The Divot in My Shin That Taught Me to Say No
Apr 04, 2093![](https://kajabi-storefronts-production.kajabi-cdn.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/blogs/6931/images/Czq3StPATSOsG7Xg7qtE_060915_Vegetaball_Shirt_TN.jpg)
My friend Eileen Curley posted this photo of this shirt June 2015. It prompted this story from the Spring semester of 1993 at Grinnell College. I wrote:
It is a kick to see this shirt and also a slight kick in the gut.
I became the Hall Social Coordinator for Haines Hall second semester my *first* year.
Note: HSC meant you organized study breaks and often a campus-wide dance party at the 80's-mall-like venue of Harris Center.
Partly because I thought it was a cool role I could be creative with, partly because I never clicked w my first two roommates in our triple (they were best buds). Moving into the single dorm room was enticing.
Note: Grinnell had the 2nd hardest workload in the US at the time, after MIT. No first-generation, first-year student should have had the number of campus jobs I had.
All of the Friday and Saturday dates for a Harris Center dance party were already booked.
I stupidly planned the "Haines Hall Vegetaball" on a Wednesday night.
Too young to know it was Bar night.
Note: Grinnell had very different M/W/F schedules versus Tu/Thurs ones. The latter were often three hour blocks for science labs or art classes. Many, many upperclassmen would not schedule Tues/Thurs morning classes that complemented their Wednesday night at the Bar.
I also stupidly thought we needed shirts for this party. I was the kids who drew most of the shirts in high school. Haines party shirts were not uncommon.
The shirt:
Nearly no one came.
I was out a lot of money on the shirts.
I think the RA took some mercy on me. I do remember making and selling monster cookies to make up the costs. I seriously doubt I paid him back fully.
I got so fried that semester that I had a couple accidents due to being so exhausted and out of it.
I whacked my head on the stainless steel shelf above tray break down (TBD) station in Quad and ✨saw stars✨.
Note: TBD was my favorite position at the dining hall. I think I did it all 4 years, long after my financial-aid work study was required. You worked with one other person. When a rack filled with dirty dishes, you wheeled the rack back to the counter. You and your partner each took a side and removed each tray, threw away any non-food garbage and large food items. Next, you scraped the remaining food goo into a moving river of water into the garbage disposal. Meanwhile, glasses went into racks on a shelf above my head, silverware into another rack. Then I loaded the dishes into the Hobart dishwasher.
It was messy, stinky work, but I liked working with one partner. I worked with a handful of men I got along well with. Didn't have to "people." A shift went quickly and I moved a lot.
One Sunday, I took some time to see Room with a View at Harris. Harris was a big empty gym where the dance party happened, a small theater, and a game room.
Heading back to South Campus (where I lived), after the movie, I stepped up and over the concrete bench.
Note: There was zero reason I couldn't simply walk around the concrete bench. But I never did. In the beeline from the Harris exit and my dorm room was the bench.
My Birkenstock slipped and I landed face first in the landscaping rocks.
Again, I ✨saw stars✨. and bent my glasses.
Note: Birkenstocks seemed to be required footwear at Grinnell circa 1992. When I got accepted early admission, I bought a pair. FAR more than I had ever spent on shoes.
It wasn't until I got up and started walking that I realized I had caught my left shin on the edge of the bench on the way down.
I still have the scar and I think of it as a reminder to never get that stressed again.
I am in a much happier place in my life, but I am about that stressed right now and I have a bunch of shitty health things showing up.
Thankful I have 4+ days vacation in MN with J, friends and family this weekend.
And that is the story of the disco-dancing carrot shirt.
Aren't you glad you asked?
Wait, you didn't?