I've lost count of the number of elections I've covered as a reporter now, the long hours and the complicated Single Transferable Vote system make them exhausting mental marathons, with a flurry of activity as each candidate makes quota.
It is a system that tests political party electoral managers' mettle. Judge the vote management right and reap the rewards; wrong and the losses will be there, written on a board in a leisure centre for all to see.
This was, all things considered, not a disastrous election for the big two.
Sinn Féin and the DUP did not drop voter percentage points in a way that gains for the smaller parties would initially suggest. They remain the dominant pair by quite some distance.
But they have got problems, albeit for very different reasons.
The question we should be asking after last week's elections and ahead of the looming European polls, is what they intend to do going forward.
There is no doubt that the election belonged to Naomi Long, adding a jaw dropping 21 seats to her party's total with 53 councillors now representing a middle ground that had previously struggled.
Her leadership, running candidates in constituencies where traditionally Alliance wouldn't have thought they had support, taking her party out of Belfast and widening its appeal, paid off in spades.
The Greens doubled their number of councillors in another successful outing.
With Clare Bailey a leader people can relate to and their policies attracting young, first-time voters who have a different set of priorities and care about the planet we've abused and they must now inherit.
I would however though urge caution at trying to equate the election results with the tragedy in Derry on Holy Thursday.
While election results in the city were good for the SDLP but bad for Sinn Féin, the real story was the fact that Gary Donnelly, a man aligned politically with dissident republicans, topped the poll.
There remains support for hard-line republicans in the city; the murder of Lyra McKee in the Creggan has not and will not change that.
People Before Profit, who would be considered well to the left of Sinn Féin, also took two seats.
The people of Derry voted in a way that would suggest far from wanting talks to succeed they have lost faith in large numbers in the Stormont system.
Whether the recently announced city deal for the North West helps to economically pull the most deprived parts of the city out of their current economic distress remains to be seen.
That is a long-term plan that will not change the short-term crisis in Derry with increased numbers of disaffected young people being drawn towards violence.
There are also now more People Before Profit councillors in Belfast City Council than there are Ulster Unionists, which is quite remarkable considering they were once the untouchable, dominant force.
Being pro-Brexit did not damage PBP who have tapped into working-class disillusionment with establishment politics and have recruited dedicated representatives willing to walk the soles off their Converse trainers in return for what were once Sinn Féin votes.
The UUP really need to engage in a period of internal reflection. What do they even stand for?
With some councillors to the right of the TUV and others from a much more moderate brand of unionism, the broad-church approach is no longer working.
Another big message to take from the elections was the change in how unionism thinks and votes.
I have long believed that the huge numbers of people who give the DUP their vote are not all socially conservative and against modernisation.
While it shouldn't be a story - and I look forward to the day when we no longer consider these developments newsworthy - the selection, and more importantly election, of Alison Bennington was significant.
Arlene Foster clearly likes and rates her newest openly-gay, elected representative, and that she was embraced by the party's voters seems to be a watershed moment.
Jim Wells and his consistently offensive views seem so outdated now that the DUP leadership must cringe when they hear his voice on the radio.
I've no doubt there are still ultra-conservative members of that party using Wells to fire the grenades they make.
However, as careerists they will never speak publicly in a way they know will tarnish their career interests. Therefore, we must consider his firebrand style of unionism no longer en vogue.
That politics appears to finally be diversifying in Northern Ireland is a good thing. Healthy competition can only make political parties up their game. There has been too much complacency.
Let's hope this notable election shows that as voters, we should never be taken for granted.
