Peace. Love. Happiness. Life!: August 2009

Yes folks, I'm here. Having a real real good BYU experience! Here's a quick summary...

Thursday: Check-in, meet person #1 - Jasmyn: high school drop out with a 35 on the ACT and full-tuition to BYU, orientation: every person has to stand up and say their name, what class they are taking, their major, and the oddest thing they have ever eaten, person #2 - Collin Black: he stands up and says his name is Collin Black, the name sounds familiar, I rack my brain and realize DING Trevor Morgan's roomie, he's cool, real cool, then comes lunch, the cannon center is delish, then class, what can be better than a class called Voodoo Science and you blow something up in the first 10 minutes of class? Sweet, I know. Next up, BBQ and hoe down. I was told I'm a good bootie shaker. HAHA. My roommate is... really nice and quiet.

Friday: Devotional: Professer Hozalpfel (I believe he is my American Heritage teacher in the fall?) He was way good. He talked about how people would kill to go to BYU, so we should be grateful for it and take advantage of our experience. Class: GALLILEO! gallileo. GALLILEO! gallileo. Lunch: rice krispy treats beckon to me... BYUSA meeting: the pres is SO cute. She made me want to serve even more. Friday's after 11! Amazing Race: Jamacian Running Team was AWESOME. Team spirit and unity and speed. 2nd place by 2 seconds was good enough for me. And I felt very physically fit after sprinting across campus 5 times. KickBird: My new friends introduced me to this lovely game. It's pretty fun, I like it. Ian, he's cool, real cool, got everything that went on my left side cuz my left foot has a mind of its own.

That's all for now... stay posted for more! There is a banana split party and wild swing dancing tonight!

2 years ago, July 23rd, 2007 to be exact, I started my first job at The Cleaning Cottage. Little did I know the many things that would happen at that simple little building. From Day 1 it was interesting. I was working with 2 girls named Carissa and Hope, that I didn't know at all. That day was very hot and it was exceptionally hot inside the dry cleaners, and I hadn't eaten or dranken (?) all day, smart I know. Needless to say, I passed out. On my first day. Great first impression, hey? Those 2 girls grew to be some of my best friends. I've had so many fun memories, throwing pants on people's heads accidentely, making up screamo versions of songs, hiding in the dryer or the bin, riding the moving clothes rack, etc, bad memories, the sheet fiasco, getting yelled at simply because I'm the night manager, people swearing at me, working with horrendously slow people, etc, horrifying memories, old men winking at me, countless times after you take somebody's clothes and they say, oh by the way my baby threw up on that, oh by the way, my dog peed all over those, oh by the way, those were the clothes we stripped off my dead grandmother after we found her in her bed, she must have been there a week it smelled so bad!, thank you people... finding tire-tracked grandpa whitey-tighties in the pants I'm tagging, and so many more. It's kind of a sick nostalgia I feel about that place. But today, my last day, something happened that seemed to make it all worth it. You need a little background to understand... We have a couple favorite customers. 1. Ms. Newman - should be nicknamed Ms. You-could-smell-me-a-mile-away-I-apply-so-much-perfume-Newman. Her jeans still smell very strongly after being washed. 10 times. She is probably one of the crabbiest ladies I've ever encountered. She's fun. I will forever recognize her scent. She taught me how to have sympathetic-looking apathy. 2. Mr. Bateman - Nobody understands why he and his wife both have an account and they put different clothes under each account and use different checkbooks for each account and only he comes in and insists on writing the checks perfectly painstakingly slow. He taught me patience. 3. Mr. Clements - I don't think I've ever heard somebody use viler language about buttons before. He taught me there are very uptight people in this world. 4. Mrs. Holmstead - I didn't know you could drain $100 on dry cleaning every month... She taught me there are very affluent people in the world. 5. Mr. Wingers shirts - I don't think I've ever smelled anything more foul. The mix between cigarette smoke and greasy chicken fingers... sickout. He taught me to breath out of my mouth when I don't want to smell something. 6. Mr. Evans - I never have seen the appeal of heavy starch on jeans... When something can paper cut you when it's not even paper, that's wrong. When something could walk away without a person it in, that's very wrong. He taught me... don't mess with cowboys. And one other for you this day, 7. Mr. Ahrens - He taught me don't ever judge a person. We all hated him. He would, without fail, come in every Tuesday, at 6:59 sharp. We close at 7. And when we say we close at 7, we punch out as the clock says 7:00:00, sometimes 7:00:01. It is frustrating at the utmost when we have to redo the whole til, because he ALWAYS pays in cash so we have to redo the whole til. And we get home late. One day though, I was working by myself and he came in and started talking to me and asking me about my life and such, and he was really nice. And every time since, he always says, you're going to BYU right? Studying chemistry right? You want to be a pharmacist right? He's good. And he's always really nice to me. Today, my last day, he comes in and drops off the usual, 2 white shirts, a little messy on the collar, medium starch. He asks me when BYU starts, if I'm living down there, if I'm excited for chemistry, etc. Another customer pulls up and he says, alright see you later! I help her, then go sit down in my spot. The door opens again, I walk over, and there he is again! He says, "so is this your last Saturday?" I say "yeah, my last day too!" He says, "oh okay, I didn't know if you were keeping your job or not. Well, I just want to tell you thanks, you've made a difference. You're very friendly to me and other customers and that means a lot. Good luck at BYU, you'll do great!" And then he waved and left. That is probably the last time I will ever see Mr. Ahrens. And so I'll never get a chance to really tell him thank you. That meant a lot to me, just to hear those words, "You've made a difference." Simply by being my friendly self, I made a difference. That's all I really want in life, is to make a difference in people's lives for the better. I know I'm not amazing and I'll probably never do something huge to impact people's lives that much, but with a little smile and friendly and caring attitude, I can make a difference. Thanks for helping me realize that and making the last two years of work worth it.
Thank you Mr. Ahrens.