Respiration

30Nov07

Some days I take the bus home, just to touch home… — Common

Two years ago this week my apartment burned down, depriving me of property and leaving me homeless for three weeks. One year ago this week I started a hunger strike which found me sleeping in a campus building and drinking nothing but juice for two weeks. This year, the week has been oddly karmically redeeming. This week has been one of the best weeks of the semester for me. There hasn’t been a part of my life that hasn’t been smiled upon by positivity.

I started the week by going to my 8:30 to see if we had a test. I gladly found that we didn’t, and the professor actually went over things that were going to be on the Friday test. Sweet. I went back home and slept in some more, only to miss my 12:30 and walk in to my 1:30 just in time for a quiz. That night Sameerah and I talked over webcam to her Amanda, who’s in Beijing right now, while I drank a free double mocha at Vienna. Later I visited Katie to give her back jingly Christmas coat and have a little chit-chat. Then I talked on the phone with my Amanda. We had a really encouraging and fulfilling conversation. I stayed up to finish a presentation I had to give the next day.

Tuesday came and I had a dentist and physical exam for my Peace Corps application, so I took the liberty of skipping my first two classes. My dentist said my teeth were excellent and said, even if I stopped brushing my teeth, he couldn’t see any problems developing within the next two to three years. Score! I made my way up to PUSH (Purdue University Student Health Center) to meet with a physician. Now, usually PUSH is filled with a bunch of quacks, but this doctor was excellent, throughout, and concerned. He was a shorter spectacled man, genuine and friendly, who, to my surprise and delight, was amazed with the Middle East, had spent time in Lebanon and Jordan, and could speak fluent Arabic. He spent a good amount of time helping me, triple checking my Peace Corps forms to make sure I had everything right. Again, I was in perfect health, got a polio booster, and went on my way (albeit $100 poorer). Afterwards, I gave my presentation to my health class, which went off gracefully and effectively, and was much more interesting than some of the other presentations in class. I biked home with a fervor and jumped into my car to make a spontaneous trip to Chicago to spend the night with Anna. We went out to dinner at the great noodle place, killing a bottle of wine and shooting the shit. We ran into a street musician and gave him $10 for some demos, perused a cigarette/coffeeshop called Marshall McGearty’s (which will be my second home if I ever move to Chicago), then settled in for a smooth vanilla rose hookah a few blocks over. I missed that hookah, its grace and slight buzz it gives you. And you can only do this in the calm, with good company. I had both. The night was certainly one of the best of the semester.

I woke tiredly on Wednesday, Anna waking me on her way to work. I trudged through Chicago traffic back to Lafayette. I listened to 848 on Chicago Public Radio and fell even more in love with the city at sunrise: bikers bundled to the hilt, busses, the peach orange sky behind tall buildings. I lost the radio station around Renesslear, Indiana, where I got $5 worth of gas and a small coffee. A group of elderly people were also out for their morning brew, one man carrying several drinks back to a white El Dorado packed four deep. I found myself wanting to be one of them when I get older: the posse still out getting caffeine at 87 years, even if it’s at a Family Express gas station in the middle of some fields. I missed my 12:30 again, caught my 1:30, went to work and came home to pass out for three hours. I awoke slowly, making my way to the library to make copies of my Peace Corps medical forms and then wishing them well as I slipped the heavy packet into the mailbox. I tried to study for my test on Friday (unsuccessfully), and decided instead to catch up on some backed up emails. I went home and read a little before sleeping once more.

I woke up at 10:50 Thursday morning, to a text message sent by Casey, with whom I was having dinner that night. Again, I missed my first class. Before my second class, I was getting food from the event Raytheon (big defense contractor) was having in the CS building. A company rep walked up to me as I snagged hors d’oeuvres and a drink:
Her: How’s the semester going?
Me: Almost done.
Her: Yeah? That must be exciting.
Me: Yep.
Her: So I know you’re not interested in us from what you did at the Industrial Roundtable.
Me: Oh yeah…
Background: The Industrial Roundtable is a large outdoor job fair that Purdue’s Engineering Student Council holds every year. This year, it took place on 9-11, and consequently during our 9-11 General Strike. Among other things, we let the companies know how welcome they were…


Yes, big posters draped over the “Welcome to Purdue University” sign.
In regards to Raytheon, we were passing out literature, concentrating on flooding defense companies with them. She had recognized me by my annoying flood of flyers at their booth. Back to Thursday, she spent a little time convincing me that they didn’t only do weapons systems. I smiled and politely left. In class, I got the first stage of a project I’ve been doing with Professor Neville working successfully. After class, to my delight I ran into Gretchen, who was down at Purdue running some errands. We sat and chatted about her move to library science and doing things in the community. She’s super awesome; I’m glad she found something she’ll be excited to do. Right after my 4:30 class, I lost my Jamaica sock hat, so I ran to Amused to get a warmer one for $4. It’s a little tight, but it’s damn warm. I met up with Casey for dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was an amazing meal, complete with some Chardonnay from India, and Casey’s good company. Kevin and his wife showed up to the restaurant, and I gave them my regards. I went home and read a little for the test I had on Friday, but really was just killing time until the Goek’s train arrive. He was coming in for his week-long break and visitation from up North (Minnesota, eh). We met up, went to Chumley’s, left because it was too crowded, went to LovShack for a calzone, went back to Chumley’s, which now had a LINE it was so crowded. Fed up and wanting to drink, we went to Brother’s. Gretchen was also there, and so that was a good time, then we went back to Chumley’s and finally got a seat and kicked back a few beers with some guys from our old job. We went home late and passed out.

I woke up reluctantly on Friday, but I had to take this damn test. It was a little more difficult that I thought it would be, but I got it done. School isn’t my highest priority when I’m graduating in two weeks. I got back home, then Goeken and I went out to lunch. I finally went to my 12:30 class, then my 1:30, then work. I got a call at work; it was someone from the Columbus Urban League responding to my application for being a Computer Literacy Instructor. This is basically a dream job for me: an instructional position that I’m well-qualified for, and is just short of actually teaching at a community college. I have an interview the day after graduation. Work ended, and I took the bus home, escaping the cold November air.

And that’s what Common means up at the top of this piece, “Take the bus home, just to touch home.” I walked and bussed everywhere today, catching little bits of all the different parts of my life, reflecting on how all of them can come together in a wild but amazing harmony. That’s what I want to feel at the end of my college career, and it’s what I felt this week. Somehow all those trials by fire (literally) of previous years came together, made this what it is today.

I’m riding on the winds of experience, the auras of people around me. I am happy.

Filed under: General   |  Leave a Comment