Thursday Rant: Construction

"Wait for the opportune moment" - Jack Sparrow

Unfortunately, SUU failed to wait for said opportune moment to start such a major construction in the middle of campus during the middle of the semester. Above is the picture of the construction zone located behind the Heat plant which has now spread all the way across the sidewalk and has divided the Centrum Arena and Tech building from the rest of Campus. Furthermore, I like the parking lot that is located next to the tech building as most of my classes are located over there and my office is in the Sharwan Smith. But now in order to access my 2 classes on the other side of campus I have to literally cut through the Sharwan Smith and come out and around to access those other buildings. Not cool.....who's bright idea was that and what could not wait until the Summer.

As a side note, not so much on the rant line of thought, the new Science Building is well on it's way to completion. If miss staring at it's awesomeness, you can always get a peak of it at the SUU Website. It is looking pretty amazing and I assume that those students in the Science's are very excited to have a new asbestos free building to work in, with a fun new basement for you to study Astronomy in....which is somewhat of a oxy-moron and ironic. Tune in next Tuesday for the weeks events here at SUU and Wednesday for new observations and finally Thursday for another rant about something happening on campus.

Event's at SUU this Week 2/22 - 2/26

In the famed words of Snoop Dogg "Greetings Loved Ones, let's take a journey",
        

This is a great week to be on SUU campus as far as events are concerned. First off you should know that today (Wednesday 2/23) is the last day to get discounted tickets to Brian Regan before the community can buy and the ticket price goes up. SO GO GET THEM BEFORE 5:00 PM. If you don't know who or what Brian Regan does above is a sketch about health care.

The Black Student Union and SUUSA present the 7th annual Step Show in the SUU Auditorium on Friday at 7:00 PM. It is definitely something you will wanna come out to see as there are a lot of students and professionals that will be performing and is something pretty unique in Cedar. There will also be a dance after words in the ballroom. Admission is only $2 to get into both events with a valid t-card.

If the step show isn't your thing, Friday there is also a SUU's Got Talent competition in the living room from 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM. It promises to be something epic.

Finally, on Saturday there will be TWO free showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt.1 in the Sterling Church Auditorium at 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM. Life is good at SUU this week. Check in later today for this week's observation and tomorrow for the Thursday Rant.

Rant Thursdays: Phones and Follies

Now I have been involved in some awkward situations and complained about some annoying things but I feel as if this week I have something to really rant about. When one takes a journey to the rest room it is always fairly appropriate, especially for men, to just get in, follow the one full urinal stall away man code (ladies if you are confused by this read rule 2.1 at http://guycode.wordpress.com/), take care of business, wash the hands and leave. Now another part of this is that men don't talk to each other while in the bathroom.

So as I was in the bathroom the other day, going to take care of business, I was confronted with a seemingly increasing problem from what I hear. I was one stall away, as dictated, from this other gentle man and there was another gentleman on the porcelain throne. Then the guy on the throne, let us call him Max, gets a call on the phone. Now, social rules would say, let it go to voicemail and call them back when you are in a more appropriate venue. Not Max though, he decided right here and now was appropriate for him.

Now the major problem is that everything echos in the bathroom. Even the quietest sounds are magnified ten-fold in the restroom. So me and the other guy at the urinal both froze up once Max decided to answer. It is awkward to have people hear you relieving yourself especially someone you don't know. So Max is chatting it up enthusiastically with someone who I believe may have been female. Urinal User #2 and I have both at this point given up on finishing do to performance anxiety and so we both have quietly moved to the sinks to wash up before attempting to leave ASAP. Then things get weirder because Max starts taking care of his business in a VERY LOUD fashion while still on the phone with undisclosed female, which of course is magnified. Now I personally would be mortified, but it is just amazing to me that this guy wasn't discussing anything life threatening and felt the need to be one the phone in the bathroom. Completely absurd.

So my advice for the week is please, please, PLEASE do not join this growing trend. Save your cell phone calls for when you are out of the bathroom and not making everyone in there uncomfortable. Plus there is an increased possibility of dropping your phone in the toilet by doing this activity which would just be terrible all around. Be classy!

V-Day Approaches

With Valentine's Day approaching I thought that this observation has become increasingly apparent around the campus. PDA! (Public Display's of Affection)

Specifically, there is this one couple that sits outside of the Vice-President's Office in the Rotunda EVERYDAY. The problem is that this couple is disgusting. I am an understanding individual when it comes to wanting to show affection to a significant other. The issue is this couple is really awkward and doing thing that maybe even married people don't do in the privacy of their own homes. Lets call them Bonnie and Clyde. They sit in a (singular) chair together that overlook the stairs that lead to the C-Store. At that point they just go at it, her sitting on top of him and just ravishing each other. The main issues I have is that, 1) they are not good kissers and 2) no person ever tells them, "Hey that is gross, get a room".

The other thing that I have begun to notice is there has been a lot of preening/strutting of all the single individuals around campus. The stigma of being alone/ or not in a relationship can force people to get a little more desperate around Valentine's day.

So my advice for the week is as follows: 1) If you ARE in a relationship please think of the other people around you before you decide to make out in the middle of the Rotunda. 2) If you ARE NOT in a relationship, don't get so desperate for attention and a relationship that you make a fool of your self. Just be patient and when the time is right you will find someone, whether or not that is on or before Valentines Day is up to the fates. 3) Between 12:00-1:00 PM check the second floor of the Rotunda for Bonnie and Clyde. If they are going at it like rabbits, just yell for them to "get a room". Slowly they may catch on and I will probably here said comment from my office and it will bring me great joy.

Poetry in Motion

Next week, Jon Goode, a spoken word artist, will be performing in the SUU Living room. I thought you might enjoy getting a little taste of how amazing he is.

This piece is entitled "Hell Naw" and describes one of those girls or sometimes guys, everyone has seen them, that has been just a little too friendly with too many people and had a few too many. So I hope the next time you have some one who is just a little to persistent, that this clip can bring you some happiness. Come see Jon next Thursday February 17th.

A new post coming on Thursday about observations seen or heard at SUU.

The Rhythm of the Night

This weeks entry is a actually from a few weeks back but it was too priceless to not share with everyone. As an event manager at SUU I had planned a dance for the Friday of Welcome Back Week or the first week of the second semester. Now, as I was supervising the dance in our commons area (aka the Rotunda) from the second floor balcony I was able to see a very interesting situation unfold.

As the music pumped and the bodies gyrated and danced in a large mob of sweat, I noticed a shorter (5' 9") somewhat nerdy (hardcore glasses) and awkward (scrawny) looking man dancing with about 2 other guys that fall into the same genre of person. Definitely an introvert but more than likely freshman that were wanting to try and branch out so they decided to hit up the dance. Now the interesting part is this young socially inept freshman, lets call him Milhouse because he reminds me of Milhouse from the Simpsons, was about to get so much more than he had hoped for this night.

He is dancing with his friends, mostly just goofing off with some really bad disco impressions, when a very attractive blond approaches the group. Now at first, the group almost seemed like a herd of gazelle on the Serengeti range sensing a cheetah in their midst, very skittish. The girl's, Kat's, confidence and strut gave off an air of intimidation that the men just assumed she wanted to get by so they began to move over, but she really turned their world upside down when she started to dance with Milhouse.

Now when I say dance I don't mean like a stake dance style of moving your body where you have to have the book of Mormon between your respective bodies. This was full contact and poor Milhouse was just trying to keep up with what was happening to him as he was ravished by this wildcat. After about 90 seconds of this she turned around, looked deeply into Milhouse's eyes, and just PLANTED A KISS on Milhouse. His shock was apparent even from the second floor from where I made this observation. His body tensed up and his hands were clamped awkwardly to his sides. As she pulled him in for a little bit deeper kiss he started to attempt to awkwardly embrace her but only for about 5 seconds. This whole kiss lasted about 10 seconds, then Kat spun sharply on her heels and ran off giggling into the mass of people and the rhythm of the DJ's sub woofers.

Now the way the kiss looked to me, I would have to say that Milhouse may have very well gotten his first kiss that night. While I don't know if he even caught Kat's name or had any idea who she was I gotta say that it is one heck of story for a first kiss, even if it was just a stupid dare. The things that happen on the campus of Southern Utah University, tune in next week for more interesting observations from SUU.

Jesse