I was making dinner, and the Hawaii polls had been closed for exactly one minute when they announced it.

Then I was kicked out of the kitchen to partake of the champagne we had in the ready.

It is bittersweet indeed.

I actually just posted "Where were you?" over at Art of the Possible talking about this very thing.

I was in my living room with my boyfriend, pug, and American flag: weeping.

The thing I find most interesting is that Barack Obama will be inaugurated the day after MLK Day. Dr. King would be proud, but he would also tell us that we've still got a long ways to go.

We heard it from the lips of John McCain, which was an uplifting moment because we have so much respect for him as a person. I was just coming home from a late business dinner, so my children were up unusually late and were able to see it. They are only 13 and 6 years old, so they have no concept of how important this is, but I hope as adults they will realize the significance of this election and be glad they were a part of it.

If Prop 8 is evidence of anything, "family values" is still alive and well...I know the war(s) and the economy are first on the list but I am going to be devastated if Obama/Biden don't deal with the way Bush has f*cked with family planning (most recently through the Dept. of Health and Human Services), right up until the end.

I mean that. I'm so glad we can forget about Palin and McCain (beautiful speech or not....what a shitty voting record) for a while, but I am anticipating disappointment.

Oh well...that's my problem :(

I watched the results at home in Brooklyn with my boyfriend and our friend. After MSNBC called the whole thing -- basically right as the west coast polls closed, although we already knew the outcome -- we all went out for a bike ride in the light rain, exchanging cheers with the people we passed. From there we found ourselves in the midst of a big celebration in the middle of Bedford Avenue, where we danced to hand drums and bagpipes until the riot police came to clear everybody out of there.

At home, laughing and crying with my husband (also laughing and crying). We both remarked on how we had not only witnessed a huge historical event, but we helped make it happen! I used to complain about living in the red state of Indiana and my husband would always say, “Look at it this way, we help make Indiana more pink than red.” Now it’s blue! Blue!

We were at Jen Thompson's house.

(I promised her that whenever someone asked that question, now or 30 years from now, that would be my answer.)

Watching CNN, about 3 seconds after the West Coast polls closed at 11EST, they declared Barack the victor. We screamed and cheered and cried, then turned over to Fox News to make sure we weren't dreaming - little did we know, they'd called it even earlier! And yes, we did Jello shots when Obama took Ohio and Pennsylvania too :-)

McCain's concession speech was gracious - his supporters were rude, but the sour grapes were to be expected. After that came the longest half-hour of our lives, waiting for Barack to address his nation, not wanting to miss any of it. We sat there, holding hands, passing tissue boxes back and forth, and listened to the man who we hope will lead us out of the greatest financial crisis ever, and will restore our reputation abroad.

Damn... it felt good.

I was in the student lounge (kind of like a student union at most schools) with probably about 400 of my closest friends. :) When MSNBC called it for Obama the room actually shook from all of the jumping and screaming that we did. We stayed to hear Obama's speech and then we marched to the White House and cheered for at least an hour. There were lots of chants of "Yes We Can" and "Yes we did!" We broke into "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye." We sang our school fight song for no good reason, and then someone started a rendition of "Move Bush, get out the way..." It was probably the most amazing and fulfilling night of my life. Even though my home state was red, I feel like the campaigning I did in OH and VA actually did something, so that rocked too!!

I would have been in class, but I ditched to watch the election coverage. I don't have television so I was watching on MSNBC.com. I was also simultaneously on the phone with my grandmother and on AIM with my mom. When I heard the news I cried for about 10 minutes. I was so elated, and my mom made the comment to me that she was so proud of me for voting. I waited on the phone with my grandmother for an hour as we watched both McCain and Obama's speeches. My grandmother is 80 years old, and she told me that she was so happy that she'd lived long enough to see the first African American president. This made me tear up even more.

Plus I live in a liberal college town, so people were cheering and whooping really really loudly for miles around, fireworks were going off, and even with my doors and windows closed I could hear people chanting, "Obama wins! Obama wins!" I'm fighting a cold right now, and when I went to the grocery store to get airborne, the liquor store was full of people, all of them shouting "YAY Obama!" as they went in.

It was an emotional evening all around.

Driving home from a watch party. Eating ice cream. And calling everyone we possibly could.

And I'll never forget it.

I was at The Phenomenauts' Command Center in Oakland, CA, with some of my very good friends, as Jon Stewart called it. Yeah, we trust Comedy Central for our news more than MSNBC and Fox, but we double checked them too, to make sure the Daily Show wasn't goofing us.

Then I called my parents.

Then we watched the new Futurama DVD.

Bitter sweet, indeed, though with Prop 8 passing. I still can't believe it.

I was in my family room, sitting at the computer and watching the returns come in on CNN. I had already screamed after he took Pennsylvania and Ohio, but California clinched it. I was giddy.

Older people I've heard are saying Obama sounds just like Bill Clinton. That makes me a bit nervous... I'm hoping for more.

I watched the results come in from a friend's high rise apartment about a block south of Grant Park in Chicago. We drank beer from various swing states and ran to the balcony during commercial breaks to look between the buildings and marvel the massive crowd gathering in the park and to cheer with people on neighboring buildings. We were flipping channels to a new news network a little after ten when a roar erupted from the park - and that's how we found out Obama had been elected! We knew we wouldn't get anywhere near the venue so we watched the victory speech on TV, the crowd's cheers wafting in from outside (there was about a 3 second tv delay we discovered). After we went to the park and streamed down Michigan avenue with tens of thousands of other people, cheering, clasping hands, giving high-fives to complete strangers of every category you could ever think to put on a demographic form. Amazing!

Unfortunately, I was asleep. Thanks to the time difference and the fact that my TV is in my politically apathetic roommate's room, I had to resort to the radio. However, the promised 'live coverage' amounted to one or two sentences every half hour, and I fell asleep during the music block between 2am and 2:30am.

So, I found out the following morning when I checked the news, and I danced around my kitchen in my pjs for a few minutes.

My prof taped some BBC news coverage, including the Victory speech, and played it for us in my first class this morning, and there were tears in my eyes. I re-watched the victory speech on YouTube tonight and spent some time just bawling. Powerful stuff.

And I'll be celebrating with my partner later tonight. :)

At a watch party in one of the big lounges on campus (Hollins University, VA) - everyone was on their feet, hugging, crying and screaming.

And then at least 50 of us streamed out onto front quad and chanted "Yes We Did!" and sang "We love you Obama, oh yes we do" - lots more hugging and crying. We even ran up onto Faculty Ave and screamed and cheered...sure they loved that at 1 in the morning! :D

Even though I'm a Canadian I was excitedly watching Indecision '08 and CNN during commercials, and cried when Jon Stewart announced it at 10 my time. It's so hard not to be swept up by the historical moment. If only we had that kind of a candidate up here...but now it doesn't seem like such a long shot. I'm so excited for you all down south now, and can't wait to see what happens in the times to come! He definitely inspires all over, and this cyncial politically-left canuck certainly got a renewed sense of faith in humanity last night!

I was with two of my roommates and another good friend on the couch drinking wine. When it was announced, we were totally quiet in disbelief and then started screaming. We heard shouting comming from outside (we live in an on-campus apartment) and flug open the windows to cheer.

I got choked up as soon as I saw Obama walk onstage, and my friends and I sat in a row beaming and crying during his speech.

Still can't quite believe it. I'm SO happy!

Last night was amazing, and I really felt that, not only was history made, but I was in an awesome spot to see it made.

I was with about half my campus (keep in mind my campus only has 300 students) in this big old building on campus, watching it projected on a screen from somebody's computer. Frantic emails were being sent out urging people to get offline so we could stream it without interruption.

Every time a state was called for Obama we cheered. We had food and ridiculousness that people randomly brought with them. We had WAY too much coffee around - we were expecting a loooong night.

There was a group hug. A gigantic, awesome, epic group hug. There was much cheering, and some tears. There was more hugging. When it was called Blake hugged me so hard that he picked me up. Later on Dan did the same thing. Dana hugged me so hard I thought that one of us would pass out. And Steve cried. Steve cried long and hard. This election was really huge for him (for everyone else, too) and he was having a hard time keeping it in. He was the only other Hillary fan on campus last year. While he was hugging me he said "we still won. And some day we'll see it happen. but we won."

We all stood there, rapt with attention, while McCain and later Obama spoke. We literally didn't sit down from the minute it was called. We stood there, staring at the projection screen.

It was amazing.

I was driving in my car in downtown Sacramento where I was meeting someone for dinner. My friend sent me a text message that said "he got California!" and not even 10 seconds later, the radio stopped the song they were playing immediately and announced that CNN had just declared Barack Obama as the President of the United States. I got quiet for a second in disbelief and then screamed as loud as I could. By myself. In my car. But it was an awesome feeling! I watched his speech online this morning and I was moved to tears. I am so excited for the change that is to come for America and I am even more excited about being active in that change any way that I can.

And also, like other Californians, it would've been nice to have a double victory in this state - electing Obama and rejecting Prop 8. But we'll get them next time!

I was in the kitchen making steamed vegetables and lemon pepper chicken and found out five minutes late because the exhaust fan was on...

Then did a happy dance and cried for the next two hours.

I was at work.... bar tending for a HUGE packed bar full of very excited people. When the speeches came on, the bar hushed. When Obama won, we all CHEERED!!!! And, randomly, some woman with a huge bass drum walked through the bar, pounding on it loudly and chanting, "Obama, Obama!"- in one door and out the other! And, yes, I did shots of Patron in celebration. The crowd was so happy, and they tipped very generously! :) I am exhausted and my feet hurt. Nap time.

I was at the rally in Grant Park with my best friend. We didn't have tickets so we couldn't be in the park for the speech, but we were able to find a spot across the street from the Congress Hotel and watch/listen from there. The spirit in the City of Chicago last night was unsurpassed! I was proud of everyone for the way they behaved - we represented Chicago well. I expected riots, but it was relatively tame. Thank you Chicago!! :-)

I was quite literally in the ceiling of the theatre, hanging lights, when someone called up into the cove, "McCain just conceded." I was in the dark, covered with insulation, in about 5 sq. feet of space. Anti-climactic, I assure you. I wish I'd been home.

I was in the TV lounge in my dorm with two of my friends... one had come straight from hockey practice and smelled pretty bad but had to see the results as they were happening. My other friend worked the Democratic convention back in '04, so it was a lot of fun watching with his expertise! We kissed when the results were announced, we were so happy! For kicks and giggles we immediately flipped from CNN to FOX news: they were making the argument that he was actually white, so its not THAT big of a deal. It was hilarious and so fulfilling to see Brit Hume get upset.
Its even more special for us Dems on campus because I go to super-conservative Texas A&M (Gig 'em!), which was recently in the news because the Young Conservatives on campus held the dumbest anti-Obama rally.

My family voted last Thursday. When my mom came home she said "I never thought I'd live to see the day that I would vote for a black man." (That may sound racist but it's really not, she meant she never thought a black man would be a nominee in her lifetime) Now that he's won, she's in bigger shock. Dad told me that she woke him up last night and said "Dick, I had a dream that a black man became president and he's bringing a dog."

I was in my apartment in Denton,Tx with my 9-year-old and equally nervous son, and my best friend and her 2 month old daughter. We had printed a map out for my son so that as a state was called he could color it in and add up the EVs.

When he took PA and OH, we jumped up and down and really thought - hey we can do this!!!
And then when they said he had done it we just cried and laughed and cried some more.
I am exhausted today, but it was worth every minute of it!!

I was in my friend Jess's room, watching "Army of Darkness" and constantly re-checking my laptop of results. I was looking at the BBC website when their little map of the united states flashed, and the number of Obama's electoral votes climbed to 297.

My boyfriend and I were at a Bob Dylan concert in Minneapolis!

He played a ton of his old, political songs and everyone was reading text messages during the show, undoubtedly election returns.

The whole hall was on their feet the entire time. The band played loudly and to a raucous applause throughout the bow and the wait for his encore.

His encore?

Like a Rolling Stone. Then Dylan said something to the effect of

"I was born in 1941, the year Pearl Harbor was bombed, it has been dark ever since... I guess things are really gonna change now."

The crowd erupted and the band launched into their final song of the evening, Blowin' in the Wind.

The house lights came on and the whole crowd spilled out into the Northrop lobby, where the staff had had the foresight to project CNN on a big screen hanging over one of the lobby balconies. CNN had JUST called the election for Senator Obama.

And everyone was craning their necks to see, laughing and hugging and crying through the deafening cheers, three tiers of this behavior, with many snapping photos.

My boyfriend and I rushed home to eat pizza rolls and watch Obama's speech. I'll never forget any of it.

I was at home with my husband. I was on the phone with my conservative brother when they called Ohio, and I had to hang up with him so I could start drinking. Right at 8pm, they called CA, OR, and WA, and then it came up "We project Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States" I just lost it, started crying, hugging, and I felt this immense relief.

I've very sorry Prop 8 passed, but I'm fairly confident that we will get there too, eventually.

I was at home fighting a cold, watching on fox news which is the only station that comes in clear (I use an antenna). When Obama was around 240 electoral votes, the station suddenly switched to Everybody Loves Raymond for 30 minutes. Then it switched back to coverage of the results for 20 minutes enough to know he won. But then! It switched to some creepy blaxploitation movie from the 70s - WTF? Anyone else in TX have that problem?

Miriam you said it the best. I was on U street last night as well. I got a chance to record some of the history, and I will never forget everything I witnessed this morning, it was just....beautiful.

I work at a children's theater where kids are the actors and crew. We were rehearsing the show as the polls were closing, watching on my computer and trying to keep it together until the run was over. Obama's win was announced while the show was still going on and we cheered quietly (which was very hard!) but had to keep going.

Just as soon as the lights came up at the end of the run we all, children and adults alike, poured onto the stage and into the theater and proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes jumping up and down, screaming and celebrating.

It was magical.

i was in durham, nc on the street that is considered the historic black wall street. it was powerful

My friends and I gathered in Portland, OR for an awesome GObama party. No one was really paying close attention at the time Obama was named President-elect because the numbers had remained the same for a while (the alcohol and amazing friends made it a bit harder to pay close attention as well). When it was called, there was a little hesitation as we were all making sure that it was the real thing and not just an individual state victory.

Honestly, waiting at the bus stop to go downtown and celebrate was one of the best times I'm had in my life. We were on the very liberal side of Portland (Hawthorne to those who know) and every person driving/riding by was honking and even screaming. Some even slowed to give us high fives. Our whole group was jumping up and down. The energy was beautiful. It wasn't about 'stickin' it to the other guy' or anything like that. Elections are not a sport where you gloat to the other team because they lost. It was about having someone elected that we felt shared at least some of our views and someone we can feel proud of as our leader.

Of course it wasn't all celebrations. The elections were bittersweet with gay marriage bans continuing to spread across the states and the adoption/foster measure in Arkansas passing. I do believe that some day the US Supreme Court will overturn these state laws/state constitutional amendments as unconstitutional, but the fact that these bans are never defeated when taken to vote is extremely sad and discouraging.

I was at the oldest damn lesbian bar in the country, Phase 1. When they announced the Obama win, it was absolute pandemonium, a kind of joy I have never, EVER seen on this scale.

Outside, people were weeping and dancing and singing, laughing and congratulating each other on a job well done.

Down at the White House, and on my walk back to my car, and on my drive home, it was one big fucking psychic HUG.

Yes we fucking DID.

i spent most of the day (from 6am on) doing election protection work and making calls at the obama office in south LA. it was exhilarating but also selfish for me, as i knew that if i didn't spend the day busy helping the election stuff, i'd be nervous and obsessing at work or at home.

when i was done, i went to my boyfriend's apartment where a small group of us gathered to watch the results come in. i got there just after PA was called for obama and i remember hearing on npr robert segal going "well, this was probably a must-win for mccain" and michelle norris is all like "no, it WAS a must-win" and then robert says "well, it's conceivable somehow that with the remaining states he could still win", just trying soooo hard to pretend it isn't over and michelle cuts him off and says "yeah, but that would be like making a 3-point shot from outside the building." and i laughed so hard and was happy. i love npr.

they live across the street from a bar where people were watching the election coverage and people just spilled out into the street from the bar and the smoke shop next door after they called the election for obama and cars driving by were honking and cheering and we stood on the balcony and waved to them and cheered along. i managed to hold back the tears until obama actually addressed the nation but my face is still puffy from crying so much. i want to remember this forever.

I was on the couch in front of the TV, coloring in my electoral college map and eating the election cookies I baked with my sister. :)

I was in my college's cultural center, with about 250 other students. We all counted down with CNN until the polls closed on the West Coast...we obviously knew at that point he would win, but the screaming started the second the picture of him came up, with the words "President Elect" under it. I have never seen so many people so overjoyed in my entire life. Everyone was screaming, and I could not stop sobbing. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.
....then we went and rioted in the streets...

I was at Miriam's house! :)
Doing those jello shots.
Eating your 7-layer dip.
Being too loud.
Running down your street like a madwoman getting your neighbors to come outside.
Trying to distract people from John McCain's speech because I didn't want to listen to him anymore, but gave up when I realized he was actually being gracious.
Texting people that Obama loves the gays after the shout out in his speech.
Trying not to get depressed about California...

I was in a Sushi place and they had TVs on CNN but with no sound. I went to the bathroom and came back and CNN had projected that Obama was going to win. I then went to my Uni's student union where they were broadcasting the election and watched McCain's concession speech and Obama's acceptance speech. It was amazing. People were cheering and clapping one minute and texting the next minute.

After the speeches I left with my friend and everyone was cheering in the streets. Lighting fireworks and firecracker. It was amazing.

When Barack Obama was elected President I was sitting in my living room with my boyfriend watching Indecision '08 on Comedy Central. I needed some comic relief but as soon as Jon Stewart said that CNN projected an Obama win, we flipped to CNN to confirm it and then quickly went into shock.
It took a minute to sink in and then the tears of joy and relief began to flow. I tried to post my immediate reaction on this website but there were too many people doing the same thing at the same time which is why I'm commenting now.
I cried the hardest when I was listening to McCain's concession speech....the reality of it set in for me at that moment. I was thrilled to hear him concede and to know that he will not be running this country. Even more tears came with the realization that Sarah Palin was not going to be VP...something I will continue to be thankful for for the next 4 years!!!

I was running to a friend's dorm room after VA went for Obama.

When my friends and I burst into the room, we were greeted with initial disbelief at CNN's prediction which quickly turned to screams as we jumped up and down hugging one another. I'll never forget sitting on the edge of the bed holding hands with my room mate watching the faces on CNN as it all began to sink in. It was all I could do to hold back tears.

there are polaroids that follow this entire adventure:

started the night getting a burrito from taco tantos (my fave local restaurant.) was at the professor's pub when ohio and pennsylvania got called (the bar thats had an obama 'hope' poster hanging up for the longest time.) the room was so full of excitement and hope and general "hell yes" because i'm in ohio.

it got too crowded there so i decided to follow good friends over to russ and alison's to watch the rest of the results, where i could actually hear things. i stepped outside to call my grandparents (as my grandpa had been doing calls for the obama campaign- yea grandpa!) when i heard everyone inside start cheering very loudly. i said "what just happened?" and got off the phone quickly.

went in and asked again what happened and they all told me "obama won!" it was cnn's projection so i still wasn't quite ready to celebrate for some reason. i'd been setting myself up for disappoint just in case. we switched to fox news and they were saying it too. thats when i started cheering. more friends showed up. people were drinking, smoking, laughing and giving high fives.

we watched mccain's speech then a few people left but i demanded we see obama's speech. the wait felt like forever. we went outside and heard people on the nearby kent campus cheering and honking their car horns. as soon as i saw the obama family step out on the stage i started bawling, i couldn't hold it back any longer. clips of people dancing in kenya and jesse jackson crying really hit my heart too.

after his speech we went to sean's and had a dance party. i stayed for a bit then decided to go home and sleep. what a day!

I went to the Harris County Democratic Party watch party. At 9:59:30 central time, we started counting down for the West coast to close. A crowd of about two thousand people, counting down, cheering, hugging.... At 10:00:01 when CNN called it, the energy in the room was amazing. The floor was shaking because everyone was jumping and screaming. I was there with my boyfriend and we hugged and kissed each other. I turned around and saw several people crying, and a few same-sex couples hugging and crying with joy.

When McCain's speech came on, we clapped and applauded. He was a good sport. When Obama's speech came on, the crowd fell dead silent and watched eagerly. Then afterwards, we started cheering and hugging total strangers and clapping some more!

On our way out, my boyfriend and I were interviewed by the local newspaper's website. (His sentence got cut, haha! We were both so exhilarated that speaking coherently wasn't working too well...) Then we got mexican food and margaritas!! Yum!

I was on my computer trying to do homework and watching the Comedy Central election coverage. Six minutes after the polls closed in my state, Jon Stewart announced that next President of the United States was Barack Obama. I turned around and stared at the TV with my mouth open for a little bit and then I started crying and I couldn't stop crying for a long time. It was amazing.

I was watching the election coverage with a group of friends. When Obama won we opened the champagne and went onto the balcony and lit some sparklers and watched the people a few streets over's fireworks.

I live in Indiana and even after I went home I was obsessively watching our returns. I was so happy when I woke up this morning. Even after all the campaigning I never thought that we could actually turn Indiana blue!

I was at Grant park.

It was amazing.

But (and I'm mainly writing this because I don't know where else to say it) there was violence.

It's not being reported. I saw a guy knocked flat head first into concrete after being punched in the head with no provocation. I've seen fights before but NOTHING like this. The woman next to me said, "He dead."

We got on a train and got the hell out of that part of town once we saw that police were coming and the guy had people sort of helping him. But he wasn't moving, his leg was twitching.

I looked online ALL DAY and watched every news channel. There's absolutely nothing. Not local. Not in the trib or the suntimes... nothing. I want to know if I saw someone die.

It's sort of freaking me out that there isn't anything about this incident.

If you were there in Chicago let me know if you saw something too. I heard from a few friends of mine on the West side that there was some violence... that's not being reported either.

My boyfriend and I were in our living room, curled up on the couch with the kitties. We had been watching MSNBC, then the Daily Show/Colbert Report special that came on. Jon Stewart announced that Obama was the President-elect and we just looked at each other, then changed the channel back to MSNBC. Sure enough, there it was. I still get chills thinking about it :) What a great moment! I live in TN, so knowing that there was no contest in my home state was disappointing, but maybe someday ...

I was on campus in the newspaper office copy-editing slash stalking CNN.com when the E-I-C suddenly cried out something along the lines of holy shit it's official he's got 297 votes and we all yelled and did the terrorist fist bump (lol). Then I grabbed our camera and ran outside to take pictures of the people outside the dorms, who were jumping and yelling and hugging. One guy kept doing backflips.

It was awesome.

I live in England so I set my alarm for the crack of dawn, turned on my computer (my TV doesn't work) and went straight to feministing.com! I was all by myself but I texted my mum in Belfast and she was like "I know, isn't it amazing?"

I live in England too, in a small village in the West Country. There are several other Americans here, and we gathered together in the wee hours of the morning to watch the election results come in. Our host was so sure of a good result that he'd already bought the champagne, but after the weirdness of the 2000 and 2004 elections, I wasn't taking anything for granted and I was a nervous wreck! My husband kept saying, "Don't worry, he's going to win" .... until my anxiousness infected him. And then he was a nervous wreck too.

We flipped between the BBC, CNN, and John Stewart, cheering or groaning as each state was called. One of the biggest moments of the night, for me, was seeing my old home state of Pennsylvania go for Obama (and native-son Joe Biden) -- particularly in the "steel belt" of the Lehigh Valley, where my family lives. I grew up around a lot of racism there -- and although the area has changed since my day, I wasn't sure it had changed enough. I started crying when the state was called for Obama, and pretty much didn't stop for the rest of the night.

The next day, British friends -- and even people I don't know all that well -- kept stopping me in the street to hug me, as though I stood in for all America. There's such excitement and relief here that the Bushies will soon be gone, and that America has, as one man put it, "finally come to its senses." The only other time my being an American was such a big deal here was right after 9/11, when I woke up the morning after the towers fell to find my doorstep knee-deep in flowers.

Dear Americans,
Your elections are more dramatic and amusing, and frightening at the same time, than anyone else's.
They are frightening because the U.S. is a world super-power, and thus, we all feel something at stake in your elections, though we cannot participate.
I have no desire to have American citizenship, but I do wish I could vote in your elections.
So, thank you thank you thank you, to all of you who voted for Barack Obama!

On Tuesday night as soon as I got home, I looked online to find the results. Then my roommate and I did a happydance around our livingroom!
Excellent choice, America!

I was in Grant Park. And it WAS amazing. I started to stand as CNN flashed the 'Breaking News' logo. I just figured they were going to call another state. When they announced that Obama was the President we were all stunned for a split second before the roar erupted out of and from all around us. Before he came on stage they were pumping out all kinds of music. My area of the park turned into a big dance party. I didn't see any violence. I was actually amazed at how calm and ordered everyone was being. I would guess I was in a different area of the park than you Magular. Kind off to one side of the stage where there weren't as many people. Still, it was the most exciting, amazing, uplifting experience of my life. I'll never forget it. I'm damn proud and thankful that I had the opportunity to be there. I'm dissapointed that there was violence of course, but glad that it doesn't seem to have been too widespread.

I was in my apartment with three of my closest friends the whole night, cheering whenever our states came up (New York and New Jersey, so no surprises there). We were watching Indecision '08 when they announced that CNN was projecting an Obama win and flipped to CNN to confirm and Fox to double-check. Then we drank some wine and waited for the pizza we'd ordered and the speeches. Eventually, everyone left and I stayed awake, watching MSNBC and texting my sister, until my eyeballs mutinied and I fell asleep at four in the morning.