Wow. Kinda feeling ecstatic tonight. Been reading the news about the US election, and getting very excited.

Whilst having Obama as president doesn’t necessarily mean huge changes for the better in US policy (such the entire defence budget being redirected towards peaceful solutions / humanitarian projects / environmental protection), it does give me hope.

For me, it’s not the political aspect of the US elections that excites me, it’s the human aspect. I admit to knowing nothing about US politics. I don’t know the difference between the republicans and the democrats – I couldn’t even tell you which George Bush is. That’s how interested in US politics I am.

But I do know that John McCain tends to go on about the war. And he’s 72. And if he dies in office, Palin would be president – how scary is that?!

So why do I want Obama to be president? For one thing, he’s inspiring. Have you heard him speak? He’s a fantastic motivational speaker. He knows how to tell stories. He knows how to engage with his audience. How to get them on board. How to get them laughing with him – as opposed to at him.

I’m genuinely inspired by Obama to be all that I can be. He proves that if you’re a decent person, if you have passion and belief, and if you try hard enough, if you never give up, you can achieve the ‘impossible’, regardless of what social norms suggest.

We need people like him in the headlines.

Oh, and did you know, he’s good news for tourism in Japan too?

I’m also excited by the buzz. Check out what’s happening on Twitter!

(I was shocked when I saw that McCain’s campaign crewhaven’t updated his Twitter status for almost ten days. Mind you, he only had about 5000 followers. Incidentally, Obama, with 114,143, is the world’s No.1 Twitterer in terms of followers- i wonder if he has it update his Facebook status too?)

We need a US president who knows how to update their Twitter status, and make use of the new media in general.

I’m also attracted by his efforts to not conduct negative campaigning (although I am aware that a significant proportion of his adverts have included some negativity). Positive is the way forward. Yay positivity!

I’m buzzing for other reasons too. Tonight I was contacted by the editor of a pretend magazine in Australia, and asked to write another story for them. I say ‘pretend’ because it’s only sent to about 7000 members of a penpal organisation – it’s not available in the shops. Nonetheless, I love having my stories published – this will be the sixth in a series; I think I’ll write about last year’s trip halfway around the world in 28 days.

I’ve also just taken delivery of my first ever set of professionally printed postcards, thus realising a dream I have had for some 15 years. These aren’t for retail purposes though – I got a batch of 60 as a trial, to see how my photos look in postcard format. Perhaps I’m biased, but I like them a lot.

Actually, I’m thrilled!

This encourages me to move forward with ‘doing’ something with some of my better shots. I know I’m no professional, and in fact it’s no dream of mine to become a professional either. Professional photography is tough, and I think the pressures involved rob the photographer of the freedom to shoot as they please, as amateurs can.

Nonetheless, I’m thinking that perhaps these images can play an important role in helping us achieve one of our goals: the establishment of a perpetual charitable fund. I could decide that any profits derived from the sale of any of my photographic products be placed in a bank account that we set aside for such a charity.

Hhmm, I like that idea. Yeah, i like it a lot. Mmm, it feels like the missing link. This gives me a real reason to pursue my photography. Makes it into a worthy cause, over and above making me (and possibly others) happy.

I like the idea of having multiple revenue streams. This can be one that is specifically for charity, complimenting our full time incomes, our monthly Amway income, teaching work, advertising on TGW, and ad-hoc translation jobs.

Then there’s ThreeSeeds too, our online publishing company. The website is all there, ready to go, but has been neglected in the face of the big changes that all three of us partners have experienced over the past few months. Must do something with that. Ha… if only I felt able to make the time for it!

Anyway, it’s late, and I must sleep. Up at 7am for the first of the week’s three jogs! Then work, and then I think in the evening we’re being taught Moroccan style cooking by a pro chef – perhaps I can extend my repertoire so that it goes beyond Wok Bread, miso soup and banana cake!

I look forward to reading the headlines in the morning 🙂