All in a Hard Day's Work

Well, I figured ever since I've graduated from BYU I should probably be documenting the things going on in my life. To start off, I was prompted to move back home to Louisiana to find a job since Utah was not producing any leads. Since arriving home, I have had a few jobs offered to me, but I just haven't felt good about any of them until this one that I recently just accepted(or so I thought) So, last week I had an interview with a temp agency and it went really well. She had me placed within a day for a job at a local Health Center. She told me that I would be a bilingual patient coordinator or something like that. She made it sound really important and that there was plenty of room for growth within the company. Upon arriving for my first day on the job, I discovered that the place I would be working at was a walk-in health clinic in the ghetto, just a few blocks from the Walmart on Tchoupitoulas. I was given a quick tour of the facility and then I was redirected to the front desk, where I would be working(not the picture of the job that had been so beautifully painted by the Temp Hirer) I knew instantly this temp job was just that-temporary. I would not be lasting long. While at the front desk, I was given no responsibilities. I just sat there and watched the other 2 front desk workers call up patients and check them in and direct them to their appointments. O by the way, in case you were wondering, the two girls that were working in the front desk with me were named Jenarra(sp? pronounced juh-nar(like car)-uh) and Kelon(key-lawn). I wrote their names down immediately, knowing that I would forget them. In fact, every five minutes I was taking a glance at my notebook to remember how to pronounce Jenarra's name.

All but 15 minutes of this job was spent doing nothing but staring at a wall. Well i guess not the whole time. There were some entertaining things I saw go down. I felt like I was in the movie "Barber Shop". Jenarra and Kelon seemed to know almost all the patients, fed ex deliverers and random members of the hood just stoppin by to cool off in the AC haha. Also, most of the patients that would come to this clinic were there to get there free mammogram. Multiple old women would just come up to the window and tell me there boobs hurt. haha speaking of mammograms, this one drunk older black guy came in off the street and somehow snuck in the locked door passage way and began roaming around. He began asking where the mammogram women were, hoping to find them naked, only dressed in robes waiting to be seen by the doctor. haha. we had to kick him out quick. There were so many other crazy things I saw; like a schizophrenic lady who would change tones of her voice from high to low as if in different conversation, ladies wearing "hurricane katrina survivor" tshirts, an old man in a walker telling me to pass him the "operation protect" fishbowl bucket, full of condoms, so he could grab the biggest handful possible to stuff his pockets, while slowly strolling out, a suicidal man claiming he needed his refill prescription of valium "now", ladies complaining that they could have spent their $20 co-pay on a few pounds of crawfish and crabs. . . Leo, bony-Bob, Cliff. . . I could go on forever baby! hahaha
Anyways, as entertaining as that one day was, I knew it wasn't long-term, so that same night I decided to just quit right then in order to save both me and them the time. Soooo, you probably wondered why I have that one pic of the asian/latino at the header of this blog. . .It's a long story, but I guess it's worth explaining. Last night Levi and I were looking for jobs on craigslist. A few minutes into it, we clicked on the salon/spa/fitness employment tab and found this little gem:

This was just too good to pass up. I knew then that we just HAD to respond to this ad. Levi handed me the keyboard and I just began typing away. Here was my response:

"hello there sir/mam. i was writing to inquire about your posting for ASIAN,CAUCASIAN ,HISPANIC,LATINO,MEXICAN MODELS. before "discussing compensation" i just had a few questions.
1) are you looking for male or female models?
2) do you need prior modeling experience?
3) is it acceptable if we are only bred in just 2 of the races mentioned ABOVE?
4) you are probably wondering what is meant by "we" in the aforementioned question #3?
5) We= my friend(who is mix bred also) and I :)
6) do the free haircuts come with coloring also?
7) How long are the photoshoots?
8) in which magazine will the pictures be appearing?

OK. . on to the compensation discussion:
my first offer: 2 hot bods for haircut, styling, coloring, and a $20 gift certificate to Target
I will be awaiting the counteroffer. If you would like pics please let me know ;)
-Guillermo H."

Golden!!! the best part was that within ten minutes he replied! He said, "Give me a call, my name is Moses" and then left his phone number. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
please let me know of things we should talk about if/when I call Moses. hahaha

Don't Mess With The Jimmer

Meet Jimmer Fredette:




He is the starting point guard for the BYU Basketball team and arguably the most exciting player to watch in college basketball this season. Averaging over 27 points per game, Jimmer is currently in the running for the National Player of the Year Award. Jimmer has quickly become one of the most respected and loved basketball players in the country. After posting 47 points against Utah earlier in the season, Jimmer's popularity amongst America has quickly grown. Jimmermania is sweeping across the nation. He has been all over tv programs, sportscenter, radio shows, websites, twitter, etc. In Provo, he is reverenced. He is worshiped. He is idolized. Apparently there is one BYU student who doesn’t get the hype. Here is a letter to the editor of the school's Daily Universe that she wrote entitled "Idol Worship":

"I can’t walk across campus without hearing Jimmer Fredette’s name a dozen times. His name comes up everywhere: in class, at work, during lunch … really, people? Cut it out with the Jimmer worship. Last time I checked, idol worship was very much frowned upon in the scriptures.
Don’t you have a life to live? Then quit wasting it in front of the TV or in lines at the Marriott Center.
At the very least, stop trying to convert those of us who don’t follow BYU sports and don’t care that baseball and badminton are two different things. Pushing basketball on us isn’t going to make us like it any better.
I’m not blaming Jimmer for all this; was it Nephi’s fault in the Book of Mormon when his brothers worshiped him? As far as I’m concerned, Jimmer is perfectly free to live his dreams. If he reaches his goals and lives his dreams, more power to him. I would like the same courtesy from his fans: let me live my own dreams in peace, even if they don’t include ever sitting in the Marriott Center screaming my brains out.

Michelle Peralta
Apple Valley, Calif."


Unfortunately for the Jimmer-unbeliever, she signed the letter with her real name. To make matters worse, she posted a status update to her PUBLIC Facebook wall a few hours later:
"just wrote another irritated letter to the editor of the BYU newspaper. I hope this doesn't turn into a habit"

Last night I was on a BYU message board (cougarboard.com) and saw that someone had posted that her profile was open to comment on. Literally within seconds of reading this I went to her status and watched as the comments poured in. It went from 4 comments to about 27 in literally 2 minutes. In the next hour the responses to her status went viral. I was seriously crying laughing at some of the comments. Within an hour she had over 250 comments on her status. It took her until this morning when she had over 500 comments that she finally changed her facebook settings to private. Luckily someone archived all the comments for us here. Unfortunately, I was too busy laughing my head off and "liking" comments that I didn't get to contribute to her erupting status. Most of the comments were very creative, however there were a few that were a little too over the top blasphemous. Here are just a few of my favorite comments:

"You are hereby invited to attend the first church of the Jimmer! We worship every Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon."

"Wow, glad I finally finished reading this thread. Now I can brush my teeth, pray to Jimmer, and go to bed."

"One time the BYU basketball team was walking on the beach and they looked backed and only saw one set of footprints!"

"looks like your facebook page just got jimmered"

"If this thread goes down, Jimmer will resurrect it, he has that power. You know that now, right Michelle?"

So anywho, this story went viral overnight and was talked about on radio shows, internet articles, and sports websites.

Here is an invitation that FrontRowFanatics has sent Mrs. Michelle Peralta:

Scripture Power

Today I completed The Book of Mormon. I don’t even know how many times I’ve read it, but I’ve learned it really doesn’t matter the number of times its read, rather, more importantly is the consistent daily reading from its words. Bruce R. McConkie said, “I sometimes think that one of the best-kept secrets of the kingdom is that the scriptures open the door to the receipt of revelation… All of us are entitled to the sprit of prophecy and of revelation in our lives, both for our personal affairs and in our ministry. The prayerful study and pondering of the holy scriptures will do as much, or more than any other single thing, to bring that spirit, the sprit of prophecy and spirit of revelation, into our lives.” Dallin H. Oaks added, “The idea that scripture reading can lead to inspiration and revelation opens the door to the truth that a scripture is not limited to what it meant when it was written but may also include what that scripture means to a reader today. Even more, scripture reading may also lead to current revelation on whatever else the Lord wishes to communicate to the reader at that time . . . However talented men may be in administrative matters; however eloquent they may be in expressing their views; however learned they may be in worldly things they will be denied the sweet whisperings of the Spirit that might have been theirs unless they pay the price of studying, pondering, and praying about the scriptures.” Finally, Merrill J. Bateman said, “A casual, infrequent exposure to the scriptures will generally not open the door to the whisperings of the Spirit or provide insights.” I have seen the biggest difference when I read my scriptures daily, versus a casual reading here and there. I feel a lot more at peace and feel happier. Sundays are not the only days in which I feel the Spirit regularly now. President Eyring said, "If you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost today, you may take it as evidence that the Atonement is working in your life. For that reason and many others, you would do well to put yourself in places and in tasks that invite the promptings of the Holy Ghost."

The prophet Joseph Smith said of the Book of Mormon: “a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” It still baffles me how anyone could read this book and deny the words that are in it. Moroni states, “And if there be faults they be the faults of a man. But behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, he that condemneth , let him be aware lest he shall be in danger of hell fire.”

I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I have seen it change my life and many others. I know that Joseph Smith translated it through the power of God and through this book we may know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet in these last days. And if Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet, then the authority and priesthood given to him is the authority of God on Earth. With this authority, I know we can be baptized in Christ’s church to enter the kingdom of God and be sealed with our families in God’s temples in order to live together forever with our families.

Also, here is an awesome testimony from a Latter-day Apostle, Jeffrey R. Holland:

Called out by the Professor

Soooo right now one of the classes in which I am enrolled is Molecular Biology with Dr. Evans. Each Friday we have a take home quiz that is due at the beginning of class. This past Friday I was comparing my quiz with my friends before submitting and noticed that I had mislabeled the y axis for the x axis and vice versa(No worries it's not cheating, in fact my teacher encourages us to work with other students). There wasn't room on the quiz to scratch it out and redo it so I pulled out a blank sheet of paper and corrected it. I asked around if anyone had a stapler, glue, paperclip or anything that I could attach my newly drawn graph to my quiz with, but found no such luck. The TA's were going around picking up the quizzes so I didn't have time to leave the class and look for a stapler. All of a sudden my Cajun improvisation skills kicked in. I remembered i had gum in my bag, so I quickly popped a piece in my mouth and chewed it enough to get it moist and sticky. I then converted my trident gum into 4 pieces of "ticky tac" and pressed them in the four corners of my graph. I know, genius huh? Here's a pic of the final product.

(If you look carefully you can see the TA's comments of "EW" and "This is gross" hahaha)

So anyways, yesterday at the beginning of class my professor totally called me out. haha. He mentioned how there was one student that made a fix to his quiz and strategically placed 4 pieces of gum to attach the correction to the quiz. He held up my quiz and showed the class and everyone in the auditorium started laughing. He gave me props on how creative it was. . . the best part though is that i got full credit! HA! Here is a video of class yesterday. If you click on the bar around the 2:40 part you can hear him talk about me.

connect.byu.edu/p86208578/

It's Been a While

Well, it's a new year and with new years come resolutions. My sister Jessica gave each one of us siblings a "Dream Big 2010" journal last year for Christmas, so that we might write down our goals and dreams. I happened to locate my book and noticed the first page was full of all these awesome goals I had made and realized that there was not one that I accomplished. So let's just cross out that last "0" of 2010 and tear out that first page and make it "Dream Big 2011."

I've heard that if you don't write down your goals chances are that they won't come to pass. I figured I would share some of my dreams/goals with y'all so that not only will I be accountable for them, but y'all can keep me in check also. So here goes nothing. . .
Atop my list are a few of the following:
-graduate in April (I just had my exit interview with my counselor so I'm on track!)
-get straight A's my last semester
-take the GMAT this summer
-find a job for after graduation

Another goal I have (encouraged by my sister Laura) is to write in my journal (or blog) more about my tender mercies and the way in which I've seen the hand of God in my life. Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave an amazing talk tonight at the Marriott Center (A rebroadcast can be seen here) The main theme he talked about was "Give us this day our daily bread" taken from the Lord's prayer. He compared this to the manna in which Moses' people received daily. Here are just a few quotes that I loved (hopefully it's enough of a teaser to get ya to watch it)

Manna today can be as real as the physical manna of biblical times.

Live day by day. Yes, look to the future, but it is a bunch of days that make up a full lifetime.

When we pray daily for help for the things out of our power, we must first be sure we are doing all that is within our power.

I don't want you to give in to the pressure of the moment. Look through it and get through the day. Don't look ahead to the pain, just get through the day. Take it one day at a time.

Our consistency in small simple things can lead to great things. Even the mundane daily tasks become the building blocks of a great and glorious future.

Before bed each night, think about the successes and failures of the day and thank the Lord for the manna he gave you.



I love the gospel! I know God knows us. I am so grateful for all he blesses me with. I am so lucky to have the best family ever. AND to be 2 blocks away from my 2 little sisters and 2 doors down from my best friend. K thats all for tonight folks. Hopefully I'll blog again before next year hahahaha