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Belated follow-up with a happy ending: I did wind up finding a roommate through this site in the end. Sometimes local is best! Thanks all.

For anyone else who is looking, although craigslist does get responses, I had the best "almosts" through two sites - spareroom.com and roomies.com. (Roommates.com was not worth the $, and you can do very little with a free account.)

It was an enormous amount of time, effort and cost. I think that First Nights in general were victims of their own success. Performers found they could charge top dollar for NYE, and they did, pricing smaller FNs out of contention. 

I was on the Maplewood South Orange board for many years--secretary, entertainment chair, president... The amount of time it took was ridiculous. We ended in January and started in February. First, monthly meetings of the board (and meetings of the committees more often); then more as the date drew closer. It was unsustainable. Its time had come. 

There was an attempt to revive it about 10(?) years ago, but it didn't go anywhere because without public funding--which is for the following year--it couldn't succeed.

It was great while it lasted though. A lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

I know no one ever promised the world was anything approaching just, but it's still disappointing for what it says about our country and humanity in general that this is even a close election.

Morganna said:

PVW said:

I know no one ever promised the world was anything approaching just, but it's still disappointing for what it says about our country and humanity in general that this is even a close election.

Perhaps it's the result of having only two Parties to choose from. I doubt everyone falls in line on either of their platforms. Many people who vote on economic issues do not agree on reproductive rights. Immigration will rank higher among those living in border states, but they may have concerns about climate change.

When Trump ran in the last two elections, I found people who voted for Trump but were for a woman's right to choose. Some knew little about the issue.

Do I think a third Party would solve anything? Perhaps it's time is nearing. I am definitely Green Party material but it has been light years since I've flirted with third Party voting.

I'm not offering this as anything other than a bit of comfort that not all of those willing to continue to vote Republican buy into the whole platform. Add to that where does one find forums, preferably in person, where serious, polite exchanges can occur that could influence voters?

I certainly understand that not all 70 million+ Trump voters are on board with all his promises and so-called policies.

But it is depressing that his fascism, misogyny, racism, appeals to violence, lying, swindling, narcissism, and the entire laundry list of his expansive awfulness isn't a deal breaker for more voters. The fact that anyone would vote for this man at all is depressing, but the fact that 45% of voters will choose him is downright horrifying.

jeffl said:

It's all well and good to criticize polls and ignore them, and to say that oddsmakers don't predict outcomes, but I'd rather the polls showed Harris with a lead and the oddsmakers gave her the better odds of winning.  If both of those things were true, it would be more likely she's going to win in November.  It's all just probabilities and statistics.  Sure, polls and oddsmakers can be wrong, but most times they aren't.  If Harris were polling 3 points ahead of Trump in PA, I would be a hell of a lot happier.

agreed. I kind of think Joe Biden should be spending every weekend in Pennsylvania at all kinds of small community gatherings. And as I’ve said before, they need to be spending a ton of money to get people registered and get them out to vote. Driving voters, especially in the large cities is a huge factor in winning the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Here's a bird I painted a few years ago. 

If all we had to worry about was the popular vote, I would be popping champagne right now. I am pretty down sure that she will win that hands-down.

That strip of land was designed as a public latrine for dogs? Why don’t you let your dog poop in your yard then clean it up? Ridiculous! Dogs peeing on my little tree have virtually killed it. You can’t go ripping up people’s stuff!

mtierney said:

Successful, except for the 13 soldiers who died at the airport, and the hundreds of personnel abandoned — to what fate? The tons of American equipment left behind gave the enemy all they needed to fight us.

 Will the sight of people, clinging to the structure of the last plane out, as it rose into the air, ever be erased from our memory? 

Nobody believes for a moment you care.

"As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, and because of the danger Donald Trump poses, I will be voting for Kamala Harris."
Liz Cheney