Collected Thoughts #greatday

I got the position as RHA Representative on the Student Advisory Council!  I am so excited!  Seriously, this has been something I've thought about and hoped for for a while and now its working out.  I finally worked up the guts to ask my boss yesterday, and today I waited anxiously for the response. When I'd resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't hear back very soon, I decided I'd try to wait patiently.  This afternoon, between episodes of Modern Family, I decided to check my email and sure enough, there was the response from my boss letting me know that I could have the position and that he'd send the info right over!  I couldn't believe it and I shouted a little bit because I was so excited!

Writing about it, I know it seems so little and inconsequential, but I am so grateful for the little things in my life that remind me exactly why I love living so much.

I once felt that acting, singing, and playing music were what brought me the most fulfillment in my life.  Not true.  Somewhere, along the path I paved towards becoming Sterling Scholar, I stumbled across my true love, leadership.  Its something so simple, but something that has become a HUGE part of who I am.  I have come to discover so many opportunities within various leadership groups, and I have grown to love each and every one of those.  In high school, it was being part of club presidencies; in college, it became something to study in classes, try in different groups like RHA and the Student Service Association.  Opportunities just seemed to unfold and I felt myself light up.  Its that feeling I can't seem to feel enough.  The feeling where all of me just feels alive and engaged, throwing myself into a group or cause without abandon.  I can, and plan to, devote the rest of my life in the pursuit of leadership development and sharing what I learn with others.

The side of me, the passionate side that couldn't get enough of life, I thought had died down over the last few years has awakened.  A side of me that I thought I'd outgrown has come back in full bloom and I couldn't be more happy to catch that glimpse of me.  Things like this remind me who I am and where I find true fulfillment in my life.

Thank you Ben for giving me this opportunity.
Thank you to all of my club advisers, teachers, examples, and mentors for helping me to find myself and discover this side of me.
Thank you to all the people who are so willing to work with me, who are patient and understanding as I stretch myself, learn, experiment, experience, grow, and (sometimes) succeed!

-D

Short'n'sweet #latenights

Wow.  Today has been really fun!  Riding the bus is never my favorite thing, but today's ride seemed faster than usual.  When I got to work, my coworkers were there!  I absolutely love the group I work with, seriously they are the greatest and I'm so lucky to have this job.  At any rate, after a busy but successful day at work, my coworkers and I had the chance to take a friend of ours who is visiting from another university on a campus tour.  We went to all of our favorite places and tried to show her the fun and unique things about campus and at the end we stopped by the temple and just stood there on the grounds for a while.  It was so peaceful, and beautiful there.

After that, I went back home.  Following a brief moment in which I was reminded just how different my hometown is from Cleveland, I walked home from the bus stop.  Home was empty, as I discovered while checking different rooms.  When I walked into my mom and dad's room I saw on their bed a box from Dell...

My heart started racing!  It couldn't be... but wait!  It had to be my laptop!  What else had mom and dad ordered from Dell? Nothing, as far as I knew.

I chose to air on the side of caution and leave the package unopened on their bed, waiting anxiously for them to get home.  I did my best to fill my time with other things, mainly watching the Olympics.  Around 11 tonight, when they got home, I asked my parents if the package on their bed was for me.  YES! It so was, despite the website saying they would ship the computer on Thursday the 2nd, and it should be here by August 9th.  Thinking about it, I guess they really did keep their promise, it was certainly here well before the 9th!

That leaves me here.  Typing on my new laptop.  Enjoying every minute of this novelty.

Today's  Thank You's begin with...

Dell. Thank you for the speedy delivery of this laptop.  Seriously, I am so excited because its my very first one!

Next up: Thank you co-workers/friends: Skyler, Kara, Sara, Ben, and Kelsey.  Thanks for an awesome day, a fun presentation run-through, a great campus tour, and so many laughs along the way!  Y'all are the best!  Seriously.

Finally: Thank you Michael, Missy, and Katie for an AMAZING night of Olympic swimming.  It was the greatest thing watching you all swim tonight.  I was inspired, especially by you Katie.  Keep up the hard work!

-Dom

A Roundabout Introduction #ramblings

Thursday night.  Rehearsal night.  

Picture me walking out the door, through the garage, to my dad's car.  I climb in and turn it on.  As the radio comes on, not thinking twice, I hit the button to take me to my presets.  All six of them. FM2, what was once the "kids' presets" which of course turned into just mine (though my older brother and I both use this car) even though most of the time I just hook-up my iPod to the auxiliary port.

Driving from home to play practice, by myself, leads to me either singing in the car, or talking to myself.  Tonight it was the latter.  I marveled that I have managed to captivate all 6 of the presets my brother and I supposedly share, which lead me to recall a series of other memories... I realized in a bigger way than ever before 'I really am spoiled.' Almost fuming I thought about that.  The more I thought, the more I realized how true that is.  My parents and siblings are right; being the youngest child really has done a number on my ego!

Frowning, and then laughing quietly to myself [#lqtm] I made a list: 

4 Ways to Know You're Spoiled:

1. You know your brother doesn't like "your music", but you still save "your stations" on the presets you are supposed to share in your dad's car. No one says or does anything.  In fact, you'd be surprised if Dad even knows you've capitalized them.
2. You work 3 jobs and go to ask your parents for money.  After a long discussion, they still give it to you acknowledging that only you would (a) have the audacity to do so, and (b) get the money from them.
3. You want to move out, and at first, you think you can afford it.  Thinking to yourself "I can get a job in my new town!" (as any optimistic youngest child would) and insisting all summer that, even if it'll only be for a few months, come August you will be moving, you set your heart on this plan (which means, it's going to happen).  Sure enough, you run out of money.  Quickly.  Pathetically pleading and halfheartedly job-hunting, you ask your parents for help their parents for money.  They oblige.
4. You're 8 years old, sharing a room with your older brother.  One night, you decide you're so sick of him that you kick him out, becoming the first of the many children in your family to have your own bedroom.  No one in the family does anything to stop you from kicking your brother out. 

Oh my heck!  What a jerk.  It's a sad realization to see that you're someone who has sorta taken your lifestyle for granted.  You're someone who has taken for granted the generosity of your parents and getting your way more often than not.  I'm not trying to say that my parents and family members are all pushovers, or that I've always been given everything I've ever wanted: neither of those things are true.  I am saying that I've been pretty ungrateful and that my gratitude has been too little too late.  

That being said: I'm starting this blog for 2 reasons.  First: to express gratitude out loud.  I want to take the chance every time I write (which will hopefully be every day, but I'm not making any promises) to publicly thank someone (or even multiple someones) for something they've done for me.  Second reason: I'm writing this because I want some sort of journal and this seems the most probable way for me to keep writing it.  

Let the inaugural Blog Thank You's begin:

• Thank You: Mom and Dad for everything!  You are incredible and I love you.  Seriously.  You have done, still do, and will do so much for me.  Every day of my life you somehow go out of your way in my behalf.  Thank you!  I love you so much!
• Thank You: Leisl for inviting me to be a part of You Can't Take it With You.  I have enjoyed being part of a play again for the first time in three years!  Also, I didn't realize until the night you weren't at rehearsal how grateful I am to be "married" to you as opposed to someone else in the cast because I'm already comfortable around you.  Thank you!  Love you!
• Thank You: Reader.  I don't know who you are, since I haven't yet (nor do I ever plan to) invited you to read this.  I apologize for my poor writing, haphazard thoughts, and overly-sentimental thoughts.  Thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoy this and will be patient with me as I share these thoughts.  You're awesome!

I really look forward to this blog!

-Dom