2020 was even closer than 2016

The Electoral College was decided by about 78,000 votes in Trump's surprise win of 2016.

This time, Biden won the Electoral College by about 44,000 votes.  Although the result was clear to many experienced poll watchers by the morning following the election, it was still close enough that major news outlets didn't call the election until Saturday.  The need to count all the mail-in ballots contributed to this delay in calling the election, but so did the small size of the margin -- 44,000 votes out of 153 million, or 0.03%.  Few expected this election to be so close, after Biden's steady polling lead prior to the vote.  This time, nobody could blame the media for focusing too much on "the emails", and social media companies tried to do a better job of policing the fake news.

Although many Democrats feel Trump's ongoing challenges to the outcome are an unprecedented "attack on democracy", it's the closeness of the Electoral College results that motivates Trump to keep fighting.  If he could somehow change or discard 44,000 votes in three states, he'd continue with a second term.  Even though Biden leads in the popular vote count by over six million votes.

Most of Biden's popular vote lead comes from just one state: California.  Biden has a surplus of four million extra votes there.  But those four million extra votes in California don't matter as much as the 44,000 extra votes he received in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin.

If you're a Democrat living in California, you're part of the problem, heh.  You need to move to a swing state.  But I'm part of the problem also, living in Maryland.

Would I move to another state after I retire solely because it is a swing state?  To nearly everybody, that would feel like the tail wagging the dog, uprooting their entire life so their vote might matter.  But why does anybody in California bother to vote at all?  If you don't live in a swing state, it is performative civics, makes you feel good but practically useless.  Why did I bother to vote at all?

I feel I cannot move until I reach retirement age in 2027, I'd be tossing away a pension and lifetime health insurance.  Most families feel rooted where they live, by employment, schools and personal relationships.  I imagine hardly anybody thinks, "I should move to a swing state, and then also live in a swing congressional district within that state."  Which means the people who do live in swing states find this status arbitrarily forced upon them -- and maybe a lot of them don't like it, because it means they are drenched with political ads and mailers and phone calls and text messages and door knockers -- when most of them already know who they'll vote for.

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I was talking with a friend who votes for Democrats about the prospect of Trump running again in 2024.  This friend replied, "Bring it on, he will only ensure a second term for Biden."

I disagree.  Trump ran two extremely close elections, from the viewpoint of the Electoral College, which is the only point that matters.  What if four years from now we're in another recession?  What if Biden, now by far the oldest person to ever serve as President, becomes disabled or dies, throwing Democrats into disarray over who to run in 2024?  What if Biden simply does a poor job of running the country, especially while hobbled by a Republican Senate, unable to fix any of our ongoing problems?  If the globally unprecedented bond market bubble pops, the next four years could be a difficult ride.

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At moments like this I think I care way too much about politics, and do way too little about it.

short review of Raised by Wolves (first season)

I finished the entire first season yesterday.  My opinion of the show dropped as I watched more episodes.  Most of the characters grew on me, but the final few episodes got very weird -- swerving from sci fi into inexplicably mystical horror.

There were some fine moments, I'd say the best scene is when the relatively minor character played by Cosmo Jarvis has spectacular sex with [spoiler].  But ultimately this beautiful scene is undermined by subsequent revelations.

It seems the true protagonist of Season One is a planetary omniscience, and as this fact becomes more clear to viewers the story itself makes less sense.  Everybody was just dancing to the tune of the planetary omniscience all along, so what was the point?

I doubt I will watch the second season.

so much cleaning!

If I lived here full-time at the condo, or somewhere else on my own, would I be as concerned about cleanliness as I am right now?  I don't think I was this concerned about cleanliness back when I lived by myself from 1998-2004.  How I tackled the rats nest underneath the TV immediately after K moved.  How I ascertained and quickly took care of the plumbing leak.  And now how I've spent hours cleaning the place this weekend -- I even got out the vacuum cleaner for the first time!  It's going to require a deep cleaning every month or two, even if it's only me and I'm only here 10-20% of the time.

I think if I lived here I'd try to keep it clean, streamlined, and organized, much as K kept it.  As little clutter as possible.  So much of the stuff I have at the house would be gone.  Which friend of mine would like to have all my board games?  And which would like to have all my books?  I'd downsize clothing.

If I lived here I'd cook at least half of my meals, like I do at the house -- so far I haven't cooked anything here, I've ordered delivery and brought pre-packaged snacks.  There's practically nothing edible in the fridge or cupboards.  But I'd make double or triple portions and save the rest for later, or I'd invite people over.  I'd probably keep doing those meal kits, would need to do all the dishes myself even though I'm the cook -- T and I split those chores, if you didn't cook you do the dishes.

An efficiency condo like this one feels tight after living in a big house for 14 years, I'd probably prefer a 1BR, but I could live here and it would be affordable in retirement under my current below-market arrangement with K, in which I pay the net expenses while he keeps the equity.  There's enough storage for all my toys, a desk to work from, and even enough room to exercise in when the weather sucks.  I'd join a gym, though, after Quarantine, for weight lifting.  I'd be ruthless about downsizing possessions and keeping only what I expect to use.  First cutoff -- if I haven't used an item in the past year, get rid of it.  Clothing I haven't worn, games I haven't played, books I haven't read, and all kinds of mementos.  And if I lived here, we'd have to move some of K's remaining stuff out of the closets, of course.

Living alone here during Quarantine would've sucked.  Like some people I know who live alone, I would've created a bubble of family and friends to see in person, even though we occupy separate households.

The last time I lived alone I was considering getting a cat.  But after the current crop of three simultaneous pets -- as much as I love them -- I don't think I'll want to encumber my life that way again.  I'm sure T would want pets again, it's part of our future incompatibility as retirement nears -- we'll want different lifestyles, in different locations, and T would probably continue working even after drawing his pension to support a more expensive lifestyle than I will want.  I will no longer want to pay for (somewhat more than) half of our joint lifestyle.

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Practically zero transition anxiety this morning, because I acted more like I live here this weekend instead of stuffing it full of as much play time as possible, so there's not a pile of stuff to do this morning before I leave.  Even had a sober Saturday night!  Now I just have to brush teeth, shower, put away the few remaining items, and take the trash out as I leave.

Back to the house for lunch.  T says we cannot finish doing the basement stuff yet because the new floor covering he ordered hasn't arrived yet, but I can resume shared meals with him, taking care of the pets, and unfortunately I have to work for a while this afternoon.  Then a short work week followed by a 4-day weekend, of which I will likely spend two nights here at the condo again.

And I was randomly allowed an orgasm yesterday, so I'm much less riled up by my sex drive today, could be 7-14 days until I'm back to feeling crazy horny.  I've been too lucky with the Cum Deck so far, two of my first six cards have allowed me orgasms.  The rest of the cards will be less permissive -- roughly 200 days to go with 4 orgasms to go, so an orgasm every 50 days on average if I draw cards every day.  If I wait two weeks until I'm super horny again, it could be months later that I get to cum.  Or not!