I slept in today...It was 8:30am when I woke up...

I have successfully completed my first week of work in the real world...that is, if you don't count the one car in the shop and the other with the check engine light on. Let's just say cars and I aren't getting along so well right now. on the other hand, work and I are getting along just fine.

I wake up at 5:20am, leave at 6:30am, work from 8-5, and get home around 6:30-7pm. Turns out, it's a pretty long drive with traffic factored in. I guess it doesn't matter too much, since I apparently won't be around that often.

I travel a lot for my job. I work with an insurance tracking agency that has accounts all over the country. Anytime an on site rep is missing, I will take their place. I could be staying on location from a week, to a couple of months. Rumor has it they just say a week, then call you half way through and tell you, that you're there indefinately. It's a good thing I'm accustomed to this kind of life. I'll miss my team though.

For those of you unaware of my team, they are the 8 other people I traveled and worked along side the past 10 months. It's nice to be back in Texas, but I do miss my team. Of course, I haven't been doing a very good job keeping in touch because I haven't answered my phone all week (for anyone, not just my team), and I haven't been returning phonecalls.

Reason being stated in the second paragraph of this entry. So, today is the day to catch-up with everyone. I think I'll eat breakfast first. My team can understand that.

This will be my final entry as an Americorps NCCC member.  Tomorrow is graduation from the program, then off to New Orleans to work with Emergency Communities, and finally to Ft. Worth/Dallas where I start my new job...my real job.

I feel suprisingly upbeat compared to last year when I had to leave everyone back home, but the difference is that I have so many things to look forward to - mainly going to EC and working at Jungalaya for a couple of days.  I've made the decision as of now not to join my friends back home for the 4th, but that doesn't mean I'll be having just as much fun.  I'm going to miss NCCC, the friends I've made, and definately my team.

It's been an interesting year, and I'm not going to go into detail because I would never be able to justly describe it in the text of a xanga entry.  I've seen so much over the past 10 months - so much more than I could have ever expected.  I've become part of history - my name is even signed on a memorial machete.

My dear friends and family, I look forward to seeing you but for now I have some friends who are in more need of my attention.  Love and miss you all!  See you soon!

Do you really know who you are?

In my travels, I have encountered a particular person that I am not sure how to describe.  This person by far much more of an intellectual that I am, they think at a much more deeper analytical level that I do, and is further along in a vast amount of knowledge regarding things I am interested in.  If I pickup Dr. Seuss, then this person is likely to pickup a large, heavy novel. Regardless of all I have just stated, I feel there is a strong arguement on the basis of the two of us being equals.

Note the simplicity of my description to the novel. There is nothing wrong with using the simplest word one can find. In fact, I've managed to save time (yours and mine) by being simple, instead of using elaborate wording which some of us know as double speak or more fondly bullshit.  I find myself wanting to observe this deeper analytical level because I do not understand it's purpose aside from charm or base intellect. Over the past several months I've learned that there is no need to make things more difficult to understand, unless of course you're just having fun; for example, comparing tri-color tortilla chips to motor oil while eating with friends. I have become a simple person, and because of it I have become a smarter person.

And the Roller Coaster Goes Down

By the time 5pm rolled around yesterday, exhaustion had set in and the back of my eyelids were starting to look oh so wonderful.  I was asleep before the plane even got onto the runway, and didn't wake up until well into the flight.  Same story for my second flight as well.

When I left for the airport last week the only items on my agenda were my friends' wedding (and yes the punctuation is correct because I love both the bride and groom), and seeing my dad. By the time I left four days later I had had three formal job interviews, one informal interview, dinner with my family and cousins, and scheduled two more interviews for the upcoming weeks. I even got a job offer for a year long program with Habitat in Dallas. I told them it would be about a week before I made any decisions.

By the time I had finally made it to my room, the only thing on my mind was a full night's sleep, and I slept...I just had dreams about zombies, which seems to be recurring a lot lately. Thank goodness for layed back days in Charleston or I would be way too exhausted for my own good.

This afternoon my team will be leaving for a Mock Disaster Relief project where we will act as victims of a colapsed shelter in a cat 4 hurricane. The key is to stay in character and leave your IPOD at home. I've got this down obviously because I don't have an IPOD. Soon we will be in New Orleans working 6 days a week again, and then before I know it my 10 month term with NCCC will be over.

I don't know if I'm ready or even prepared to leave...