{"id":35558,"date":"2021-02-05T16:41:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=35558"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:58:29","slug":"jaclyns-blog-new-year-same-four-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2021\/jaclyns-blog-new-year-same-four-walls\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaclyn’s Blog – New Year, Same Four Walls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Jaclyn’s Blog – New Year, Same Four Walls\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Happy new year, everybody!

Now all of last year\u2019s struggles go away, right? 2020 was the problem, right? It\u2019s not like the sociopolitical problems which came to a head last year existed long before then and remain our unfortunate, ever-evolving inheritance to contend with, right?

Hm. Let me start over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is certainly a new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet here I am, writing to you from the same place where I\u2019ve been writing since March of last year. And there you<\/em> are, probably reading this from the same place you\u2019ve been reading things since March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New year, same four walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This school year is off to a strange start for me, probably because the holidays were more of a blur than usual. I slept a lot, yet I don\u2019t know if I feel refreshed. I had more than enough things to do, but I didn\u2019t get very much done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know, I know, the holidays are not about getting things done<\/em>, but these were fun <\/em>things for me <\/em>and they still <\/em>largely didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example: I planned to deliver some Christmas baking to the doorsteps of my close friends, but it never happened. I bought all the ingredients and dessert boxes with Christmas patterns. They taunt me from the pantry. I am also haunted by my lovingly organized Excel spreadsheet. Friends in rows, treats in columns. A column for allergies and diets; recipes marked \u201cvegan\u201d or \u201cnuts.\u201d I may as well put the spreadsheet in the graveyard of a folder I call \u201cstory ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also still haven\u2019t watched the Pride and Prejudice <\/em>TV series or movie. I know<\/em>. What kind of English major am I?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we get back into the swing of things, my brain is fuzzier than usual. I am finding myself winded after reading three pages of academic writing. I\u2019m making spelling mistakes I usually wouldn\u2019t and my rough drafts are rougher than usual. I\u2019ve been going back to my favourite \u201cstruggle meals\u201d: omelettes and instant noodles. When I finish working for the day, I usually crawl into bed with my Nintendo Switch until I fall asleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most obvious clue into my frazzled mental state is that I am offering you this \u201cNew Year\u201d blog in…February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming that you, dear reader, are feeling as frazzled as I do, I\u2019m going to do us both a favour and keep this one short. (If you read my last blog post<\/a>, you\u2019ll know that this is a challenge for me.) I need to save some energy for weekly assignments and stockpile some more for essay season, hibernation-style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To save my brain and yours time and energy, I am going to leave you with some of my scattered thoughts as we go into this semester, and then we will go our separate ways and actually do <\/em>this semester. Okay? Okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really hope this will be the last semester of online learning. It seems like it might be. I don\u2019t want to jinx anything, so I\u2019ll leave it there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I miss campus. I miss lying in the green grasses in the quad at the beginning of the Fall semester and at the end of the Winter semester. I miss hunting ottomans in the library. (My policy: any ottoman is up for grabs, even if you have to awkwardly maneuver past thirty students to roll it to your spot.) I miss the books, too, of course. I miss office hours with my profs. I miss standing in coffee lines with my friends. I miss my clothes<\/em>, though I\u2019m so used to sweatpants now that I shudder to think about the cold, stiff embrace of denim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not <\/em>miss the bus, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know where I would be without Animal Crossing<\/em>. During the school year, I feel too guilty for passive activities like watching TV and movies, so I opt for active activities (redundant, but you know what I mean) like baking, drawing, and designing my Animal Crossing <\/em>island. Unlike my assignments, my island doesn\u2019t have a due date. It will never be complete. It can never be a burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you, dear reader, have something in your life that makes you feel as free as Animal Crossing<\/em> makes me feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time we are able to safely go out and be in crowds again, I think all of my social \u201cmuscles\u201d will have withered and died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was just getting over some personal stomachache-inducing feelings around social situations when the pandemic began, and now I feel like I have to start all over. Crowds? Suffocating. People? Ugh. Speaking in front of <\/em>people again? Scary. Someone accidentally brushing up against my shoulder? Ew. Nearly bumping into someone and doing that awkward I-go-left-you-go-right shuffle until you can awkwardly pass each other? I want to eject myself into space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as I want to spend time with my friends again, I don\u2019t want us to go <\/em>anywhere. Just come over so we can make some food, watch TV, and maybe take a nap together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am never going to stop wearing masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I owned masks before the pandemic hit. I appreciate anonymity and I hate the cold. I also think that in ordinary circumstances, wearing a mask is the polite thing to do if you\u2019re sick and you have to go out in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I now own four masks with pretty patterns on them so I can pair them with my outfits. I will accumulate more over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope to see more masks during flu season from here forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that\u2019s about all I have in me this week. Insert humorously-cynical-but-ultimately-hopeful ending here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pandemically bemasked, your student blogger,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaclyn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n About Jaclyn\n <\/h2>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n \n\n\n

Jaclyn Legge is a 3rd<\/sup> or 4th<\/sup> year student returning to full-time student life after completing Co-op. She spends her free time calling to the muses for inspiration in her writing, drawing, and shower dancing routines. Her poetry has been published in Bywords.ca<\/a><\/em>. No, she doesn\u2019t want to be a teacher; she considers herself a student in every aspect of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy new year, everybody! Now all of last year\u2019s struggles go away, right? 2020 was the problem, right? It\u2019s not like the sociopolitical problems which came to a head last year existed long before then and remain our unfortunate, ever-evolving inheritance to contend with, right? Hm. Let me start over. It is certainly a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[449,783,849],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jaclyn-legge","category-life-in-english-blog","category-student-voices"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35558"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49535,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35558\/revisions\/49535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}