The shallow side

A few random thoughts.

1. I voted yesterday in the BYUSA elections (which ended about half an hour ago, I think), then went to take my grammar midterm. As I was waiting in the testing center for my cover sheet to be printed out, one of the girls behind the desk asked all of us if anyone had voted yet. “I just did,” I said. “Oh,” she replied, “who did you vote for?” “Summer and Devon. Yellow.” She gave a mild frown of disappointment, then said, “Would you mind saying why? Just curious.” I blushed as I realized what I had to say: “Um, because my friend knows her?” Not because I’d looked at the two teams’ policies. Not because I’d given any thought to it. My reasons were purely social. Now, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad reason to do things (sometimes it is, but often it’s not), but I did feel remarkably shallow for voting without thinking. Granted, BYUSA elections don’t matter nearly as much as municipal/state/national elections, but even so, I need to be a better citizen. ~sigh~

2. This morning on my walk up to campus I realized with clarity what kind of a librarian I was born to be: literature. While I love languages and history and science and all the rest, only literature really, really, really excites me. So that’s what I’ll do. I’d rather not specialize, since I love it all, but I’ll probably do either YA or adult. It boggles my mind, really: someday I’ll get paid to do the thing I love most. And it’s work! Ah, I love life. :)

3. Today in one of my classes a girl walked up to another girl and said, “Hey, gorgeous,” as she gave her a hug. It’s interesting how that’s completely acceptable for girls, but for a guy to walk up to another and say, “Hey, handsome,” as they embrace is definitely not kosher. (I myself have no inclinations to do that, thankfully.) Gender differences are fascinating.

4. Most of the people I know are already in my cell phone, so whenever an unknown number shows up, I almost always let it ring — I figure that if they really need to talk to me, they’ll leave a message. I also rarely pick up the phone after I go to bed, and if I’m stretched for time, I’ll leave a call unanswered and get back to it later. I used to feel kind of bad for screening my calls this way — as if I’m somehow rejecting the person who’s calling me — but I’ve since realized that I need to have some semblance of control over my phone (and time), rather than the other way round. I bring this up because my roommate was in the room with me the other night when some other guy called, and I screened it because I was almost asleep, and my roommate then ran into the guy at the grocery store and casually mentioned that I’d been awake but had screened the guy’s call. (And I home taught the guy’s roommates last night.) Ah, life. :)

re: 1 - I don’t think I know anyone who is as good a citizen as he should be. At least you voted! And it seems to me that social voting isn’t too bad a thing with regard to BYUSA - that’s a social organization as much as anything else. Also, voting in any case is usually based on two things: 1) How well you know the candidate/s, and 2) how well the things you know about them would justify their receiving that position. Sometimes that means voting along party lines, which I find a troublesome practice at best; sometimes that means voting for someone who’s of the same religion, which can also be troublesome (e.g. Harry Reid and Mitt Romney are not much alike at all, from all that I’ve seen and read). So maybe we’re left with the question, “Which is worse - not voting at all or uninformed voting?” I have yet to make up my mind on this, especially in the different contexts where we cast votes in this country.

re: 4 - Part of my Life Philosophy is a refusal to let my life be run by telephones. Here’s a cursory look at my call-screeing hierarchy:

If it’s a call from one of my church leaders, I will pick up.

If I receive a call that I can identify and am expecting, from whomever, I will most likely pick up.

If I receive a call that I can identify and am not expecting, I am likely to pick up if it’s family. I am admittedly less likely to pick up if it’s a friend.

If I receive a call that I cannot identify, I am more likely to pick up if it’s from an area code that I recognize (or a similar number, as from 801-422-xxxx, for example, from BYU).

Being in a hurry decreases the likelihood that I will pick up in any case, and of course, if I’m in class or at church, my phone is off, so these rules apply instead to after the class/meeting, when I find out who’s called. Obviously, a message left also contributes to how urgent I feel my response is.

It may be considered rude, but I prefer being on my own schedule to being on someone else’s, and my phone-answering habits reflect this. I think that’s one reason why I like email rather than phone conversations: each party can respond on their own schedule. Granted, marriage will alter my phone habits somewhat, as my time will no longer be “my own” as per the marriage covenant, and I actually look forward to that. But until then, my life will not be ruled by the telephone.

Re: the voting bit, I recently read somewhere (probably Connor’s blog) about how people hear Pres. Bush invoke the name of God and automatically trust what he says. It hit me because that’s precisely what I’ve done. I don’t mean that he’s not sincere — I just mean that we can’t take everything people say on face value. Actions have a voice, and if we pay no attention to them, we’re doing a disservice to ourselves and to our nation.

As for which is worse, I’d learn toward not voting at all, if only because it’s easier to become an informed voter when you’re already voting than it is to start voting, period.

And your call-screening hierarchy is similar to mine. :) I too prefer e-mail for most things.

Hey you future librarian! I can totally see you as a literature specialist in an academic library. :)

I know. :) ~goosebumps~