I got kicked out of a bar!

Oh the hilarious irony...

So I'm with a group of 10 people at 11pm on Saturday night in Philadelphia. We go into a bar that's full of people and the waitress asks for our IDs. No problem. Then she comes back and says, "I need to take a few of your IDs up to the bar tender, just to be safe, since you're all from different states." Three of us, including me, hand her our IDs. A few minutes later, the bar tender comes to the table to give them back. "Whose is this?" It's mine. I reach for it. He points to it and says, "I can't accept this one." ??? What? Why? Because it has a sticker on it. It's my change of address sticker, I explain. That's how they do it in Oregon. But that's where my name is: on a paper sticker that's covering up whatever was originally underneath. (I realized later that my name was printed on the actual card, but it was small and he must not have noticed it.) So I have to go. Everyone else can stay, but not me. Even if I don't drink anything? Nope. My housemate Dan tries to stand up for me, which is not a good idea. So we all decide to leave and walk back through the cold to the Philly JV's house.

Irony #1: I'm the oldest person in the group by about a year. I'm 24, everyone else is 22/23 Irony #2: Have you ever seen me drink more than a few sips of an alcoholic beverage?
Irony #3: I'm tired and fighting a cold and I'm just tagging along to be social
#2 + #3 = All I want is some lemon water for my sore throat!
Irony #4: I really don't care whether I stay or go.
Irony #5: I'm driving, so that I can leave early and go home if I want to.

It was annoying, and I felt bad for everyone else, but I couldn't help laughing at the pure irony of the whole situation!

6 minus 1 makes 5

This is not a math equation, this is a life equation. When you have six people living together for almost 4 months and then one of them leaves, a lot changes besides just the number.

My housemate Tricia has moved back home. She told us on a Tuesday and left the following Monday. She was too unhappy with her job and too tired of waiting for things to change.

At first I was really upset, because she's the one who was most like me: older than the others, didn't drink very much, quiet, really into spirituality... She was also a leader and facilitator. I was worried what would happen without her there -- would I feel left out and lonely? Would our community fall apart?

So far all it seems to have done is cause me to talk to everyone else more and hang out with them more and feel more connected to them than I did before. I still think the spirituality piece and the drinking issue will be challenges, but I think we're going to be fine, and I think my housemates are going to see me take on more of a leadership role than I have...

Things are really different around here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I had a very pleasant holiday, and I hope you did too.

I spent Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights at my aunt’s house in Philadelphia. We stayed up too late and had a lazy Thursday morning trying to figure out if I could get up to NYC that afternoon. Made a decision just in time to catch a bus at 2:00! It was a quick 32-hour trip and back. I had Thanksgiving dinner at the Brooklyn JV house with about 15 other people (a much better option than with 20 people I'd never met), and then spent the night at West Harlem’s little apartment. Friday was spent wandering around NYC with Sarah (a West Harlem JV) and her boyfriend. We walked through Battery Park and the World Financial Center, taking in the views of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and Ground Zero. It was a lovely sunny day, although the breeze was cold! Then we perused the exhibit of women’s dresses at the Museum of the American Indian. At 4:30 we began walking down Broadway, past Wall Street, toward Times Square. After an hour, with tired feet and 30 blocks left to go, we hopped on the subway. I only needed about 10 minutes to take in the electric commercial insanity of Times Square, and then we headed our separate ways, me walking the 10 blocks to Penn Station to catch the bus back to Philly, buying a chicken kebab from a street vendor along the way.

On Saturday, Lark and I went to the Art Museum to look at the exhibit of Gee's Bend quilts, which was really cool. Then we picked up my friend Marie' (another Methodist from Oregon), who spent the night, and we all went to Chestnut Hill UMC together on Sunday. It was very cool.

Playing Catch-up

Holy bejeezers! Have I really not posted anything since October 5th?! Yikes, sorry everyone. Well, I'll be adding new posts about the last 2 months throughout the next couple of weeks and I'll date them when they're from, so you're going to have to go back in time to Oct. and Nov. to find them... I'm at the Mt. Laurel library right now checking out Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah books for the kids to read at Homework Club. Happy holidays!