Comm. 150 Journal

Gee whiz, it has been several years since I personally posted anything on this blog.  I don't even know if anyone evens looks at it, but hey, that's okay.

I am starting my 8th semester of university and I am taking a class where I have to keep a daily journal.  I just have to write about something that happened to me that day. I've started it on a Word document, but I had the thought that I could keep on here and share unique experiences that happen in my crazy life.

So here are the ones I have done for this week so far:

Comm 150 journal:

Day 1: Monday, 15 Sept. 2014

When I was in my first area on my mission, Newcastle Emlyn in Wales, I had this funny zone leader named Elder Hopkinson. He was from Leeds and had a great accent. Every time he called he would always ask what the craziest thing was that had happened to us that day.  I remember feeling dumb if I didn’t have a wild story to tell him, but from then on I tried to make every day of my mission be a great day with a great story to tell. I hope to do the same with this journal: live each day like it’s the greatest day ever.

So my crazy story for today was that I went over to my friend Eric’s house. We both volunteer with Life Skills on campus and he was helping me type up some information flyers we received from the incoming freshmen.  Anyways, I knocked on his door and a guy I didn’t know opened it up and just inside the door was an old friend of mine named Morgan. I haven’t seen Morgan in about three years when we were in a mission prep. class together.  Upon seeing me, Morgan shouted my name and yanked me in for a big bear hug. While we were hugging, Eric walks in and asks how we know each other.  Morgan released me and I tell Eric that we dated before the mission. Eric’s face was priceless!  He was utterly shocked! The best part was that Morgan went right along with it and told Eric how we dated for eight months before I left for England. Eric was dumbfounded and I was dying! I couldn’t believe Eric was buying it.  Morgan had been my home teacher in our old ward and I think he is pretty cute, but that’s about the extent of our romance.  We never did tell Eric the truth and he for all he knows Morgan Lane is my ex-boyfriend.

Day 2: Tuesday, 16 Sept. 2014

I have two jobs on campus this semester.  My main one is with the BYU-Idaho Support Center and then I work as the marketing director for Life Skills.  The BSC hired me to do marketing as well and to be their graphic designer, but this first week is really busy so they have me answering phones and emails. Answering phones is really intimidating for me because I never know the answers to the questions people ask.  But today they had me just answer emails and that was nice.  The best email was from a kid named Wesley Smith. He wanted to add a class that he was wait listed for, so I looked him up on the student directory and he the funniest picture I had ever seen! I was sitting next to my friend Makayla and we both just died laughing. I can’t believe the I-card office let him get away with such a ridiculous picture. He looked like he was a good looking guy, but he had his head tilted to the side and had his eyes had a wild look in them. It was a nice stress reliever to laugh at him. Now I know that if I am ever feeling overwhelmed I can look up Wesley Smith on the student directory and I can have a good laugh. 

Day 3: Wednesday, 17. Sept. 2014

This morning as I was getting ready for school, I checked my email and found an email from Kip Harris, the Dean of Students.

It all started yesterday when I was at work at the BSC. A kid named Daniel, a freshmen,  had emailed in asking how he could view the book list and assignments for a class he was wait listed for.  I emailed him back to explain that until you are enrolled in the class, you can’t view either of those.  I was very polite and at the end I said, “I hope this has been helpful. Have a great day!”

It turns out that this kid did not find it helpful because he replied to the Dean of Students saying, “This wasn’t helpful.”  Sounded kind of rude and it makes me wonder if he was trying to get me in trouble or something. Why else would he send the thread and his response to the Dean of students?”

But the Dean of Students is the man! He responded to the student by saying:

Daniel,

It appears to me that the Lindsey at the Support center was helpful.  Maybe you need to recalibrate your sense of entitlement in your expectations.  Part of college life is learning to work with others and get answers without someone else doing all the work for you. 

I'm happy to discuss this in person.

Kip Harris

I was really confused when I read the email, but soon it all clicked and I am so grateful that Brother Harris stood up for me.  Since I am pretty new at this job it is so nice to hear that I did the right thing.

When I got to work later today I found out that Brother Harris had sent that email to everyone in our entire office!  I was even more grateful that I wasn’t rebuked in that email, but more of the hero.