October:

Well, October started with a bang. A bang that is my birthday, which this year was celebrated at Jacque’s, a drag club in the Theatre District. It was a small crew, but we got dolled up and drank, sang, and laughed the night away with some fabulous ladies.

I was sick the rest of the weekend, having caught a cold or something on the walk home at 2 am through drizzle. Happy 24^th!

My mom and sister, Molly, also came visit me not long after. They were here for five days, Molly’s first trip and my mom’s second. It was actually a super blast. We ate and drank a lot, wandered, went to Salem for a ghost tour, went to the Sam Adams brewery, visited the beach, and generally hung around. It was awesome, no lie. Also awesome: the following weekend, Katie came to visit again (her fourth visit since I’ve been to Boston). Since she’d been so many times, we just kind of hung out, although we celebrated her arrival by eating bruschetta at a bar, getting a little toasted and then going to a 24 hour grocery store and ogling pre-made sushi.

There was a turning point at the Association when all of the temps but the one I knew previously started to oddly avoid me. It turned into just the two of us at lunch, with only awkward interactions with others when forced. I still don’t know what happened there, but I didn’t mind so much. I’d hit a stride, and I was becoming better and better acquainted with some of my colleagues who weren’t temps. I really liked the vibe at the office, and it wasn’t a chore going to work every day, even though the work was dull. Working at a big non-profit seemed to fit me, at least one with something other than a fitness focus. I was happy to have something actually seem to be working out.

My roommates and I maintained friendly detachment, only talking briefly each day. For Halloween weekend, I went to my old roommate’s birthday party in Danvers, costume packed for a trip to Salem, which is right down the road. Instead, I played beer pong for the first time and got into a very in-depth conversation about rap. I also had to leave early the next day to be trained for election day volunteering (which I didn’t end up doing, because it was not at all what I thought it was).

In October, I also went to the New England Aquarium, an art museum at Harvard, and played rock and roll bingo at a bar in JP. It always has been my favorite month.

September:

I moved in on September 1^st with a guy, Erik, who had worked at the law office of my candidate on the campaign and his girlfriend, Cally. They were both moving out of state in January, but had the place and wanted a third to lower rent. The move was stressful and I needed the help of several friends to make it work, which did remind me I have some friends in Boston. The apartment was a shoebox, a tiny little one floor space at the top of a brownstone. It was sort of overwhelming living so downtown; the Prudential building was but a short walk away, and it took less than two minutes to get to the train.

Parking at that apartment was awful. I ended up parking Agnes in Jamaica Plain, or JP, in south Boston on my friend Pete’s street. He had free off-street parking, so I just schlepped out there on the bus every weekend to switch her to the other side of the street to keep the engine okay and to avoid street cleaning tickets.

That weekend, I got a call from my temp agency offering me a three month gig at the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts/New Hampshire, based in Watertown, doing Administrative stuff for eleven bucks an hour. I eagerly took it, glad to have a sure thing for a while. It started the day after Labor Day (which was my first trip to a beach out here; I got super mega sunburned, but it was a beautiful day).

I started at the Association with four other temps, one of whom I knew from a previous temping gig. We all sort of bonded immediately, although they wound up doing development work while I did admin stuff. I found a lot of people at the Association I liked, although it took some time settling in. My boss was from Oklahoma, and we got along really well. I ate lunch with the temps every day, and took two trains and shuttle each morning to get to work.

My roommates and I got along, if we weren’t besties. They are very nice people who are just junior yuppies. We didn’t have a lot in common. I found myself spending most of September a) at work b) watching tv on my computer in my bedroom c) walking the South End.

It was kind of a lonely month, to be honest, but it was a big transition. Things were yet to come…

This beach tried to kill me.

Name- Annabel Osburn

Age- 24

Location- Somerville, MA

Profession- Administrative Assistant at the National Patient Safety Foundation in Boston, MA

Yep, still in Boston. Moved back to the good side of the river, working with a salary and benefits (if not great intellectual stimulation), living with three roommates, two cats, and a weiner dog.

Things have changed a bit…

Tonight is the last night. The last night of my first year in Boston, the last night in my house in Medford. I’m sitting on porch, drinking the last of one of my roommates’ abandoned rum, looking at the half moon. I can see the bakers inside La Cascia’s across the street. I’ll miss living in a neighborhood where the air smells like bread.

A year ago today, I was getting ready to move to the East Coast. I knew that when I woke up from that night’s sleep, I’d be getting in my car, quitting my job at the hotel, and heading out for 24 hours of driving to settle somewhere over a thousand miles from my closest friends and family. I wasn’t scared; I was a little nervous. I was mostly excited. Moving to Medford for AmeriCorps was the most radical thing I’d done, the first time I felt like a real grown-up doing what it was I wanted to. I didn’t know what to expect, but the timing was right. I rarely, if ever, doubted my decision to come.

Now, I’m not sure how I feel about next steps. I’ll be moving into a new place on the first; tomorrow night I’ll spend on a friend’s couch. I’ve been temping; I’m waiting to hear about steady work. If I get a job, a salaried, steady one, I’ll stay in Boston for a bit. If I don’t… I may stay for a month. Or  two. Or a couple of weeks.

The apartment I’m moving into is in the heart of Boston, right by downtown, in a brownstone building. The parking is gross, I’ll live on the T, and apparently you can see the Hancock building from my bedroom window. It’ll be living in Boston in a way what I’ve done the past year wasn’t. It’ll probably be fun.

I’m fighting the urge to hop in my car and go back to Kansas. Part of me yearns for the familiarity, the friends, the family, the comfort, the ease. I can take my time there, pay cheap rents, have friends to visit and want to see me. But part me isn’t ready to give up on Boston yet. I know I can come back, but I’m here now. I want to see this trip out.

I’m trying to see myself from point A to B. It’ll all be fine, if it’s hard right now. My car is packed, I ripped bits of skin off my fingers tying a futon to the roof of my car, and I’m not sure where next month’s rent is coming from. But it’ll be an adventure finding out. I now have two homes, and I’m trying to figure out where I should be right now.

One thing is for sure: I don’t regret coming here. It was a fabulous decision, and if I end up back in the plains in a couple of weeks, I can forever call Boston my home. I’ll cheer for the Sox, love that Dirty Water, and be a Modern Pastry over Mike’s girl. This fits. For now.

AmeriCorps is over. I’ve officially completed my year of service. I got my last stipend, and I’m done. Weird.

Of course, as I said would happen, I got a few other job offers after I accepted the canvassing job. I decided to let that one go and officially accept a position as Field Director for a State Senate campaign in North Mass. It doesn’t pay great, but it should be excellent experience. I met the new campaign manager today for lunch, and I think it should be fun working there. My first day is Wednesday, which means my summer break will consist of tomorrow. But, it’s exciting.

I also set up an interview for the salaried job, and if I get it… it’ll be hard to turn down. But I’m definitely not holding my breath about it. It could be great, though.

Yesterday was the Fourth, and for most of the day, I sat on my butt and watched musicals and ate cake (I made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting with blueberries on top). When my friend from my program texted me saying a few people were watching fireworks at the Charles River, I decided I should probably go. So I started walking, and ended up walking there and back. I just checked the route… a round trip was over 9 miles. No wonder  my feet hurt today. But we had a blanket and a few people right along the bank of the river. I got there about an hour before the fireworks started; one of the kids there had some music hooked up in his backpack, and a few beers he passed out. We just lounged and caught up and enjoyed the night. It was absolutely gorgeous. The fireworks lasted about half an hour, with some stuff I’d never seen before. It was also cool watching the reflection of the fireworks in the buildings across the river. It was a very Boston-y fourth. After the show ended, a couple of us just sat on a bench next to the river for about an hour, enjoying the evening.

I’m still so conflicted about what I want to do after a while. A lot is riding on this salaried job, including where I’ll live after August. And how long I’ll stay in the area. A salaried job is one I feel like I’d want to keep for a while, whereas the campaign is over, either way, November 2nd, if not sooner. So… If I’m looking for way to get back to Kansas, staying on the campaign is a way to do it. I’m just not sure.

Anywho, a pretty solid update for the time being. More details to follow as they come in.

Looking back on service, I know I did a lot of good to the YMCA. I basically created their volunteer program, a system they can expand and improve over time based on my foundation. I recruited a ton of volunteers for them, and made partnerships, and represented myself well. It just wasn’t enough for me. The Y is too self-contained; even the fundraising they do is for memberships or members of the Y. They really don’t do much for the community at large. I also felt like I needed more to do. Building a program is apparently not quite what I’m looking for. But this has definitely solidified for me that working in an office all day is not something terribly well-suited to me, I feel. The whole year, my favorite parts were the events, were the times when I worked a table or directed a volunteer or was otherwise involved. Idly sitting by is not for me. Now I know.

I applied for what I thought would be a part time job, and was called for an interview. After talking to the interviewer for about five minutes or so, she offered me a full-time canvassing job. It’s not prestigious or glamourous, and it involves standing outside for long hours in Harvard Square and surrounding areas. But, it’s a job, and it starts Monday. I took it, just because right now NOTHING else is solid. I should theoretically hear from the Boston AmeriCorps program tomorrow, but who knows. I also got a call for an interview for a job on Beacon, which is right next to the State House, doing some political work long term. It’s only 32 hours a week, and I asked for $32,000 a year, which would be such a huge change I feel like I have to at least interview.

At this point, looking back over my year, I’d be happy going home at the end of August. I’m open to finding a good steady job here, if that happens. This canvassing job is just temporary, I think. I’m seriously considering just keeping it until I find something better, unless it turns out to be a lot of fun. Which is actually entirely possible. But I should have a temp agency calling me with job openings next week, and hopefully I can set up an interview, and maybe I’ll get something real, with a salary. I can move into my own place, and really enjoy Boston without such strict monetary restraints. I’d also be going into Boston everyday, rather than out of it, which I know will help encourage me to spend time out of the house.

Anywho. Still waiting. But now I have a job I’m sure I’ll get a ton of other offers, as Murphy’s Law dictates. Better than nothing, though! I’m not complaining.

But the thing is… nothing as really changed. Lots has happened: Katie visited again, I went home for my college roommate’s wedding and to see some friends/family/have an interview, I’m exhausted. But I still don’t know where I’ll be a week and a half from here.

The campaign job I interviewed for is still hedging, so I don’t know what’s going on with that. I’m so tired, I just want to sit on my butt and get a lame part time job, like at Whole Foods or Starbucks, and have a summer. This is why I’ll probably end up back in academia, just so that I can have time off every year.

I’m still waiting to hear about an AmeriCorps position in Lawrence, KS that runs from this November to November 2011. I’d kind of like to get it. I could save some money, live closer to the people I care about, and then start some sort of graduate program in the Spring of 2012. Maybe get an MLS degree. A girl from my program told me about how her aunt was a librarian in inner city libraries, and I’d never really thought about how big a resource public libraries can be. They have free information, classes, programs for youth, skills to share with those who can’t afford them… there’s a lot I could do with that. For a while, at least.

A woman spoke at our very last All Corps Day who works for one of the sites in Dorchester. She’d been there for nine years, and straight up told us that she felt like it was time for her to move on because she didn’t like to stick somewhere for too long. She said that she’d worked tons of various jobs, some that she had no experience in, because the one thing she was good at was learning. She was educated, and she new how to learn new things. It was kind of inspiring (as lame as that is), because I’ve always been drawn to the idea of dabbling in everything, of living everywhere, rather than getting tied to one thing forever. Maybe I’ll grow up someday and feel differently, but this woman was in her 40s and had switched careers every 5 to 10 years. That’s awesome to me.

So maybe I’ll do another year of AmeriCorps. Maybe I’ll move back to Kansas. Maybe one of the 1200 jobs I’ve applied to in Boston will want to hire me. I still just have no idea. I promise that I’ll update when I do… and maybe before another month has passed.

I’ve been having some back and forth with my supervisor, and  I think, largely, we’ve reached an understanding that there are some things I still need to do before I go, but that my position was not the best this year. Not that I didn’t do well in it, but that I did what I could with not a lot. I have about 22 days of service left, five weeks minus two days when I go home for my college roommate’s wedding.

I’m anxious to be over, but I still don’t know what’s waiting for me afterwards. Feeling far from home after a family member’s heart attack, I applied to AmeriCorps programs in Austin, Houston, Boulder, and Lawrence. I’ve already gotten at least an e-mail from all of them; I had an interview Friday, and have another Wednesday. I also, however, applied to a couple more jobs in Boston, one of which I got a response from less than 24 hours later, and I have a “meeting” on Thursday with the company. It’d be incredibly nice to just know what will happen after July 2nd. I need some kind of certainty right now.

It’s a slow Memorial day. I haven’t been sleeping well, and today I woke up around 10 but didn’t leave bed until 3, drifting in and out of sleep. I’ll probably not sleep at all today, but it really helped, all the extra sleep today.

Next Monday I’ll be at work, because Katie is coming to visit me. Then less than a week after she returns, I’ll fly home for a five day visit to Kansas. When I return, I’ll only have two weeks of service left. CRAZY. Every week I wait for information, and after this week, I think there’s a high likelihood I’ll have some. Stay tuned.

-I didn’t get the AmeriCorps position in Boston. I’m bummed about it; I’d been mentally planning to stay. So now, I’m waiting some more. I’m applying to jobs in the Boston area, but I’m also waiting to hear back from other programs I applied for here and elsewhere. We’ll see what pans out. Surely, something will.

-25 days of service left. I’m glad. But, things have been changing in ways I don’t particularly care for. But change is change.

-Erika and I joined a softball league. We’ve had two games; the first, I had a spectacular strike out and the team was mercy ruled. The second, which was just a couple of hours ago, we won and Erika and I both had singles and later scored. Softball is soooo fun. It feels like summer.

Which, is nice. The weather has been lovely. I went on a picnic in Boston Common, walked to the Boston Public Library, attended a diversity training in downtown Boston. It’s nice. I live here. Now the question is: do I want to leave?

My mom visited last weekend. It really kind of feels like I live in Boston. This is my home. I show people around my city. It didn’t take long for me to feel like I belong here. Now I just can’t make up my mind for sure if I want to stay.

Not much is going on now. I feel like I’m just waiting. Waiting to see if I get into a program, waiting for a thunderstorm, waiting for payday, waiting for food stamps. We did get affected by the water emergency that happened in Boston when a water main broke, but it didn’t last very long. And I very luckily had half a gallon of water in my car that Marjorie left after our road trip to Maine in March, so I just drank that and boiled water for the cat. We’re already back in the clear, which is nice.

My car is acting up, and I have to decide if I want to get it fixed or get my bike fixed instead, or get a T pass. I only have a couple of months left. Who knows? If I stay here next year, the program gives me a T pass. So I should get used to it, I guess. But it’s smart to get my car fixed. I couldn’t  do that to poor Agnes, anyway.

I would only do this in Salem. And only for my mother.