New digs

Growing up in apartment buildings and generally being averse to this kind of work means that I had never shoveled snow until last Friday at the Morgan. I thought I would be kind and make it easier for Mason and Kirstin to help me load a van full of rental equipment headed to Oberlin. The real cold settling upon us means that, finally, it's warmer inside of the Morgan (heaters are set at 45 degrees F) than it is outside.

I insisted on treating the Morganites to lunch at the Feve after unloading the paper mill into the basement of the old gym here. I'll be teaching a 3-week paper/book intensive for Oberlin students in the old gang shower area of a locker room. A Grand Experiment!

Because of the scary storm and cold headed our way today, I dashed out of Cleveland as soon as I got packed this morning, and had an easy drive to Oberlin. This is Shansi House, where I am so graciously being housed for the duration of my class. I immediately felt an enormous wave of peace once I hauled everything to my second-floor apartment, like all the stress that has been building up for the last few months fell away. I am only realizing now that this is what I had become very accustomed to: leaving for residencies where everything is taken care of for me. This is familiar ground, something I thought I had to give up to settle down in Cleveland. Now I have both, reminiscent of my new year's in Korea, where I had the love motel in the boonies and my apt in Seoul. Someday, maybe, I'll figure out to have it all in one location. Because it's getting hard to have so many sets of travel toiletries....

These were directly responsible for most of my freshman 15 all those years ago. I will probably relive it, but like Velma says, it's okay if I gain weight this winter. I am over the moon to be in walking distance of everything I need. Some students are stranded in their hometowns, unable to fly as planned today because they route through Chicago, which is getting slammed. But now that I'm in zen mode, I'm not worried about it.

I came here twice to run errands and laughed at this. I didn't lose my phone in it (my sweetheart managed to get my phone out of the piano just in time for 2014, thank goodness, though I found out that a friend called me on purpose while it was trapped inside, just because he thought it would be funny to know that a piano was ringing somewhere in the world). But because of my excessive workload, many things have fallen out of my brain. I lost the headphones to my phone and have no idea where they might be. Today, I bought sharpies for class, opened the package, and promptly threw the pens away. Then I spent the next few hours looking for them until I realized what did. I called security to let me into the old gym to unload the rest of the stuff in my car, and left the heaviest buckets in the backseat because I was in a rush. The lists are endless.

But for now, I have a cup of tea, four bedroom windows, and beautiful textiles from all over Asia hanging in the living spaces. Life has calmed for a moment, just in time!