G-Unit may be the highlight of my day

I love that everyday is different, and that everyday is filled with something insanely chaotic and something so blissful.

Today’s the perfect example of this.



Also let it be known that today, Monday August 26, 2010, was my last first day of school. Ever. PDL (PRAISE DA LORD). Anyway, class was class. I learned about acoustics in rooms and why it’s important. It felt so weird to be on campus but it was nice to feel so many familiar faces and not just the people in my major. Simply, it felt like home.
(pic of Gallaudet)

Chaotic moment: [morning]
Today started out a little hectic being at my old house trying to gesture Spanglish to the cleaning workers that came to our old house today. I understand my gift of being insanely detail oriented, but it also sucks when it comes to the daunting task of 6 females moving completely out of a house.

Blissful moment: [current time 9:56pm]
I’m sitting on the rooftop of my apartment using their free Wifi (check), and watching the beautiful city lights (check), and its about 70 degrees (check). However the most touching moment of today was that I walked in from a 3 hour long class, which finally ended at 9pm, to find our concierge aka “G” yell “Ellen” from behind his desk.

OK so a little about my friend “G”:
-he’s insanely quiet
-older African American
-calls me “honey” and “sweetie” when we say hello
-I met him 4 days ago
-he helped me figure out how to turn off the high tech TV in the common area (note: it was right beside the door)

Anyway, it just felt so nice to have someone welcome me home to my new apartment, especially with Beth being gone tonight. I chuckled to myself as I was riding the elevator up to my room thinking about how my friendship with “G” suddenly ignited in my very ellen-overly-friendly encounter last week when we were moving in.

Some lessons I thought about: (1) it does not matter how smart you are, how rich you are, or how beautiful you are. If you treat people like basic humans and acknowledge their presence they will return that favor. Annnd, isn’t that what life should truly be like? (2) Saying “hi” to someone can actually make their day (exhibit A: this story) (3) from what I can see, no other residents (yet) other than Beth and I actually say hello to this man and know his name.

Oh and another thing about names. Calling someone by their name when you first meet them not only helps you remember their name but it also is an intimate way of affirming them. It’s an indirect action of acknowledgement and also sincerity. One of my supervisors this summer told me that she feels awkward calling someone by their name, so she decided to refer to me as “student girl.” This was in all the best intentions, and I refered to her as “teacher lady.” Something to thing about…agree or disagree? How often to you use someone’s name to their face, especially when you first meet them?

Nonetheless this day was good. And I might be writing many more blogs about G.