It was a super productive Saturday!
I got up at 7 feeling great because I slept for 8 hours. Enough sleep is so veeery important that it would be prioritized. I turned on night mode of my phone, and now it turns to black and white after 11 pm, by which I should go to bed. Perhaps it's better to set it to start it at 10:30 pm or something.
Then I picked up food bank distribution. It's a little fun time to receive a bag of grocery and see what is inside. It's like receiving a gift and opening it with excitement. They give out a bunch of dry grocery like rice, beans, pasta, canned foods, as well as fresh produce. I got some tomatos on the vine, mandarins, bananas, and apples. It is super helpful.. I don't have to buy a lot of food in store any more. But I need to be somewhat picky because some of the foods they give out are healthy - some loaded with sugar, fat and/or salt.
One of the ladies there asked my name and suprisingly she remembered seeing my name on one of the paper bags to be distributed. There were many bags with names and I was surprised that she remembered my Japanese after seeing it once. When I told her so, she said it is her best friend's name from collage, who is in Washington now. She's originally from Nagano, and it's 20 years ago and she hasn't seen that name since then. It was touching that she still remembers her (and my) name and keeps in touch with her. And it's cool to be international best friends!
Then I picked up a desk light that someone left in a 'pack up and pitch in' box for apartment residents to exchange stuff. It's great to get household items for free. It's a graduation and moving out time. A lot of items are left in the box, hopefully to be reused.
I finished writing my application documents for a job. Since MSU Writing Center is closed till mid May, I asked my friend who is working in a relevent field to reveiw my application. Writing application takes time! I realize that there is limited amount of time and I will be able apply for a certain number of jobs. I need to be picky and realistic, and efficient as well!! With gathering restrictions being loosened, the normal is likely to come back. If I think about that, I started to feel like I want to stay in the US, and realized that what I was wanting was interaction with people in person. Going to office every day and meeting with the same people gives me a sense of belonging. I didnt know I had such strong desire to be connected with people or be with people in general because I have always hesitant to go to parties or gatherings, and felt relieved when I come back to my apartment with no roommates. I wonder if this is temporary. Once I start working in office again, I may feel nervous about interacting with people. We will see.
It's really hard to imagine leaving Michigan. It's a beautiful place. I love the crisp air typical of northern temperate area (I suppose). It smells very different from what it does in the tropics, strange enough to say. And I've got a lot of friends here. It feels like I belong here. If I could get a long term job, not a temporary one, I will be able to think about living here forever. It's interesting that moving feels so daunting, no excitement. When I was younger, moving to a new place is full of excitement. I was longing for a change. Now I want more stable life with less changes. Not getting any younger, indeed...
But at the same time, I enjoy living anywhere. I moved so many times to different cities but have never hated any of them so far. Living there makes any place a paradise; they say. If so, it may be the least stressful for me to find a parmanent job and move to one place to live there for a long time. I change my mind every day, though.
Then I took out some recyclables, dropped off a English/French magazine for a labmate who is a keen learner of French, printed out some papers to read, put a voice recorder in the lab for use, did the loundry. I took a lot of pictures of cherry (apple?) blossom on campus too! It's just so beautiful that I cannot help taking pictures. Flowers are another attractive thing in Michigan.
Then when I was writing, a club suit appeared out of nowhere when I inserted a citation!!! It was weired but funny.
I'm feeling normal and fine except the slightly sore arm. I'm glad my reaction to the second shot wasn't long-lasting. Thankful for all the medical professionals working tirelessly to save lives...
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