Sunday, May 4th 2025. Woke up with my mind and heart refreshed, slept in for another hour, got ready around 9:50. Drove downtown to get some snacks from Trader Joe's and breakfast from Zoccoli's. Got a chicken eggplant sandwich for Sasha and a corned beef "Reuben" rye sandwich with onions for myself. Hiked up Rachel Carson, grabbed some ice from the dining hall, got back to dorm and dug in with some iced coffee around 1pm. Texted mom a bit. Futzed on the computer, watching Steven Universe clips and old technology and occasionally checking older notes. Went to Percival Everett's talk in the Quarry Ampitheater around 4:00 with Shruti, chatted with them a bit, feels like it's been forever since we've talked 1 on 1 for more than 5 minutes. They're still as laid-back as ever. Talked about the state of education at UCSC, group projects, student attitudes. Everett's talk lasted a bit longer than I thought — or maybe it was because we were in the sun. (Maybe I should bring up my car sunglasses to my dorm? Who knows.) Shruti went to the book signing and I headed out. Or, I was going to head out. An older lady, Suzanne, asked me for directions to base of campus, and I walked with her to make sure she got back safe. (Turns out she took the Metro bus up here.) She was a retiree and had moved to Santa Cruz once her children were all grown up and had their own children. Talked to her about current events and college life and a little bit of the state of rent/building stuff. Her son designs extra additions in the backyards of people, like small cottages or rooms; and there were new apartments built recently. On the way down, a professor in the education department (didn't get her name) sparked up some conversation about Everett and his book James and learned more about the critical theory lens. Me and Suzanne got to the four-way intersection, I gave her my contact info, and wished her a great evening. Waited at the bus stop a few minutes and headed back up to Porter. Got some dinner soon later around 7:30. RCC had ramen! I had a lettuce/cucumber/jicama salad with balsamic dressing. (Haven't had a mushroom salad in a while... my tastes seem to crave something fresher, more tart.) Stayed there an hour over an episode of The Golden Girls (Rocco episode, specifically) and more Steven Universe clips. Headed back home. Sasha woke up from their nap soon after, they did some work, and we got to talking about individualist/collectivist cultures and what politics will be like by 2028. Futzed on the computer on Pinterest and Twitter and skimmed my assigned reading from CMPM 80H after that, and now I'm here. Need to find a way to be more consistent with these drops...
As an aside to this week's social angst and off-beat boredom and reduced photo-taking, I've been scoring fashion wins. Ava complimented my white knit top yesterday and my Domo shirt on Wednesday, namely. Today I've got my coral red oversized shirt from Uniqlo a pair of straight-cut jeans from my dad. I've been tucking in my shirts and trying to look more leggy and I feel great about it. Dressing this way feels more accurate to my self-image. Maybe I'll send some photos this week, just for record-keeping.