aimless wondering

As I sit in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, just having completed two flights from Sacramento International (Delta doesn’t do direct flights from Sacramento to Phoenix, which is why I was in Salt Lake City when I wrote my last post) after having visited one of my closest friends who’s completing a summer internship in Folsom, California. We not only did all the usual things that we do when we hang out together (eat, watch movies, go bowling, be merry), but we also found some of the more interesting things that Folsom had to offer, including visiting Sky High Sports, a facility solely consisting of trampolines, the Folsom Powerhouse Dam, the first large-scale hydro-electric dam, and, of course, the Folsom State Prison (well, okay, the museum), site of one of Johnny Cash’s most famous concerts.

In all, since leaving home last Thursday, this trip has been quite enjoyable, filled with lots of laughs and also relatively relaxing at the same time. I became very aware of how soon I’ll be returning to DePauw last night while I was attempting to clear my head.

Anywho, the point of this post is something that crossed my mind as I was walking to my gate in Salt Lake City to make my flight to Phoenix. I had a bit of time on my hands, so I wasn’t in a rush, and I realized that I was whistling as I walked through the terminal. Then I realized that I was the only person doing it in the terminal at the time. It’s not like it was terribly noticeable, since any airport terminal has its own hustle and bustle and share of ambient noise, but it made me realize that, throughout the course of this trip, as well as just in general, I’ve noticed that whistling isn’t really in vogue anymore.

I’m certainly not saying that whistling is “not cool” or frowned upon, but it just seems like it doesn’t happen as often. I also don’t mean to create a broad generalization from something that I noticed in an airport in Utah (although maybe that’s the reason I didn’t hear whistling 🙂 ). But I digress; I realized that I whistle because I enjoy doing so, and it’s usually caused by my having a song of some sort stuck in my head at the time anyway. All I know is that, maybe if we all whistled a little more often, we’d relax and enjoy a beautiful (if simple) aspect of life.

-MJH

refreshing occurrences

I’m currently waiting around at the Salt Lake City International Airport on a layover to go visit a good friend of mine in Sacramento, California, where he is spending the summer doing an internship. The only reason I’m this far west, however, is because of Phi Gamma Delta‘s (otherwise known as “Fiji”‘s) 162nd Ekklesia; as a Chapter officer (the Historian; much-mocked, always-aggravated), I had the wonderful opportunity to go the Arizona Biltmore for this official meeting of the governing body of my Fraternity. What makes the Ekklesia unique is that all of the undergraduate chapters have the opportunity to work with graduate brothers on committees to propose changes to the Fraternity, and then the undergraduates all vote on them, with the graduate chapters also getting one voting delegate. In other words, all of the decisions made in directing the Fraternity are decided upon (for the most part) by the undergraduate Ekklesia.

One of the most interesting parts about going to an event where one can meet other members of their Fraternity is how different those other members can be from the general make-up of one’s own chapter. That said, it was fascinating to interact with many other young men who try their best to follow Phi Gamma Delta’s five core values of Friendship, Knowledge, Service, Morality and Excellence and realize that, although their personalities may differ, we all share a very common and strong bond together by being Fijis.

It was also amazing to walk into the Arizona Biltmore on Thursday almost just thinking about when my term as a Chapter officer will be over and walking out this morning with a renewed sense of accomplishing what I set out to do as a leader within my Chapter before my term is up; to me, anything less is a personal failure. This is certainly helped by the fact that I not only got to meet other undergraduate brothers from Fiji chapters around the country (and Canada), but that the bonds of our Chapter cabinet have become stronger in this collective experience. Whether it was the free time spent together, the ridiculous quotes compiled or the meetings in which we groaned when someone didn’t bother to follow Robert’s Rules of Order, I think this experience is going to allow our Cabinet to finish our term strong as a new set of leaders within our Chapter step up to the challenge of taking the helm of our Chapter for the next year.

Now, before summer ends, I’ll get to spend a few days with one of my very best friends in this world, who started his internship in Sacramento about a week after I got home for the summer and won’t return until I go back to DePauw for *gulp* my senior year. I can’t wait to see what he’s up to, but I’m certainly not afraid to find out 😀

Hoping I don’t keep up this horrible laxness in this medium,
MJH