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.

Sums him Up Pretty Well

From a Yahoo article about Obama's visit to New Orleans:

But Obama's speech didn't offer any new plans for restoring the Gulf, bringing New Orleans' fast-disappearing wetlands back to life or cleaning up BP's spilled oil. Some residents had hoped Obama would take the opportunity to announce an early end to the deepwater drilling moratorium he enacted after the spill. But he made no mention of the moratorium, which people here say is costing jobs.

Put Out the Fire, Pick a New Adjective

Random Thought. I am SICK of people using the word "stoked" to describe how excited they are about something. It is overused, not very descriptive and just sounds like an ugly word. You stoke a fire... but you shouldn't be stoked.

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2 Minutes in Heaven is Better than 1 Minute in Heaven

Today, a series of events transpired on the D-Line bus that seriously made my day complete. Like the title states, it all happened in about 2 minutes. So here goes: I boarded "the D" around 6 o'clock and it began to fill up quickly. I took a seat in the front of the bus, facing sideways, and watched as all the seats were slowly taken. After every available seat was filled, a girl with a guide puppy in training (black lab... very adorable) stepped on "the D." I asked her if she would like my seat, but she politely declined; she instead stood near me at the front of the bus. A few seconds later, another girl came onto the bus, kinda cute, so I asked her, "Would you like my seat?" She kindly declined. I replied with, "Are you sure?" in a half-joking manner to lighten the mood. She again resisted and stood across from guide-puppy girl. Then two Asian girls stepped through the double doors of the bus, single file. One of the girls saw the dog sitting cutely on the floor and jumped, clutching her chest, as if she saw a giant rat. She continued to hurry past the 'beast' even after she knew it was dog, obviously frightened and trying to calm down. A couple more people walked in, then I hear a voice from a few seats back.; it was a guy sitting in one of the two-seat clumps that face forward. "Would you like my seat?" he asks some girl in the aisle, "No thanks" she says. BUT THEN: he responded with, "Are you sure?" It was said in the exact same manner and tone that I had used only a minute earlier. I couldn't believe my ears! It was like he was a contestant on "The Pick-Up Artist" and was using a new pick-up line he learned. I was weirded out of my mind. He definitely wasn't making fun of me, because he looked like the nice guy type that is usually a bit awkward around girls. But come on, man, at least wait until the next bus ride to use it. I looked at the girl I had offered my seat to, and we joked about it - how that 'line' must be the signature line used on buses or something. I explained that, according to me, I made it up... and then sat back and laughed and the overwhelming sequence of events.

Holy Lemonade.

Yesterday I went to a restaurant called BJ's. (I have no clue what it stands for, but I'm pretty sure it's not what you're thinking). Anyways, the server came over and it was time to order beverages. Shannon ordered first and said, "Water." I had to order next and found myself in quite a predicament, because everyone knows that once one person orders water, the rest of the table has to, or else they will suffer a slight guilt for ordering something else. Most of the time it's because you're cheap (like me) or don't want to feel like a fat-ass. Either way, I felt inclined to say "water" just as Shannon did, as if I was supposed to, in order to be polite or something. So I gave in; I ordered water, even though I had my eye on the strawberry lemonade. I regretted my decision immediately, but hey, I was saving a few bucks. Lame right? I was sitting there in my watery shame, as my friends ordered fantastic things like Root Beer and Pepsi. I blew it. (Lol, BJ's joke). Anyways, just as the server was about to leave the table, I gathered up some courage and asked for the strawberry lemonade. I gotta say, it was probably one of the best decisions of my life because when it came to the table and I tasted its syrupy sweetness, I was in heaven. Without a doubt, it was the best lemonade I will ever have in my life. The others at the table tasted and agreed, it was amazing.