Yum & Yuk

USCIS launches Citizenship Resource Center, a free site helping immigrants understand naturalization.

Image: source.

Man, I gotta say, November has been a toughie so far. It's been rough for various personal reasons and then last night my car got totaled (my first car accident, I should note). The accident was oddly tame - the car in front of me and I turned left at a green light in an intersection, a dog ran out in front of her, she slammed on her brakes and I rear-ended her. You wouldn't think it would be that severe at 20 miles per hour or so, but the entire front of my car was crumpled and destroyed (it was a 2004 Nissan Sentra - can't say I would recommend purchasing one after seeing how easily it was crushed). Also, because her car was an SUV and mine was lower to the ground, her car escaped damage while my airbags didn't even deploy. I'm sore today, but we are both fine and that's what really matters. Not having a car, however (when I work in a different town than I live in and neither has great public transportation), and having to pay money when I'm already broke, is less than awesome. I'm looking forward to this fall improving at some point.

On a more positive note, I start training next week to join the Citizen Review Board. The CRB is a volunteer board "providing meaningful, independent review of our child welfare and juvenile justice systems to ensure that children, youth, and families are getting the services they need." I'm hoping it will help me learn more about family law and juvenile justice, as well as a way for me to have a positive impact on youth going through "the system."

"To be alive at all is to have scars." - John Steinbeck