Thursday, October 21, 2010

I Am 17 Going On 18.......

Ahhhhh election time. It's the most wonderful time of the year. All the people crawling out of the woodwork trying to figure out which campaign to follow and who to vote for. Yes, I am one of those confused souls that sadly enough understands the US elections better than the Canadian ones. This year I decided to make a conscious effort to try a little harder and set myself straight with my own peeps. So what happens? I jump on the Rocco Rossi wagon and he friggen drops out!  Back to the drawing board. In high school it was so much easier. Everyone voted for the person that had the coolest campaign and gave out the best stuff. Who could forget the Dj dance party in the circular driveway at York Mills Collegiate, or the free cotton candy and baked goods in the courtyards. Those people always had my vote. Could you imagine if nominees ran their campaigns like they did in high school?
"Hey George Smitherman is giving out free fizz-wiz and kit-kat by the Eaton Centre" or "Rob Ford promises to give every person in Toronto a Roots leather vest if he wins." Or if both of them "Punched up!" for Toronto, Enrico- style? (that's a York Mills joke for those reading)
Sigh....one can dream can't they.
Yesterday, I had a great experience with one Toronto campaign for city councillor. There was a knock on my door and I opened it to find two older women standing on the other side of it carrying tons of pamphlets and notebooks. Campaigners!
"Is your mom home?" one of them asked.
"Um, no," I said.
"Oh, well are you old enough to vote yet?" she asked. SAY WHAT????? At this point I knew I had two options. Say yes, and have to listen to their boring spiel about why I should vote for her for councillor, or say no and go back to watching my shows that I was watching on PVR.
"No, not yet," I said, upping the tone of my voice to make me sound a bit younger.
"Okay, how many more years until you are 18?" she asked. If I worked in an office, this is the point where I'd say to myself "none of the guys in the office are ever going to believe this one."
"I'll be 18 next year," I answered.
"Okay great. Then I guess we'll be talking to you next year," she laughed. Then the other woman who had been pretty much silent up until now said,
"So there's an Ellen Eisen, an Andrea Eisen, and a Stephanie Eisen registered at this address." Uh oh!
"Yes, well Ellen's my mom and Andrea and Stephanie are my older sisters, but they aren't living here anymore," I said. Both women smiled.
"Okay great, well here's my information that you can give to your mom and we'll be seeing you in the future," she said.
"I can't wait to vote!" I said with excitement, before closing the door. I was on a high for the rest of the day and I'll tell you one thing, that woman definitely has my vote for  city councillor this year!!