as melissa might put it, making lemonade with my life
It's funny to think that we're almost halfway through first semester. It doesn't really matter - there's still a half left and second semester and three more years - but I always get nervous when I feel like I'm rapidly approaching a time deadline. And, strangely enough, I'm very torn about switching rooms next semester. I really want to have a single so that I can finally have some peace and quiet, but I really like my half of the double. I mean, I've got an entire wall of windows and a view of Sproul Observatory; it really doesn't get much nicer. So, I suppose that's something physical that may or may not come with the end of first semester.
I'm home right now, which is a strange idea, because there's nothing that really makes it feel like this is it, this is this place where I'm from. All of my personal things that I care about are at Swarthmore, my mom has thrown away most of the rest, and I'm living out of a suitcase. My mom redid my bathroom, although it still looks something like the way it did before. And - this took me by surprise - she got new cushions on the dining room chairs. You'd think that something like that wouldn't matter, but it made the whole feel of breakfast feel foreign. My parents last night were talking about Saxby Chambliss, a senator in Georgia. And I was going to talk about him with them, but then I realized that it doesn't really matter because I'm registered to vote in Pennsylvania.
I thought I'd care a lot about not really having a single place to call home (I suppose Swarthmore's home, but that's too new an idea, still), but it doesn't bother me that much. Probably because I'm sitting on my sofa, and my sofa still feels like home. I spent all of senior year studying and working and sleeping on this lovely blue sofa. Sitting in sweatpants, drinking coffee on my sofa with work ("The Portable Nietzsche," oh my) right off to the side feels just right. It was this sofa I tried to replicate with my bed at Swarthmore; it's the same height, against a wall, facing out toward my books. I told Allison that I wasn't really looking forward to coming home because I was probably going to fight with my mom and feel a little lost in my house - but that I couldn't wait to sit on my sofa. And that prediction's certainly come true.
On a totally different note, going to Athens was amazing. I'd just seen Jennifer and Natalie a couple weeks back, but it was amazing to see them nonetheless. And I hadn't seen Melissa or Jesse since school started, so our get together felt long overdue. I sort of knew it would be this way because of seeing Nat and Jenn earlier, but it was good to know that nothing really has changed among us, I think. Athens itself is very interesting, too. LOTS of roads. And lots of people and buildings, too. Having been there on game day with all of the visitors and tailgators and red and black, I can definitely see where the expression "dawg nation" comes from. I got totally overwhelmed in the car as we were just arriving in the town. In a good way, though.
To remain positive, a list of things I'm looking forward to:
1. autumn at Swarthmore - the leaves are just starting to change, so it should be in full bloom when things return
2. reading BOOKS - I have so many books here in my bookshelf, some of which I've read and some of which I haven't but didn't take to Swarthmore, either way
3. Starbucks - I can actually get good coffee here, and my house has good coffee, too!!
4. sitting all day on my sofa!!
5. a new phone - I messed mine up being an idiot, and now it scratches me when I talk on the phone, as if I needed another reason to be phone-phobic
6. Danny's birthday this Sunday - still need to do a lot a lot of planning with Allison about that one, but I've got a rough idea and a gift
7. music switching with Travis
8. Magnetic Fields this friday with Melissa ... and again later with Swarthmore people
9. cutting my hair (but only a little bit, I'm waiting until winter break to chop it all off)
I'm home right now, which is a strange idea, because there's nothing that really makes it feel like this is it, this is this place where I'm from. All of my personal things that I care about are at Swarthmore, my mom has thrown away most of the rest, and I'm living out of a suitcase. My mom redid my bathroom, although it still looks something like the way it did before. And - this took me by surprise - she got new cushions on the dining room chairs. You'd think that something like that wouldn't matter, but it made the whole feel of breakfast feel foreign. My parents last night were talking about Saxby Chambliss, a senator in Georgia. And I was going to talk about him with them, but then I realized that it doesn't really matter because I'm registered to vote in Pennsylvania.
I thought I'd care a lot about not really having a single place to call home (I suppose Swarthmore's home, but that's too new an idea, still), but it doesn't bother me that much. Probably because I'm sitting on my sofa, and my sofa still feels like home. I spent all of senior year studying and working and sleeping on this lovely blue sofa. Sitting in sweatpants, drinking coffee on my sofa with work ("The Portable Nietzsche," oh my) right off to the side feels just right. It was this sofa I tried to replicate with my bed at Swarthmore; it's the same height, against a wall, facing out toward my books. I told Allison that I wasn't really looking forward to coming home because I was probably going to fight with my mom and feel a little lost in my house - but that I couldn't wait to sit on my sofa. And that prediction's certainly come true.
On a totally different note, going to Athens was amazing. I'd just seen Jennifer and Natalie a couple weeks back, but it was amazing to see them nonetheless. And I hadn't seen Melissa or Jesse since school started, so our get together felt long overdue. I sort of knew it would be this way because of seeing Nat and Jenn earlier, but it was good to know that nothing really has changed among us, I think. Athens itself is very interesting, too. LOTS of roads. And lots of people and buildings, too. Having been there on game day with all of the visitors and tailgators and red and black, I can definitely see where the expression "dawg nation" comes from. I got totally overwhelmed in the car as we were just arriving in the town. In a good way, though.
To remain positive, a list of things I'm looking forward to:
1. autumn at Swarthmore - the leaves are just starting to change, so it should be in full bloom when things return
2. reading BOOKS - I have so many books here in my bookshelf, some of which I've read and some of which I haven't but didn't take to Swarthmore, either way
3. Starbucks - I can actually get good coffee here, and my house has good coffee, too!!
4. sitting all day on my sofa!!
5. a new phone - I messed mine up being an idiot, and now it scratches me when I talk on the phone, as if I needed another reason to be phone-phobic
6. Danny's birthday this Sunday - still need to do a lot a lot of planning with Allison about that one, but I've got a rough idea and a gift
7. music switching with Travis
8. Magnetic Fields this friday with Melissa ... and again later with Swarthmore people
9. cutting my hair (but only a little bit, I'm waiting until winter break to chop it all off)