Random Details of My Life

As a prospie, I definitely wanted to know some intimate details of college students' lives, particularly students at the colleges I was considering. I could attribute that to me being a Gemini Mercury, AKA a predestined chismosa, but I can only assume that some of you who read these blogs have the same desire. Of course, there are several categories of details missing from this list, but I hope these true facts give you a satisfying little window into my life here at Oberlin. Alright… here goes.

1. I have four houseplants. Their names are Planty and Cafecita (she/they), Lolo (he/him), Zorro (he/they), and Delia (she/her).

2. This morning I ate two pieces of avocado toast from Azzy's, the café in the library. One of them had everything seasoning and one of them was "sweet and sour," which is with honey and lemon juice.

3. As I start this list, it's 12:44am on a Friday (or a Saturday if you like to be annoying like that) and I just got back from a dearly beloved friend's room across campus. There were cuddles and Owl House episodes screened from a projector, and we made each other laugh so hard. I am blessed.

4. I'm eating bread that someone in my friend's coop made for Passover. The someone forgot that part of Passover is not eating bread that rises… So. A lot of the people the bread was actually meant for can't eat it, and I was told to take extra. It tastes like a party in my mouth.

5. I ran into two fourth-years I know on my way back home. One of them pretended to be a salesman and somehow "sold" me (convinced me to take) a plastic bag that they had from the place where they work. I don't know why I took it but here we are. One more empty plastic bag added to my drawer of empty plastic bags that I'll use if I ever get through them all.

6. I have three separate classes that all meet in the same classroom in Peters, and all of them are about food. And that's not even all of the food classes I'm currently taking…

7. Someone needs to explain to me the reasoning behind the tiny desks that are attached to the chairs in a lot of rooms in Peters and King. Because they can literally just turn over at any time, and then RIP to your computer.

8. I've been singing so much more than I used to, taking so much joy in finding the place in my voice where a song can live comfortably.

9. I've been carrying a metal fork in my backpack in this little pouch because I don't like using plastic utensils every time I eat meal plan food. It just feels unholy.

10. Today I had to miss a karaoke night that I really wanted to go to because I had a rehearsal. The rehearsal ended up being really good, though, largely because I'm getting better at shaping space in a way that reflects and adapts to the needs of the people present. Also, the piece actually looks good, I'm pretty sure, and I can't believe I'm pulling this choreography thing off.

11. I used to reserve studio space for when I lead rehearsals to make sure no one else is in there, like you're supposed to, but I'm at a point in the semester where I kind of just… hope.

12. In other (separate) questionable-reserving-space-practices news, it is very unclear whether Movimiento (campus' only Latinx dance group) actually has the space reserved that I was told we had reserved every Saturday. It's been complicated, but I'm really hoping we can figure out that situation soon. Last time we met it was stressful because we ended up having to move across campus to a different building, which was not a good look.

13. Today I finished my last assignments for Junior Practicum, which is this career readiness thing. I ended up writing about massage therapy as a profession and interviewing this massage therapist Oberlin alum that I found on a networking site called Wisr. Honestly, that's something I would've liked to do anyway, so I was happy I could do it for an assignment.

14. I am so academically overwhelmed. The whole three-semesters-in-a-row thing (part of Oberlin's covid plan— current upperclassmen were here over the summer) is catching up to me. And that's a collective vibration, too. The rest of my year seems to be in a similar place.

15. Yesterday a certain amazing professor took me and one other student out to get mofongo in Cleveland, and ooh I needed that. Despite being immersed in Oberlin's Latine community and being twenty minutes away from Lorain, I've met very few Dominicans and Puerto Ricans in all my time at Oberlin, and my heart was starving. The mofongo hit.

16. Sometimes people tell me that I'm "bold" and it makes me start overthinking everything I've ever said.

17. I had this foot thing a while back. I just woke up one morning and the place in my right foot between the two outermost metatarsals hurt to step on. That was the day I went to a Contact Improvisation workshop and ended up playing Capoeira on the grass in Wilder Bowl afterwards, and it was the first day that brought in the warmth and breeze and rush of spring. I figured the pain would go away if I let it, but it stayed like that for a week and a half. Finally I figured out that it only got worse when I wore this certain pair of boots, which I had been wearing a lot. As it turns out, those were boots that my mom had given me because they hurt her feet too much.

18. There is this jellyfish lamp in my room that everyone always thinks has real jellyfish in it, swimming through water, but they're definitely made of plastic. (You think I would keep real jellyfish trapped in that little cylinder? Who do you think I am?!) Very fun to watch, though.

19. The other day I finally learned how to get a poster printed from Printing Services, which is more complicated than I thought.

20. I accidentally printed the first version of the poster instead of the second version, which incorporated the three changes I had asked to be made to it. Like, hello?? What was the point of me even asking them to change it if I was just going to print the first version because I wasn't paying attention to which download I sent to Printing Services??

21. It was still very satisfying that I successfully requested 25 posters to be printed and picked them up the next day.

22. I've been keeping this box of Lysol wipes under my bed and using them to clean dried mud off my shoes. I haven't asked anyone if that's a normal way to clean your shoes and I honestly don't know how anyone else does it, but hey, it works.

23. I'm really impressed with how coconut oil can do things for hair, skin, AND food. I don't think I even know any humans that versatile.

24. The other day I assembled a group of four friends that had been meaning to hang out for the longest time and orchestrated a surprise belated birthday party, which involved a dramatic entrance blasting the Marvel theme song and gifts of a plant in a bottle and an "Oatmeal Raisin Bar"-scented candle. The candle was mostly because I thought he would think that was a hilarious thing to name a candle. He did.

25. This morning, the board of Obies for Undocumented Inclusion met with a dean about several changes we want made within the administration, and there was this very spirited exchange of texts in our board group chat afterwards. It brought me so much gratitude for the work we've done so far, the work we are continuing to do, and the community we are fostering in the process.

26. First-years invested in carrying on the legacy that you and your peers are building are always, always, always a blessing.

27. I can hear the clacking of plastic Foosball players against a ball in my lounge right now. The clacks are coming pretty fast. Someone is having a showdown.

28. The ExCo (class, but less credit, and taught by students) that I'm co-teaching on massage will not be taught again in the fall. The deadline passed today and no one else stepped up to teach it. It's still likely that it will be taught again next spring, maybe even by us, but we'll see.

29. I massage fellow Oberlin students for money, sliding-scale. Or for free if you massage me back.

30. I would like for many people to have access to this Healing Justice Resources document. My co-instructor and I made it over Winter Term and we use it for MassageCo.

31. Putting on eyeshadow is significantly harder when you have an eyebrow piercing, but I have really been making it work recently.

32. It is 3:22am now. Usually not looking at screens late at night is a hard boundary for me, but writing and reordering this list of random details has felt like the right thing to be doing. My eyelids are getting heavy. Thanks for listening.