11.10.13
so i haven't been updating blah blah blah. i've been super busy these days. i get back to the hotel and get on facebook for half a minute and go to bed. mostly because i have a roommate who goes to sleep early and i don't want to disturb him but its nice to actually get a decent amount of sleep
the flooding down here was actually pretty severe its too bad it hasn't been declared a disaster yet. people had to be airlifted off their roofs and the majority of the areas hardest hit were also economically disadvantaged. i often feel fairly bad that we can't do more for these people but this disaster hasn't really got national attention so there's no real fundraising happening. there is a nice local network of churches that are doing the things we can't for the most part which is fairly unique i think but its still disheartening and stressful to see these people so desperate and only have so much you can offer them. you can tell they're grateful for what you can give but you can see in their eyes that they're worn down and torn apart and stressed out and hurt and ready to give up and just don't know what to do
what makes matters worse is that austin has a formula one track that has an event this weekend. that means all the hotel's rates quadrouple we and all the displaced people inbetween homes get kicked out of our hotels and have to stay in a new shelter we're going to open. that and there's a football game that pulls in 80000 people as well. you'd think that there'd be some sort of respect for what's happened in the planning of events that are assuredly going to further displace the displaced but no. nothing of the sort
they took my car from me. you'd think that wouldn't be a big deal but its bigger than anything to me. i need no coping mechanisms for this kind of work. i enjoy doing it just for the chance to get to help someone even slightly that would normally get none at all. i could live in a shelter and eat food off our trucks... but there is a certain amount of it that gets to me. i need to have time to sort my thoughts out in my head and i do that the most while driving. turn music up set the cruise control stare at the road and ponder all that's happened for the past week or so. i now have no chance to do that. i'm cooped up in this damn 'clinic' all day doing paperwork and placing followup calls. you couldn't pay me to do this kind of work and appropriately here i am not getting paid to do it. kill me. good thing i'm leaving wednesday
speaking of a couple of my friends are driving down from dallas wednesday morning i'm throwing my shit in the back and we're experiencing austin for the day before heading out. i don't know seems like it should be fun. i'm looking forward to it
they found another body and we've been trying to figure out who it is so we can do a condolence call
i hope it wasn't me