Sweet but not Short.

You probably thought I was going to stick with my posting once a month routine…jokes on you, people! This one will likely be brief. But you all know that I am, what my professors call, “overly eloquent”. I like words. So we’ll see how this goes.

I only have a few quick nuggets to tell you about this week. Though I was determined to write a post free of any tour guide tales…I just can’t contain my excitement about being an undergraduate campus ambassador!!! No. The only thing I want to mention in this week’s installment is the tour 5 fellow guides and I gave to a little group of just 200 6^th graders. Obviously my script went out the window when the very first question I got was, “are you a tall midget?” *commence an eruption of giggles* I knew it was going to be a “fun” group. What I didn’t expect, was one little black boy dressed up in a suit and tie, carrying an iPad that was about the size of his face. Eric?  Nope. Just a little 6^th grader who asked endless questions about our “financial aid package” and “undergraduate research opportunities”. I ain’t making this stuff up, folks! I felt I fulfilled my duty when after showing them our indoor rock-climbing wall, a girl in the group shouted; “I want to go to college!!!”

In the middle of my week while walking up the parking lot, I was greeted by a middle-aged man traveling down the parking structure wearing roller blades. Who knows why I find roller blades so hilarious, but it kinda made my week.

This weekend was a dandy one, starting with prom nightttttt on Friday! No, really! It was the first annual Undergraduate Admission Staff Prom…(and no, I have no extravagant “prom-posal” to report from Eric). We got all dressed up; well, I did. Eric just came straight from work where he was already wearing a suit and tie. It was a fun night seeing my fellow tour guides out of their blue polos and breaking loose on the dance floor. If only our prospective families could see us now. Davis would surely become their first choice.

One rather strange moment of my night came when I was hit on by a ginger while in line for the bathroom. (It was a good thing Eric was on the dance floor). To give you an idea of what this young man was like, all you need to know was that he had a blown up picture of Marilyn Monroe’s face on his tie. Stay classy. He asked if I liked his tie, and I replied in the most sarcastic tone I could muster, “yeah, I’m really enjoying Marilyn Monroe’s face starring at me all night”. To which he responded, “Well I’m really enjoying you in that dress tonight”………..smooth.  I wanted to laugh in his face/run far away, but we had to awkwardly continue standing side by side in front of the bathroom door. I was praying that whomever was occupying the restroom would hurry up; especially when the ginge started suggesting that we “explore” the rest of the basement where the bathroom was located. Ericccc!!! Thankfully right at that moment the door opened and I escaped. Work is sure going to be awkward on Monday.

After dancing the night away late into the night, I remembered that I had signed up for an 8am shift at work Saturday morn.  I was commanded to stand in a parking lot and direct people to our visitor center. Easy peasy. What I didn’t anticipate, was that there were about 351 other events happening on campus on the same day; a run for Autism, a vegetable competition, an engineering conference, a protest, a baseball game, a gobal health event, campus tours, and oh; the President of the UC’s was coming. So while I hoped I would just be directing people to the tours, I ended up having to answer copious questions about events that I knew nothing about. For 5 hours straight. Thankfully my friends brought me Dutch Bros just in time, otherwise I don’t know if I would have been able to stay upright. After a 3 ½ hour nap after my shift, I settled in at home enjoying a game of Yahtzee and a viewing of one of my faves (not Parent Trap this time); Les Mis. I always cry 3 separate times throughout without fail.

As predicted this was much more than a short and sweet post. There goes my title. 5 weeks left until upperclassman-ship!

Stress & Surprises.

The cows have not eaten me, nor did I get run over by a herd of bicycles. I am alive and must extend my apologies for the delay in posting. It has certainly not been by choice! Believe it or not, I keep a running list of weird/interesting/mundane experiences I encounter on my phone. Well, I have watched the list grow longer everyday and have been itching to tell you all about it! So HERE I AM!

It must come with some irony to all of you that I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger with "Part I". And now, Part II. I'm sorry to let you down, but it really isn't too exciting. Well, it is for me. But then again I find excitement in buying a new toothbrush. It was the official "Decision Day" for incoming Freshman (personally everyday feels like decision day to me with the hoards of students I lead around campus everyday....where do they all come from??). We had about 20,000x the amount of visitors we normally have; as if walking backwards wasn't enough, I had to be extra careful not to step on all of the freshman that were running around. A few tours down, I was so ready to bike on home and not answer any more questions about meal plans and class sizes. But wait. I forgot that I had signed up to attned an open house for the Anthropology department. I figured I would mingle with families and steal some finger food. So you can imagine my terror when I got there and learned that I was one of three students on a student PANEL presentation. It was intimidating and I really couldn't tell you what presumabley misinformation I relayed to the poor students, but I survived. (biggest disappointment was that there were no hors d'oevures).

You could say the tour guiding biz is keeping me busy. So let's go ahead and throw another job in the mix. I met a family in the area and am now a babysitter to 3. (At this point I'm wondering if I will ever retire from babysitting). But a little extra cash doesn't hurt, and it is refreshing to be around little ones who don't even know what the word "college" means (I tell them I'm in "14th grade". You can imagine their faces).

Davis had another exciting event this month; Picnic Day! The largest student run open house in the country! According to my script, that is. And what did I do to enjoy the festivities?? I stood by a door in my little blue polo and told people where the bathroom was. Saw more booty shorts and bro tanks than any person should ever have to see, then I went home. Twas an exhilarating day.

In the midst of my crazy schedule this quarter, trying to balance tough classes, jobs, leading bible study and dance classes, I was met with the most pleasant surprise at my door step last week. A fun and festive package from my lovely seester! (I know I'd be in deep doo-doo if I didn't give her a shout out...) It was filled with all the little things that make me happy; glitter, nail polish and brownies. And even some crayzee socks for Mr. Eric! A much needed little brown box of happiness!

Some more happiness came my way recently in a surprise outing with Eric. We went on the ever-chliche first date we should have gone months ago; mini golf! No game between the two of us can go down without a bet; this time, the loser had to plan the next date. Well, I lost. By one point. Haven't planned a date yet...but then again, I'm still waiting for the homemade cookies we shook on during a game of pool a while back.

Before venturing on home to celebrate Easter with the fam, I made my way to San Fran for a spontaneous Switchfoot concert! Yes, I've already seen them live. Yes, it was an hour and a half away. And yes, I bought my ticket 3 days before. I couldn't resist! I went with a few girlfriends and proved that I am a good luck charm at concerts. Last time I saw them, Jon Foreman walked through the audience right in front of me (I touched his back). This time, Jon Foreman walked through the audience right in front of me again (I touched his forearm).

Whew. That was a doozy and I now have a wrist cramp. To be honest, I didnt even cover half of the items of my list. But perhaps that can wait until Part 3 ;)

Before I go I must mention my wonderful weekend! With sweets every which way I turned, it was nothing short of a grand ol' time! Nothing like waking up to Nubbins slobber and going to bed hearing flatulence coming from the brother in law down the hall. How I love home!

Tour Guide Tales Pt 1

Hello my faithful blogees! I am back in action after a restful spring break that was far too short. There's nothing quite like some good food and family time to get you feeling ready to take on the new quarter! 3 days in and I'm settling into the familiar feeling of business. Classes include Anthropology, Molecular Biology and Sociology; oh my!! Though I was most terrified of my Molecular and Cellular Biology class (anyone want to guess what the heck that is? not me.), my nerves were instantly calmed when I saw that the professor had written the power points in Comic Sans. Comic Sans; the font of Kindergarten teachers around the world. I don't think I've got anything to worry about.

You and I both know that my life became even more eventful after beginning my job as a tour guide. In the spirit of Tour Guide Tales, I must tell you about a few recent experiences.  Though it feels like I am a non-stop walking and talking machine, my first tour was just a few weeks ago. Thankfully it wasn't raining (more on that later), and I had a fairly small group. All I will say is that there was a 4-year-old Indian toddler who insisted at walking right in front of my toes, looking up at me and beaming like I was a magical sugar plum fairy.  I'm flattered, little girl, but your constant stepping on my toes is making me trip like no one's business. I let her hold my water bottle for a portion of the tour (which she of course held like it was baby Jesus himself) and practically followed me into the staff room when the tour was over.  She's lucky she was cute, but I have to ask myself; what does a 4-year-old Indian toddler want with a tour of a University? Starting them reeeal early, I suppose.

I figured with a fairly harmless first tour out of the way, things could only get better (though I left with a hefty sore throat). Wrong. The other day I gave a tour; your average, run of the mill tour. The sky seemed gloomy as we left, but I figured an hour wouldn't kill us.

It killed us. About halfway into my Biological Sciences shpeel (is that a real word? It is now) I felt the first couple of raindrops.  Definitely bearable, so I carried on. One by one, these drops began to fall harder and harder until out of nowhere came I complete storm. People were stepping in puddles and thrusting their jackets over their heads and trying to hide under trees. I for one had come prepared with my handy unisex tour guide rain jacket-until I realized that putting the hood on only completely covered my eyes. As it was rainning so hard that there were literally puddles in my shoes, I didn't know whether I should stop, laugh cry, crack a good ol' corny joke.  I personally just wanted to clench my hands into fists, look into the heavens and shout, "WHYYYYYY???" But I did what any good tour guide would do; I simply talked through the entire script without hesitating. We made it back safe and sound (barely) and I made my way to the bathroom mirror. My hair was completely soaked and dripping down my face. I'm talking fresh out of the shower, major drenchage. I had random bits of leaf on my cheek that quite honestly made me feel pretty cool. Like I was part of an Amazonian tribe.

So there you go. Just a day in the life in this crazy, monsoon of a cowtown.

P.S. I label this "Part 1" because Decision Day is this Saturday. The day where every admitted student comes to campus. At once. We were trained at our staff meeting tonight on how to use a megaphone and how to walk the route in a backwards direction (as if walking backwards wasn't difficult enough) because we will have 50-60 people per group. Did I mention I'm doing tours back to back and we have to wear slacks to look important? So thats why "Part 1". Excitement is sure to come.