Day 483

You would think that after a long day of listening to Senate committee hearings, floor speeches, press conferences, etc., that I would go home and do anything but. Of course, though, I had to come home and watch the election results. It's official, I'm obsessed with my job.

Actually, that's not quite it. I love my job and I hate my job. I would be both sad to leave it, and also so happy to get out of there. But that's not in the cards now anyway. What I'm obsessed with, really, is knowing everything I can about my job.

That means waking up to talk radio. Reading 3 Hill publications and at least 2 newspapers well before lunch. Getting CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, and a few other "breaking news" alerts sent to my blackberry. It means keeping tabs on delegates, talking voting records at bars and going to bed watching MSNBC. Hello, my name is Shawna, and I'm a political nerd.

The funny thing is, this is such my way of life now that I don't know how to "act normal" anymore. I find myself recommending Newsweek articles to friends, talking media trends on planes and comparing the 2008 election to the 1964 election at weddings. I've caught myself passing out my business card at brunch in Dallas, checking my blackberry on the beach in Miami and recounting candidate rhetoric at concerts in New York. Thanks to my life in DC, I have become socially awkward in every other town.