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Spent all day knocking on doors today. Mostly in Aberdeen, which you've probably heard of if you ever drive up I-95. It was the perfect day for it: sunny, crisp but not cold; in a nice neighborhood where I felt safe being by myself, not ritzy but comfortable and homey, with nice gardens; the houses were close enough together that I could walk the whole route; and the people were friendly and mostly home. When the guy sent me out he told me "this neighborhood is critical," and when I got there I realized that by "critical" he meant "brown." About 3/4 of the people who answered their doors were African American.

Unlike phone bank duty, where I shortened the script, while knocking on doors I abandoned the script. It sounds so canned, and I hate to make people stand there while I recite my stupid prepared statement. Instead I just said hi, I'm with the Democratic Party, just here to make sure you're going to vote on Tuesday. If they said yes then I thanked them very much, chatted if they wanted to, and then moved on. If they said no then I found out why, thanked them for their time, and moved on. The few people who said they were not going to vote never provided a reason with which I could argue. Mostly it was vaguely angry men who didn't like any of the choices available to them. If I were speaking on my own behalf, at that point I would ask them if they had considered a third party. But I don't feel comfortable doing that when I'm there as a representative of the Democratic Party. And besides, I don't even know the name of the Libertarian Senate candidate in Maryland. There was also one woman who had just become a citizen but not in time to register to vote. She seemed bummed about it and I felt very bad for her. She told me she would definitely register before the election next year.

One really funny thing happened: while I was walking around knocking on doors, two girls passed me, maybe 10-12 years old. They were laughing and talking ostensibly to each other, but loud enough that they clearly wanted me to hear. One of them said "She better not come to my house if she's a Jehovah's Witness! Better not come to [address redacted]! Better not bother my daddy saying 'have a blessed day!'" It sounds hostile written down like that, but it really wasn't. They were laughing good-naturedly, joking about whether or not I was a Jehovah's Witness. They rounded the corner ahead of me, since of course they weren't stopping to knock on doors like I was.

I followed them around the corner, and coincidentally I had just finished a circuit of the neighborhood and my car was right there. They went gaga over it, screaming about how cool it was and how it was "the shit" and whose car could it be. They looked up and saw me, and the one girl yelled "It must be her car; she looks just like it!" I hasten to add that I did not in fact look just like my car. I have several outfits that match my car, for art car events, but I wasn't wearing one today. I was wearing a plain dark sweater and skirt, my striped Sock Dreams knee socks over white tights, and my red striped hat and matching scarf. But I guess she meant that I had the same colorful aesthetic as my car. Which, I must say, is the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time.

When I got up to the girls I told them that yes, it was my car, but no, I was not a Jehovah's Witness. The more talkative girl asked me, "Well then what are you?" "A Democrat," I replied. (Not true, but it served the purpose.) "What does that mean?" she asked. More truthfully I said "It means the Democratic Party sent me here to make sure people vote." She told me that her parents were Democrats, at least she thought so, and they vote every year. I asked her where she lived and she told me the address, which was not on my list. She asked if that meant they weren't Democrats, and I said "no, it just means you're not on my list. And," I added, "it means I won't be bothering your dad."

We chatted for a few minutes more, mostly about the car of course. The other girl, who didn't say much, complimented my socks. So I told her they came from SockDreams.com. She's probably too young to be shopping online but I'm happy to recommend Sock Dreams to anyone who asks.

So that was pretty much my day. I really liked that neighborhood and as it turns out, I'll be going back there tomorrow. Because they didn't give me enough flyers and I ran out before I finished the neighborhood. They gave me another packet for the next neighborhood over, and a huge stack of flyers. I'll go back to Aberdeen first thing tomorrow, finish that neighborhood and do the next one, and then head in to the party office in Bel Air to switch over to phone duty. That will save me a lot of time since Aberdeen is right off I-95, but a good 20 minutes from Bel Air.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on the way to Aberdeen I stumbled onto a cool looking shiny diner called The New Ideal Diner. I had to stop there, no question about it. So I saved my sandwich for tomorrow and had a cheese steak. It was made of hamburger, which is a big no-no for a "real" cheese steak. But it was still tasty. The place was full of older people who seemed to know the staff very well. I very much agree with this review that the food was pleasant but nothing to write home about. Still, it was a good experience, what with the cool building and very nice staff. I'd stop there again if I were on a road trip, around that part of I-95, and hungry. Well actually, I'd probably just wait an hour and go to the Charcoal Pit on Concord Pike in Delaware. But if there were some reason why I couldn't wait an hour, or if the Charcoal Pit were closed or if I were going the other direction.

Now, I am very tired. Especially my feet. Tomorrow is going to be a much longer day. Time to rest now.