One of my HS besties was living and teaching in China, where they were paying her in renminbi (the people's currency so it couldn't be traded for US currency). She wanted a travel buddy, and how often would I get a chance to travel around China with someone who could both speak and read the language? So I went. And we came home via the Trans-Siberian railroad which was pretty cool too.

That sounds fantastic.

It was great, mostly because she was the perfect travel partner for it.

Wow, how wonderful!

Ohio's primary is tomorrow, and I'm seeing a lot of chatter on my (EXTREMELY liberal) neighborhood's bulletin board about how people are planning to ask for a GOP ballot and vote for Kasich so Trump doesn't win Ohio. (Ohio has an open primary, so you can ask for any party's ballot.)

In my obsessive checking of 538.com, Kasich is predicted to win Ohio anyway, so I think I'm going to stick with a democratic ballot and vote for Clinton (though she's also predicted to win Ohio, and by a bigger margin than Kasich is predicted to win). Okay, mostly I just don't want to vote for a single GOP candidate, because they're all just greater or lesser horror shows, even Kasich. But I *think* Tim is planning to ask for a GOP ballot and vote for Kasich, even though he tends to vote democratic in the general election.

(Am I supposed to say all this online? Am I violating the sanctity of the voting booth? [When I was a kid, I would always ask my parents who they voted for, and, every time, they would answer that your vote is a secret and they couldn't tell me. Shifty jerks were probably voting for LaRouche or something.])

I think you get to decide what you say and don't say about your voting habits, as long as you're not actually saying it while at the polls.

My parents and I always talk about who we're voting for, but we're all the Leftys of the family so there's rarely disagreement of any substance.

Am I violating the sanctity of the voting booth?

You are! Although I think it's like HIPAA and it's not so much that you can't say how you vote as much as no one can demand you tell them. I always think of one of the episodes of Murphy Brown, probably the one where someone got in trouble for giving away free pie or something to people who voted, where the anchor said he didn't even tell his wife who he voted for. I am not actually that secretive, but I kinda lean that way in theory.

Yeah, I think it's less that your parents couldn't tell you, and more that they didn't have to.

Burrell, that trip through China sounds wonderful! Especially the Trans-Siberian railway part.

I did not understand why it was dark this morning when my alarm went off.

I agree with -t that they should wait until after the equinox. It was dark! I don't get up before dawn unless I have to catch a plane. 'tain't natural!

From what I hear, I think a lot of Dems are voting R just to vote against Trump. There's been low voter turnout on the Dem side this year and I wonder how much of that is really apathy and how much is people not caring WHICH Dem gets the nomination as long as they win in November. So I wonder if we'll see a much higher voter turnout among Dems in November than predicted from their behavior in the primaries.

My parents and I always talk about who we're voting for, but we're all the Leftys of the family so there's rarely disagreement of any substance.

Yeah, my mom and stepdad are also super liberal, so we know we're always united at family gatherings when someone starts wittering on about how Obama's going to take all of our guns away.

Yeah, I think it's less that your parents couldn't tell you, and more that they didn't have to.

Oh, I realize now that they just used "couldn't" as a black-and-white absolute that their incredibly literal-minded daughter would be okay with. (Plus, I'm pretty sure they always voted opposite each other, and didn't want to discuss their differences of political opinion.)

I am not actually that secretive, but I kinda lean that way in theory.

Ha! Whereas I run around going "Ooooooobama wooooooooo!!!!" etc. Though the night of the 2008 election, when Tim came back from the polls, I had no idea who he voted for, because he really liked McCain. So I finally hesitantly asked him "Soooooo...you don't HAVE to tell me, but I really am curious who you finally decided to vote for." (Spoiler: Obama.) In 2012 he really didn't like Romney, so I pretty much knew who he voted for. (Spoiler: we're in your White House, taking your guns and giving you health care.)