Update Time!!

So here I am, during my first availability hours of the school year and apparently all my residents are in class so I decided to update the blog a little bit.  About an hour and a half ago, I completed the first day of my 11th semester of college.  11.  Crazy huh?  I think back to my very first day at Dixie State and good ol' SUCCESS Academy and I can remember that day so clearly.  15 years old and scared out of my mind!  Those Pine View, Snow Canyon, and Hurricane kids were so weird!  I had no idea what on earth I was doing and what I had gotten myself into.  Now here I am, 5 years later and I still have no idea what I'm doing!  It's fun to think back.

As I said before.  Today was the first day of school.  We successfully finished training week on Friday.  HALLELUJAH!!  Saturday and Sunday we had check-ins and mandatory meetings and here we are.  A couple things.  #1.  Kristy got here on Thursday!  So beyond excited to have her around again!!  #2.  Check-ins.  Definitely not my favorite thing.... except when the exceptionally lovely boys check-in.  Yes, most are freshmen....  There must be something in the water though because there are potentially some of the cutest males I have ever seen.  We have an Iron-man, God, and some other super great name among us.  Living in the freshmen residence halls = constant interaction.  Now is the time to be jealous.  (Unless you work in the Towers too, then you can just appreciate with me :D)  #3.  Mandatory meetings were yesterday.  I actually really loved them.  I had to attend both the girls and the boys meetings for my floors.  I just introduced myself and the FIG and what not.  Minus the boys threatening to lock me on their floor and not let me leave (funny boys), the meetings went really well.!  I love both the floors I'll be working with this year.  There is quite a wide variety of people.  So much diversity!  I love that so much!!  #4.  So today I was sitting in my institute class and I had a couple of impressions/thoughts hit me really hard.  The first one is just how much I love my job.  We were talking about the Savior and how he stopped to help people and perform miracles even during His last week of life when He was so busy and had so much to do.  He stood still and took the time to help those around Him.  Then we talked about taking the time to stand still and listen to the Spirit or to notice that their is someone who needs help.  Thanks to my job, I have the opportunity to do that all the time.  Working with the freshmen and just being in the "dorm-style" living space gives me the opportunity to just stop and take a second to answer questions and help out those who really do need it.  I get to help these new students figure out possibly one of the biggest experiences of their lives and I get to be part of that experience and play a role there.  Cool huh?  I feel so lucky!  In institute,we also talked about how we can be the reminders in people's lives of God and how much he loves us and thinks about us just by stopping to help someone out or saying hello or giving a compliment.  For some reason this hit me really hard.  So that is my challenge to myself (I'm making it public-ish so that I actually do it).

Now on a bit lighter note.  Wanna see how great my staff is this year?

This was our video for training.  It's an introduction to the Towers and the staff.  We're great, aren't we?  Haha.  But seriously though, I love working with this staff this year.  There have been a lot of changes but so far, all have been for the better and I am really looking forward to this year!  Anyway....  I have blabbed on quite a bit this post and wasted about half and hour of my availability hours time but.... enjoy!

Training

Well, here I am killing time before my office shift (and let me tell you, having time to kill during training is amazing!) and I decided to update on my blog a little.  Training has been quite a different experience this time around.  Being a returner makes everything different.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably not quite as attentive as I was during this training last year, probably not a good thing.  But I'm also not nearly as nervous and in my eyes, that is great!  So far all the changes for the Peer Mentors are good ones.  I LOVE actually fully being a part of the Towers staff this year, plus this staff is AMAZING!
So now about the week....  I was going to write a whole spill about this but then I discovered that one of my new dear PM friends wrote quite a fabulous little blog about it already so I'm going to direct you there.

http://sambam121.blogspot.com/2012/08/august-15-august-17-flooded-with-irony.html

Thanks Sami!

This week has definitely been 'flooded' with some fun memories.  I can't wait to see what is to come.
P.S.  I really recommend reading Sami's post.  It even has pictures!!

#19. Favorite childhood story

20 Til I'm 20:  #19.  Do you have any favorite stories from your childhood?

My favorite story as a child was called "A Porcupine Named Fluffy."  It is a story about a little porcupine whose parents name him Fluffy and he tries to figure out why he is named Fluffy because there is nothing about him that is fluffy.  So then he tries to become more fluffy.  He tries being a cloud and a pillow and a bunny and a marshmallow but he still wasn't fluffy.  But then he meets a rhino named Hippo.  They become great friends and learn to accept their names.  Best story ever!  Maybe because growing up I always thought my name was weird?   Who knows!!     

#18. Non-traditional Pet

20 Til I'm 20:  #18.   If you could own a non-traditional pet which would it be?

 

If I could own a non-traditional pet, I would love to own a koala bear.  I just think that they are the cutest little things ever and they seem kinda cuddly, plus they can climb all over just like monkeys can and a monkey would be my second choice.  Once I had a koala bear stuffed animal, and a koala bear backpack -- the kind that look like a stuffed animal just with straps, one of those.  I got it from the Hogle Zoo.  I loved that thing!  But I think a real koala would be even better. 

#17. Vacation

20 Til I'm 20:  #17.  If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be and who would it be with?
If I could go anywhere in the world, I would love to go on a tour of Europe.  England, Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, Ireland, etc. etc.  So basically I'm saying I can't pick one place and that basically ALL of Europe really appeals to me.  Someday, in my dream world, it will happen!  And I will go there with my love, whoever he may be, and we will enjoy a gondola ride in Venice and we will tour castles in Ireland and it will be grand!  The end. 

#16. Greatest Accomplishments

20 Til I'm 20:  #16.  Describe your 3 greatest accomplishments.

I think that of one my greatest accomplishment thus far in my life would have to be getting my Associate Degree at 17.  I started the SUCCESS Academy program at 15 years old and spent only 1/2 of my school day at Dixie High School and I spent the other half at Dixie State College taking college courses.  It definitely was not an easy thing to make it through, as any one who was in the program would admit but it was definitely worth it in the end.  Along with getting a degree I also made some of my best friends and some great memories.  Plus, how many people can say that they graduated with a college degree before getting their high school diploma?  Pretty sweet.
Another one of my greatest accomplishments is kinda silly but I'm proud of it.  My senior year I was the SUCCESS Academy student body president and as a student council/student body we wanted to have a dance for SUCCESS but the head woman in charge was 100% against it for so many ridiculous reasons that I won't go into detail of on here because thinking about them still makes me somewhat angered.  So anyway, a couple of my friends and I plus the rest of the student council decided we were going to have a dance anyway.  $0 to spend and no support from the administration plus trying to keep it all hidden -- It was not an easy task.  But we pulled it off.  Using everyone's resources we had a dance (my favorite dance of senior year, by the way) and it was a huge success (haha success).  The administration didn't find out about it until the day before it happened (minus a couple trusty members who I knew would keep the secret).  We called it the Stress Ball after SUCCESS Academy's beloved "Stress Academy" nickname.  We ended up making money with this dance and used it at graduation to buy gifts for the admin.  Even the ones who didn't support us.  Stick it to the man!
Lastly, I think that surviving my summer in New York is up there with my greatest accomplishments.  I went into detail about that in a previous post so I won't do it again but I must say that the fact that I didn't die or quit that summer is a huge accomplishment in my eyes and I'm proud of myself for that. 
To all of you dear people still reading all these blog posts.  Thank you.  I'm impressed because I don't know if I would read them all if I weren't the one writing them.  So thanks!

#15. Favorite Celebrity

20 Til I'm 2o: #15.  Who was your favorite celebrity as a child?

My favorite celebrity as a child was Justin Timberlake from Nsync.  I absolutely adored Nsync and Justin was my favorite.  My best friend as a kid and I were both obsessed and whenever we played games, she would be with Lance Bass from Nsync and I would be with Justin.  Oh what fun!