I realize that after my last post (over a month ago), it looks like I was swallowed up by the hurricane. As BA of a story that would be, the hurricane never came close and the reality is I'm just really bad at blogging. I'll try to give a recap of the past 30 days, but it has been a blur...

We got a chance to work @ Bayfest - Mobile's biggest (probably, only) music festival. Now, I was surprised to find out Mobile even had a music fest, and extra surprised when I found out how huge it was. Mobile is 400,000 people, and 250,00 were at Bayfest (a 3 block radius) We got to see Earth, Wind, & Fire, Lady Antebellum, Mary J Blige, Reba McIntyre, Nelly, Godsmack, & Motley Crue, as well as some pretty sweet local bands. We set up for meals and cleaned, but the best part was at the end of the festival, we got to take all of the bands' leftovers. I'm talking like 100 cans of Earth, Wind, and Fire's sodas, ha.

We headed out to New Orleans to go to a benefit concert & to spy on the other JV houses. They took us out to Frenchmen (sp?) st., an awesome park overlooking the Mississippi river @ Sunset, & a Tulane vs. Army game at the Superdome. The NOLA house came back to see us the following weekend, and we headed out to Pensacola for some October beach action (benefit of the South).

While we weren't rocking out/traveling, we've been busy @ work. I feel like I have a handle on work, but it's still ahrd not being from Mobile bc I don't have the connections other caseworkers do, but I'm working on it. I've become a professional beggar; I call places pleading for funding for clients. I'm a scrapper, and I must say I'm getting good at it. It's hard to not feel a bit burnt out at the end of the day; there comes a balance between leaving work at work and not becoming shut off from reflecting on it at the end of the day. It's never fun to have someone storm out of your office, but it's pretty great having people ask you for hugs.

I'm headed out to a conference on green living in North Carolina with a bunch of nuns, ha. My boss was supposed to go and I jokingly asked if I could, and she sent me instead (baller). As much as I like having roommates, it will be pretty baller to spend the night in a hotel alone AND watch TV! My TV access has been limited to 4 Jesus channels, an oldies humor network, football, & Glee. I think a weekend away will be good; I feel exhausted; not necessarily physically, but mentally. This intentional community thing is tiring. It comes down to either being tired of letting people know I'm frustrated or being frustrated that I'm too tired to let people know I'm frustrated. Where's the balance? I think the result has been me pulling away from community a bit: spending more time reading/playing Mandy Lynn (my mandolin).

Spirtually, we've been traveling so much, I just made it to my 2nd Quaker meeting on Sunday. It's so nice to sit in silence; it's something that I never really give the time/space for in my life, especially with 6 other roommates. They have some sort of study before their service, and I'd like to start attending. I think it will be really helpful to have something specific to meditate on before the hour of active silence.

I miss Chicago a lot. Because it's starting to get darker here earlier, it's reminding me of layering up in the city and living under my comforter back in the Rogers Park apt. I miss coffee shops & public trnasportation that comes more than twice a day. I miss having friends that aren't my roommates, ha. I think I'll appreciate my visits home/Chicago so much more now that I've been missing out on everything for 2 months. I'm figuring out when I'm going to be able to visit without screwing over my clients at work; so it probably won't be until next year. Please continue to send life updates/random occurrences.

Peace,
Emily