I've Been Back For . . .

-A week, an hour, an eternity
-A night on Ma'ayan's couch before the dorms opened
-A night with a mini-fridge in the middle of my floor
-A day of ridding my room of boxes so the mini-fridge could go along the wall instead
-Enthusiastic greetings from friends
-Enthusiastic greetings from people I don't know
-Add/drop period
-Two English classes, two politics classes, two developmental psychology classes, and one adolescent development seminar meeting
-One religion class dropped to make way for the English classes
-A batch of cinnamon rolls made with Trader Joe's instant chai tea powder instead of milk--which works very well and makes the dough itself cinnamon-y--made in Ma'ayan's kitchen as a thank-you for giving me sleeping space
-A pan of brownies made in Starlight lounge in North (made from a box, but with the addition of a touch of vanilla and copious chocolate chips)
-A few onion rings made by a fellow Sci-Fi Haller
-Three times forgetting either my towel, washcloth, or toothbrush on my way to shower
-One time losing my brown cloth bag that is the perfect size for books or papers
-One time finding my brown cloth bag that is the perfect size for books or papers in the lost-and-found at Stevenson, the big dining hall
-One dance at the first contra night of the year
-Two shows at the Cat in the Cream, one by We're About 9, one by Backbone (who are local Oberlin people; I know some of them!)
-Three CDs
-One-and-a-bit oatmeal-chocolate-chip Cat cookies
-One ginger ale
-One tip-vote given to Hillary Clinton in the Cat's "Who Would Win in a Fight?" tip jar battle (because Michelle Obama is just too petite)
-One tea party in a super-single
-One discussion of Taylor Mali and slam poetry
-Four boxes from home, two containing mostly books
-An afternoon with books scattered all around the floor
-Two quotes added into my book of bizarre things my friends have said
-Six Facebook statuses
-One night of Circus glow play
-One pair of glow poi with rips in the socks from being spun too fast or too hard (nothing I can't fix, however)
-One afternoon of thinking I'd lost the Swiss Army knife I'd only recently found lurking in my dresser
-One Swiss Army knife found in the couch of the super-single where the tea party was held
-Several long walks
-One inevitable dash across the road in the rain
-One crazy, entirely voluntary sprint outside in a thunderstorm, culminating in a soaked cartwheel on the lawn
-One walk with Emma in the Arb, searching for insects to feed the Viceroy (her axolotl)
-The funniest, classiest textbook re-selling I've ever experienced
-Three other textbooks resold
-Only four textbooks purchased this semester (!)
-One course with only online articles required
-Undetermined number of unexpected hugs, both giving and receiving
-Undetermined number of expected hugs, both giving and receiving
-One time watching the second half of Taxi Driver with Emma--it was homework for her
-Two episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
-Several songs from My Little Pony in French, Sindarin Elvish, and Klingon
-Two episodes of Iron Chef
-One episode of Project Runway
-One episode of Dr. Who, stumbled into fifteen minutes late in a very crowded Sci-Fi Hall lounge, from which I emerged saying, "I have no idea what was going on, but I love it."
-One search for Nerf gun models
-One trip to Gibson's
-Two trips to Ben Franklin's (on one of which I purchased something; on the other, I merely entertained my friends while they were trying to be productive)
-One Sci-Fi Hall meeting
-Three wings of North on Sci-Fi Hall
-Many silly introductions
-Geeking out over Terry Pratchett
-Voting for Hall Leaders
-A lifeguard sign-up session
-Four lifeguard shifts signed for
-Three new lifeguards taught how to lock up the pool at the end of the day
-One lifeguard shift arrived for that does not exist until next week, when swim lessons start
-One very echo-y cricket in the pool room
-Lots of articles on NPR
-Two conversations with people who knit, one in the company of Emma, who put the other person in touch with the woman who's in charge of the weaving room and Winter Term weaving project
-One excerpt from Piaget
-Seven poems and "A Defense of Poetry" by Shelley
-Two chapters of The Development of Children
-One chapter of Adolescence
-Many articles about politics
-One blog for English class
-A Circus interest meeting
-One afternoon of thinking I wouldn't get to be a research assistant this semester after all, because my advisor wasn't sure she would need any
-One e-mail from another professor requesting my services as a data geek
-One meeting discussing projects requiring my statistical analysis skills
-Two credits of research-assisting registered for
-One ExCo fair
-One acceptance into Ma'ayan's photography ExCo
-One ExCo registered for
-One lifeguard shift given away to make room for said ExCo
-Three quotes copied into quote book (not the same as Silly Things My Friends Say book)
-A half-gallon of milk
-A bar of chocolate
-Approximately 72 hours of my stomach not knowing what kind of time zone or sleep schedule it was on
-One brunch at the Black River Café
-One meeting with an English professor
-Ten pages into a book borrowed from Emma
-Two book-series recommendations/promises to lend
-Two promises to read as soon as I'm done rereading Frankenstein, which will have to be by Wednesday
-Two entries in my journal not written in black G2 pen
-The unpacking of seven black G2 pens
-Six journal entries in black G2 pens
-The Outsiders (re-read on the plane)
-Encounters in Oberlin with other Obies just met on the plane coming here from Seattle
-Conversations, debates, witticisms, and pointed remarks
-Returning borrowed books
-Lending out books of my own
-Life picking up where it left off
-A good start
-A good year.