My last entry was July 19. Holy moley....
Its October now and so many adventures have impacted the appreciation I have for my life. I spent 6 weeks in Pensacola FL a while back and it was absolutely wonderful.


Florida is filled with angels, imbibery, and sunshine.
I venture to say that my third round project was my favorite round. I cannot say that truthfully though as (those who know me understand) Im hard pressed to pick a favorite anything. That and Im only halfway through my fourth round project so I cannot judge this round and feel comfortable with myself. For my third round I got placed onto a composite team with an amazing group of people and we were assigned a great project in the Gulf to help with oil spill relief efforts. There were so many people who wanted to help with the oil spill but that was such a hard thing to do. To help with any of the clean-up efforts, you had to have had the right training. You also were not able be a volunteer. BP is hiring people who have lost their jobs as a result of the oil spill to do the clean-up. If they use volunteers, then that is less work that can be paid to someone who needs it. So part of our job was to connect those volunteers to volunteer opportunities. To do this we have created and implemented the Citizen Information Station. We set up CISs on the beach near clean-up crews to provide relevant, unbiased, and correct information to the public. For the most part we were received well. It was a pretty sweet deal. My office was the beach for a few weeks. I did get ridiculously hot out there but I got more than my daily doses of sunshine and ocean views.

Side notes:
~Living in a bomb shelter drains you after a while cause there are no windows.
~If you ever find yourself in Pensacola, make a stop at Flounders and Hopjacks.
~I am now in a documentary.
~Boycotting BP will do no good. If you dont agree then talk to me and Ill set you straight.So now Im in Suffolk VA. How did that happen? Im so close to home that it makes me sad sometimes. But not in the way that you would think. I want to preface what Im about to say with this...I LOVE my family and I LOVE my friends and I miss them all terribly.
That being said being close to home makes me realize what home isnt. While in AmeriCorps Ive been able to see, do, and learn so much. I cant get any of that at home and it makes me sad to think that way. Last weekend I went for a visit to see my family and brought a teammate with me. I focused on seeing Norfolk in the way a newcomer would and I didnt like what I saw. Its just this huge urban sprawl of car dealerships, gas stations, rude people and traffic. Im starting to get nervous for November 18th. I want to see the people I left at home but I dont want to go home.
I'll work this out. Its what I do.