Names

This morning I was worked the badminton tournament in the pavillion, which was actually pretty neat. It kinda reminded me of those basketball tournaments that I used to go to where you stay at the gym all day and play like 5 games a day and loaf around in between. Some people actually brought inflatable mattresses in case they had to stay awhile and got tired. I think there were 18 courts going all at once, all day so it can get pretty intense. Anyways, I got to work with the president of the badminton club to make sure everything was running smoothly, whose name was Fanny. As funny as that name is, it gets better. She was wearing a club sweatshirt which had her name and initials on it which read: F. Yu. Pretty much the best name ever.

Hey Is It Loud Enough?

So this little tid-bit happened on the bus yesterday as well (seems to be a pattern). Anyways, I hopped on the always-crowded 6 o'clock bus home and luckily found a seat near the front. Like it is with most crowded buses, there was a lot of ambient noise, like people talking, the bus farting and random shuffling. However, amongst all that noise, I could still hear music from this girl's ipod. She wasn't sitting next to me, but was across the bus. ACROSS THE BUS. They weren't heavy duty ear-buds either, just plain old ipod ones. I'm pretty sure she had the volume turned all the way up, and wouldn't even be able to hear a fire-alarm if it went off right next to her face - that's how loud it was. I could pick out the lyrics to songs I had never heard before - that's also how loud it was. She was a perfect example of how to sustain massive ear trauma, and how to prepare for a future of hearing-aids and saying "what?" all the time.

Hey Man That's One Smooth Ride

Today I got to be one of those super cool kids who stands near the front of the bus and talks to the bus driver the whole ride; it was pretty sweet.

(Jaclyn: just use your imagination... and take my word for it that kids who stand and talk to the bus driver because they know them are, indeed, automatically cool)

Celebrity Sighting!

I saw... wait for it... DAVID WEALCH AT THE ARC LAST NIGHT!!! He was playing volleyball. It was amazing. I love surprises.

Where Have All the Nice People Gone?

I wish more people had heart. Not A heart; we all have one of those. I mean the times where people do something nice to help out a fellow human being, or bend the rules under special circumstances if it seems right. There have been too many instances in my life where a person of authority would not budge on the rules, not one bit, when they could have easily made my day by making a simple, reasonable exception. For example, the lady who wouldn't let me watch the Huey Lewis concert from the ambulance area, even though I had a ticket and couldn't get in because I wasn't 21. She could have easily let me stand there - a harmless act, and I would have written on how the situation was mended rather than made worse. She just didn't have common sense and compassion and heart, which seems to be a sad pattern amongst people. That being said, I like to live my life by the golden rule... seems cheesy, but it makes sense. I hold a job of reasonable authority now by 'supervising' and have to make some important decisions. But the most satisfaction I get out of life, which could be applied to most people if they tried, is to live by this golden rule. To do something and think, "Wow, that's how I wish somebody would treat me in that situation." It's comforting, and it's precisely the attitude I brought to refereeing (being one of the 'good' refs) and now to my supervisor job.

Not to toot my own horn, but something happened last night where I acted how I would hope to be treated. I was supervising, and 'broke' the rules to help out some guys. They simply wanted to play a pick-up game of soccer after the IM games were over, but needed me to keep the goals unlocked and the lights on. Basically, they needed me to stay past my scheduled time of work while they played for a bit. They hadn't been able to get their crew together to play for some time, and nighttime was the only time they could all play. They had tried renting a field, but the time slots were all full, and not many fields in Davis have lights. They needed me. I could have easily said "No" and made up excuses like "it's not part of my job", "I'm not scheduled to work anymore", or "I'm sorry, I just can't do it". I almost did that. I almost said those things. But then I thought of what it would be like if I was in this guy's shoes. It made no sense for me to reject him, when I could easily help him out. I would've liked someone to show me some heart in a similar situation, so that's exactly what I did. I stayed for about 45 minutes past my schedule, unpaid, just so they could play some pick-up soccer. It made their night; they told me they had a great time and were really thankful. It made me feel good that they had such a good time, and all I had to do was go a little outside the lines. It wasn't harmful, it was humane, and I wish it would become more common in our society.

Vets of the Mile High Club

I sat next to this PDA-friendly couple on my flight back from Seattle yesterday. Actually, I'd say they were PDA-enthusiasts. They were fairly old (the guy looked like the dad from 3rd Rock From the Sun.. the chin, specifically) and were talking about pretty inappropriate things for being with the same people for an hour and a half flight. I half expected them to get up and make good use of the closet-sized bathrooms. Let's just say that "whispering" about the things he wanted to do to her was loud enough for one of the women in front of me to casually turn around and provide an pretty obvious look of disapproval. As disturbing as it was, I actually found the situation kind of hilarious. The couple, members of this woman's own generation, were making her look bad. She probably should've given them a stern talking to.

A Sign From the Midterm Gods

I needed to study last-minute for my BIS 101 midterm yesterday, so I decided to go to the library. Makes sense right? I mean, what better place to study whilst on campus then good ol' Peter J. Shields? Anyways, I got up to the front entrance, and there was a ton of people standing outside, almost like the National Anthem was being played or something. Needless to say, there was a weird vibe going round. I decided to investigate. What I found out was that, for some reason or another (my investigation wasn't very thorough) the library was closed. Maybe there was a bomb threat. Maybe some kid was going crazy and pushing down aisles of books as he ripped out his hair and stabbed his chemistry book. I dunno. All I know is that there was a man with a reflector vest and a megaphone and a walkie talkie guarding the entrance saying "None shall pass!" like Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. So I went somewhere else to study for a bit.

Weird That Ogle Only Has One "G"?

I was biking through the parking lot by the tennis courts today, and there was this guy riding toward me from the opposite direction. I saw him staring at me, and then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car I had just passed start backing out of its space (on creepy biker's side of the rows of cars). I continue forward and see this guys head turning in my direction, not even caring that I am fully aware of his neck craning. At this point, I just laugh because I know that he's about to have to dodge the car in front of him. I turn around and see him just barely miss the left bumper of the car. I wonder if I would've stopped if he had actually run into it.

Knick Knack Paddy Whack, Shannon Ate A Bone

I swallowed a chicken bone at dinner tonight. It was a small, sharp, dagger of a bone, and it got stuck in my throat for a little bit (kind of like a toothpick sideways in your cheeks). I was able to breathe and everything, but even after I got the bone down it felt like there was something there. I think it's just residual pain. Luckily, the people around me assured me that they would've been able to perform the heimlich maneuver if it had come to that. Next time I'll be sure to sift through my chicken before just goin' at it.