Lucky Me

I'm pretty sure that I  am one of the luckiest people ever. Things seem to just work out for me. I was reminded of this when I got my LSAT score, which was higher than expected! Thanks everyone for your help, love and support, in the LSAT studying process. But, I was reminded of that time right after high school graduation when I totaled my parent's car.
I know, totaling a car is not considered lucky. Especially when it happens on the highway, right? But the circumstances could not have been better. I wasn't in a car accident, just ran out of oil. And so the car started turning off. But I could still steer and use my brakes (no longer powered, but still effective). And so we were half a mile from the exit we were taking and the car can no longer accelerate, but I needed to slow down, not speed up. It was perfect. I got to the end of the exit ramp and came to a complete stop. And couldn't move from there. So, we moved the car into a parking lot beside the exit. Did I mention that I was with 6 other able-bodied people, and another car? So, moving the car wasn't even that tough. And the restaurant, our destination, was just on the other side of the exit. So I called my parents, and we ate Mexican food. Moral of the story, luckiest car being totaled situation ever.
Now, I am told that getting your first parking ticket is a right of passage for Philadelphians. And so I had to get my first ticket, and I did. Now, I did let the meter expire for a little while, and kind of expected a ticket. So, when I got back to my car I was not surprised to find a ticket on my windshield. So, I took it and looked at it and noticed that the time that it was recorded was during the time that i had paid for. In Philadelphia the meters print a small receipt that you post in your windshield. So, I had proof that I had paid during that time. Thus I am contesting the ticket.
So, as long as I have to endure bad things: broken down cars, parking tickets, 7 hour standardized tests, I seem to get the best possible version of it. Thus I am super lucky.
Not only am I lucky when bad things happen, but I am lucky with all the good things I have been blessed with and great people I have been blessed to know.

Walking

I really enjoy this city. It is so walkable. It is flat, until Pittsburgh, and has side walks everywhere, unlike Claremont's neighbor's. So yesterday I went for a walk/jog and this morning I calculated it. 3.9 miles. I am pretty happy with the walk. I saw some new parts of the city and a nice park and a thrift store and a nice grassy knoll. Today I am only a bit sore.
But most of all it is good practice for the Memory walk which I will be walking in.
As many of you know, my grandfather has Alzheimer's Disease and can hardly remember his own children. It is really sad and hard. And it, of course is not just my grandfather who has this, nor my family struggling with this disease; there are more than 5 million individuals currently living with the disease.

So, as the Memory Walk website encourages me to say: Alzheimer’s disease is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States today. I’m moving to stop it – and I’m asking you to join me!

So, if you would be SO KIND as to help me out with a small (or large) donation I would really appreciate it!

I am walking with my job, US Dream Academy, and we are actually going to be walking with the students, mentors and parents! It's gonna be a whole fan-dangled event!

Search for me on this site and please if you feel so moved, donate. Thanks in advance.

http://memorywalk2010.kintera.org/faf/search/searchParticipants.asp?ievent=338720&lis=0&kntae338720=0353B974797C473BA210A04A60F9D64A

People in Philadelphia

Someone told me that Philadelphia is the 5th largest city in America. There are a lot of people here and most of them are strangers. It is obviously different from my childhood home, of church camp because so many people are strangers. But it is also really different from Claremont because there most people were somehow connected to me through the colleges. Even a business major at CMC had something in common with me, from the get-go, even just the cafeteria food. To a certain extent, I could pretty much trust them. 
I am told I should not feel that way in Philadelphia. But I kind of do.
I figure that whenever you choose not to get to know someone, aren't you missing the possibility to meet someone who could change your life for the better. While i recognize that it goes both ways, he or she could change it for the worse, but let's be optimistic. 

So, there is a thin line that I have been walking: on one side is meeting people and on the other is maintaining my safety. And I may have stumbled on both sides of the line at times. I was told that I still need some parenting and more maturity, and this might be the kind of thing that, that person was talking about. But, I am getting better at balancing it. 

And I am enjoying the adventures and stories meeting new and  often very different people is affording me.  Still safe, still alive, still having fun.

First Post!

This fall is full of firsts, my first blog post on my first personal blog. My first time living away from people i know and love. My first time living in a city without "adult" family there top support me. My first year out of college, my first job. My first rent payment and car. My first time primarily using public transit to get around. There are a lot of firsts, and many which I'm sure I am forgetting. But in a lot of ways it doesn't feel that different.
I still have a housemate, and I have found new "adults" to support me if I need it. I took the LSAT last weekend (hopefully for the first and last time) which was reminiscent of school in that I studied et cet era. Liz, a friend from Scripps, took it too! That was something I am accustomed to. Living far from my old friends is still pretty nromal, and working on criminal justice related stuff is constant.
This fall I took an Americorps position working at the Dream Academy, an after school program, and at the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated. There I am working with children and doing research, respectively; those are both things I have been doing for a while.
So, this is my first blog post, I hope to write consistently on a bunch of topics in my life. We'll see how I do. Please feel free to comment on my posts or email me directly.