a few more years shall roll

I believe I can officially consider myself a Philadelphian.

After nearly 11 years of living in this city, I have experienced the true joy of being a city taxpayer. Yes, that’s right, my stereo was stolen out of my car Tuesday night. It was parked right on my street, too. I’ve parked in much “worse” sections of the city, and never had an issue.

But, the temptation of the 17 CD set of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was clearly too much for the vandal, and he (or she) deftly unlocked my car and took it, along with my CD player. If I hadn’t checked the CD set out of the library, I wouldn’t be so upset. It’s more a hassle to have to replace it for them than anything else. No broken windows, no stolen music CDs (guess they didn’t like my taste), no stolen registration or license.

But, I feel that I belong now. I have my urban story. I am a city dweller.

Maybe I’ll even get around to reporting it to the police one of these days.

seriously, i’m sitting in a starbucks, typing into my ibook laptop, using a wireless internet connection (thanks lara! it worked!). and, i’m in the suburbs. but i live in the city, really i do.

and the most american thing? i’m typing a BLOG entry!

i feel like should get into an suv when i leave this place.

but, then i remember that i have charged certain friends to shoot me if i ever have an suv. another bullet dodged.

the laptop is mainly so that i can do my summer writing from home with a bit more ease and enjoyment. it will allow me to check my email too without going to the local library, although i may stop by there anyway. where else would i find the latest copy of harry potter or lemony snicket?

i’ve noticed one thing about this blogging thing–if you get out of the habit (or skip several weeks) it’s hard to know where to begin. if you hadn’t noticed, i’m having a little trouble focusing my thoughts this fine evening. partially, that’s because i have limited time so i don’t want to write a long, detailed entry, but i feel this pressure to write something meaningful since it’s been so long.

so, let me tell you about my trip. last summer, i got to spend 10 days there with a large (50) team from church. it was a wonderful trip, allowing me to see the beautiful country, but also to begin to get to know some of the people there. i’m thrilled that i have the opportunity to return this summer. i knew that a smaller trip was going to happen–i sat in and took notes at the meeting where it was discussed. (by the way, you should try taking notes at a meeting there–i never felt so American, with my trying to outline things, and determine goals, agendas. it just doesn’t work there, and that’s not a bad thing!) i figured that the group would be made up primarily of college and career aged people from Tenth, and although I do have a career, it seems I don’t really categorize myself that way. But, my ways are not the Father’s and I have (happily) joined the team. This time, instead of travelling all over the countryside, we’ll stay in just two cities and really have time for getting to know the people and the culture. there are fourteen people on the team, including me, and i only become more excited as we get to know each other further. we’ve been meeting regularly just to hang out and talk, and that has been so good. it’s not a novel idea, it’s not something i was unaware of, but something that i don’t think i really believed ten years ago that just spending time with people was so important. that might explain the fact that i didn’t attend my 10th college reunion this past weekend.

I just bought my own personal laptop (yay for ibooks!), so I might actually post more often.

For now, you should check out this fun matching game. Work quickly or the flood and lightning will come.