State of the Nation Address

Elections wrapped up over a week ago. It was a Wednesday.

I don't know the actual results of the elections yet, but it doesn't take an idiot to know when you've lost. From the beginning of the race, I urged my friends to vote for me. And they have, most of them. And for that, I am grateful.

Getting in to something like this wasn't for the sake of winning anyway. This was just for the hell of it. I've mentioned that I was just running because the other guy was running unopposed. I was not trying to prove a point nor was I seeing the injustice in whatever politics is. I was merely running.

I'd joke around and answer people who ask me why I was running. I'd say that I wanted to lose weight. I'd get a laugh or two, mostly because I kinda needed the weight loss.

The campaigning part of the elections was fun. I got to meet new people. These people were eager. And somehow, like me, they were pick to run against the one party. And so, we did. We were half hoping to lose,  but a part of us could never say we didn't want to win.

A week before the elections, I cast my Certificate of Candidacy. With me was my friend, Aldous, who was then running for secretary because it was the only position left to run for. The person in charge switched him with the person who was running for VP Ext. And that he was.

Our group, yet unnamed, started out with one less party member -- a VP Int. We started out our campaign as planned. First thing on the agenda was the name. We decided on Team Party, Party, a name Aldous and I had already decided on before meeting the other party members. Right before we started posting fliers, we had found ourselves complete and we were starting to look like a legit party.

For the campaign, I had an Idea to post mock posters of what ballots should look like, with our names on the blanks provided. People who were slow could not get the poster right away, not unless explained by a smarter or "faster" friend. The poster bombed. Without any appropriate pictures of us, people were stuck reading the other party's poster.

Naturally, the other party members suggested to have a different poster, a better one. I did them one even better. We took pictures of ourselves looking kind of stoned. I was sure that  it would grab more people's attention. And it did, kind of. One key ingredient I had forgotten to add was a caption that said picture it out, which would have been epic. But again, unfriendly to slow understanders.

The real challenge of the campaign was going room to room. I was not accustomed to speaking to crowds(classrooms). Aldous and I were the only people available to go room to room. We were at first, hesitant, but were encouraged to go for it. And so we did.

The room to room went fine. The only real problem was when we faced a stronger crowd, a class that was ,at that time, currently in Philosophy. When we asked everyone if they had any questions, the teacher encouraged his students to ask questions that could make him proud, as a Philosophy teacher. Students tried, and really only two succeeded in doing so. Thinking about it now, I could not really remember how that went exactly.

Then a week later, elections. The election started on Tuesday and would end on the next day. Students had to come to a certain area in the school to vote. This was different from the election last year. Last year, people from the current student council hopped from classroom-to-classroom to get people's votes. As a result of the change, not many who could have voted could. 

And on the Wednesday, disappointed from the results of Tuesday, they hopped from class to class, as they did the year prior. More people had indeed voted, but not everyone had the chance to really use their right to. My friends who really wanted to vote for me couldn't. I was disappointed, but understood the predicament.

Days have passed and the actual tally has not been announced. I just want to know how many votes I had gotten. Why? To really just soothe my ego. I could not live with myself if I had 30, 20, or less votes. And the possibility of which is quite unlikely. I just hope that the results won't prove me wrong.

I've mentioned that all I really needed to get through the humiliation of losing profoundly, was that my friends voted for me, and that they have my back.

To my running mates, I couldn't have done whatever it is I did without you. You guys were awesome. To my friends who voted or to those could not, I am deeply grateful.

Thank you.

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