I don’t even know where to begin with recapping this past week! I’ve felt on top of school, got back in the swing of blogging, and spent time with friends. Then all of a sudden I was hit with a series of random misfortunes that I keep wondering in retrospect whether I had any agency in avoiding. Right now I’m just grateful that I have been feeling well mentally, physically, and emotionally lately in order to cope with it all. I can’t find the Tumblr text post now, but there’s one that goes something along the lines of: “me @ minor inconvenience: wHAT in the hECK. i have been wRONGED. [insert colourful language]. me @ major issue: it’s fine.” Ya that me.
My mantra going into this week is, “New week, new start.” I need to remind myself not to be petty, not think that everyone was wronged me, realise that everyone is doing their best, and keep doing my best.
Train stories
I have two crazy train stories this week, one of which was recapped in riveting detail on the blog. The gist of it is that I took the wrong train, got stranded somewhere sketchy and in the dark with my phone on low battery, and befriended a homeless woman.
The second crazy train story happened just two nights later. Bomi, Ami, and I went into the city to go ice skating, but upon arrival, we found out that the rink was closed because the beautiful weather the previous day melted the ice and the rink was still refreezing. So the three of us decided to go to Chinatown and drown our sorrows in bubble tea from Kungfu Tea and Korean fried chicken from Bonchon. It was a great decision. Then we needed to go to Penn, so we caught the MFL (subway). At the MFL station, we were approached by a little old lady who needed help with directions. The trouble was that she didn’t want to walk upwards (stairs) or far because her legs weren’t great, and she didn’t want to walk through deserted areas (but it was all deserted because it was late). We told her ways she could go, none of which appealed to her (for the previous reasons), and then a little old guy was nearby so she called him over to ask the same questions. Then she left and we were stuck with this little old guy because we were all waiting for the MFL. This little old guy looked kind but sketchy. And it looked like he had pasta sauce all around his mouth. I think he thought Bomi, Ami, and I were with the little old lady, and might have thought we were confused like the little old lady, but we weren’t. We didn’t need his help and he didn’t seem to get it. He wouldn’t leave us alone. At two points we had to abruptly say, “It was nice talking to you,” then walk away, but then he’d just follow us. We were feeling really uncomfortable and scared at this point. Then Ami, God bless her soul, straight up just said, “Can you leave us alone? We don’t appreciate this,” to which he said, “I though you were my friends,” to which she said, “Well we don’t think the same.” I need to learn how to do that. If people are making you feel uncomfortable, you gotta give up social niceties and stand up for yourself.
That wasn’t the end of the night though. After the crazy encounter at the MFL, we made it to Penn. After we did our thing at Penn, we needed to get from Penn back home. The SEPTA (train) app said the train was delayed by 30 minutes, so we took our time. But when we arrived at the SEPTA station, it turned out that all the monitors (and I guess, by extension, the app) were messed up, and that for once the trains were actually running on time. So we missed our train and had to wait more than an hour for the next one, which was the last train at 12:42AM (and it was late).
I’m spent. No more evening trips into the city for me in March! (The loophole is that I’ll still allow myself to go into the city for brunch.)
Lost charger
I lent my charger to a classmate at Penn, but I forgot about it at the end of class and left in a rush, and my classmate just… left the charger… I called her up the next day and had to ask about it. She said she left it in the classroom and said that it should still be there, basically saying that having her make the trip to the classroom was unnecessary. (Yeah because the alternative, having me go into the city to retrieve the charger, is much more convenient… -_-“) Well. I went back to Penn (that was why we made the pit stop at Penn during the second crazy trains story) and lo and behold, the charger wasn’t there.
I emailed the IT office and all the professors who taught in that classroom that day, but I haven’t had any luck so far. However, the professors said they’d forward my email to their class and ask their students. I’m grateful for them. Today I’m checking the lost and found. I wasn’t able to check over the weekend because the lost and found is located in the administrative office of the building, which is closed on weekends.
I’m also grateful for my Penn friends who helped me look for the charger over the weekend when I wasn’t able to be there. And grateful that I’m able to check out chargers from my campus library. And grateful that I can use the desktops on campus.
Have you ever realised how much more convenient life is with a laptop? Even if I’m just sitting in my room, it’s nice to be able to move from my coffee table to my bed to my desk. Now I’m stuck using desktops at computer labs on campus. But hey, grateful that I have access to a computer at all.
If all else fails, my classmate who lost my charger is willing to pay for half of my charger when I purchase a new one. If it comes to this, I’m telling myself that it’s okay, because the charger I lost I had actually won for free from a contest. (Anyone remember when I blogged about my mattress a year and a half ago? I won a MacBook Air, which came with a charger. Haven’t used the MacBook yet, but used the charger.) Still sucks, but could be worse.
College
Even though I don’t like group projects, I’ve lucked out in that it’s always been easy for me to find partners for group projects. I know that isn’t the case for everyone, so I’m grateful for it.
I wanted to grab a meal at the campus dining hall, so I borrowed my friend’s ID card and went down to the dining hall. Unfortunately, the dining hall had just closed as I got there. Luckily, the person manning the door was a friend and she let me in, saying that although they were about to clean up, there was still food. She even gave me a take-out box, and she didn’t bother swiping “my” ID card.
I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I kind of miss eating at campus dining halls! I don’t miss the food, but I do miss the communal aspect. As an introvert, that’s a significant thing to say.
Fries and bay seasoning.
Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful days (followed by days of rain). I broke out my dresses (dang my legs are pasty) and left my parkas at home. During my 2.5 hour Theory of Computation class, we got two breaks (usually we only get one), and my friend and I ran out of the classroom to the playground to swing. It was so refreshing. Beside us were two toddlers. Good decisions.
Communication
My living situation was a little tense, and it was probably amplified by academic stress. My roomie and I, if little things are bothering us about the other, we both try our best to understand the other person and just suck it up (regarding living habits). But this can be mentally taxing over a long period of time. Luckily, our bottling up didn’t lead to an explosion. We decided to sit down, talk about it, and air it out. It was nervewracking having this confrontation. I don’t think I’ve ever had to do this with someone before. And I don’t think she has had to either. But I felt much better after the talk, and I hope she did too. When having these kinds of conversations, I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that everyone has good intentions and is trying their best.
It’s been a rough week of unpredictable misfortunes, and I’m grateful for the friends who have been there for me through it all–texting me back when I was scared, texting me back when I was frustrated, and being there in person when they could. This week I was very explicit about my appreciation for them and also in letting them know that I would always be there for them too. These are things we inherently understand and often leave unsaid, but sometimes it’s nice to say out loud and reaffirm each other.
Blogging
Thank you for your email. You know if it’s you.
I went to a blogging workshop! The topic was Google Analytics. Google Analytics is one of those things I know I could figure out myself if I took the time to, but I never do, so when the PHLbloggers network I’m a part of announced this workshop, I figured why not. At the beginning of the workshop, we did a quick networking activity to get to know each other; it was formatted like speed dating, and the goal was to find a random thing in common. I’m pretty bad at doing these things on the fly (i.e. “Tell a fun fact about yourself!”), but two random things I found in common were: 1) another person and I both were faux blonde once in our lives, 2) another person and I both dyed and highlighted our hair red and pink once in our lives (not dyed and highlighted at the same time, not red and pink at the same time). The previously-faux-blonde lady said she wouldn’t have guessed that I dyed my hair crazy colours because it currently looked so healthy, which I was flattered by (thanks Mom for always begging me to do hair treatments).
I learned a lot about Google Analytics and my blog from the workshop. Over spring break, I want to go through my Google Analytics again, talk about the technical aspects of doing so, talk about observations regarding my blog, set goals for myself, and share about it on the blog. How many of you have and use Google Analytics?
Misc
Perforated pages.
I love my yellow raincoat. It’s been raining a lot lately. I’ve been wearing brighter colours to counteract it.
I photographed a proposal?? I had this shoot scheduled for two months and didn’t know that it was going to be a proposal until the day of. I did know I was going to be photographing a couple, but was misled about what for, because the lady herself didn’t know the real reason of course! When I showed up, there the couple was, and they had brought two friends as hype-women. Right before we started, one of the friends pulled me aside to tell me about the proposal. I haven’t had time to go through all the photos yet, as I’ve had to prioritise school work over photography with my limited laptop battery, but I’m looking forward to it.
How was your week?