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Dear Diary
So I moved into the new dorms today
And I already fucked up sadfgh
Like, I had this key right??? and I had read the rules!! but I was putting in the key and it didn't turn ;_;
And I just stood there for like 10 minutes until someone saw me and opened the door for me.
You can guess who it was lol
Yes, exactly, one of the Resident Assistants, Cary.
Apparently I was trying to break inside the frigging American dorm 🤡 so I apologised and ran to the European dorm asdfgb
Everybody was so nice tho!! They gave me a really warm welcome.
Anyways, even with the whole pandemic situation I’m busy, so yes, I’m kind of stuck in these dorms where I know literally 0 people, but I can’t really socialize yet :(
I’ve heard many good things about these dorms though!!! And it’s my first time in dorms like these, so I hope I can make some friends, eventually.
Well, dear Diary, wish me luck.
*
Dear Diary, so far, I’m still lurking.
I’ve seen the common areas and I have been added to ctabb’s group chat, but I’m not sure yet how to talk there. There’s many people talking and I don’t seem to know when exactly to jump into the conversation. For what I’ve seen, there’s a lot more people in the American dorm but well, I’ll meet them eventually.
*
Dear Diary, there’s a dog in my building
I hear it barking but going by the sound, it can’t be a very big dog.
I’ll have to ask if pets are allowed then, so I can bring my turtle 🐢
*
Dear Diary,
I found the library and the study rooms, and there was this group of people who were talking on the side. I recognize them from ctabb, but they are yet again talking about their stuff and I didn’t want to interrupt.
One thing I really like about the dorm, is the pin system. Some people have the ‘tutor’ pin and I can go ask them for help with my studies, revise and correct my assignments and stuff.
I’m super self-conscious about my writing and I don’t want to bother anyone anyway.
Maybe another day.
*
Dear Diary, I met my floor neighbor today!
Her name is Tish and she has good taste in music.
I asked for her playlist and she actually sent it to me!! She seems friendly, and apparently works out too. There’s supposed to be some kind of gym around here, so maybe I’ll check it out with her.
She’s the one who flirts a lot with everyone on gc, so I was a lil intimidated at first, but she’s actually super nice??
*
Dear Diary, I got a tutor today!!!
Her name is Mask and she’s super nice!!
I’m not very confident in my written English and she agreed to go over all my papers.
It’s nice to be able to talk to someone. She showed me around, and the dorm is a lot bigger than I thought.
*
Dear Diary, I found the dog today!!
I was coming back from the supermarket (we are still stuck inside, sigh) and there was this white Westy barking at MUCH BIGGER dogs. I laughed, because it was pretty ridiculous, and then the Westy turned and stared at me like “what are you laughing at, bitch”
Apparently, I offended the Westy, who in my mind I’ve been calling Alba cause its white and apparently understands me when I speak Spanish 🤷♀️
I like this dog, even tho it barks at me.
*
Dear Diary! Mask loved my work!!!
I’m very motivated to work and share more!! I’ve been actually talking more lately!!
Even had a full conversation with my neighbor from the 5th floor! He’s called Nicco and has a cute dog too! So turns out I can actually have pets here. Maybe I’ll share pics of Nervi in gc like everyone does.
*
Dear Diary, there’s a singer in my dorm.
Well, I think it’s actually in the American dorm, but they are there. I can hear them when I leave my window open and I do it often.
There are also some really good chefs in the European dorm, cause it always smells amazing. I don’t usually go to the kitchen, cause I don’t want to set it on fire, but people like Quen and Inex usually hang out there, so maybe one day I’ll go to try and cook something easy.
*
Dear Diary, turns out eggs blow up in microwaves 😬
Tish told me off but it’s okay, it was low-key funny. At least I didn't set the kitchen on fire, right?
The Resident Assistant, Vhae, told me to be more careful but then they had to go before I could actually get to know them cause apparently someone called “pesto” had been “clowning” in the American dorm.
Whatever that means.
*
Dear Diary, I went to my first vent session today!
There’s this common area where people from the dorms gather to vent about their lives. Honestly? It's very helpful. Not only to vent about my own shit, cause I feel safe there, but also because I feel like listening to others and encouraging them with how little I can, it lets me give something back to this wonderful place. I like it.
I feel useful.
*
Dear Diary, today I found out people from the European dorm meet for coffee every morning.
Aaand I have been too busy with classes to notice asdfgbhn
The pesto person I mentioned the other day is from the American dorm but hangs out here too. Turns out they are one of the RAs as well, but one of the chaotic ones.
I’m starting to have breakfast there too, and I’ve met other residents, like Suy, who lives on the 5th floor with Nicco. The 5th floor is a quiet place. I don’t think Vhae has ever had to go there to tell someone off. There’s 2 other people living on that floor but I’m not sure who they are. I suspect Thy, the polite girl that always nods when I pass her in the hallways, is one of them but whoever lives in 5ºC remains a mystery.
I like having breakfast with them. Even tho I have online classes, it makes mornings less lonely.
*
Dear Diary, while I was meeting with Mask to go over my papers and study, I found out who the singer is!
It was Toast who lives in 2ºB. I was in the study room and my stomach decided to give a little concert. Obviously, the librarian looked at me like “>:( eat something kid”, and Toast rushed in and gave me her cookies. I immediately recognized her voice and she was super shy about it, but she shouldn’t be! She sounds great.
*
Dear Diary, today I was walking Alba around the block and she ran away
I don't know if it's my music, she doesn’t seem to like Daddy Yankee or Bad Bunny, which is a pity. Maybe it was that I forgot to give her water. Maybe she really doesn’t like me :’( Whatever it is, at some point she ran off and I chased her but for such a small dog she’s fucking fast.
Thankfully, I found her.
But because Alba’s a bitch, she was biting someone’s shoes.
I was looking for a hole to hide and die but apparently they are from the dorm too and know Alba?? Aaaand they are used to her moods. When I came back and told Vhae and they confirmed that yes, there’s someone in 3ºD called Dey. Crow lives there too, but she is a lurker. I haven’t seen them in the kitchen or at breakfast but now that I know of their existence, I hear them.
Tish apparently knows them too, and they are organizing a tarot reading for me.
I’m scared, I don’t know shit about tarot.
*
Dear Diary, there’s this person in the American dorm shouting “4:20!” everyday at night.
I was studying today and I lost track of time, hadn’t even had dinner, so it was very helpful.
When I went to the kitchen to get something to eat, I finally met Twac, the elusive guy who lives in 5ºC. Turns out he has been in the dorm forever.
I should start keeping track of who actually lives in the European dorm, there’s a lot of people I haven’t talked to yet.
*
Dear Diary, I watched Megamind today.
And Shrek.
Stormy invited everyone to her room to watch some movies, and we had a great afternoon. It had been quite some time since I watched anything with friends, so it was nice.
There were some people I hadn’t met, but Bird was there too. They are also a tutor and have helped me with some of my papers before, and they are super friendly! They have coffee sometimes in the European kitchen with the Europe crew and they always bring some sweets for everyone🥺🥺
*
Dear Diary, there are stray cats everywhere I look.
Like, inside the dorms, you know?
I’ve asked Twac, and he says they are ‘warrior cats’ and I’m not super sure who is the owner, but who cares honestly. They are adorable.
*
Dear diary, someone new arrived at the European dorm!!
I helped them move their stuff and Alba was barking as she always does whenever someone new arrives. I think it’s her way of saying hello. Vri, the new resident, seems quiet and nice. She’s going to live on the 4th floor which is almost empty. Daisy lives up there too, but she has weird working hours and we don’t see her a lot.
I also learned that Alba’s actual name is Raven and she lives with Vhae. I go for runs when I’m done with classes, so I have started taking her for walks.
I think she’s warming up to me 🥰
*
Dear Diary, the among us fever has infected everyone in the American dorm.
They don’t even sleep!! It’s not just the artists on the 6th floor staying up to ungodly hours anymore (I know Persi doesn’t sleep, but Raz, Blaire and Three?? I’m worried about them), it’s all of them now! They are playing among us all night long, and it has expanded outside of the video game.
I don’t go to the library nowadays, cause every 10 minutes someone whispers ‘that’s sus’ and hell breaks loose until Phoenix puts everybody back to order again.
*
Dear Diary, today I overcame some bad shit thanks to the encouragement of people in vent.
It was cathartic. I’m very grateful to be here. Moka, one of the RAs I hadn’t really interacted a lot with before, was very supportive. Quen, Toast and many other people too. It had been a while since all this stuff happened, and I appreciated it a lot.
Vent has a different vibe from the rest of the dorms. And there’s people I haven’t interacted much with yet in the dorms that I’ve actually been able to talk to there! Like Gene who actually lives in 3ºC in the European dorm but studies a lot, so I haven’t seen much, or Dabbin who is super kind and I’ve seen around in the common rooms in the American dorm, and Lane who at first I actually thought was an RA. They all have their problems but they always have words of encouragement to spare for others and are there to listen to you and help you if they can.
*
Dear Diary, I realized tea is taking over today
There’s 3 types of people when it comes to managing their food: the ones who keep a timetable and carefully plan of everything they are going to eat (not very common in the dorm, but if I had to guess, Moka probably has an excel); the ones who go to the supermarket twice a week and kind of always have food (here we have the Cookers, more frequently); and… those who wing it and either never have food or have their food mixed in both European and American dorms and never know what they have or what to eat (see Persi or myself)
HOWEVER-
Dear Diary do you know what is always in the cabinets?
Tea.
Green tea, white tea, black tea, all damn colours of tea, including Thy’s “earl gray (does that one count as colour tea?) ” and then some more like Daisy’s jasmine tea and fuck knows how many more.
And I’m not counting the entire cabinet Tish has, or Quen’s many tea cups- listen they all drink so. much. tea.
I opened the cutlery drawer today and there was tea!
I sit in a corner in the morning drinking my black coffee and making faces and they all sigh contentedly with their tea and their honey but I will not be converted.
I am la résistance.
*
Dear Diary, I made a mistake today.
I stayed late at the library and then went to the kitchen in the American dorm, everything was normal up until that point, nobody bated an eye at me cooking some instant noodles there except Geary who told me to at least vary the flavour from time to time.
I was watching some dumb videos in a corner and then Lion walked in, said hello, again, all normal.
Then, Qitty walked in and opened the fridge and said something about someone stealing her takeout, and Moka immediately lifted her head from her laptop and said “There has been sus on Lion the whole day.”
And all hell fucking broke loose.
Dear Diary, I have never run so fast.
There were knives flying over my head, Quen, who wasn’t even there 5 seconds before, accused PJ who ran downstairs and almost tripped on poor Soy to accuse Quen back, Aphra came out of nowhere too and accused Luna who gasped so hard she choked on her drink.
At this point I was already grabbing my things and then Cary said something about it being her and everybody groaned and Qitty yelled to stop fucking clowning and give her food back and then Vvinter said something about checking the cameras- dude I don’t even know what the hell was going on-
I thought it was my take out! D:
I promise I wouldn’t have touched it if I knew it was Qitty’s!
*
Dear Diary, Mask is getting busy with school so I found a new tutor!
I’ve had some tutors for small projects and assignments that have been super helpful, like Infuriating who lives in the American dorm and had such nice comments for me :’). Or Bittermoons who was also super constructive!! I had met her before because some afternoons, she has tea with Thy in our kitchen. They are like, The Fancy People you know? They have a sophisticated vibe.
Anyways, yes, my new tutor!! She’s called Wings and she doesn’t talk a lot in the gc but she’s so professional and she is helping me so much already :’)
*
Dear Diary, there was Bookclub today!
It’s this new event, Geary, one of the most recent RAs, has come up with. Tish actually reads so I go with her. I’ve met others there like Tohmas, and Phoenix, the librarian, who lets us do Bookclub there after hours! They are all very nice.
*
Dear Diary, I burnt the kitchen today.
LISTEN I DIDNT MEAN TO
I was making some coffee and our coffee machine broke a couple days ago so we had this Italian thingy that I had never used before and well. You can imagine how that went.
It was around 5 am so I could still see the lights from the 6th floor of the American dorm on and I knew the artists were still drawing. I was straight up falling asleep over my notes so I decided to make some coffee- no big deal.
Right?
Wrong.
Turns out that coffee in those thingies is done super fast and it is possible that I might have left it on for like 30 minutes 🦥
… or more.
I heard Daisy coming down the stairs, sending a voice note, and I decided to go get my coffee and have breakfast with her before she went to sleep and, well.
Dear fucking Diary, there were flames in the cabinets and reaching the ceiling.
I panicked and then the fire detector started beeping like fucking crazy and while I was opening the windows (turns out I’m not supposed to do this, it fans the flames) to let the smoke out everybody and their fucking grandma arrived in the kitchen.
Twac and Quen were trying to put it out and then Suy and Thy barged in with a fire extinguisher while Inex called the firefighters and I’m pretty sure I was crying at this point.
There was no need for the firefighters but all the fucking shouting alerted Vhae who came with Rin in tow.
Yes, the other RA in the European dorm 🙃
Welp, I’ll start packing my bags.
*
Dear Diary, since I’m not allowed to cook unsupervised anymore, Twac makes dinner with me.
And he’s great! I’m learning some words in Polish. (And some incredible new things, like washing my eggs before boiling them or that I’m supposed to read what the pasta package says about cooking time, incredible).
By some I mean jajka. One (1) unit of word learned. But hey, that’s more than I knew yesterday!
Anyway, I was expecting the entire dorm to be mad at me but apparently pretty much everybody has fucked up at some point in the dorm, so we are cool. Now that I’m to be supervised, Inex and Quen usually take turns watching me cook lunch until one of them gives up and leaves because they can’t keep looking.
Thy comes in sometimes and sips tea in silence in a corner and when she does, Raven appears to bark at her and they exchange beef.
How do you exchange beef with a dog 🤷🏻♂️? I don’t know, ask Thy, she just can.
When there are more people, the shy inhabitants come down to the kitchen too and when Suy is sure I’m not burning anything, they come and chat for a while.
Dey barges in sometimes too before disappearing for who knows how long.
Vri, who has already been here for a couple weeks, is the one who can usually be found in the kitchen. She gets up insanely early because of Miss Cutie and chats with Vhae over breakfast and often goes for walks and shares pictures in the group chat.
I like my dorm. It doesn’t matter what time I am awake, I always have someone to talk to.
It’s starting to feel like home.
*
Dear Diary, it was very sunny today and I went out to do some passes outside.
Most of the people in the dorm are not super fond of sports so I took Raven with me.
Aaaaand of course we got the ball stuck in a tree 🤡
Raven started barking at the tree and I was this close 👌🏻 to climbing the tree before Raven woke up the entire American dorm when suddenly Aphra, one of the RAs, saw us from her room’s window and, believe it or not, things went this way:
- She said “wait there!”
- I shat my pants because I burnt the kitchen not even two weeks ago and I already got in trouble with an RA again
- She straight up jumped from her window.
- Landed perfectly
- Took a deep breath
- JUMPED AND REACHED MY BALL
- And handed it to me with a smile while petting Raven who let Aphra pet her
- Walked away elegantly
And I just sat on the grass while Raven munched on my shoe thinking how dumb I was for being intimidated by the RAs. Like there’s Cary, who says typos and dots out loud???; and Vvinter who I’m pretty sure is the owner of the warrior-stray cats in the dorm; and Persi who moved all the furniture 2 inches to the left before the Americans woke up and had everyone banging their toes against them.
This is just a huge circus and I am allowed to fuck up.
It’s the safest I’ve felt in a while.
*
Dear Diary, my headphones broke today 😭
Okay, more like, I broke my headphones today but again, semantics.
I was in the library and my phone fell because I’m dumb as shit and instead of crouching down and picking it up I… pulled at the cord
And came up with only a cord and like, no phone.
I was like “oh shit not again :(“ and Geary saw me and came to help me out immediately :’) Like, how nice can someone be before becoming an angel? I’m dead serious.
Stormy saw too and she came with some tweezers and glue and shit and the three of us (them, I was too busy whining) tried to fix it but nah. The jack was stuck inside my phone aaaand I had no music for the rest of the day 🤡
One day I will learn to be more careful with my things, I swear.
*
Dear Diary, I met someone at the post office today
She’s from the American dorm but, of course, lives on the 6th floor so she’s an artist that never sleeps, that’s the rule. Anyway, we were both waiting for a package and we both had issues with it, as you’d expect. According to the mail officer, ‘ctabb’ is not a valid address and all of our stuff was sent back. He was like “no, this place doesn’t exist” and we were like “bitch we’ve been living there for 6 months now??” So I may not have my packages but! I made a new friend so there’s that. 🖕🏼 fuck you post office 🖕🏼
*
Dear Diary, Raven peed on Dey’s shoes today.
I was taking her for a walk ( she was taking me for a walk ) and we saw Dey exiting the dorm and I stopped to talk with them for a while, you know? Like normal, nice neighbors do?
And then the bitch dog started barking and pulling at the leash like, “stop talking to them, pay attention to me” and when I didn’t, she peed on Deys shoes.
Listen if I wasn’t so sure magic didn’t exist in the real world, I’d guarantee you that Alba was a human someone turned into the bitchiest dog in existence, because the moment I turned to tell her off, she was grinning like a smug brat.
*
Dear Diary, I found out Lion is works in the law field, today!
Not to be a weeb on main but it kinda feels like I have a senpai now. Like! Hear me out- hear me out- I’ve met older people in my career field before, of course, but having someone in this type of environment that studied the same thing I’m studying it’s, I don’t know- encouraging? Like there’s something waiting for me outside of university and it doesn’t mean I have to give up my hobbies, you know?
That I can still be an adult and have fun, it’s cool.
*
Dear Diary, I made pancakes today.
Turns out, I’m not supposed to flip them with forks and I may have been scratching everyone’s pans 😬😬
Thy and Inex told me off but like, in a big sibling kind of way? And Quen insisted on buying a spatula for me 🥺
I’m the oldest of four so I’ve always had to look after my siblings before and- I don’t know, it feels nice to be surrounded by older people who are willing to let me know when I fuck up but it doesn’t feel like it’s the end of the world.
It feels nice.
Safe.
*
Dear Diary, we have a new resident.
It’s not a person, but a black cat with some pretty nasty burns. We don’t know who was the sick fuck who hurt this kitty, but we all hate them 🔪🔪🔪🔪
Anyways, it’s not one of Vvins warrior-stray cats but they respect him. The entire dorm adores him, even though he’s a little shit. Thy even knitted him a small vest. It’s cute.
*
Dear Diary, I woke up to a message from Wings today.
It said “Math”
And it was a screenshot of one of my papers with a sentence highlighted: “65% for you, 45% for me”.
That definitely doesn’t make 100.
*
Dear Diary, we celebrated Halloween today!
Well, more like, everyone celebrated Halloween while... I studied.
I had so many assignments to hand in, but everyone gathered in the living room and we had a great day! Stormy and Cary wore their cosplays, and Alyss joined later too! She’s, hands down, the Best Oikawa I have ever seen. Tish, of course, simped over it, as she should. Toast was wearing a Link cosplay, too! Everybody looked amazing :D
Geary streamed scooby doo and we ate junk food and had such a good time. It’s the first Halloween I don’t get to spend with my friends in many, many years, but I had such a great time. If I weren’t so busy studying, I would have dressed up too. Even Raven wore a cute costume Vhae got for her. I’d say it was adorable, but it was a Jojo reference, so I don’t know if that counts as adorable.
*
Dear Diary, I found a spatula with my name written on it in the kitchen today. So, of course, I made some pancakes (ate the ugly ones) and left them at Quen’s door.
She’s so kind.
Everyone here is so kind.
*
Dear Diary!! Someone new is moving to 3ºA today!
Which! I didn’t actually know, so it was a little confusing.
I sometimes forget how many stairs I have climbed and like, what floor I am in. It would be easier to take the lift if it worked but I’m pretty scared of it.
I was warned early on that it moves mysteriously and I’m not taking any chances with a ghost lift 🤷♀️
Anyway, Binks.
I was on 3ºA’s door trying to, you know, enter since I didn’t realize it wasn’t my flat. Which- well, it kinda makes it “breaking in” and not “entering” but well, that’s cause English is very picky with these kinds of things.
So I’m there, trying to turn my key to enter and it doesn’t and I’m like “oh well fuck I got confused again” and then I turn and there’s this girl staring at me like...😃
SO I PANIC
AND IM LIKE “NO DUDE I’M NOT TRYING TO ROB YOU OR ANYTHING-”
AND SHE WAS LIKE “OH THANK GOD ”
Anyway, the new neighbor is nice! She seems quiet but approachable. Like that tall kid in recess that sees you peeling clementines silently in a corner and comes to talk to you. Or the person that would stand up to offer you their seat on the bus.
That type of person.
*
Dear Diary, I ended up at Binks’ door again today.
I probably should sleep.
Exams are really killing me but there’s this, I don’t know, comfort? In going to the library or going to vent and finding people struggling too, as horrible as that sounds. I went to the library today and Geary and Alyss were there too, and the other day, at like 2am, I saw Vvin, and Gene putting a blanket over a passed out Raz. When we feel like particularly dying we only have to look up and groan and there will be someone close to give you a tired smile and a thumbs-up.
I had taken for granted the value of companionship, really.
Anyways, what a shitty week- when will this nightmare end 😭
*
Dear Diary, Miss Cutie shat on my pants today
Yes, Vri’s cat.
Vri’s adorable, early riser, fluffy cat.
Shat on my favorite pants today.
Raven does it often but c’mon they are not that ugly, can people stop picking fights with my pants please? :(
It went something like this, actually:
Vri, sends an adorable picture of Miss Cutie: have any of you seen Miss Cutie?? I can’t find her :(
Bol: shes pooping on my pants
I'm glad this happened during European crew hours and only Holly witnessed it because well.
I’m a mess. I probably should sleep
*
Dear Diary, Mask is very busy studying lately and I miss her cause she was one of the first friends I made in this place, but it’s okay :)
Speaking of tutors! I’ve started having dinner with Wings almost every Friday! We start discussing the corrections she makes on my papers (in? on? who the fuck knows?? Inons will be my villain origin story), but we end up talking about nothing and everything. She doesn’t talk to a lot of people in the dorm, but she really is one of the coolest people here. I’m really grateful for her. (Probably would have failed my English exam if she hadn’t helped me so much).
*
Dear Diary, Ravenchaser and I have started sending letters to each other and see if they do or do not reach the dorms.
She has gone the extra mile and even sent a small package, so we have a tracking number.
Let’s see where it goes.
*
Dear Diary the dorms are organizing a Secret Santa!
I’m very nervous but also very excited! I have never participated in anything like this before, but I can’t wait!
*
Dear Diary, finals are going to kill me.
It’s not that I didn’t sleep, it’s that Holly’s “4:20!” shout woke me up .
And I don’t have Daisy’s Australian schedule so it’s definitely not a good sign. Toast saw my light on tho and brought me some homemade cookies for breakfast :’)
Vent has been very helpful. I’m dealing with failure a lot better now, wouldn’t have made it so far in my studies if I hadn’t, but it’s still difficult sometimes, you know? And being alone, not able to go to class or even normal libraries with friends, only these pseudo-libraries we have through discord, it’s... well, to put simply, it’s hard.
But the encouragement of these people, it’s actually being very helpful.
I’m lucky to be here.
*
Dear Diary, I got Phoenix for my Secret Santa 🤠
And don’t get me wrong, I really like Phoenix but, holy shit, this is so much pressure for my first time doing anything like this! Like I have done this with my friends plenty of times, but with neighbors? Or whatever you call this ctabb family? It’s different! And I’m not a generally anxious person but. fuck.
She mentioned something about pokemon and I don’t know anything about pokemon, but you know what? She’s getting pokemon. I’ll call my brother and my friends back home and we will figure something out.
*
Dear Diary, I lost my keys today.
I was walking with Raven and when we came back, I just didn’t have any keys. I was about to message Vhae or Tish to let me in when Binks came down and opened the door for me.
I was like “how did you know I was here?” and she was like “my idiot senses tingled”.
She has been having them tingle a lot lately.
Anyway, so I gave Binks a copy of my keys for the next time I lose them 🤷🏻♂️
*
Dear Diary, I woke up to a notification of the whereabouts of Ravenchasers’ package today.
Apparently, it is in LA. But it still says “heading to its destination”, so we are waiting a little more and see where it ends up.
*
Dear Diary, we renamed the kitchen today!
I drew a shitty sign and stuck it to the door with tape and Persi appeared out of nowhere ripping it off, which I was a little sad about, and then came back again in like 5 minutes flat with an INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL SIGN that read “Merp’s”
Vhae hammered it to the wall, which is like, a level above a glorified fridge drawing, like how we put Raven’s stuff. Yes our dog draws. What does yours do, huh.
*
Dear Diary, I woke up to something weird today.
It’s been happening all week, actually, and by ‘something weird’ I mean Stormy shouting “GOOD MORNING” in the afternoon at my door and waking me up to “GOOD NIGHT”.
I was very confused about it?? Like, maybe it’s a Canadian thing, you know? So I said good morning and good night back every time.
Since it kept happening all week I started to get worried like, is Stormy okay? Does she need to talk to someone and doesn’t know how to? Is she asking for help? So I asked Tish over breakfast and she snorted so bad she spilled tea all over the kitchen counter.
Apparently, Stormy’s new thing is saying goodmorning and goodnight to everyone she loves So they wake up to a nice message.
HOW ADORABLE IS THAT 🥺
Anyway, so now I go to the American dorm to bang at her door and scream GOOD MORNING at 6pm every day.
I also wake up Bird, but Bird is too nice for this world and doesn’t get mad.
*
Dear Diary, Phoenix loved my present :’)!!
I was so nervous but I’m so happy she liked it!!! And Tohmas made such a nice drawing for me😭😭, Christmas was awesome. Everybody was so happy, and we all had such a nice dinner.
AND BLAIRE DREW SOMETHING FOR ME 🥺!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!
I just love everyone so much :’) This was the first Christmas I ever spent away from my family and friends and it has been hard, but getting to celebrate it our way with people from the dorms has made it more than bearable.
*
Dear Diary, the post officers hate me.
Well, more precisely, they hate both Ravenchaser and me. We thought it was the entirety of ctabb, but no, because everyone else gets their shit except for us.
We are determined to get our mail.
These bitches won’t stop us.
*
Dear Diary, IT SNOWED TODAY!!!❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
YES! I WOKE UP TO THE FIELD OUTSIDE COVERED IN WHITE!! I’m so excited! We don’t usually get this much snow back home, so I put on some boots and the coat (pajamas are warmer than any clothes I own anyways) and went outside!
And found no snow!
You know what it was? It was onions. Everywhere. It had onioned.
But I’m no quitter, so I grabbed some onions and took them back to the dorm to make an onionman. It’s round and white so it’s essentially the same thing.
Anyway, I was building my little onionman with a little difficulty but a lot of creativity and European dorm peeps started gathering around, watching me build it and being encouraging, you know, the usual here (which I shouldn’t take for granted)💕
We made a couple videos and then tadah! Onionman was born! We left him next to the cups at Merp’s, so he can have breakfast with us every morning.
*
Dear Diary, we were taking pictures with onionman today when Tish walked in and was like “isn’t that garlic tho”.
We had a little crisis about it, given how out of like 6 people nobody realized he was garlic.
But well, we still love him as he is, garlic or onion.
*
Dear Diary! I’m so sorry! I’m in the middle of finals and I didn’t really have time to write lately! But to summarize what’s up, basically some new people moved into the American dorm! So far, I haven’t been able to talk to them a lot but they live in 3ºA (Crimson) and 7ºD (Ixaya) which sounds really bad but since their lift isn’t haunted, I’m sure she will be fine. Dabbin lives up there too and they are fine, so 🤷♀️
The 7th floor of the American building has one more inhabitant but it’s a mysterious one.
Our very own dorm cryptic, if you may.
They joined sometime around October or maybe November? And we know, there’s someone living there cause there’s tupperware in the fridge with a cute sticker that reads “7ºA”.
But! If you look at the birthday whiteboard that’s on the living room of every dorm, there’s no birthday written on “7ºA” so for some time we thought nobody had actually moved in there, you know?
Anyways, Crim and Ixaya. I didn’t know Ixaya but I had seen Crim before! I was having a 4am crisis while studying taxes and went to a Denny’s to get some food. There’s one nearby. And I saw someone there, in the parking lot, kicking a rock, all alone.
And what do you know, she moved in this week! I was exiting the kitchen after grabbing some cookies, Toast just said she was leaving on the counter, when Crimson walked in and I shouted “Hey, it’s the Denny’s parking lot person!” and she went white as a ghost ( maybe she is the one living in 7ºA? ) but everybody started talking to her, so if you think about it, I was doing her a favor.
Anyways, I’ll eat my cookies and go back to studying.
*
Dear Diary, a bird came into our living room today!
I think it was because of the keychains. Whose? I don’t know, dear diary, everybody here has so much stuff . If they have guys ice skating they are probably Cary’s, and if they have volleyballs they are maybe from Alyss or Phoenix. Thy has a lot of them too, and so does Quen. People at the European dorm have started following my example and giving Binks all the keys so maybe it’s that. So who the fuck knows honestly. Personally, I think he has no preference, he only likes shiny.
But okay, our bird. The burned kitty doesn’t like him, like at all, so we have to be careful, but he’s really cute! Some people around the dorm have started knitting the black kitty different vests, and some of the buttons are shiny and the bird loves it.
He likes everything that shines, spoons, earrings, the paper clips, EVERYTHING. And he steals them or hides them around the dorms but it’s okay, I’m pretty sure we’d forgive this bird anything wrong he could do cause he’s cute 🥰
*
Dear Diary, we created Shinyverse today!
We don’t really do anything special? But we are building a little house for the bird since it seems like he doesn’t want to leave (despite the cat’s insistent attacks) and we collect pebbles and shiny shit for him. The shiny craze became a little too much so we asked the RAs and they agreed to let us use the European dorm attic if we cleaned it.
Crimson bought a couple blankets and Binks and Toast found a birdcage. Vri and I were thinking of decorating it with some paper clips and then Persi kicked the door down and brought all her paint and we made them pretty. Nicco even painted some cool runes on the birdcage! We were all so focused on the bird, we forgot food adfghdcf but Mari bought some bird food!!
And Ally found a cloth that shines in the light and covered the entire room, which the bird loves .
We had lunch after cleaning the attic and talked for the rest of the afternoon. Well, they did, I had to leave to go study after a while (🙃), but it was very nice. We even decided to meet to watch a movie next week!
*
Dear Diary, more new people!
Tiffany and Theo moved in the other day! We’ve had some issues lately, so they didn’t get a room for themselves which was weird but now they are rooming with other people! (There're really many, many people in the American dorm).
Anyway, Theo is rooming with Crimson and Tiffany is moving to live with Ally. I’m sure they will be good friends soon.
*
Dear Diary, Stormy bought Raya and we all gathered to watch it!
We put a big white sheet on the wall of the American dorm attic and brought a lot of cushions and pillows and stuff to watch it on the floor.
It was a great, big, gay experience.
I’m pretty sure I cried at the end.
*
Dear Diary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 7th floor cryptid joined Shinyverse!!
She’s called Autumn and is super nice but that’s honestly all I know about her. She had been taking care of the bird on her own and now that there’s an attic for him, she’s with us a lot! (but remains cryptic).
Kairin also joined! Our shinyverse family is growing!
*
DEAR DIARY WHEN I WOKE UP AND WENT FOR MY COFFEE, ONIONMAN WAS HEADLESS
Like
NO HEAD
I just put it back on its place and gave him a few friendly pats but the point remains-
There’s an onionman assassin among us 😰
*
Dear Diary, Ravenchaser’s package is in the Philippines now.
Where will it head to next? We don’t know!
*
Dear Diary, Ally bought a fish tank today and we filled it with shrimps 🦐🦐🦐🦐
But they are not normal shrimps, they are business shrimps, as they should be.
They live in the attic with the bird and the cat who moved in recently. He wants us to think he hates the bird but we all know he secretly likes him.
Anyways, this dorm will eventually become a zoo.
*
Dear Diary, I was wrong, it will become a circus.
Merp’s is witness every morning to some very dumb shit but so far, there hasn’t been any other major accident in the kitchen (again).
The clownery is probably cause Persi spends a lot of time here in the mornings instead of sleeping, and so do Theo and Crim.
Only this week, Binks had to kick the 3 of them out so they got some rest, only to find Persi sleeping in the attic and Theo and Crim eating Mirko fruit loops straight from the box on the kitchen counter at 5am.
Binks is the only one who can keep these 3 in check. Like one of those dog-sitters (?) with more dogs that they should be able to walk but somehow pulls it off.
*
Dear Diary, I’ve started watching a show with Raven!
Honestly? It’s started only because of the villain. He really looks like Spain’s president, and Raven loves barking at him.
It’s fun.
On another note- she might be Onionman’s assassin. Vhae and I discussed it, there’s plenty of hours a day we don’t know what she’s doing, and she doesn’t really seem to like him. Even though it’s like her onionsibling.
*
Dear Diary, I’m glad to report that Crim is back to the parking lot, and this time, she’s not alone.
Persi and Aphra often go with her, and honestly it’s a miracle Crim still has hair. (It's probably thanks to Toast protection tbh)
But well, apparently, bald is as ctabb as something can get, so I’d say that Crim is doing fine. Probably.
*
Dear Diary, Moka and Cary saw us watching SK8 and they immediately fell in love with it too! 🥰🥰
They even started wearing matching shirts.
Soon half of the dorms was super invested (almost all of the RAs included, they too are wearing matching shirts). I just have to look at Binks and she goes “WATCH SK8 ✨”
We have started watching every new episode in the attic. Usually, Lion streams it and a bunch of us gather on the floor (that has been perpetually left full of bed stuff so we can be lazy there and watch things).
Alyss and Geary bring snacks and we all dance to the opening song which is an absolute banger.
I really like Fridays.
*
Dear Diary, I left a small bonsai in the bathroom today.
And Vhae had a whole crisis about it.
So, as it is our duty as Europeans, we decided to confuse the one American in our dorm, and tell them it’s an European thing.
Bathroom trees.
Which has nothing to do with bathroom ham, but that’s a story for another day, dear Diary, don’t be greedy.
*
Dear Diary, Germany is having an exodus.
I don’t know who started talking in a Biergarten about our dorms, but we had like 3 Germans join us in the last few days. Maybe it was in Mallorca.
To be fair, Amethyst joined in like, February and Darlingest was here this summer but didn’t actually move until a couple days ago (I still saw her at the supermarket from time to time and pestered her into joining, so I was very happy when she did!). I just thought it was a funny coincidence.
Anyways, Darlingest, Crowstel and Amethyst are great! Darlingest has breakfast almost every morning with us at Merp’s, and with how much we talked we have managed to wake up Daisy who stays with us talking about everything and nothing.
And Emily and Nova are not German but they moved in recently too! With them in 3ºB and 4ºC, theres no more empty rooms on the 5 floors of the European dorm. When I arrived almost a year ago, there weren’t that many Europeans, but now we will soon need to add another floor to accommodate everyone new that arrives.
It’s nice to see this big family grow so much.
*
Dear Diary, so I pulled my leg today.
Or like, last night.
We were having dinner at Merp’s and talking about flexibility, and well, I did a split.
And pulled my fucking leg.
I didn’t want to bother anyone so I didn’t say anything and went to bed. Which in hindsight was fucking stupid of me, cause I ended up not sleeping at all for like 5 hours until I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went to grab some medicine from the kitchen.
Aaaaaaaaaand Vhae caught me.
Long story short, they dragged me to the hospital (literally. We had to walk there) and when the doctor at the emergency room kicked me out and told me to go to another building, I had to stop Vhae from killing him with an army technique, with the power of my sobs and puppy eyes.
After many closed doors, an hour or so walking around, escaping from a drunk grandma and getting lost, we finally got to the right building, I got my drugs and finally came back to the dorm, where I was told off by everyone (because it’s just my luck that EVERYONE was awake at that time).
I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I had to walk an hour alone to the hospital. They really saved me.
*
Dear Diary, Vri roped us all into watching a new series today.
Which is okay since SK8 ended and all :’(
But anyway, this show. It’s pretty dumb but we are having a lot of fun. It’s basically hardcore tag and we have plans of playing outside once the weather is a little nicer.
We watch it every Saturday in the attic and it’s hilarious. Watching shows with these people is one of the highlights of my week, it’s weird to think that I didn’t even know them a year ago.
The chains of kabaddi sure are strong. Vri is our preacher and shepperd and she scouts every friday before we meet to watch it later on, so Mari, Crim and Daisy can join (dealing with so many timezones is hard). Crowstel and Darlingest joined very recently but they are definitely part of the family already. And Binks, my beloved, the Merry to my Pippin is our official non-official bot. So far Kabaddi hasn’t had the same effect the SK8 fever did, but you just wait.
This is no struggle.
*
Dear Diary, it’s been a year since I moved to CTABB.
I still don’t know yet how it is supposed to be pronounced and despite having been here for more than 2 years, even the mods still fight about it. Some say it’s “setabb”, others say it is “stab”, which is very fitting for us. Cary insists it’s “cuhtabb” but Cary says time doesn’t exist, so nobody really takes her seriously.
Maybe we should, because it doesn't seem like it’s been a year.
Life was put on pause last year around this time and I had to move away from home to be stuck without going out. I couldn’t see my friends, I couldn’t go to class, I couldn’t go training and we couldn’t finish the championship even though we were firsts in the league. The world was falling apart and I was alone inside these four walls.
It took a lot of bravery to ask for an invite to the server. I had never interacted with people from my fandoms before, so it was a big step for me. I haven’t studied English since highschool, and I was too self-conscious to write again after a long, big hiatus. But I had so much time during quarantine and so much pent-up energy that I started writing again. And even though it has definitely given me my confidence back, I’d say that the best CTABB has given me so far, are the amazing people that have supported me throughout this year.
I consider myself a very lucky person.
I have plenty of friends I can call when I have a bad day, plenty of places and I can go to when home doesn’t feel safe anymore. But for the first time in my life, I was alone.
When I needed someone to talk about nerd stuff and I didn’t want to bother my friends, there was someone in CTABB to do so. When I was doubting my skills and my stories, there was someone in CTABB offering to read my stuff and telling me it was good. When there was political drama concerning the world, there were people in CTABB ready to make it lighter with jokes. When I had been in my pajamas for the entire week and I took a nice selfie, there were people in CTABB to hype me up. When I felt like I couldn’t put out more negativity on my family and friend’s shoulders, there was someone in CTABB ready to cheer me up when I was crying in vent.
I found a group of amazing, talented, caring and understanding people I’m certainly incredibly fortunate to be part of, whose love and support during hard times I will never be able to give back.
This is my corny, shabby attempt of doing so.
So this is for everyone I’ve interacted with during this year, some more and some less, some have made me cry with their comments, some have been at the other end of a call while I was having a panic attack over some dumb shit, some have been with me while I was crawling alone in the street at 6am with a pulled leg, some have been there while I studied for finals and some have been there while the house was shaking over my head and I was scared it would give out. But please know that all of you have made me smile, even from so far away. Even through a screen, or only listening to your voices.
So, thank you.
Love,
Bol :)