finally

i come home tomorrow :)

the daily universe rocks my world

so, i know my last two posts are about the daily universe, but seriously, today was grand. :)

front page headline: dear john... what 'waiting' for a missionary entails.

every missionary can tell which letter in the mailbox is special. maybe the stationary smells suspiciously like perfume or there might be lipstick kisses inside. but it isn’t these extra touches that make the letter special; it’s the signature at the end, and the girl it belongs to, that makes the missionary’s heart skip a beat.

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no. the front page was not about how the D.C. sniper being sentenced to execution. nor was it about the ft. hood memorial service today. it is about how to wait for a missionary.

i won't put the whole article on here, but y'all should read it (click here). best. day. ever. :)

a new-found love

i have also started reading the op eds and letters to the editor in the daily universe. it can't get much better than this :)

Mind Your Manners

BYU students would be surprised to realize just how annoying they really are.

The well-mannered person attempts to make those around him or her as comfortable as possible in every situation. This extends to any occasion where two or more people occupy the same breathable air and/or are forced to see, hear, smell, feel, or (in rare occasions) taste one another.

Even if I never acknowledge a fellow classmate, I still enter into a social relationship with him or her and am responsible to uphold my end of the social bargain, which we have come to term “etiquette” — pulling our legs in underneath our bodies when we sit in a heavily trafficked hallway, attempting a second time to park between the lines, using words such as “excuse me,” “thank you” and, above all, “please.”

But I am not an altogether accepting and charitable person. I am annoyed to the point of silent screams by some of the most benign actions and events: Vacuum-sealed men’s jeans, faux-hawks, bare feet in class, flat-brimmed sideways hats, girls’ loud laughter, texting during lectures, unsolicited guitar players (especially when accompanied by singing), grading on attendance, phrases like “more simpler,” and peppering every sentence with “like.”

Yes, I am cantankerous, but my own social inadequacies aside, this school has a serious problem with etiquette. Please attempt to think of the others with whom you share this fine institution. If we were all to spend more time looking out for the comfort of others, we might just find a little more comfort for ourselves.

Author name withheld

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and here are the responses:

To the author of “Mind Your Manners” (Oct. 29), BYU is the last place lacking etiquette. I recently returned from the former Soviet Union, where common courtesy generally doesn’t exist — frowning faces, pushing and shoving on buses and constantly being cut in lines.

On BYU’s campus, I have been pleasantly surprised at students’ polite and open nature. I can count on hearing “Thank you” when I hold the door open, and I can count on others holding the door for me. Nowhere else can I make eye contact with a complete stranger and get a smile and a casual “Hi.” If I am bumped in the hall, an instant “Sorry” follows. Students are willing to share notes when I miss class or to study for exams together. BYU is full of people willing to help and make life more pleasant for others.

If someone has a problem with current fashion trends, that is his own problem, having nothing to do with etiquette. As far as things like texting, guitars or laughter go, this is a college campus — you’re going to have to live with it! Perhaps the author would find more “acceptable” peers in a rest home.

So, in defense of the BYU student body, I would like the author of “Manners” to point out a university where the students are more polite than here. As far as I am concerned, there is no greater place to study than BYU and no better student body to be a part of than ours.

Thank you, “Mr. Manners” for giving generalized opinions about the entire student body at BYU and giving us another example of how narrow-minded and biased these letters are.

Just because my friend Akira slurps his soup doesn’t mean he’s socially challenged; he’s showing his love for the food just as he does in hometown, Tokyo. Clearly the way my Australian professor adds funny phonetics to the English language is a social blunder. “Excuse me” never came out when I bumped you rushing out of class today — sorry, I had just heard my brother was in an accident.

I apologize on behalf of all BYU for dressing according to the Honor Code, but still somehow offending you. I’ll give you an extra pair of my tight jeans if it will make you feel comfortable. Don’t wear them with flannel though, you might have “Mr. Hipster Hater” from a couple weeks ago calling you a poser.

I love the cultural and social diversity here at campus. I learn a lot about everything in life from imperfect people who come from distinct backgrounds. So as long as everything is in harmony with the Honor Code and the gospel, let us be us. And quit wasting time trying to stop this — there are much better things to give opinions on, like how Englishmen are clearly manlier than Americans because they like getting hit without pads on.

overload

this week's police beat was hilarious! good thing too cause the last couple have been ultra lame! so here goes...

October 24: A boy in a gorilla suit was reported attempting to scare girls in Wyview Park. Officers located the monkey man, asked him to go home and he did.

October 31: Six individuals were reported throwing something wet off the Tanner parking structure. The substance was determined to be soup. The suspects were instructed to clean up the mess.

October 26: A caller reported a male behaving suspiciously in a parked car. Officers investigated and the suspect was simply taking a nap.

October 27: An assailant approached a female near the Clyde Building and grabbed her buttocks. She yelled at him, telling him that was sexual harassment. The suspect smiled and walked off. The suspect was reported as a stocky, 5-foot-6 Hispanic male, in his mid-20s, with black hair and a buzz cut.

hope y'all enjoy these as much as i do :)

all hallow's eve

so halloween was really fun! thursday night we went to a corn maze. it was so dang fun. i had never been to one before. i didn't even know if tucson had one. so i googled it and found out that we do. it's just more than half way to mexico... hence never going. i haven't gotten the pictures yet but i promise i will blog them this week :)

these are my halloween decorations mom sent up for me! everyone loves them! how could you not?!

my boots came! you can't see them in the picture very well but i promise they are stinking cute!

so, this was thursday night before the corn maze. kate (the one in the middle) had all of this halloween stuff sent to her so we made the candy necklaces, made candy skeletons, and practiced catching candy corn after tossing it in the air. let's just say, i still suck. haha

i was completely done with my necklace so i was tying it off. yeah... i dropped it. i cried.





kate's mom also sent halloween costumes for all of us. we were bugs. this is the night before halloween. it was really late but i wasn't ready to go to sleep so i curled my hair and put on tons of makeup to practice. i don't have the halloween night pictures either yet but it was tons of fun! they had a haunted house in the clyde building on campus. it really wasn't that scary but i'm kind of a jumpy person. (y'all know how i react when someone is standing outside the bathroom door when i come out? yeah well i was worse going through the haunted house. haha)

then we went to the cannon center for the dance. a lot more people showed up than i thought would so it was tons of fun. they even had a hay ride. to where?... you might ask. yeah... it was around helaman halls. it was quite thrilling. haha after the dance was over it was late but no one was ready to sleep. so we watched young frankenstein. oh how i love that movie! :) anyway, all in all it was a very fun halloween! and now it's november which means i could be coming home this month :)