Happy: Frozen blueberries are fantastic. The skin thaws and falls off instantly in your mouth, leaving you with a sweet soft berry-flavored nub that leaks happiness between your teeth. They also puree to make an excellent blueberry-and-soymilk sorbet.

Not happy: It looks like I'm an idiot and won't be able to vote this year either. Illinois requires first-time voters to either register or vote in person, and I was in school at Boston on my 18th birthday and stayed in Boston working and studying until after election time (meaning that I didn't visit my home in IL), I just... couldn't.... vote.

This made me pretty disappointed (patriotic slacker and all that). So this time I made a note to register while I was at home, as I would simultaneously be (1) over the age of 18 and (2) in Illinois, which as my parents can tell you is a pretty rare occurence. While going through the List of Things to Remember Before You Go Back To School, I found the note. And guess what? The government offices you can register at all close at 4:30 on Friday in my area. The time I read my list? 5pm Friday. I fly out Sunday morning.

Sorry, Uncle Sam; you won't be hearing from me this time either. It's entirely my fault for being dumb about it this time, so... yeah. I'm hoping that I'll be home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas this year and able to register then. Please let the offices be open and able to register me on a day I'm able to access them. I'd like to be a responsible citizen, but the requirements aren't exactly making it easy.