ah, well

Not exactly a return to normalcy, here, but working from home today has given me a chance to catch up and process rather than just input, gather, cram. Oversleeping and the meter-readers threw me off today, but it's not been so bad.

I watched the inauguration on Tuesday with a mixed group of expats, made some cal-mex tacos and devilled eggs. There was a minimum of heckling, over all, though two did decide to do an Obama drinking game where they drank for "synonyms" for hope and change, among others.

We kept the TV on for people who dropped in, German and otherwise. It was neat to talk about the speech, the process, everything. It was also neat to spend time with my DC niece, here visiting with Brother B. She is either drawing, singing, or talking all of her waking time. On Tuesday, since that waking time included the inauguration, there was other inspiration for singing. Kids all over America must be having a field day with his name, as the Times pointed out more generally:

While the new president’s politics and identity were the overwhelming draws for so many musical celebrants — bringing out countless performances electrified by the moment — he also has a musical ace in the hole: his name.

The percussive “Barack” followed by the three open-voweled syllables of “Obama” give him the most singable name in presidential history, and from the National Mall to the inaugural balls, amateurs and stars alike kept finding new ways to chant, sing and shout it.

I heard Wyclef say that he had modified his songs to say "Obama" where he would say "Shakira", for his performance, which I found kind of awesome (hoping at once that "Hips don't lie" wasn't going to make it into the ceremonies). Singability is pretty open for a 4-year-old. But she did rhyme up something like "Barack Obama lives in a beautiful town" pretty nicely. Then she sang all of our names around and around and there was much giggling.