My Mom Wanted me to Update my Blog

Well, I didn't plan to stop blogging. It just happened that I haven't posted in six months. A lot has happened in that time, and I owe it to my biggest fan, my mom, to post an update. Here it is, Mom!

I ended up going to a few more Goth club nights before I left Atlanta. I went with one to my best friend, who is pictured below:

Then I moved to rural Northern West Virginia where I can walk to water falls and hike up mountains. I live only 3 hours from Washington, D.C., so I've been there a few times as well. 

Douglas Falls

From my hike up Bald Knob

When Halloween came around, Ryan flew up to visit. We dressed as Titania and Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream and drove to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum for a Halloween Ball. The old asylum is huge and has beautiful Gothic architecture. We brought our own beer and walked around, ogling at the elaborately dressed costumers.

I even saw Robert Smith! He seemed very pleased that I recognized him.

Then, before we knew it, Christmas arrived. My roommates and I went to the Wildlife Refuge where they were giving away Scotch Pines. We took one home and decorated it in beer cans in the true spirit of West Virginia.

It's snowed over a foot the past couple of days, and my roommate and I went Cross Country skiing this evening. It was my first time. We skied down the street and through the cemetery. We raced, and I fell. I lost control going down a hill a few times. It was good fun. I needed it.

To be honest, there have been a lot of ups and downs since I moved here. I felt isolated living in such a small town so far away from family. I've been going through periods where I feel so accomplished with the service work I've been doing and in a state of wonder over the fact that I live in such a beautiful place, but then I'll feel the opposite. I'll feel each second tick by with a crushing sense of isolation and frustration. But then I remember that once this time passes, I will never get it back.