Barack and Mr. Twitchy

Tonight I went to a volunteer info session at Obama Headquarters in downtown Chicago. I went in being very picky about what I'd do, and I left saying something along the lines of , "I'll do whatever you need" and then signing up for "Camp Obama", which is two days of training to be a lead volunteer. Those tricksters got me with an old people story. That ALWAYS does it. A college student was making phone calls to Iowans to find out if they were planning to attend a caucus. A 90 year old war vet, with no health insurance, said that he wants to support Obama but he has no way of getting to the caucus. After talking to this man for a while, the girl offered to go pick him up and take him to the caucus herself. Babs immediately was singing in my head, "People....people who need people...." Corny stories like that just get me every time.

The main focus of the campaign is getting Obama to win those pesky Iowa caucuses. I had never, until tonight, gotten a detailed report on what exactly happens during those things. As far as I can tell Iowa is stuck in one of those PBS reality shows about Olden Timey Days. People have to show up to a meeting and get in the corner of the room representing the candidate they support. Really? And if that isn't wacky enough, everyone can then try to convince each other to vote for their candidate using whatever tactic they feel is necessary. Including baked goods. For realsies? Are they wearing George Washington wigs? I signed up to "help" at the caucuses just because I need to see this madness in action.

I've worked a lot with volunteers in my jobs and have run many a volunteer training. Because of this, I always enjoy being on the other side of such events. There's inevitably a wacky person or two, very excited to dominate all the conversations, and it's the staff person's job to be overly polite and not say, "Just cause we don't pay you, doesn't mean we can't kick you out." Tonight's training included a woman who answered her cell phone and carried on a fairly loud conversation not once, but twice. In addition to that entertainment, volunteer trainings usually provide an opportunity to see some lovely Non Sequitur Theater. Example from this evening:

Obama Staffer: Ok, so does anyone have questions about any of the logistics regarding office hours or signing up to volunteer?

Volunteer in back row: (yells) Yeah! I gotta question! Why are people sayin that Senator Obama has no experience?!!?

Totally unrelated- on the train ride home tonight, a guy sat down next to me and said hello. I said hello to him. At first I was thinking, "I'm not in the mood for chit chat with a stranger." I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that he was a bit twitchy, so I thought, "Oh good, he's either mentally ill or on drugs. At least if he chats, it'll be kinda entertaining." Then I realized that I need help. But that's too much to think about right now, so back to Mr. Twitchy. A few minutes later, he said hello again. It was something like, "Hey...uh....hello!" I smiled and said, "Hello there, again!" A few minutes later he gave me the 'ol "Hi. Hello." I decided to mix it right up and I said, "Hi. How ya doing, tonight?" He was not ready for that curve ball. He said, "How am I doin? How am I doin?! I'm doin good!" And then he started giggling uncontrollably. That made me laugh. So we laughed for at least a minute and then it was my stop. I said "Excuse me- this is my stop." He immediately stopped laughing and said, "Oh sorry" and then got up and let me get by.

And that is the story of how Mr. Twitchy unexpectedly made my day.