You know (or you hope) it's been a busy day (in a good way) when you're finally cleaning up your work inbox at 4am because there just hasn't been any other time to do it. I hope this isn't a case of me deluding myself with my bad time management skills (just kidding).

In addition to meetings and skimming through the Blue Engine Fellows applications that are coming in (and wondering just how many we're going to get this year...), I've actually been catching up with friends who I haven't seen in a bit. Which is awesome. And always makes me remember that I need to do this more often. (Side note: I also need to stop cooking before going on a week long eating out binge. Though this may work out if we get trapped in our apartment and I have to eat my way through the fridge).

And a gem from one of today's meetings: "Growing old isn't for sissies." I think that's pretty damn true.

I really have no clue what to write about today.

I should add that, as part of "Things I Should Do Every Day That I Say I'm Going To Start Doing With the New Year", I'm trying to take 15 minutes (or half an hour, or two hours) when I get home to just sit in front of the computer and do nothing. Or everything. Make lists. Reply to emails. Not check Facebook. Part of this includes blogging.

But I have really no clue what to write about (other than the fact that I forgot my hat today which made doing anything outside super unpleasant. Great time to wait on the subway platform for the above ground trains).

So I'll cheat and go back to yesterday: the almost snow day.

Apparently, New York doesn't call its snow days until 5am the day of. The one snow day I got in New Jersey (4th grade) wasn't called until that morning, so I guess this does make sense. Unless you're tossing and turning in your bed because it's 4:30 and you're not sure whether you should actually get up and clean your room or try and go back to bed (I tried to clean my room).

As it turns out, the trains didn't run that late and the snow wasn't that hard to get through. And all things told, the churren we work with need as much time in school as they can (and I would have just gone to the office in case of a snow day. So not a real day off). As it turned out, a significant portion of students didn't show any way. Boo. Such is a day in the life of a public school (or so I've been told).

At any rate, the snow is now mostly watery and mushy. Back to reality, I guess.

Coming up soon: Other Things I Should Do Anyway But Say I'll Do Now Because Of The New Year, A Paler Shade of White, and this new book I'm reading (maybe), picture posting?

Since college, my lunch has been mostly peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (my boss thinks this is hilarious). This is largely a result of a year-and-a-half of non-food stamp AmeriCorps, where every penny was to be pinched. Although there are occasionally cheap lunches to be found ($4 quesadillas from the taco truck in Washington Heights and random $4 schwarmas on Court Street - both of which are notably more expensive than sandwiches), I'll stick with the good old pb&j. I believe it allows me to pay for random travel expenses and weekend fun, though I have yet to actually calculate whether that actually works out.

There are exceptions, though. I spent 3 years y un poco màs in Ecuador eating soup and their "plato tìpico" - meat and rice. After watching our Fellows eat turkey sandwiches every day during training, I caved and ate coldcuts for a week. And this week, in an ongoing effort to in-kind food for our in-person interviews next year, I'm eating out. We've tried a couple big corporate chains, but they seem to be mostly tapped out of donations. So I'm trying a couple of local restaurants, including Court Order and Lemongrass Thai. After all, I don't want to be That Guy who just goes in and asks for free food. Isn't it better to be a customer and community member who just happens to be asking if the restaurant helps out local nonprofits? That's how I justify it to myself anyway...and what do you know, one of the restaurants told me that, today, their manager was out, and that I should come back tomorrow (well...technically today). Too bad, I'll have to save the pb&j for next week and go back to check it out tomorrow.

Oh, and y'all should check out Garrick Aden-Buie, one of my old compañeros from Peace Corps. Good live music, especially if you happen to be in Chicago

So, at the beginning of the year, we asked our Fellows to blog as a reflection on their year of service. Much like my own blogging, many of them have stopped, mostly due to other time constraints (almost all of it work related). But thinking about our original intentions for our Fellows' blogs and rather than this blog being a running commentary on eating bacon at 4am (It was Trader Joe's O's today, by the way), I figured I should actually offer insight into what the operations side of the nonprofit world (the tiny bit that I know, anyway) looks like.

On Monday, I'm sitting in the office, trying to catch up everything that fell to the wayside while we worked on our AmeriCorps grant. Midway through an email conversation with our site director, said site director says "oh, the Fellows' subway passes expired yesterday. They want to know if they're getting reimbursed?"

"That's funny," I say to myself, "I made a calendar of when the subway passes should be distributed (*insert me opening calendar while I say this*) but they shouldn't be distributed until...(*actual words removed due to the mixed company-ness of readership*)". Due to the 30-day duration of these passes, plus 31-day months, plus not having been to our partner school due to said grant and shortened pre-Thanksgiving weeks, I've apparently forgotten to deliver next month's subway passes. Oops.

So I rush out of the office (without a coat, since I biked to work, but that's ok, it's warm when you're not walking in the shadows) and ride the subway an hour up to Washington Heights (thankfully it's express and skips all of the Central Park stops), drop off the subway passes to minimal scolding by the Fellows ("I was CURSING Blue Engine!" one says jokingly. I change the subject and walk away), poke a few of them until they turn in their timesheets, then jump on the subway back to the office to I cram in another hour of work before biking home.

So that's your small (tongue-in-cheek) insight into what I know of nonprofit logistics (disclaimer: not much): you pay lots of attention to detail and, even when you have systems, you have to double/triple/quadruple check them or they go awry and people get stranded in subway stations. :) Still wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world, though.

So while I usually advocate for 3-day weekends, I think I might extend that push to 4-day weekends. After all, that would enable an easier split between two cities (say, hypothetically, San Francisco and New York). Plus one of those days might actually be dedicated to important things. Like sleeping.

Today was pretty great, if for no other reason than I spent most of it sleeping. Talked to my next-of-kin (my old sitemate from Peace Corps), did a bit of cooking (empanadas; not in bacon grease this time) and watched back episodes of "How I Met Your Mother". I should feel guilty about doing less work, except that I spent a bit of time yesterday cleaning. It doesn't really show, but, hey, I tried. Alas, I did not spend quite enough time learning to play guitar this weekend, but the slow-growing adult in me knows better than to go strumming around at 3am.

Project for the week: fix the bathroom sink. The stopper doesn't seem to work. No real progress to speak of, though I've at least figured out how the thing works hypothetically. Thanks to Google.

Less than 48 hours after setting foot in New York's Kennedy Airport, I find myself in San Francisco's International Airport. It's been a quick trip (as just about everyone has told me) but totally worth it. I managed to find a bunch of my running shirts and the 2 Harry Potter books I own (I actually am not sure which ones - I'm pretty sure it's 5 and 6 as I think 7 got left in Ecuador) to bring back. Spent yesterday eating with family, then eating with friends and spent most of today drinking coffee up and down the peninsula before eating some more with family.

I suppose we're officially in December mode now. I don't really count Black Friday as a holiday (or a day really), but it's interesting to see people's perspectives on what's coming up. For one, I (and most of my family) feel like a total glutton. Honestly folks? Never gonna eat again. One of my co-workers points out (sagely, I might add) that, while it's dark in the morning and dark at night (at least in New York), it's also the time of year when people (New Yorkers) are friendliest to each other. Which is a pretty sweet deal, I think...

Re-committing myself to blogging, which probably means that I'll blog this week (or maybe just today), then fall off the bandwagon again. We'll also see how the sleep cycle pans out - right now, it's not looking so hot. I'm especially trying to capture the nonprofit lifestyle, but we'll see how that goes. I'll probably get distracted by bacon.

Got off the red-eye flight, trekked across the city to our partner school and did work most of the day. Somehow, I managed to not drink any coffee, but I'm pretty sure that only made me crankier (sorry to everyone who had to share a room with me). Then, one of my friends called and asked if I wanted to go see "Carmen" at the opera. Three and a half hours long, but totally worth it. I feel like the music is so well known that it's nice to have some background (plot, etc) to put with it. Plus that Carmen girl just lives her life the way she wants to. Live free or die...

Going back to the nonprofit theme: a list of things I've bought online recently (some for work, some not. You can guess which):

*Plane tickets to San Francisco

*Bus tickets to DC

*Coffee maker

*Flash drives

*Mugs

Kind of enjoying Saturday morning for now. Maybe I should actually make an effort to be around for Saturday mornings. Passed out at 10pm after eating Ecuadorian food (!) and drinking Inca Kola with two friends. As a result, woke up at about 6am (which I owe to commuting an hour twice a week to arrive at our school site at 7:30 and for trying to do work at home early in the morning). Though I think I told myself I was going to work from bed, I managed to haul myself up to the roof. Kind of nice in the early morning, especially in the fall.

In other news, there was a minor uprising in Ecuador. I left Facebook open at work on Thursday when one friend messaged me to ask if I'd heard about the craziness in Ecuador. I assumed she was referring to the volunteer conference in Quito craziness.

Uh-uh.

Apparently the president tried to cut benefits to the police and military (the jury is out on how much these folks currently make and where it falls along the spectrum of reasonable), leading to strikes and general chaos when the police decided not to maintain order. The news makes it out to be a big deal, but it's hard to tell.

My sources on the ground tell me they were locked in their office for safety (the organization they work for tends to be protective like that), but they were able to order discounted pizza. You know, for the riots. Another source went biking and saw some people half-heartedly burning tires (which is about standard for strikes in Ecuador), but nothing akin to riots. My two host families (not in the capital) said nothing much was happening. Actually, my neighbor's exact words were "¿Y ese milagro?" ("And this miracle?", which is what you say when someone hasn't been keeping up their end of the phone call bargain). Some things never change. At any rate (despite the president possibly having being barricaded in a hospital, possible gunfire, and several conspiracy theories), everything seems to be back to normal.

Going back to bed now (which is also why I like Saturdays), though really, I should start knocking that work out. I guess that's what Sunday's for.

Waiting in the office for my two crazy friends to get down from Manhattan ("the island" as another friend likes to call it) so we can go out to dinner. Caught up copies and some basic finance (still more to do, but...) and I am ready to go eat. Did I mention these friends (from Peace Corps) are taking a cab? Do I even know these people?

If and when we finish dinner, I'm also in the process of packing for this weekend. Some stuff has actually been planned out (and one of my friends has been nicknamed the MASTER OF LOGISTICS). And more than 24 hours in advance! Very nice! Though one of my co-RAs from college says that "Packing is for chumps". He's probably right...

Saw a panel on "The Future of Education" last night (disclosure: my boss co-facilitated). Great content, great speakers - some disagreement among panelists but in a very productive manner. I think I've said it before, but I would watch Dave Levin (of KIPP speak on just about anything. Hilarious. Oh, I mean...They think technology will play a large role in education's future, but that you really can't beat the intelligence or close contact of a teacher. Good news for all, I think...

And how 'bout that Stronger Nation report?

So, I'm trying to take five minutes out of every day to jot some thoughts down in this here livejournal, more as an exercise in speed-writing and writing on the fly (which, uh, may or may not be the same thing). Obviously I have failed up until now (possibly because I am stranded on a bus with wireless). But here goes.

Apparently, I endured my first tornado. In Brooklyn. You know, no big deal. It started pouring out of nowhere on Thursday (which is not entirely unusual for New York weather) and then was really windy. Like unusually windy, for about 15 minutes. Then it just rained for a while and then it stopped. I almost took the subway home, but instead waited it out and biked home (mostly dry). No big deal. Mass transit was a mess for the rest of the night. No big deal. I went to the laundromat. I went to the supermarket (BTW, supermarkets at 10pm in the projects? Totally empty). No big deal.

Maybe I'm just cynical about New York weather. Maybe I just like biking home.

(I do acknowledge, in all seriousness, that there has been much storm damage and at least one person died :( I guess my point is that experiencing a tornado (albeit in my office) was not as shocking as I thought it would have been.

Back and rested from a week of road-tripping vacation and ready for whatever life is prepared to throw at me (ready yourselves for a retraction of this statement at 10am tomorrow when I tire of work and am ready to return to the beach).

I've decided a good vacation entails being barefoot, being near water, watching good TV (West Wing, in this case) and just sleeping and chilling. Is that too much to ask?

In my newly relaxed state of mind, I've also decided that I'm setting a bedtime, sticking to it and if I miss it, then screw it. (Bedtime was an hour ago and I have yet to get anything done).

Check out this cool video that two of my friends in Ecuador made...No idea what happened to Julie...

You know you're young and living in the city when...

...You spend your entire bike ride home cursing at pedestrians and thinking violent thoughts involving snowshoes.

Or is that just me?

*Backstory: I bike to and from work. It keeps me active and energetic and allows me to boil off most forms of road rage before I get into settings with other people. I'll add that this road rage doesn't just extend to pedestrians (and certainly not all pedestrians, just the ones who don't look where they're going when they're walking, oh, IN THE BIKE LANE), it also extends to other bikers and drivers (and really, only folks who are unaware of what they're doing. Oddly enough, I can forgive purposely breaking the rules as long as people realize who they are or aren't inconveniencing).

Part of my job recently has been to deliver silent auction items. Someone won a pair of snowshoes (I'm kind of jealous. Everyone kind of laughs when they hear about snowshoes, but I recall having fun snowshoeing at Lake Tahoe back in the day. Anyway) and I decided to deliver them via bike. However, the combination of snowshoes and thinking violent thoughts at ignorant pedestrians/bikers, and cars ("Ima smack you upside the head with some vigilante snowshoe law and order" is the phrase, I believe, to which my old housemate says: "Law and Order, Snowshoe Vigilante Unit (SVU)") could lead to bad (or AWESOME) occurrences.

There was another fun aspect of young city life, but I've now forgotten what it is...perhaps the $6 goulash we ate in Park Slope last night?

See? I told you I only write in this journal after 2am...

O hai 2010 Echoing Green Fellows. Echoing Green supports social entrepreneurs.

Sadly, one of the former Echoing Green Fellows, David Lewis, was murdered recently. He was the founder of Free at Last, an organization working with recovering addicts in East Palo Alto. Such a shame. Interestingly, he was murdered at Hillsdale Shopping Center in upscale San Mateo, not in East Palo Alto, his hometown and the former murder capital of the US. :'(

So, I'm thinking about re-naming this blog (or lack thereof) the "Only After Midnight" blog since I feel like I only really have an urge to post after 2am. Part of this is the frantic need to do EVERYTHING I haven't done before going to sleep (write in my actual journal, make lunch, clean, catch up on work, etc). Part of this is that, if I write in my blog any earlier in the day, I feel like I might potentially miss out on blogging something (like anything super important actually goes down in the blog, ha ha).

Goals for the week:

-Not cook since I've got a bunch of reports (well, 2) to knock out for work

-Tweet articles "of substance" (not just "cooking bacon". Though I will tweet about cooking bacon)

-Write in my notebook more. Writing lists usually keeps me on track. Usually.

-There were more, but I forget what they are. One of us was not writing things down. See Point #3.

Been reading more on Edward Tufte lately.

"Who?" you ask?

He's someone I read about a few years back (when I was still in Ecuador and actually read magazines. And wrote emails) who does design and information visualization. Pretty cool stuff. I bought one of his books at Strand Books and am trying to integrate that into the reports I am writing for work. He was recently appointed to the President's Recovery Independent Advisory Panel.

Any thoughts on the Challenge Index (I'm asking more about the concept of it, rather than the actual schools on it)

So, hanging out in the Jet Blue terminal. You know, just a typical Saturday. En route to my cousin's wedding in Los Angeles. It's been a busy week at work and it will be another busy week next week (when I arrive from LA Monday morning at 5am. Ugh), so it will be interesting to see how much of a vacation this actually turns out to be. It is a great chance to see family (plus, you know, wedding), so I'm happy about that.

Caught myself checking my ties and trying to figure out which one goes with which shirt. Plus there's this formal work event on Wednesday. So I guess I have to figure out how to actually wear formal clothing again, rather than just slinging on the blazer over a t-shirt (Which I, um, may or may not be doing now). I might even go all out and buy an iron. What is this world coming to? (Note: this will be the first time I've worn a tie since returning to the US. And would also be my first iron) My boss seems amusedly dubious/doubtful that I can pull this off.

There are comfy looking beanbag chairs here, but none of them by computer outlets, so I have to pass. Sitting at the rather sterile counters. But electricity! So...

My sleep schedule this weekend is being somewhat determined by my internet access - supposedly we have wifi on the plane (I love you JetBlue!). I need to check in on stuff for work (they know I'm traveling, but I'd like to help. Plus, you know, there's that Catholic/Asian guilt from a few generations ago) and there's a bunch of minor stuff I'm sitting on, so hopefully I'll knock some of it out this weekend. Plus there shouldn't be a lot of wine (if any) at this wedding, so I'll probably just be chugging coffee anyway.

Los Angeles, holla at me.

I caved and bought a camping chair this weekend. I also got gifted a desk by the friend of a housemate. This is only a confession in the sense that I now feel so much more organized when sitting on the chair or working at a desk (rather than on my bed, where I just fall asleep, or on a set of milk crates, which feels not quite as comfortable, which means I just end up on the bed, where, well, you get the idea) and really, it's THE PERSON who should be productive, not THE DESK. But the chair and desk win in this case. (side note: chair also wins in that I sat in it and got minorly burned today, the first of the season. The chair wins in the sense that I don't win. Boo)

My other confession is that I keep listening to Fastball's "Fire Escape" and The Shin's "Australia". Why is that a confession? Ummm....'cause I'm either a high schooler or an emo kid. Not saying there's anything wrong with that...

Spent the weekend hanging out with the 'rents (which is funny, since I never refer to them as "the 'rents", except in writing), which gives me a nice excuse for not getting anything done this weekend (except a frantic room tidying on Saturday morning which was all for naught since we didn't visit the apartment anyway).

This tied in with a Facebook conversation I had with a friend overseas tonight (while simultaneously Skyping with my sister in Japan - LOVE technology) about the role of parents supporting kids after graduation, especially during a year of service when pay is minimal. Any thoughts out there from cyber world?

This ties in with brunch today, where, having had similar conversations with other friends, I decided that I ought to thank my parents for having let me wander overseas and throughout the States for, um, five years of service following college. To which my mom half-smirked and (lovingly) said "well, we couldn't have stopped you if we wanted to."

Good point (though I felt that, if I thanked them, they'd at least think they had some control. Which, they're right, they didn't)

Funny, related quote from a co-worker: "Well, you're going to get a free meal out of it (spending the weekend with your parents), right?"

Totally love that Parenthood series. So California. God, I miss it.

You know it's time to go to bed when 5am postings from your favorite blogs start rolling in. More coffee tomorrow, almost surely. Anyone want to take bets on what time I actually wake up?

At one point, I told my boss I don't believe in umbrellas.

Set out today to go the bank. It was already raining and promptly started pouring. Ducked into RiteAid because I was only a quarter of the way to the bank, with intentions to buy an umbrella. Couldn't find one. Passed three umbrella selling stands because I didn't like their selection. Got to the bank. Looked a hot mess. Somewhat dried off in the time it took to do bank-y things. On the way back, it had slowed to a drizzle. And walked past a ton of umbrellas being turned inside out. Mostly dry (minus socks) by the time I left work an hour later.

Non-belief in umbrellas sustained! For now (please don't rain tomorrow; i want to bike to work)

So, just finished a long week of reading applications at work. Lots of caffeine involved, but I love it. It's always inspiring to hear what applicants have done with their lives, what they look forward to achieving. I always wonder if I would make the cut, though my boss reassures me with a bemused smile that I would be "competitive" (which I assume means I would not make the cut!) :D

Possibly my favorite part of reading our application is Essay #3.

Essay #3: Now, a chance to go off-script. There’s a scene in American Beauty (1999), shot in slow-motion, where a white plastic bag appears to be dancing in the wind (click here to watch that scene)—a quiet, lyrical moment that balances out the heaviness of the film. Choose one tangible detail in the world that helps you stay balanced and explain why you chose it. (300 words)

What is balance, anyway? Balance, especially when working with adolescents, means distancing myself from the day's challenges and situations while still examining my day from another, more introspective angle.

After Andrew refuses to listen to anything our team says, after Tommy disappears, only to show up halfway across town, after Joey punches a hole in the classroom door and gets sent to the office again – I find my balance sitting on the fire escape outside my apartment (where I am sitting right now). From my perch above the world, I am far enough away from that day's work that I can think about what happened – what would I do differently, given what I know now? What of today's events was out of my control? What did I do well during the day?

While I am, to some extent, alone with my thoughts, I can still hear the sounds of my neighborhood – reggaeton bumping down the street, planes overhead on their way to JFK, neighbors talking as they walk by – which serve not only to ground me in where I am, but to remind me of my work, which, although not immediately in front of me, is still present in the sounds of the city around me.

Runners up: running, catching up with Peace Corps friends in far off lands through Facebook, reading my boss's dissertation.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm only writing a quick blog (blogcito, I want to say, but I don't think Americans talk that way) because I'm using my monthly professional development day on Friday to study blogging.

And I need to remind myself what blogging is like.

I'm a little weirded out that I just referred to myself as a blogger.

And is it still a midnight snack if it happens at 3am? And why do neither the microwave nor the toaster oven effectively microwave White Castle burgers? Is this some sort of WC conspiracy? (like the time I was told the waiters at White Castle wear tuxes on Valentine's Day when they clearly did not?)

Anyway. Entries may be substantially more substantial after Friday. But I doubt it.

To those of you grumbling about losing an hour of sleep over Daylights Savings Time: take a long walk over a short pier (in a nice way, kind of). There's nothing (I repeat NOTHING) like leaving the office when it's still light out, which is probably more a commentary on my work style than arbitrarily assigned daylight hours...If you notice one missing hour of sleep, you probably aren't sleeping enough. Like, say the entire weekend (my friend did that, not me).

In a moment of weakness (and a .60 discount), I bought "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief" on Friday and, despite my intentions to finish it that same night, have not quite been able to put it down. Hopefully none of you are still judging me on my taste in literature. So what if I'm a sucker for Greek myths turned modern.

My housemate's cat is sitting on the stack of applications I'm attempting to plow through for tomorrow. I can't decide whether that means to accept everyone or reject them all (kidding!)

Warm weather is here (more or less).

As someone from California, I am suspicious of warm weather in New York. For one, I'm more recently from Ecuador where the seasons are reversed (sometimes) and where it gets extremely hot when it's hot, so "New York hot" is now relative. Second, I think I have something to prove just because I'm from California and I need to be Not a Weather Wimp.

That being said, recently, I've taken to not wearing a jacket in public. I'm currently hunting (ie thrifting) for a lighter jacket than the snow one that I wear, well, when it's snowy (and just New York cold). But for now, I'm tempting fate. And warm weather. I actually even bought my first pair of sunglasses in ages (well, since last August, when I was back on the coast for a week). This is mostly to cut down on the glare that comes into my office window (since the blinds are on the other side of my boss' computer and I'm too lazy to pull them down and put them back up). The downside is that I can't actually see the computer screen when I'm wearing said glasses. Such are the sacrifices we make.

Well, raise your hand if you've been neglecting your LiveJournal.

The last few days, I've been trying to send massive amounts of email from home. That's the intent, anyway. I usually end up falling asleep halfway through the first one if I'm lucky and let's not even think about how many typos there are.

I occasionally drink coffee at work and, in a habit to be the dirty hippie I am (which reminds me of a conversation I had with our portfolio manager at work about whether hippie liberal causes extend to web browsers - it does for me, but not for her, if you were wondering, but I digress). Uh. Where was I? Right, so I like coffee, I like being environmental and I finally broke down and bought both a travel coffee mug and coffee beans (ground them at Trader Joe's myself, how quickly they grow up). And as a result, I now have coffee at home. And I may have consumed about two cups tonight. That being said, I wrote and researched 3 emails (long ones, lots of addresses) and am now going to bed.

Anyone want to bet on whether this becomes an addiction?

I'm on the subway on my way home from work. These kids come on the subway and start giving their speech about how they're selling candy in order to make money. I think this struck me because it brings me back to the one hour commute on the Trole in Quito. People come on board, sell stuff. Other people mostly ignore them. The kids walk through and get off at the next station, where I'm also getting off. I think twice and decide to try and buy a candy bar since they're selling Starbursts. But the kids get on the next car and ride away.

I'm not exactly sure what to think of that (other than to feel slightly guilty 'cause I'll shell out the dollar for the American candy, but will only pay the .25 for Ecuadorian candy every once in a while), other than to think that it does bring back complex memories.

Bill Gate's site. Much reading to be done here

I should have known when my housemate accidentally walked into the bathroom where I was showering that big things were happening.

I refer specifically to Google Buzz. I decline to really say what I think about it - with technology, I usually change my mind until I've really played around with it, but it will be interesting to see how it works with Twitter and facebook - are we running with scissors or playing well with others? Plus with all these issues with privacy and people not being sure how to use it (and it sending duplicate copies of all my Buzzes, or Gtwats, as another friend refers to them), I'm not sure exactly what's in store.

And speaking of privacy, I'm thinking of making all of my accounts private again. While it is nice being able to link them all together, I'm always hesitant as to how people interpret what I put in public spaces. I think it's mostly harmless, but that's just one perspective (and I've have been parts of groups with very warped senses of humor). At any rate, if I disappear again, you might have to get a livejournal account to read this.

Oh, and how long do y'all think it will take me to turn

and into this and this? Any bets?

I'm still not quite understanding how this weather thing works. It was bright and sunny today and then by noon, schools were declaring a school tomorrow and there were rumors going around the office that we were all going to be working from home. My housemate (who's from Chicago) said that it's always warm before a big storm. Thank goodness we live on the third floor.

The footnote to this is that I've always thought scarves were silly, probably because I'm from California and it doesn't get quite as cold as it does in Brooklyn. But I figured better safe than sorry and picked one up from the local thrift store. And ummm...yeah. They actually do seem to keep you warmer. We'll find out for sure tomorrow (uh, later today. PS A part of me secretly wants to see it not snow tomorrow, just to see what happens)

So, failing miserably at going to bed by 10pm, if any of you are asking. Who saw that surprise coming?

That being said, I did take a little siesta, so I'm bumping my bedtime up by at least 15 minutes. And I got to check something big off my to do list (it's a surprise! Public blog and all), so I ain't complaining.

Right as I finished eating dinner and was about to clean up, my housemate and his girlfriend walk in, announcing "we have lots of food and you should helps us eat it!" No complaints here, though. She also gave me a bunch of cool links. Again, not complaining.

Amazing Cooking Which I Can Only Hope To Replicate

Swiss design

Making the World A Better Place.

Incidentally, I'm also trying to read up a lot about technology and social entrepreneurship for work. So I found some more great stuff.

Free Music Mondays from Mashable, which I will surely be coming back for.

TED Talks on Social Media.

And I finally found a map of the NYC subway system isn't stretched funny! More on that later...

After a conversation with a friend, I've decided that, instead of some sort of dietary flush, I'm going to try and do a sleep flush. What? you ask. Yes, I say. I am going to try to go to bed by 10pm every night to see how much sleep I actually need and when I naturally wake up. That being said, it's now well past midnight. So I guess the flush starts tomorrow.

Now that I've been in Brooklyn for a month, I'm starting to get into the nitty-gritty of it, specifically finding out where government offices around me are located. I tracked down the libraries nearest me last week and now have a library card (and some of them are actually still open when I get off work!) I found the public notary and the social security office and know where the DMV is. And I found out where the post offices nearest me are (there's quite a few) and that they are open before and after I go to work. I might not be fully Brooklyn yet, but I'm getting there.

At various points in my life (Academic Advisor training, City Year training), I've had to take personality tests which divide you amongst introvert, extrovert, data and vision (kind of like Meyers-Briggs, but not quite). I always end up exactly halfway between introvert and extrovert. And very far away from data.

But lately, I've been playing more with the data side of things. With our Fellows application up and running, I'm supposed to be tracking data from everything - job postings, websites, Facebook Fan pages (no judging!). And it's a ton more interesting than I thought it would be. And it actually kind of helps our direction (maybe. We don't really have much data yet). And I find it running into my home life as I struggle to figure out what my exact budget for the month has been and what all these receipts that have been piling up my wallet have been. Kind of an interesting change from what I'm used to.

Speaking of which, working with a Facebook Fan page is kind of like having a Facebook account except more so. I find myself obsessing about how many fans we have, how to get more and then trying to analyze how people found our page. Weird? I like to think not...But I do find myself checking this page at work (for work related reasons, obviously, I tell myself) AND getting quick a bit of news off of Twitter. Whatever happened to my attention span?

Uh, so...sorry that this post (I initially wrote "work", ha ha) is mostly work-related. It's been, or rather, is going to be one of those weeks. Not in a bad way though.

So, Blue Engine, the nonprofit startup I'm working at just pushed our Facebook Fan Page and website live, so please, check them out and fan us (I'm pushing to make "fan" a verb. It makes the typing at my job so much quicker). I'm not usually a huge Facebook Fan...fan, but we're trying to promote some good work (urban education and social entrepreneurship - think Teach for America meets City Year) so, yeah.

I've been doing quite a bit of copy-editing at work, which I'm desperately hoping will improve my writing skillz (or lack thereof). Problem is, our style guide is totally different from the style guide at the last place I did heavy copy-editing. Blargh. Time to get re-schooled. I think I'm sticking to the old style guide for personal stuff since it's easier to read, but that's just me.

Anyway, it's much, much later than I want it to be and I do try to be rested for work, so that's all for now, folks!

So, in typical fashion, I did not realize (or, remember, really) the State of the Union address was today until people started tweeting about it. Such is my life. Fortunately, the tweets started about half an hour before the real deal, so I was able to catch it live from my laptop. Still mulling it over, but it seemed pretty hopeful while appropriately chastising. I would have liked to hear a bit more concrete information about education, but that's my own bias. I suppose Obama's got so much stuff on his plate that education would probably get delegated to someone else, anyway. I guess the real question is how people proceed forward with it.

And since I miss the 5 things I did today at work meme:

1. Edited web content

2. Wiped down the counters (I have kitchen duty this week)

3. Drafted emails (wheee!)

4. Worked with the Office administrator to figure out conference calls (my favorite thing EFFVER. I know that's weird)

5. I can't think of a fifth.

In an effort to improve my "writing-on-the-fly" skills (What skills?), I'm trying to do some quick journaling this year. Yes, I realize it's been a long time.

Finally got around to climbing the ladder up to the roof. It's nice to be up on the roof again, though it is very chilly and admittedly, there's not a whole lot to see (a lot of buildings). But totally worth it. And the wireless connection makes it up to the roof. So I'll have to see about getting an extension cord up to the roof (when the days get sunnier).

Spent a lot of this weekend just kind of...actually, I don't even know. I did go running over the Williamsburg Bridge, which was nice (set one foot in Manhattan, immediately turned around) and I started some projects (organizing my budget, proofreading some stuff for work), though I'm not sure where the time went. My brother came to visit for a little under a day and we ate at various restaurants around the area. And I hung out in a Dominican restaurant today, where I spoke Spanish (huzzah!). It's interesting - there's a horseshoe-shaped area around where I live that seems predominantly English speaking with this three or four block Spanish speaking zone. Which I have to get to know better now.

Some observations on cleaning my room:

Even though I really only spend about an hour a day trying to be even relatively productive in this area, I feel like progress is being made. Not in the sense that I have anything to show for it, but I feel like, eventually, my room could be clean and this is just a step in the progress. I am somewhat documenting this process and may some day post photos on the web (don't hold your breath though). I may also get around to scanning and posting some old, old (think middle school) photos that I've dug up. Priceless.

Other than that, the internet remains distracting. Hulu remains awesome. Bike trails in Orinda are fantastic, even if it means fighting it out daily with the bike chain (Really, I should just pony up and buy the chain fixer device, but I think it's fixed now. Rain and having to wake up early have prevented me from testing it recently).

If you had to choose between Atlantis and Ninjas/Pirates/Zombies, which would you choose?

Garrick's music

Subtle Sexuality (probably not what you're thinking)

Embrace: Where A Family Friend is Working in India

So, I am trying so very, very hard to get to bed at a decent hour (10pm, as opposed to last night's 3am bedtime) these days. It is not going very well. This is compounded by my feeling like it might be time for a second dinner, my inability to really fill out more than 1 job application a day and the need to "unwind" (watch hulu.com) before going to bed. Forget that, it's bedtime.

It's funny how Halloween always sneaks up on me every year. Part to blame is the "Well, I Just Got Back From Ecuador" excuse, which I'm trying not to use so, so much. But it's going to be a scramble to get the costume ready this year. Though I at least have the idea. It really depends on how lucky I get thrift storing tomorrow (which is funny, because I don't know ANY of the thrift stores in the East Bay) and if my brother has any of the components of the costumes I'm looking for (apparently Middlebury is big on costume parties). Might actually do some Jack O'Lantern carving too.

Discovered (or rather, tried out) Last.fm today. It's nice that it's internet based (since I don't really have a fixed computer to work from right now), though it keeps playing a lot of the same artists and it really thinks I like a lot of indie coffee shop girls (which, I mean, yes, but what about Mago de Oz and Nirvana?). I'm not sure about this "scrobbing" thing. I mean, you're going to add music and musicians I don't even know to my Library? What the hell is my Library even for?

So, I tell myself I am actually going to bed at 10pm every night...and suddenly it's 5 hours later. I did actually do something productive (kind of), so I guess I can write it off?

Discovered (or rather, finally got around to watching) Castle on ABC (mostly because it has Nathan Fillion and I'm a sucker for any program which has alums of Joss Whedon's shows). From the position of the armchair viewer who knows nothing about writing a TV show, I'd say the dialogue could be a little less cheesy/more snappy, but I definitely enjoyed both of the episodes I've seen (the 1st and the most recent episodes of the second season). And I do like the characters.

And this may sound strange (you know you're a recently returned volunteer when...), but I actually watched someone buy food at not one, but two supermarkets today. And I think that's why the shock of higher food prices hasn't hit me yet - when I actually have to drop a significant amount for weekly food, then maybe I'll curl up in a ball under the checkout counter.

Finally got the bike helmet fixed. Gonna try and do a little biking tomorrow...

Back from Reunion. Is it bad that I am contemplating making this entry friends only?

A few interesting moments/things learned:

-A simple thing like a knit cap can severely confuse people as to who you are. This is possibly because enough time has gone by that you actually look different. Or enough time has gone by that people think you should look different but you don't. Or that enough time has gone by that people have other things on their mind.

-Mimosa pong, though it seems like a horrible idea, is not. Having bad hand-eye coordination, is.

-People don't really care that you're unemployed and living with your parents. Or, if they do, they don't judge you too harshly. At least to your face.

-Open bar is probably worth it. Unless there's a line. In which case, you should ask for two of...whatever it is you're having.

-I spent quite a bit more time "reunioning" with people I already knew. Not always with people who I see frequently, though. So much for meeting new people (this time around). But it was good to catch up! (and now I know who's in the Bay Area - huzzah!)

-Sleeping on couches/pillows ain't so bad. And it's cheaper than hotels.

-If your old housemate says it's time to do a shot, say no. Unless you're me. (It did make the rest of the evening considerably less awkward).

-A bar full of candy is a great idea. I don't know how good the bar of tacos was (since we had a Mexican dinner before said bars...oops)

-Your freshman RA will always be your freshman RA.

Now that the fun is over, it's back to pretending I'm in the real world. Job applications are going slower than I'd like (I blame facebook), my room is still unclean (I blame facebook) and I'm spending too much time on facebook (I blame facebook).

Time to find disco suits in thrift stores for Halloween...

OK, how many of you read this entry just because of the title? Be honest...more on that later...

So, obviously I fail at both blogging and email writing while in the US. Boo me. Boo US time standards.

Have been traveling back and forth between my parents' house and the South Bay, almost more than I thought I would. I'm using this as my excuse for not finding work yet. Not the fact that I spend too much time on Wikipedia and Hulu.com. Which, I mean, I won't have time to do when I actually have a job, so I might as well do it right now, right?

Has anyone seen the movie Strictly Sexual? I had seen it on Hulu and just found out that it has an actress I really like (Amber Benson, who was Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as well as some soundtrack music from the Solids (who perform the theme song to How I Met Your Mother). Funny how small the entertainment world is in that sense.

Finally got a new digital camera, after having some more-or-less models for almost three years in Ecuador (to back up the bad-mouthing, I just learned the difference between digital and optical zoom and have resolved to stick with the latter). Am excited to break it in over Reunion Weekend. I also should give recognition to the old camera(s) as they have, more or less, served me through my time in Ecuador.

And, ahhhh Reunion. I know at least some people I know are going, which will be good when I get there and freak out (both because so many people at once and because I realize I don't really know anyone from my college class). Anyone want to take a bet on the number of "culturally-inappropriate-in-the-US-but-culturally-appropriate-for-Ecuador" moments coming up?

Also coming up for next week: searching for Halloween outfits in thrift stores...anyone got a disco suit I can borrow?

So, I am thinking of making this journal private again, mostly because I am mildly embarrassed by the boredom of its content. Thoughts?

Productivity is lacking again. I blame facebook and gmail, which will now be closed while I'm "working". Or "looking for work". Or "facebooking". On the upside, it does appear that there are jobs to be applied for. I somehow had managed to convince myself that me being in the United States made employers change their mind about wanting to hiring folks.

Talked myself out of a run today, but am actually setting the alarm tomorrow. And applying for a job. And having lunch with my Grandma.

Online shopping (or browsing, in my case) is super overwhelming. On the upswing, prices seem to have dropped while I've been overseas. Huzzah!

So, despite setting a bedtime of 10pm ('cause, you know, that's what normal adults do), I have been unable to actually get myself to bed before midnight. Go figure. I blame this whole being able to watch TV online thing (woooie! #1 on the list of things I missed most about the US...)

Haven't been super productive lately - cleared out the room a bit, moved up some boxes, did a little bit of job hunting. Went for a run today, went to the post office yesterday. Going to try and maybe leave the house for an extended period of time tomorrow.

Ah, re-adjustment...

HAPPY GLOBAL HANDWASHING DAY!!!

Hanging out on more or less the last part of my trip home (last day of the international leg) at my friend's house in Guyana. It's warm and humid here and, surprisingly, reminds me a ton of Hawai'i, moreso than my old home on the coast...It must be the tropical vegetation.

Uruguay reminded me a bit of San Francisco - by the water, but cooler, lots of artsy hippy people. I did find a free music show on the beach, though I spent most of the rest of my time getting lost.

Argentina was interesting - I spent my time hanging out with relatives (who speak fluent Spanish but are culturally Japanese, which was a trip) and saw a lot of the zones around Buenos Aires (or the capitol, as they call it, as opposed to the province, which are the surrounding cities). Would love to go back.

Leaving Ecuador? Kind of haven't thought it...had a couple small despedidas (goodbyes), but didn't really think about leaving since I was packing up until the minute I left (except for a beer with two other volunteers right before the taxi to the airport). Haven't really thought about the fact that I'll be back in the States tomorrow and in the Bay Area on Monday. Time to get back into the swing of things, I guess, which I'm kind of scared of, but mostly excited for...

Day 2 of Random Internet Multitasking continues (well, comes to an end actually because I want to leave the office while it's still light and enjoy the sunset and call my Grandmas before dinner on the West Coast). A friend claims that all internet is multitasking, but I feel like I'm usually somewhat concentrated on one task whereas today is a little of everything (though I'm falling behind. Blech).

Went running again. Less of a sore on my foot, though I am more tired.

I also successfully (well, kind of) made yuca (cassava) patties at 1am last night. Finely grating them (rather than the large grater holes) is the answer, but I need to make them smaller otherwise they don't cook well. :(

My tienda lady called me out yesterday on shopping at other stores. I mean, she's right. So I kind of white lied it off. Does that make a bad person? (Admittedly, I also ate out a lot last week, so there).

Another thing I forgot to mention is that lately, I've been inheriting things from volunteers either who are leaving or want to get rid of stuff - diaries, vitamins, etc. My favorites so far have been a guitar (!), a pair of hiking boots (which I am wearing now) and a tennis sweatshirt. Now everyone thinks I play tennis. Something like that. I wonder what this says about me and my identity? At any rate, it's no worse than thrift store shopping, right?

I just saw my housemate's cat slip on a piece of paper. It was the strangest thing EFFVER.

And my college friend and I both just watched "Slap Bet". Most hilarious episode EFFVER.

Said friend and I definitely made it through as much of Quito as we could today. Started off at the Magic Bean in the Mariscal (shortly after drying her clothes out overnight - "because it never rains in the morning" - only to have it rain. Heavily. Flooding the bathroom), trekked out to Mitad del Mundo (a random coupon at the bus terminal made the ride cost .35 each, which is ridiculously cheap). We hiked around Mitad del Mundo (onnnn the Equator! As is our new motto). It was vaguely Disney-esque, but worth a see. We heard a really good brass band (I haven't heard many good ones down here, but I think it's 'cause I've really only heard high school bands) and saw miniature models of Cuenca and Quito. Then we bussed all the way to Old Town (maybe halfway to the other side of the city the long way). Unfortunately, the Basilica (one of the biggest churches in Quito) and the oldest ice cream shop in Quito were closed, but we saw some other churches and I found this restaurant I've been looking for forever (I found it once, then lost it). We had dinner in the Mariscal and did a decent round at trivia night.

Back to work tomorrow. Where did you go, Carnaval? Laissez le bon temps rouler!

Yesterday was interesting. Working in schools always brings me back to a mental image I have of being at my friend's house in Santa Cruz, trying to pull out of the driveway and having his dog run around the car, trying to get the car to go where it (the dog) wanted. "OK, go to the library. No, don't turn that way, go to the library. No, not out that door. Look, you're a responsible young adult. No, not yet. Look. No, look me in the eyes. Are you listening? No, you over here." So yeah. All that supposed education and genius goes back to me being pallanuoto's sheepdog. Fantastic. :) I do love my kids though and they are among the smartest people I've met (though they have the usual seventh grade drama and sixth grade wildness going on).

I also spent yesterday (after school) getting ridiculously sick. I got back to the office and felt ill. Then I felt dizzy. This was not helped by trying to carry 50 textbooks back to my apartment. Needless to say, my friend gave me some medication and then I slept for 12 hours. I have vague memories of people coming in and out of the room (the joys of living in the common space). However, I am no longer feverish and even made it to swimming at the Y and biking to work today. I did not get run over. It was good exercise. And, I repeat, I did not get run over.

School was eh. Instead of being the only City Year member at my school (see, the being sick was clearly a sign that I was not supposed to be at school on Tuesday), there were two of us. Yeah 200 percent increase! (Everyone else is sick or on vacation) One of my kids alleged that Harry Potter was the Devil (and while I am tempted to say something here, I'll just hint at it and then go). We did have a nice talk about not getting in fights and why I don't get in fights (I put an end to them before they get there. Let's not talk about how my conflict resolution strengths include running as well as screaming "YO MAMA!" Lovely) And I got to write in cursive. And my service leader got to break up a fight among ten eighth grade girls with extended relatives. I checked email, Facebook and MySpace at the office, then went to "debrief" (get food with my service leader). I actually did about five minutes of work (and got married on the Facebook), then went to a barbecue at a City Year Louisiana Champion home. Hung out, watched people get caricatures, swung on swings and broke my vow to not eat meat for Lent (again). And there was recycling. Which made me genuinely happy. California, I miss you. We aren't in schools tomorrow and while I would love to be in the classroom, it's nice to get a break.

And right now, my nose is running like none other and my throat hurts like all Hell. Stupid cold. Which is now, I think, stupid hay fever.

So I was going to go to the gym this morning, but by the time I was mostly ready, it was almost 7 (the time when I'm back from the gym to take care of breakfast and putting on my lovely, lovely uniform and checking email) so I'm blogging instead.

Spring break was relaxing. One of my co-workers asked me what I did and all I could say was "ummm...sleep and email". Which is true. I also marched across the Mississippi River Bridge in New Orleans to support the voting rights of people in New Orleans. One thing my housemate pointed out to me is that protests aren't particularly useful - they're a good public display, but do they really change anything? I don't have an answer to that and more often than not, they strike me as media circuses. But hey, New Orleans.

Oh, and there was some quality time at not one, but two The Chimes (Who the hell puts "The" in front of the name of a bar?) locations. Nothing against LSU students, but if I ever wanted to do needfinding for LSU students, I'd know where to go. Except that I probably shouldn't do two Irish car bombs in a row (but shhh! That's our little secret!).

My other guilty pleasure (that was not revealed to my co-worker) was spending ages and ages on MySpace. Dear Lord. Ban me already. I did, however, find one of my best friends from third grade. And another classmate from third grade is at grad school at My Old School. I'm trying to figure out whether they'll be freaked if I email them out of the blue. For now, I'm too chicken. I have, however, gotten in touch with a few other future Ecuadorian volunteers, which makes me happy. Interestingly enough, many of us were born in October. (Although I guess I've technically switched my birthmonth to January, so.)

Oh and my other other guilty pleasure was using Bearshare to download Joss Whedon and Kai Cole's demo of "Something to Sing About". I guess this means I have to buy the album now, which would be worth it.

Yeah, this is all capnkjb's fault. I'll look into more when I'm not. Um. Doing work. Yes.

I tried out TrustFlow II for LiveJournal. The following people not on the friends list for sergtpeppa are close by: themartingale, lalunedenoire, antofdestiny (100 - 150)mjolnirbuddy, metdenn, phoenixtwofour, h2ochor, ppprincess, saraaudust (150 - 200)dontbelieveme, diotavellian, dystopic151, kschmidt, att23, fineline179, fuwang, ervan, mingerspice (200 - 250) wideeyedwonder, animachiara, uumen, truth0728, serose, nzsprinter, classiccaddygrl, rainbowgirl28, rusti, bona_lector, roonytunes, drippinginjules, gautipoo, kim_jong_il__ (250 - 300)cvrenthead, starbuck04, stayci28, jessers86, isolt, cousinitt, worshipsf, stephratties, gsofficial, jotheturtle, fannishly, oyceter, jrpseudonym (300 - 350)doublefeh, foru2nv, ebeverett, thisisbussy, sunsh1nne, onceuponalife, eludinghistory, cloudgrrl, absolutirony, this_is_our, mapetitchou1313, kyramonkie, olgiesmexico, princesslala711, orinara, minnibeach, janellebelle7, janloser, gleemie, soliss (350 - 400)55northbass, _amarcord_, spamchang, virogtheconq, drschowalter, shoelacedreamer, wintercreek, bentastic, ike, blindo83, puddlesmcnasty, redslacker, adjacentvictim, extremegaspains, rhyshaug, timeconsumption, dinov123, giornalefirenze, tinydancer454, claudishqu11 (400 - 450)aquallytuff, vinsanity85, maximuskwame, limeonaire, crazyasian111, jeanst, mistyblue122, chopsticksadie, vacas2000, momochan419, ortima, rupansansei, morningstar7, nyahnyah, kirei_ceres (450 - 500) Created by ciphergoth; hosted by LShift. TrustFlow II: Who is closest to your friends list?

I am trying to write this entry without an outline. I make lists in my sleep, baby. Chew on that.

My housemate, my adopted housemate and I are all on our computers. Some things never change.

I am not flying out to California this weekend as vaguely planned. Two of you knew about this. One of you does not read this journal on a regular basis. Maybe in June. Instead, I plan to exercise each day (ugh), spend a day at Barnes and Noble and a day in Whole Foods. Don't ask. (You can definitely ask, but there's not a particularly strong reason other than that I like to people watch)

Renaissance Village service two weeks ago was mad draining, but I knew what I was getting into since my co-worker was going on vacation and needed someone to fill her spot. I have a better sense of the program (namely that we have no students, need desperate recruitment and a stronger age appropriate curriculum) and I appreciate that. I don't know how to make it bettre, but I know there's a way to make it better.

I am still sore from going to the gym two days ago. Which is a clear sign that I should never, ever go to the gym. EFFVER. Except that I spent money which could have been spent on food to get a membership. So I guess I'll go tomorrow.

I think I'm going to start biking to work three days a week next week. We all "mass transit" (big honkin' van) to work, so it's not so much conservation as exercise and the fact that Baton Rouge DESPERATELY needs better bike options. The other bike-to-worker is no longer here and I was hoping to have some sort of critical mass (Critical Mass?) but maybe not. Cross your fingers that I don't get run over. If I go to bed at a decent hour (not), I'll try it later today (ah, post-midnight post).

In-School service is moving along. Sometimes I want to strangle my kids, but they're always very bright, even when they're driving the teacher or each other crazy. We almost had a conversation about my love life at lunch. That's definitely enough of that.

I somewhat reconnected with My Old School. A group of Alternative Spring Break students was in New Orleans, so I had dinner with them and some other random alumni. I got to catch up with one of my residents from FroSoCo, hear a bit about other alums from the New Orleans area and their experiences. One thing I'm noticing is that people from big cities LOVE their cities and always go back to them. Many of the people currently living in New Orleans were born and raised in New Orleans and I sense the culture and background there is much stronger than any sense I've gained from Suburbia. Also, I fell asleep on the ride home and my friend made me go to bed. Except I'm not asleep.

Today was a long day of service. I woke up at 5:30am (though I woke up at 2am and had breakfast and such and then went back to bed) to help prep paint for trailer steps at Renaissance Village. The coffee was late too, which always makes for interesting co-workers. It was quite hot today, but a lot of people came out to paint trailer steps and they actually do add quite a bit of color to the park. People seemed quite happy with the service. I came home and showered (there's still paint on my hands) and had dinner with a couple of co-workers. It's tough to not talk about work, but definitely possible. Also Green/Irish drinks all around. One of my co-workers came over and we both spent time alternately talking and falling asleep (that's what I do best). And now I'm wasting time on the computer.

One of my co-workers/friends has commented that there was a big black cloud of depression over the office this week. There have been various dramas, but I think people are just over-worked and tired of sharing space. The joys of first year. I am uncertain as to whether this is the beginning or end of the dramas, but I think things will work out.

Wednesday service at Renaissance turned out decently. We had about 10 kids show up and they were fairly engaged. They made a lot of rude comments, which was thoroughly annoying (we debriefed with a dance move to summarize our evening, to which I say "STOMP" to say "STOMP out the haters". One of my coworkers said she's never heard me say anything so ghetto, to which I say, "what, have we never spent time together?"), but we can work from there. We need to figure out a way to engage the kids academically without being too academic.

And we went to a karaoke bar for someone's birthday. None of us sang, but it was a good time. Tiffany and I may have tried to steal the Baton Rouge/New Orleans sign that we always try to steal. Maybe.

Furthering the addiction - check out Reunion

Stupid MySpace.com. Never again! (Until tomorrow)

I woke up today (OK, yesterday) at 11:30 after (what has, apparently been termed by several of my co-workers) a "drunken, racous dance party" (not really true on either count, but it's a small apartment complex, so.). I was checking email (as always) when one of my housemates came in and said "we're going on a tour of a swamp - wanna come?" I wasn't sure, so I said yes. The swamp turned out to be awesome - it's a boardwalk that literally goes through the trees and over the swamp. We saw an owl in flight, snakes (that almost ate one of my co-workers), bugs. And I got to hang out with some awesome co-workers, which was tons of fun.

As I walked into my apartment complex, I walked into another co-worker who was about to head to the mall. I like Not Being In The Apartment On Weekends (nothing personal, there's just so much to see and as I am sans car, I am not in any position to pass up going anywhere), I said yes. So we drove to the Mall of Louisiana, which is perhaps a block from the swamp where I had just been. I ended up going through Sears with mostly girls. Which was...um...interesting (and reinforces my general dislike of shopping, but again, nothing personal). The Mall of Louisiana is mostly clothes, though it has a small B Daltons, a video store, a Pacific Sunwear store (it's odd what things remind you of California) and a Cafe Du Monde. One of my new life goals is to buy beignets every time I go to Cafe Du Monde (they're really good plus really cheap). Then we drove to Target. There are two Targets in Baton Rouge. Count them: One. Two. I have been to both. We drove home, only to return to the Bluebonnet exit (home of the swamp, Mall of Louisiana and Target) to drop a friend off for dinner before having Japanese food. It was good, though I've never had Udon without soup. Blockbuster closed at 10pm (right when we pulled up.) so we rented movies from Hollywood Video instead (take that evil Blockbuster loonies!). We watched Bride and Prejudice by which I mean Aria watched Bride and Prejudice and poked me every five minutes to wake me up. That was three hours ago. And I still haven't slept. Stupid myspace. You'll be the death of me yet.

Other bullet points:

One of my roommates has moved out (in fact, moved out of Louisiana). He was the one who first mentioned City Year Louisiana to me and who is really responsible for me being here. He was my first impression of City Year Louisiana and stands (at least to me) for what the organization ideally should stand for. Also, there are pictures of him with his pants down with naked people at Mardi Gras. Needless to say, I miss him. Having not found the right words or the appropriate time to exoress these sentiments, I haven't told him how much I'm going to miss him (typical male). We'll see.

Work is decent. I'm doing some individual support with sixth grade English Language Arts (ELA) students in addition to the regular classroom support. My worst fears have been assuaged in that the second story ELA classroom which can't open its windows and is as hot as all get out now has air conditioning. I spent Friday in three different meetings which made my head spin by the middle of the third one. Organizationally, I feel a bit more complete as I have all the parts of my uniform (most importantly the Timberland boots which I am breaking in for next year as well as two vests). I also have my City Year email and access to national City Year documents that I as supposed to spend all of today reading. Oops.

Ganked from liesoverthesea

appearance

- hair: short, black with a sprinkling of write. It was lightly dyed for most of college and was tinted blue for a few weeks in high school.

- height: 5'6" if I stand up straight. Which I don't.

- weight: Haven't weighed myself at all recently and I don't particularly care to.

- figure: average.

Style

- clothing: Shorts. T-shirt.

- music: Just about anything. My general tag line is that if The Band can cover it, I'll listen to it. I also like free music from iTunes and Amazon.com.

- body art: None yet. We'll see.

Current

- music: Vienna Teng - Momentum

- thinking of: What I have to do before I can go to bed.

- feeling: Really tired. Ugh.

last thing you...

- bought: Dinner at Koto's.

- did: Watched "Bridge and Prejudice"

- read: "Why Do I Love these People?" by Po Bronson, one of my favorite authors.

- watched on tv: Hmmm...I saw a show on Tuesday, but I don't remember what it was (other people chose it and mentioned the name, but it didn't stick)

either/or

-club or houseparty: houseparty, though clubs aren't bad either.

-tea or coffee: Tea. I try to avoid my weakness for caffeine.

-high achiever or easy-going: tests show that I'm exactly half way in the middle (which, unfortunately, probably pushes me towards being a high achiever)

-cats or dogs: Cats, though my dad was allergic to them when I was earlier and I haven't been in one place long enough to get a cat since then.

-single or taken: single. Can we move on now?

-pen or pencil: pen. None of this erasable wishy-washyness.

-mittens or gloves: gloves. If you're going to be warm, why not go all the way?

-food or candy: candy. I mean, candy is food, right?

-cassette or cd: CD, but really, who uses either any more?

-snuff or cigarettes: Cigarettes

-coke or pepsi: Honestly can't tell the difference.

-matches or a lighter: Lighter - you don't have to find anywhere to put the used matches, then.

-sunset beach or the bold and the beautiful: Pft!

-rickie lake or oprah winfrey: See above.

who do you want to...

- kill: Haha. That's for me to know and you to find out (it's you, isn't it?)

- hear from: Any one, though lately I've had a jonesing to hear from folks from Allendale.

- look like: I can only look like myself.

favorite

- food: Pasta and huevos rancheros.

- drink: Kool Aid (or mudslides)

- color: Blue, although I didn't wear blue at my last job due to (very minor but still potential) gang issues, so green is rapidly becoming more of a favorite.

- album: Hmmm...I guess I'd have to go with "1" by the Beatles, which my sister stole from me for over five years before (forcibly) returning it this December. "Once More With Feeling" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is also good as is "Waking Hour" by Vienna Teng, "Drive" by Amboy Kelso and "Out of Time" by REM

- shoes: I'd rather be barefoot, but sandals will do in a split.

- site: Mmm...www.worldchanging.com (though really myspace.com or thefacebook.com)

- song: "Peace of Mind" by Boston.

- fruit: Bananas are cheap, ergo, bananas.

the last...

- last movie you saw: Bride and Prejudice. The last movie I was fully awake for was Hitch, which was more amusing than I thought.

- last movie you saw on the big screen: Hmmm...Narnia, I think

- last phone number you called: Rob, one of my co-workers to find out if we wanted to rent a movie with us.

- last thing you had to drink: chai tea, to attempt to stay awake while watching "Bride and Prejudice"

- last thing you ate: Ramen or cake (I forget which was first)

- last time you showered: Friday - I'm lazy about the weekends

- last time you cried: Hmmm...can't remember...it hasn't been all that long ago, though, I'm sure.

- last time you smiled: Hard to say - I don't remember exactly when I smile. Probably during last night's movie.

- last time you laughed: Yeah, last night's movie.

- last person you hugged: Jessie, my housemate, when he moved out on Friday :(

- last person you kissed: Hmmm...

- last person you talked to online: eeks, for the first time in ages

- last thing you smelled: the smell of dirty dishes in the morning. Ick.

do you

- smoke: Nope. Too much of a health freak and too expensive.

- do drugs: Nope. Too expensive and it just doesn't interest me.

- sleep with stuffed animals: Nope, though I had a ton when I was younger.

- have a crush: Kind of. I'm in an odd situation where I'm only in one place for the next four months and then I'm probably out of the country for a while, which makes things logistically difficult.

- have a boyfriend/girlfriend: See above.

- have a dream that keeps coming back: Lately, I've been dreaming about places and people from work, which I take as a sign that I've adjusted to Baton Rouge.

- play an instrument: Yeah, I always use this one for "Two Truths and a Lie" (I can carry a tune on 6 instruments)

- read the newspaper: No, but it's one of my goals.

- have any gay or lesbian friends: Well, I'm from California, so yes. And when you google my high school, the two things that come up are the football and the Gay-Straight Alliance. Which I think is pretty cool.

- believe in miracles: I guess. I'd rather make them happen myself, though. (not in a "I create miracles everyday" way, but in a "Get off my butt and do something" way). Many things in life are small miracles.

- believe it's possible to remain faithful forever: Yeah, I do actually.

- consider yourself tolerant of others: Given my line of work, I'd get eaten alive if I wasn't

Buh. So a pox on me for not quite finishing my last entry (though liesoverthesea does a pretty good job). If you're curious, I was devoured by angry cheese monsters, who only recently vomitted me up. Or...ummm...I had to go to a meeting to talk about an academic program. You pick the winner.

Today was filled with meetings and lots of tension. It's definitely part of the community building/youth development field and anything with that much human interaction will inherently have conflict.

And yet again, I have to go finish a bunch of stuff for work, so I'll leave this incomplete blog for now and start a new one tonight. Really. Why does no one believe me???

So today was nothing like I expected. I thought I was going to spend a day in the office helping to plan service at Renaissance Village (a trailer park for people displaced from New Orleans). But a few of our team disappeared and I wanted to be back in class after missing a week so I begged off and went to school. And as it turned out, the teacher I was supposed to meet