I Guess I Should Show up for Graduation...

It's my last full day in the city for a while, and I am super sad.

I should be happy, seeing as how on Friday I get a college degree and all, but it seems anti-climactic since I am having to leave the place I want to live in order to get it.  I figured out that, at this point, if I hadn't found a job yet, I'd be going home, getting my car, and driving back up after Christmas to stay until I got on my feet.  

I am ready to move. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE New Orleans.  I love the random jazz bands on the street.  I love the river and the bridges that cross it.  I love the ferry.  I love the smell of whisky and beer mixed with humidity that permeates the air (and I don't even like whisky and beer, just that smell).  I love the broken sidewalks and the cast iron balconies.  I love Canal Street at Christmas.  I love streetcars.  I love St. Charles Avenue, any time of year.  I love the strange accent that has come about from the mixture of ancestries of that great city.  I love listening to those accents and trying to figure out what part of the city people are from.  

I love my family. 

But, even loving all of this stuff, I feel like I should be in New York.  This church family of mine has really gotten to me, and I am going to miss them like crazy, once again, until the next time I find time to come visit.  It won't be Mardi Gras, it won't be Spring Break, so who knows, it might not be until I move up here this summer (though the thought of waiting that long stabs me in the heart... I haven't gone that long since I was here that summer).  

Last night, I made one of my favorite memories of all time.  I'm pretty sure it tops the New York list of memories, and it's right up there with the random pre-Katrina Christmas snow on my list of winter memories.  Ashley and I decided, after both of us had  been wanting to for a while, to go up to the roof of the MNYBA building (this is where I lived when I was here, and where she lives now).  The snow, which had barely stuck to some of the cars on the street, had COATED the roof.  We got the idea to then start making snowballs and tossing them at unsuspecting objects below.  So, first we aimed and parked cars, then moving cars, then bikers, walkers, dogs, etc.... We never meant to actually hit people, but we liked to land them right in front of them and see their reaction.  Mackenzie came up and joined in on the fun.  We laughed for about an hour straight.  It made for an amusing way to come home.  

Today, I'm going to go out, enjoy the city, get some shopping done, show up at the Graffiti Christmas dinner with my best caroling voice ready to go, and walk around Alphabet City singing to strangers through restaurant windows and down the sidewalks of Tompkins Square Park.  

Then, I'm going to pack up, and hop on an early morning flight to go home to the place that made me who I am, and dream of the place that's changed my heart. , snow

Upcoming Adventure

I am two days away from being finished with school forever (well, until grad school at least).  This is a little scary but quite exciting.

I will check out on Wednesday, and in grand Danielle fashion, I am flying to New York Wednesday night.  I am hoping not to have to run off to NY all the time after this summer, because I will already be there :)  

I have been so busy it really doesn't feel like I'm going on a trip, but I am super excited about it as it is approaching.  Now I only have to get started on that packing (see below...) and find out where I'm going to get enough spending money.  

The weather report predicts lots of snow in Connecticut, where I will be on Thursday through Saturday.  Snow is something new and interesting for me, so I am super excited!  The Laws have warned me that there will be lots and lots of it...  

I am also, of course, thrilled to be going to see my Graffiti family.  I miss them like crazy.  I can't wait to be around them all the time.  I am staying with Ashley in my old MNYBA apartment, so that will be lots of fun too!  

I really am going to be sad to leave my kiddos, but I am ready for the next adventure. 

GASP, and Bobby

Yesterday I helped out with the Graffiti Afternoon Summer Program at church. Kyle was short one person to help with the 4-6 graders, so I was recruited to join the team. It was a pretty fun day, lots of Guitar Hero. During devotion, one of the kids asked "Why do they always say that God was Jesus's father?" to which we responded, "Because he was." (what else would be the explanation?) She then proceeded to say "No, Joseph was his father." We had to explain that Joseph was sort of an "adopted" father, which lead to some kids mumbling "No, he was his stepfather," etc... Interesting to see the kinds of things kids ask and are willing to argue about.

Today was very slow. I didn't have much work to do at all, I just made a few phone calls, sent some e-mails, etc... Peter said his office (which is the office I work out of), was too hot and he didn't want to make me come up there unless he had something he really needed me to do, so he told me to call it a day pretty early. I met with Ema for a little while. We've been reading this great book about all of the basic Christian beliefs we should know and understand, and then discussing it once a week.

I went to the Manhattan Mall for the first time today, only to discover that there is a Steve and Barry's there, and that it is as cheap and wonderful as I've heard. I bought an LSU shirt for eight dollars, and a nice one at that. After shopping for a little while, I came home, cooked a pop-tart for dinner, and watched Bobby. If you have not yet seen this movie, and are at all interested in history circa 1968, take the time to watch it, it's fabulous. 1968 just so happens to be one of my favorite years, but that is part of the nerdy side of me coming out. I absolutely loved it, and will probably buy it when I get home. There's something about that whole late-sixties cold-war-era that gets me every time.

So much has happened, but I'll tell you about most of it later.

I have been so incredibly busy these past few days that I haven't gotten a chance to update you on what's been going on! The upside to this is that one of the reasons I haven't been able to sit down and type about all of these occurences is the fact that I no longer live in an office, and as a result, do not yet have internet in the new place.

Yes, no more room with no view, no bathroom, no fridge. I now live in a cozy one bedroom on the fourth floor, which has FIVE windows as opposed to ZERO, a very large private bathroom, and a precious little kitchen. I should soon be getting a desk set up in my living room and they're going to run an internet cable down there. Since it is normally rented out as private residence (it is where Ema was living until two weeks ago), there is currently not a connection to the office phone/internet, etc... They're kindly enough making exceptions for me: letting me live there rent free and letting me mooch off the office so I don't have to set up one month of interent service (though getting cable wouldn't be so bad).

I almost feel like I am taking advantage of them, but they offered, insisted actually, so I am considering it a blessing.

My camera is currently charging, but I have many pictures from the past few days' events, and will post them and give more detail when I get a chance (which will probably be this afternoon). I haven't yet taken any pictures of the new place because I want to wait until I get my desk set up in the living room (right now it looks a little empty- an entertainment center with nothing on it and a bookshelf with about four books and a CD case).

Until then, I'm going to church. Have a fabulous Sunday afternoon!

Having a Purpose

For a few days I was getting really frustrated.

I was starting to really miss home and all that comes with being in Louisiana. The sights, the sounds, the food, and most of all the people. I love New York, there's no doubting that. It has just about everything one could ask for (except for free high speed internet anywhere outside of the college communities- but thats a different rant for a different day), but sometimes this little office space I live in gets a little lonely.

I then started questioning my purpose. I know God has a reason for my being here, but seeing as how I've had ALOT of time off, and have done pretty much nothing related to my project since day one, it's hard to see. Why would I be so far away from all the people I love if there's not a good reason?

So Ema, my excellent supervisor, started making phone calls and has been helping me find things that I can do to help local churches, and has been looking for Paint the Town related stuff that I can work on until the project kicks into full gear. I've helped out at Graffiti the past two days and it has been WONDERFUL. I have felt alot more productive. Kareem, the young-adult minister at Graffiti, suggested that I visit all of my Paint the Town churches and see what they need help with to prepare for the upcoming workweeks. Something so simple and obvious, yet I didn't think of it!

I can tell that those I asked to pray for me to find a purpose have been doing so, and that is very comforting. I'm starting to see more and more what I am doing here, and with being more busy, I'm having less time to dwell on all the things I miss. I still haven't fully grasped what I'm doing here, but I know that will come in time. For now, I'm enjoying every minute of this city and what it has to offer.