sometimes when i smile it's like warm cookies
By Tamika Whitenack
Tuesday is my last day of class, and then we enter study period and finals week. Naturally, I should probably be very stressed right now and doing lots of work and studying...but I am not feeling stressed and did a lot of fun and interesting things this weekend!
Friday evening:
I went along with two friends to the Poughkeepsie holiday parade and tree lighting, as well as a fireworks show over the Hudson! The fireworks were definitely the highlight of the event for me. I was slightly underdressed and chilly (I only wore a long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt, oops), but we had a great view of the fireworks. I love fireworks, even though I know they are bad for the environment and the trails of pollution they leave are not beautiful. But fireworks themselves are beautiful! I think my favorites, at least from this show, are the golden ones that shimmer down like fire rain. I also like the twinkling ones. An interesting thought that I had about fireworks was how they are more than just the color and and shape of the firework, the movement of the firework is also an artful aspect. I love the way the firework spirals up through the sky and the way it can fall down gently or twinkle away lightly.
This event was lovely for getting me in the holiday spirit! December is upon us, folks. Aesthetically-pleasing-electricity-using lights cover trees/lampposts/store windows, holiday specials bombard us, and the appearance of Santa is a somewhat common occurrence! I just mentioned things that I don't actually care much about related to the holiday feel, but I do love what the holiday season means to me: love, joy, family, warm coziness, peace, feelings...I'm ready! Time for Christmas music and holiday cookies :)
Saturday morning:
Hunger Action does their soup kitchen days on the first Saturdays of each month, and I participated in the cooking shift. We made a very large pot of tomato-meat sauce, lots of pasta, garlic bread, and some vegetables, as well as PB&J sandwiches as to-go lunches. It reminded me of the volunteering I've done with Bay Area Rescue Mission and Berkeley Food and Housing Project.
Saturday midday:
To continue the food production vibes, I also baked cookies for a different food org, Food Rescue, on Saturday. We made chocolate-chip cookies to be distributed to Kindergarteners along with part of a holiday gift drive. We used a SK recipe and had a few difficulties with burnt bottoms and pale tops, partly due to pans and oven temperature. I only include this detail so that I can shout in all caps that I AM SO EXCITED TO GO HOME TO OUR NEW OVEN. Best present anyone in the family could have asked for. I am ready to go home and make holiday cookies!!
Saturday afternoon:
My ASA big sib and I went to New Paltz and went on a very picturesque hike in the wildlife sanctuary trail suggested to us by Cathy Chin. It was a good suggestion, very pretty and peaceful in a slightly eerie (but not scary) way. We also saw some lovely swans and I think I saw a fox. The lighting of this scene was also very nice because it was late afternoon and everything was sort of muted. Sadly, I have no real pictures of our stroll because I was too cold/lazy to take photos. Just imagine it: washed-out grey-blue sky, lots of trees with bare branches, crunchy brown leaves on the ground, some open fields of brown-yellow long grass, a serene stream with dark water, and hills in the distance covered with dark red-orange trees that are almost black due to the lighting.
Returning from this outing, I ended up going to the Raymond house open mic and listening to people (including my big sib) share some art. I wasn't planning to go but am glad that I did, because the singing/poetry/music was all really good! I think I want to tap into my creative side more.
Saturday evening/night:
A friend and I went to the orchestra concert, though we arrived late so did not hear all the songs. I am so much more familiar with student band groups and have experience with orchestra more in a professional performing group sense, so this was a really interesting experience! I enjoyed the performance and am a fan of strings. Yay. By the way, the Music Dept webcasts all of their performances, including the chamber recital and wind ensemble concert that I played in, and you can access them here: https://music.vassar.edu/concerts/webcast/
Later that night, I also went to the Yule Ball. This is a Harry-Potter-inspired dance put on by Vassar's Ballroom Club and Quidditch team. It was also nice for getting in the holiday spirit, but it mostly reminded me of Swing Dance! Vassar's jazz band was playing (including songs played at swing dance), and the vibes of the dancing were similar to those of Swing Dance. I enjoyed it, though it also made me miss EC people a bit.
Sunday morning:
This morning marks the longest run I have gone on since being at Vassar! I have been meaning to go on the Rail Trail to the other side of the Walkway Over the Hudson, and today I managed it! This clocked in at about 11.7 miles. I got serious runner's high on my way back from the other side of the Hudson and was in a super good mood...I'm just getting very excited to go home, I think. I kind of wanted to sing whilst running, but this did not go over very well: my singing ability is limited and the need to breathe while running further limits my singing ability.
Alright, hope that gives you a good picture of what I've been up to lately! The abundace of exclamation marks in this post, and me saying "I'm ready" in two instances probably indicates to you my general mood: excited to go home!
Enjoy some recent but not very relevant photos:
Tuesday is my last day of class, and then we enter study period and finals week. Naturally, I should probably be very stressed right now and doing lots of work and studying...but I am not feeling stressed and did a lot of fun and interesting things this weekend!
Friday evening:
I went along with two friends to the Poughkeepsie holiday parade and tree lighting, as well as a fireworks show over the Hudson! The fireworks were definitely the highlight of the event for me. I was slightly underdressed and chilly (I only wore a long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt, oops), but we had a great view of the fireworks. I love fireworks, even though I know they are bad for the environment and the trails of pollution they leave are not beautiful. But fireworks themselves are beautiful! I think my favorites, at least from this show, are the golden ones that shimmer down like fire rain. I also like the twinkling ones. An interesting thought that I had about fireworks was how they are more than just the color and and shape of the firework, the movement of the firework is also an artful aspect. I love the way the firework spirals up through the sky and the way it can fall down gently or twinkle away lightly.
This event was lovely for getting me in the holiday spirit! December is upon us, folks. Aesthetically-pleasing-electricity-using lights cover trees/lampposts/store windows, holiday specials bombard us, and the appearance of Santa is a somewhat common occurrence! I just mentioned things that I don't actually care much about related to the holiday feel, but I do love what the holiday season means to me: love, joy, family, warm coziness, peace, feelings...I'm ready! Time for Christmas music and holiday cookies :)
Saturday morning:
Hunger Action does their soup kitchen days on the first Saturdays of each month, and I participated in the cooking shift. We made a very large pot of tomato-meat sauce, lots of pasta, garlic bread, and some vegetables, as well as PB&J sandwiches as to-go lunches. It reminded me of the volunteering I've done with Bay Area Rescue Mission and Berkeley Food and Housing Project.
Saturday midday:
To continue the food production vibes, I also baked cookies for a different food org, Food Rescue, on Saturday. We made chocolate-chip cookies to be distributed to Kindergarteners along with part of a holiday gift drive. We used a SK recipe and had a few difficulties with burnt bottoms and pale tops, partly due to pans and oven temperature. I only include this detail so that I can shout in all caps that I AM SO EXCITED TO GO HOME TO OUR NEW OVEN. Best present anyone in the family could have asked for. I am ready to go home and make holiday cookies!!
Saturday afternoon:
My ASA big sib and I went to New Paltz and went on a very picturesque hike in the wildlife sanctuary trail suggested to us by Cathy Chin. It was a good suggestion, very pretty and peaceful in a slightly eerie (but not scary) way. We also saw some lovely swans and I think I saw a fox. The lighting of this scene was also very nice because it was late afternoon and everything was sort of muted. Sadly, I have no real pictures of our stroll because I was too cold/lazy to take photos. Just imagine it: washed-out grey-blue sky, lots of trees with bare branches, crunchy brown leaves on the ground, some open fields of brown-yellow long grass, a serene stream with dark water, and hills in the distance covered with dark red-orange trees that are almost black due to the lighting.
Returning from this outing, I ended up going to the Raymond house open mic and listening to people (including my big sib) share some art. I wasn't planning to go but am glad that I did, because the singing/poetry/music was all really good! I think I want to tap into my creative side more.
Saturday evening/night:
A friend and I went to the orchestra concert, though we arrived late so did not hear all the songs. I am so much more familiar with student band groups and have experience with orchestra more in a professional performing group sense, so this was a really interesting experience! I enjoyed the performance and am a fan of strings. Yay. By the way, the Music Dept webcasts all of their performances, including the chamber recital and wind ensemble concert that I played in, and you can access them here: https://music.vassar.edu/concerts/webcast/
Later that night, I also went to the Yule Ball. This is a Harry-Potter-inspired dance put on by Vassar's Ballroom Club and Quidditch team. It was also nice for getting in the holiday spirit, but it mostly reminded me of Swing Dance! Vassar's jazz band was playing (including songs played at swing dance), and the vibes of the dancing were similar to those of Swing Dance. I enjoyed it, though it also made me miss EC people a bit.
Sunday morning:
This morning marks the longest run I have gone on since being at Vassar! I have been meaning to go on the Rail Trail to the other side of the Walkway Over the Hudson, and today I managed it! This clocked in at about 11.7 miles. I got serious runner's high on my way back from the other side of the Hudson and was in a super good mood...I'm just getting very excited to go home, I think. I kind of wanted to sing whilst running, but this did not go over very well: my singing ability is limited and the need to breathe while running further limits my singing ability.
Alright, hope that gives you a good picture of what I've been up to lately! The abundace of exclamation marks in this post, and me saying "I'm ready" in two instances probably indicates to you my general mood: excited to go home!
Enjoy some recent but not very relevant photos:
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| tree |
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| not like a normal burrito, but not bad? |
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| the food truck is baked potatoes rn, didnt want potato so just asked for toppings: broccoli, mushroom, squash, tofu |
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| trees, smokestack, blue sky, clouds |
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| bad quality pic of parade |
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| trees |
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| the tree, it's lit |
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| bad quality fireworks pic |
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| yesterday's dinner |
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