Voting at the Library

Yesterday, I took the afternoon off. I went to class in the morning, but I was running on very little sleep, and it's been a very long time since Labor Day (we don't have Fall Break, so that's the last time I had a day off), and I learned right before my first class that one of Jeff's extended family members who's been fighting a roller coaster of a battle with cancer passed away, and then I was on-call in Genetics & the Law, and by the time it was over I was just emotionally and physically exhausted and I just needed a break. 
I haven't missed a class all semester, so I decided it would be okay to skip Secured Financing and just go home instead. So I came home and ate a late lunch, and then I decided I'd get out of the house for a bit. Early Voting is going on right now in Texas, so I looked up the nearest polling place and went to vote!
For some reason, I always feel like I should look cute when I vote. I have absolutely no idea why. Maybe I just feel like it's a serious enough thing that I shouldn't go do it in a t-shirt and Nike shorts? I don't know. Anyway, I put on my new houndstooth cardigan and went. 

I always laugh at all the political signs around polling places... I mean, there are so many of them that no one even notices what they say! And even if they did, is a sign really going to change someone's mind at the last minute? 

There was a really long line to vote. I ended up standing in the hot sun outside the building for about half an hour. But it was kind of cool to see so many people there, ready to do their civic duty at 2:30 on a Wednesday. So I voted, which took me a while because I actually do research on the judges and agency positions and don't vote straight party lines, so I have to go through and select them one-by-one. Then, I headed for the exit, and no one gave me a sticker! You know, the little "I voted!" stickers? I've been voting since 2008, and I've got one every time... but this time they were nowhere to be found! Maybe they were out of them? Who knows. I think I was a little more disappointed about the lack of sticker than I should've been, but I wanted a picture of it for the blog! Haha. But, sticker or no sticker, I voted! 
The really convenient part of this whole thing was that the polling place was at the Humble library! 

So after I voted, I got to cross #14 ("Get a library card and use it") off my 30 Before 30 list! Here's my brand-spanking-new library card! 

I wandered around the library for a bit. It pretty much just looks like an average library. 

I has a cute children's section though!

I thought this little triceratops was especially cute. 

For my first checked-out book, I selected The Big Short by Michael Lewis. My Real Estate Transactions professor recommended this one... it's a book all about the events leading up to the economic crash in 2008, and it's by the author of The Blind Side and Moneyball. Hopefully it's good! 

On my way home, I stopped at Wal-Mart for a few last-minute dinner groceries. They had a few big cardboard crates full of pumpkins... big and small, orange, and white... and in the midst of all those pretty pumpkins was the biggest, ugliest gourd I've ever seen: 

Those white pumpkins were all about basketball-sized, and the big green bumpy gourd was bigger than all the pumpkin. I literally laughed out loud when I saw it. It's definitely the Ugly Duckling of the bunch. I almost bought it because I figured no one else ever would! Haha. 

Anyway, it was really nice to have an afternoon off, I'm glad I voted before the Election Day rush (even if I didn't get a sticker), and I'm glad I crossed another item off by 30 Before 30 list!