Housing (or, new methods of procrastination)

My method of procrastination has recently started to evolve and mature. Now, I procrastinate from the work I should be doing (chemistry) by doing work for other classes (creative writing, literature) that should be done eventually, but not right at that moment. Incidentally, this post is also a form of procrastination from something else I should be doing, which is filling out my housing forms for next year. (Which is another form of procrastination from my actual class work.)

This year, I was lucky enough to be able to live in Asia House, one of the Program Houses. Asia House is (perhaps unsurprisingly) a community of people who share a common interest in Asia. Some of the people are Asian, or speak Chinese or Japanese, but there are also those who aren't and don't. But there's a common thread of interest there, and it all works out.

When I applied for Asia House last year, the form kept talking about community, and I wasn't really sure what it meant. Last year, I lived in a freshman dorm, which wasn't necessarily a bad experience, but also wasn't really what I'd call a "community." I'd say hello to people in the halls, but I wouldn't stop to chat. Was that a community? I wasn't sure.

I can say now that what you hear about Asia House's community isn't wrong. I stop to chat with people in the hall now. Some nights, we've had five or six people who've happened along, all sitting in the hallway talking. We don't get that many weird looks.

At any rate, now I have to fill out that application again, and come up with good answers to those questions about community again. This time I actually have examples of community, like the time I brought back most of a pizza, and didn't even think twice about e-mailing everyone telling them to eat it, or the time when the Chinese Students Association was spray painting lanterns in the courtyard and people opened windows or came out to see what was going on. (It must have looked pretty odd--all those mini lanterns hanging from tree limbs and about five of us with cans of spray paint looking like members of a graffiti ExCo, but you get my point.)

I also have to write about what activities I've helped out with, which means I have to remember them all. The one that comes to mind first is the last one that happened--the Masquerade Ball. Some people, including my roommate, worked especially hard putting the event together, and it turned out very well. Pieces of fabric and Christmas lights helped to create a magical atmosphere in the two lounges.

photo courtesy of Jiayu Lin

Maybe what I should try to do now is actually write about these things for the application...