Hello, hello, I know you've been waiting for updates for a while. Of course, the big news item since my last update is... the earthquake!

There was a 5.8 earthquake on August 23rd. Its epicenter was just a couple miles from Twin Oaks. We got shaken up pretty badly, but everyone is OK. I was in the accounting office (hey, look, I'm learning how to audit!) typing things into a terribly outdated program, when suddenly everything started to shake. The computer monitor was jumping on the table, the binders and books on the shelves were exploding toward the center of the room, and my accounting mentor was screaming. There was a really loud rumble, almost a roar. I remember us clinging to each other in the middle of the room, and I was looking up at the ceiling fan thinking, "please don't fall, please don't fall, please don't fall." As soon as the shaking stopped, we headed outside.

Most of the community members gathered in the courtyard fairly quickly. Within half an hour, we had everyone accounted for and there were teams of people checking the buildings and starting cleanup.

Cleanup has been a surprisingly quick process, though we have some projects that will require a lot more time. (One of our buildings needs significant structural repairs.) The clutter of everyday life all found itself on our floors instead of our shelves and walls, which made for some rather dramatic scenes. I didn't take any pictures, but it looks like McCune has a Facebook album available for your viewing pleasure.

My room was barely touched, which was great. I think my bookshelves were lined up with the direction of the quake in the right way-- as in, my books shook back and forth on the shelves instead of flying off of them. My desk, which is just a piece of wood on top of milk crates, didn't even shake apart.

The fish tank in upstairs TaChai exploded. (At least three fish survived and are happily installed in a new tank.) The spice rack in ZK dumped all of its contents, glass jars and all. Our community library-- 11,000 books or so in total-- has mostly needed reshelving, which is a monumental task.

A dozen or so of us camped outside for the next few nights, because we weren't yet sure about the structural integrity of our buildings, and we were still having aftershocks. In fact, we're still having aftershocks. According to USGS, we've had 18 aftershocks with a magnitude of 2.0 or higher. I can't find it on the site, but I swear we had one during lunch within the past couple days.

A ridiculous fact about the world in which we live: evidently, Wikipedia had an article about the earthquake 12 minutes after it hit.

Anyway. As you may have heard, we also had a hurricane. We were making jokes about it, "it'll find the leaks in our roofs that the earthquake made!" It totally wasn't a big deal. The power went out for the night, but it was back on by morning. Nothing flooded. Anything that was ready to fall down had already come down during the quake.

Other than nature's fury, it's been life as usual here. I just had my two month anniversary of membership. I'm fully moved into my room. I'm working Unicorn School three days a week; I now have two pupils. Keegan and I have a regular K shift together on Saturdays. I'm getting trained on accounting and rope making. I pack seeds for SESE. I am making a place for myself.

Fall blew in a couple days ago. Garden shifts have moved from the mornings to the afternoons. I'm wearing long sleeves and shoes that cover my whole foot. It's fun to see people in their warm clothes after seeing them sweat in the summer heat for so long.

Socially, I'm settling in well. Keegan and I joined a transparency group, which has been going really well. (Maybe I'll explain what that means later.) I have a few close friends, and I have things to do most evenings. I'm hoping to get closer to people as the weather gets colder; we'll all be smushed indoors together, and I guess you could call that a kind of "closer." I'm hoping for something more substantial, though.

After the quake, I was afraid to spend much time indoors, and we didn't have internet for a week or so. Those factors together contributed to my falling out of the blogging habit. Hopefully, things will be getting back to normal now.