I miss having friends where I live. like close friends.

Yeah, I was going to say M, but thinking about it I have way more in-jokes with my brother than anyone else, simply because of our shared youth, which relied heavily on both inside jokes and shared pop-cultural experiences. (My parents can tell you about our family vacation to Italy when I was 16 and my brother was 12, during which the two of us spoke almost exclusively in Monty Python or Princess Bride quotes.) M and I have a fair number of inside jokes or at least inside references, but nothing approaching the number I have with my brother. Though on the other hand, we use them much more often because, you know, we live together, whereas I only see or talk to my brother a few times a year now. So M will probably surpass my brother in this category over time.

I feel like I have a lot of inside jokes with myself. Which is a little weird.

Ha, no, I do this too. And I love the Buffista inside jokes too.

I know this is not the way you guys work, what with wanting your candidates to possibly win, and all, but I really believe that you have to keep voting who you actually want to win. That the eventual success of third parties, and therefore the nation (because the polarizing nature of a two party system is seriously destructive at this point) depends on people voting third party when they agree with that candidate, regardless of "chances to win." But I'm an idealist, and I understand that.

Liese, I get this. I'm not there yet, but I get this. Planning to vote for Obama, but I've got several friends supporting Jill Stein, and I do think that having a viable third party would be a huge step in the right direction for this country. Also, abolishing the electoral college, which IMO makes a lot of people feel like their vote doesn't matter.

I do think that having a viable third party would be a huge step in the right direction for this country

I agree. Did you hear Jill Stein got arrested at the debate the other night? She was tied to a chair with plastic cuffs on for an extended period. Nicely done, security people.

A friend of mine is convinced that the only way we can get a real 3rd-party candidacy going in this country is if we institute... [pause for effect] ... preferential voting.

I do think that having a viable third party would be a huge step in the right direction for this country. Also, abolishing the electoral college, which IMO makes a lot of people feel like their vote doesn't matter.

I'm torn on this because the only reason I feel comfortable voting for a third party (with no chance of winning) is that I live in a state 100% guaranteed to go for Obama. There is no chance I could give Romney an edge by voting for Jill Stein.

If the electoral college goes away, so does the concept of a swing state, and so any vote for a nonviable candidate is effectively a vote for (in my case) the GOP, which I refuse to do.

I miss having friends where I live. like close friends.

Me tooooooo.

it's why we both need more pets. IAMJUSTSAYING!

I have never found cats to be that useful in making friends?

oh huh. interesting.

They're all right, but dogs are better because people see you out with them.

A friend of mine is convinced that the only way we can get a real 3rd-party candidacy going in this country is if we institute... [pause for effect] ... preferential voting.

Yeah, I agree with that.