SUPER TUESDAY — I WAKE UP.

In going to bed Monday night and preparing for yesterday, I̢۪d hoped to be as on top of the results as the pundits, the bloggers, the news networks. I imagined myself being one of the informed elite, the first to know Tuesday̢۪s victories and losses, the blowouts and the upsets and the results that would come as no big surprise. And so when I woke up, I started my journal.

10:17 a.m. According to a new Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby poll, Barack Obama is up 13 points on Hillary Clinton, a stark change from Clinton̢۪s formerly solid lead on the Illinois senator. Simultaneously, Mitt Romney holds a lead over Republican frontrunner John McCain in California, an important lead for the party̢۪s perennial second-place candidate.

10:21 a.m. A friend at CSU Northridge sends me a message through G-chat, the Gmail client that allows you to chat with contacts who also have Gmail accounts. I say something about R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.â€Â Then I remind him that despite his current status, nominally as an independent, he can vote in today’s Democratic primary. He responds to my message about R. Kelly.

10:37 a.m. I turn on CNN. Nothing happens for more than 30 minutes. Another friend sends me a message and we begin talking about cell phone carriers and the 16 gigabyte iPhone.

10:40 a.m. On my own phone, Obama̢۪s campaign sends me a text message reminding me to vote.

11:24 a.m. CNN reports that Mike Huckabee wins the West Virginia GOP Convention, big news for the Republican party’s favorite bass-playing former pastor. The station cuts to a commercial for special edition of the fall film “American Gangster,â€Â out on DVD on Feb. 19.

11:36 a.m. I start taking a shower, hoping to vote when I finish and then head toward school.

11:37 a.m. I get a call asking if I can pick up my little sister from her elementary school — she’s sick. Luckily, my polling site is on her school’s campus.

11:43 a.m. I finish my shower and run to the television. Nothing new from CNN.

11:48 a.m. I arrive at my sister’s school. I vote quickly before taking her away from school — quickly enough to get close to beating Hillary’s nine-second vote this morning.

And I had all those propositions to contend with.

12:15 p.m. My sister is on the couch. I’m attempting to explain the primaries to her, but she’s still more interested in getting well enough to see the “Hannah Montanaâ€Â movie later this week. I make some Campbell’s Select Healthy Request Mexican Style Chicken Tortilla soup and split it with her.

CNN has nothing for me.

12:40 p.m. Obama̢۪s campaign reminds me to vote again via text message.

1:28 p.m. After turning the care of my sister over to my mother, I leave for my first class.

1:43 p.m. After searching for several minutes, I̢۪m unable to find any kind of political commentary. I settle on KFSR.

1:57 p.m. I̢۪m three minutes from the beginning of my first class and there is no parking on campus.

3:04 p.m. Obama’s campaign e-mails me in regards to to independent voters having trouble obtaining Democratic ballots. “In Los Angeles County, DTS voters will be given a non-partisan ballot which they must take into a ‘Democratic’ booth. They must mark both the ‘Democratic’ bubble and the bubble for Barack Obama.â€Â Amusing, I think.

3:59:43 p.m. The Georgia polls are closing in 17 seconds.

4:00:12 p.m. CNN Projects Obama has won among Democrats in Georgia.

4:35 p.m. Obama̢۪s campaign sends me another text message, telling me he won Georgia again. I already knew that. I go back to the games of Scrabble I̢۪ve been playing over Facebook.

4:48 p.m. I have another conversation about “Trapped in the Closet,â€Â and the significance of R. Kelly’s contribution to the world of R&B.

5:00 p.m. A whole slew of polls close. Sometime shortly thereafter McCain picks up Connecticut, Romney wins Massachusetts, Obama picks up Illinois, and Clinton wins Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Sometime between 5:12 and 6:00 p.m. I skipped class to keep my eyes on CNN, but now I̢۪m overwhelmed and hungry.

6:07 p.m. The rest of the editorial staff and I sate our appetites with some Tex-Mex. Delicious.

6:45 p.m. I am engrossed in a card game. CNN is recapping the wins and losses of the various candidates, much of which I already know, but some of which I don̢۪t.

7:29 p.m. I leave the office to go to my 7:30 p.m. class. CNN has some stuff on TV.

8:32 p.m. I return to The Collegian on a break from my class in order to see what is new in the primaries. According to the rest of the editorial staff, CNN has been punctuated with headlines like “Breaking News: Race down to Clinton, Obama in Californiaâ€Â and “CNN projects Romney will win Massachusetts.â€Â I’m not missing much.

9:40 p.m. I finish with my last class of the night and head back to the office. I̢۪m hungry again and I have a card game to finish. I̢۪m contemplating some Taco Bell and maybe bumping some R. Kelly on the ride home.

The Obama campaign has stopped trying to contact me, but I discover when looking at my phone that I̢۪ve accidentally called the campaign headquarters several times.

CNN has called California for McCain and Clinton, again reinforcing the illegitimacy of ostensibly legitimate polls.

Not much has happened in terms of the Democratic candidates — they’ve split the delegates for the day, Clinton with 116 and Obama with 118.

McCain, on the other hand, has padded his lead over Romney, and it̢۪s starting to look like the second-place candidate may be out of the race.

But now, I̢۪ve been out of it for hours.

Life got in the way.