And it just goes on...

As luck might have it, I found a wireless network I can access from our house here in Milwaukee (the church next door just got wireless!!!), so I don't have to walk to the library and I'm not on time constraints anymore..whoopie!! Again, simplicity? Eh.

I was talking about our LVC open mic night...One of the LVC staffers is a fabulously gay man (not that this matters, but I just love his personality, and that's part of it) and he's in charge of our Americorps stuff (some volunteers are eligible for an Americorps service award, which helps pay off a tiny bit of student loans...yeah yeah!!). The people eligible had to be "initiated" into the Americorps program and we had to recite this tacky pledge. I'd type it here, but it's really too painful to make you read! Anyway, he was really making fun of the whole process, so while the Americorps people were reciting this pledge, he asked the rest of the people to hum "Battle Hymn of the Republic"...ohmigosh. What a hoot!! I could barely talk I was laughing so hard. Maybe you had to be there? Probably.

Sat. Aug. 27th: Last day of orientation; took pictures and all that jazz. They had a commissioning service for us at Queen Anne Lutheran Church, where we had been eating some of our meals. It was a fantastic service, centered around the theme of rainbows; each house got a rainbow-colored candle from a service org. in Seattle. The music was "my style of Lutheran"..totally Christus Rex/WOV..lots of music from "Now the Feast" (sorry if you're not familiar with all my "religious babble"...lol) and we sang "Marching in the Light of God" as our closing hymn, complete with percussion!! Great song. :) The message was great, as well: Be hip. It's about being open and being who you are. Being a part of LVC shouldn't be something that gets me a "good for you" or "I can't believe you're giving up a year for this" response from people. This is an opportunity for me to learn and grow and should be considered a privilege. I get to meet and be a part of so many different communities..and I get to help people! yeah yeah :)

As Rev. Verlon Brown told us, "LVC is a lot like swimming naked." (Right??) We need to put ourselves out there, scared and, well, 'naked', but our lives will be so much more enriched because we face these fears and challenge ourselves.

"What does the Lord require of you, but to do justic, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" -Micah 6:8

After the service, there was a potluck and then it was off to start the year. Well, for most people. My flight didn't leave till 11:30 that night, so Tory, one of my housemates, and I did some exploring. We went to Pike's Place Fish Market and saw the fish-thrower guys. I really think I would make a good fish flinger! We also went to the Seattle Public Library..amazing and very modern!! I'm a book nerd! We also walked around the bottom of the Space Needle, but didn't go up because of time and money constraints. Oh well. After that, I had to catch some buses, got a little lost, had a nice chat with a man at a bus stop (the bus driver actually asked if I wanted to transfer at a "nicer stop"...haa..he doesn't know how tough I am!!), got run into by a drunk guy on one of my buses, and was back at the airport again. Fabulous. Let me tell you, it really sucks hauling luggage on a city bus, and I didn't even have that much!

My plane ended up sitting on the runway for about an hour, due to some seat malfunction or some crap like that. Blah blah blah. I had caught a cold earlier in the week, so at this point I was completely miserable, my nose was running everywhere (it did about 10 miles, I think), and my head felt like it was going to explode from all the sinus pressure. We finally got going, but my 50 min layover in Dallas was shot (yeah, I flew from Seattle to Dallas to Milwaukee..it was the cheapest flight I could find under our travel cap!!), so I had to book it through that airport. Although, I did get to take the Skylink train, which was pretty wicked narly. Then they switched the gate I was at, I couldn't find a board, and I started to panic. When I finally calmed down, I realized my new gate was right in front of me. Huh. Talk about stress. By this point, it was Sunday, 6:05 in the morning and I was crabby!! The plane ride to Milwaukee was hell..I seriously wanted to cry because my head hurt so badly. You know that awful pressure you get before your ears pop when you change elevations? Well, take that times 3 and walk around with it for 3 days. Everything was foggy and I couldn't hear, so I only got about 2 hours of sleep all night. Arrrgh. Enough complaining, though. A man named Miguel (he's on our Local Support Committee, made up of LVC alums, community and church members) picked me up at the airport, although he forgot to hold up the sign he made for me, so it took us awhile to find each other!!

He gave me a quick downtown tour, then took me to my new home!! It's a cute house, nothing fancy, but definitely liveable. One of my housemates, Amanda (it's me, Amanda, Tory, Jill, and Laura) was home, so we talked awhile, then I took a shower, and called my brother, Ben, so I could get the rest of my stuff. He was nice enough to pack it in his car and bring it over for me (thank you, Benny!!) and then he took me around to show me different grocery stores and such. I got to watch TV at his house for awhile (mmm..cable), but I had to go back so Amanda could use her car to pick up laura at the train station. We got that taken care of, then went back home to find Jill there...four of us!! We figured out room arrangements after much lengthy discussion...as I said before, I have purple walls!!...it's a cool room. My nephew, Steven (chub chub nugget pants) also made a guest appearance and he had to help me unpack and jump on my bed, of course. And that was the end of Day 1 in Milwaukee.