Obama takes North Carolina!

This electoral college moment is the one that tipped the scale and filled my cynical heart with a cup of hope, this serious-minded fellow, PresElect O’Hopie, may be a distant cousin of Dick Cheney but he has one significant difference: Melatonin! He took North Carolina, home of Jesse Helms and the confederate flag. Even if it turns out that he's just a face man for a shrewd cabal of opportunist globalizing capitalist swine it is so important that this was the package that resonated with the voters, not the other ticket with the military guy and the fear-mongering hockey mom and the plumber.

Take that, Jesse Helms! Have a cup of hope on me! 

Bonus: Obama also took North Carolina during the primaries.

HistoryJen: She’s the indie-est! Also, the front-and-centre-ist! 

Venus and Jupiter and the Moon: I missed the conjunction due to clouds but was agog at the photos of Venus being eclipsed by the crescent moon.

http://www.spaceweather.com/conjunctions/gallery_01dec08.htm

Messenger’s second flyby of Mercury: We won’t know until Messenger parks in orbit in 2011 but I’ll bet Messenger is going to find ice in shadows of the craters of Mercury’s the north pole.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/

The Heart Beats was the soundtrack for the first six months of my 2008, I missed her show by one day at the Boat in January, so we played one together in April, then played Wavelength in June. Nothing tops homebrewed bedroom indie music, honest lyrics, real feelings, and cheezy MIDI horns.

http://www.myspace.com/thegaminesmusic

Offspring: I have two kids who have completely become their own little people now. The youngest likes Elvis and Brian Wilson, the eldest likes sadoceanspacebear and Elbow Beach Surf Club.

Seven and Eight: Actually 2008 kind of sucked for me so all I have is a top 6. I’ll round out the top 8 of 2008 with sunshiney days (7) and marijuana (8) just because the whole point is to make this list into an eight point list, but really these two bottom feeders are just pure filler.