My Weekend, In Summary

With classes over but exams not yet upon us, I made the decision not to do any work this weekend. My excuse was this: I have too many other things going on to warrant actually doing work. Instead, here's how I spent most of my weekend:

Friday Morning: Lion Dance

In what is probably my last hurrah as a member of the Oberlin Lion Dance Troupe, I went with some of the other members to dance for NASA's celebration of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Our dance was a small part of the overall production, but regardless, we had a good time. I mean, it was NASA. How could we not have had a good time? One of the highlights--besides the dancing--was the lunch. They had food from six different countries, which led to me eating far too much, simply because I wanted to sample the variety.

Saturday Afternoon: My Reading

It's not required, but seniors in the Creative Writing Department often give a reading of some of their work. I have the tendency not to share my writing with anyone outside of my workshops, which has led to my friends asking year after year if they can read something I've written. I figured, with that in mind, that I might as well have some sort of informal reading so that they'd stop asking (at least for a little bit).

I collaborated with one of my friends from my poetry workshop last year, and together we read a mix of fiction (mine) and poetry (mostly hers). We had our reading in the courtyard of Asia House, a beautiful, little-known spot with flowering trees and bushes everywhere. Of course, being outside meant that we had to contend with the weather, and though it was sunny, it was also thundering. Luckily, the rain held off and instead we had a very nice soundtrack for my dystopian American story and my friend's poetry about "ecstatic truth" (among other things).

Saturday Dinner: Physics Picnic

As you may remember, I unofficially audited Astrophysics this semester, basically making me a physics groupie. And groupies go to parties, so I figured, why not go to the physics picnic? It helped, of course, that I went last year with Sophia and that I've taken other physics courses, so I wasn't just crashing the picnic at random.

Unfortunately, by the time dinner rolled around, it was raining, so the picnic had to occur indoors. While this meant that there could be no impromptu games of ultimate Frisbee nor could the hotly contested student/faculty volleyball game be held, the picnic was still lots of fun. A highlight: the dessert contest, with categories such as hottest dessert, coldest dessert, and most fractal (largest surface area to volume ratio) dessert.

Saturday Night: Don Quixote

Thanks to the organization of some of the students who do ballet here on campus, there was a trip organized to go see Don Quixote in Cleveland. The ballet was re-imagined as taking place in a mental institution, which added an extra layer to the story that was quite interesting. And, of course, it was also fun to get out of Oberlin and see things like skyscrapers and parking garages. I also was able to use the phrase, "It's not over until he tilts a windmill," which, really, is probably one of the best pieces of wisdom that I've ever articulated.

Sunday Night: Oberlin College Arts and Sciences Orchestra Concert

My last concert ever with College Orchestra. Among the positives are that we were pushing seventy people in the audience and that our cakes had amazingly tasty frosting.

Fig. 1 Delicious frosting.

Well, actually, the whole thing was pretty positive. If you've been following along, you'll know that I've been a member of College Orchestra since it was formed my freshman year. I've had the honor and privilege of co-managing the orchestra this year. There have been some tough moments, but it's been a very rewarding experience to be able to give back to a group that has been such an important part of my time at Oberlin.