First [non-grounds crew] Responder
Okay, so there I was, innocently walking around the corner to my building, when a strange shape in a dark cluster of conifers called me back out of the corner of my eye. What I saw there, I will never be able to forget for the rest of my life. There, in the shadows, I saw the outlines of two prone bodies contorted in what must have been positions born of the last throws of a ghastly, violent death, spread out before me in the mulch around the trees. Did I call the police? Nah, though I thought about calling the grounds crew. Take a look:
Oh, it slays me! But I guess the grounds people have to have their fun in some way or another. What makes me really laugh is that I was the first person in my area to notice it. Even then, I had walked right on by several times without seeing it.
I had check-ins today and met another of my girls in the process. It's really a treat to see how excited the freshmen are, and how nervous/clingy/excited their parents are at the same time. As RAs, we try to make all of them feel very welcome as they move in. Some do it better--well, not so much better as with more pizazz--than others. Take Oliver, for example.
This is his building, right across from my own, and though one cannot quite make it out in this image, he has two enormous butcher paper signs hanging over his balcony proclaiming, "Welcome Newbies" in blue and metallic gold paint; blue and yellow streamers and balloons wrapped around the pillars and handrails in the stairwells; and, as I discovered today, construction paper stars with each resident's name taped on their doors, all around little signs that say, "Welcome to your new home!" in a cute (in the manliest sense of the word) little font. Meanwhile, this is the extent of the cuteness in my building:
While those are sparkly jewels in the corners of the name tags, and that is my very best calligraphy, and they are on every door, I'm afraid they pale in the brilliance of Oliver's enthusiasm (which I am convinced is only an attempt to outshine my sparklies). Fine, Oliver. Fine. You want to play like that? You win, man. You win.
So yeah, that's today. Yesterday, I went to the Helaman Halls (which is another on-campus dorm deal) pool for the very first time evah! Feeling like one first deserves another, I allowed one of the guys I was with to teach me how to dive. How it is that I've never learned before, I've no clue. I guess I just never did. Anyway, he told me I was a natural diving from the side of the pool (translation: I never made a belly flop. This particular guy is quite lavish in his praise when he's teaching someone how to do something), and then he suggested I try from the diving board. Being all buttered up with his complements, I decided to give it a try. Well, I discovered that the principles change slightly when you are higher up, and my legs came up and over my head, and my spine, poor thing, screamed for mercy. So that was it for the diving lesson. I took it easy last night with some Advil, and it feels a lot better today. Ah, poor baby. ;}
Tomorrow we're expecting the mad rush of residents, as it is the beginning of Orientation. I've got an easy shift--the evening, when everyone is at some meeting or another. Should be fun! I'm excited, but most of the wise, multi-year experienced RAs aren't. They say essentially that Wednesday's a big headache. We'll see.
Well, hope this finds you well. Until next time in TAAOA.
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