers than I'm willing to pay to make such a small point.)

I like Obama, his enthusiasm for social issues and his ability to encourage participation. I like McCain, his independent streak and his history of service. I hate Biden's dullness (and eyebrows) and loathe Palin's disavowal of natural selection. I will be neither unhappy nor perfectly satisfied if either side wins.

What's worse is that the electoral college system is so dated. There's almost no point in voting for a McCain/Palin ticket if you live in California or the Obama/Biden ticket if you live in Texas. It's ridiculous. Sorry Kansas and Wyoming, I know the electoral college is there so someone actually pays attention to your small-state issues, but it's not good democracy. With modern mass media (including the Internet), anyone can make their cause known no matter how Podunk their home town is. This de facto lack of choice is why I voted for a third-party candidate in each of the last two elections.

With all those issues, I really can't wait until it's Nov. 5 and the election is over and done with.

Actually, since I'll be in Australia -- over the International Date Line -- come election day (I'll send in my absentee ballot before I leave), I guess I actually can't wait until Nov. 6 ...