But in a different way. It’s not something I think about as often anymore. I realize that now. I suppose that’s normal though, healthy even. A coping mechanism, but a beneficial one.

Janet’s death rocked my world, in various ways, but I can’t live my whole life in the shadow of any one event, even something as tragic as the sudden death of a close friend in the prime of her life. And so I’ve “moved on”, in a sense, while still trying to preserve and dignify her legacy, and the memory of our friendship.

But too much introspection here would be selfish, and so instead, one of my favourite Janet-stories:

In grade one, I lived in a Toronto neighbourhood that had a large proportion of uneducated immigrant families. Although many people did not understand a word of English, they nonetheless lovingly attended their children’s school events as often as they could.

One evening, just before a school concert was about to start, the janitor went to the front of the room and reminded everybody to please place their litter into the appropriate garbage bins.

Nobody understood a word he said. Everybody applauded politely.

Miss you Janet. I wish I could still talk to you, a lot has happened in two years. Some things I’m sure you’d jokingly tease me about (uh, moving to Texas) but in other ways you’d be proud of me, happy for me. I know I’d have things to both jest and celebrate about you too.

I owe you a lot. In retrospect, it’s more obvious now than ever. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it at the time, or thank you for it. But I don’t think you realized it either, you were just being you, doing what you did best – being a friend to people who needed one.

You were always a good friend to me, and I’m a better person for having known you. Thank you for that, for everything.

and I’m feeling so

Nevertheless, here’s my prediction for how the electoral college points breakdown will go today:

My guesstimates include:

• Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico, all “leaning Obama”, will go his way
• Minnesota and Wisconsin, also “leaning Obama” will go his way
• McCain will hold onto Arizona, despite the embarrassment of it being closer than it should be
• Similarly, the GOP will also hold onto Montana and North Dakota, although the race will be closer than any Republican would care to admit
• Arkansas, Georgia, and West Virginia will remain red states
• Missouri, where the race is super close, will go for Obama by a very small margin
• Key battleground states of Indiana and Ohio will go to McCain and Obama respectively – the former should have been an easy pickup for McCain, but I think he can still win it; the latter is always a crucial state, and I don’t see Obama losing it
• Virgina will go blue, a major indicator of how much ground the Republicans will lose tonight
• North Carolina will stay red, by a slim margin, despite a much closer battle
• Pennsylvania, which the GOP tried really hard to win, will still go for Obama
• And finally, Florida will go to blue in a close race, cementing a landslide victory for Obama

So there you have it, my predicted score is 349-189 for Obama. And, if I may add – WOOT WOOT!

The close wins (and, for the matter, the close loses) for Obama in certain swing or even traditionally red states will be partially attributable to increased voter turnout among minority and youth voters. Similarly, the overall voter turnout should be the highest by number of votes it’s ever been, and the highest by percentage of the population it’s been since JFK won. And beyond just winning the electoral points, I think Obama will capture a majority of the overall popular vote – probably around 55%.

Although I haven’t posted about it here so I don’t really have “proof”, it’s been pretty obvious to those who know me that I’ve favoured Obama from Day 1 – over the other Democratic candidates, over Hillary, and especially over McCain. I didn’t always expect that Obama would win, but I always certainly hoped for it.

And now, after a couple of years, waiting and watching, the audacity of that hope is becoming a brave new reality. God bless America.

here in my heart, yeah I do believe