At first I was afraid, I was blogified... (tune of "I Will Survive")

Yo... What's Cracka-Lackin,

Diary Diary.. Sorry it's been so long. I've been real busy and I just been putting you off, but I'm here now baby. So anyways... last time I wrote to you saying I was gonna tell you what it was really like to be an RA. Boy-oh-boy do you really want to know. Well I might tell ya some of the stuff that goes on. I was thinkin it would be funny to come and have MTV do a "Real Life" show on being an RA. Well I guess not alot of people would watch it, but I probably would.

Anywho, heres a few stories of things that I've had to deal with while bein a Resident Assistant at Woodland Residence Hall:

I'd say that the main issue that I deal with (especially this year) is noise in the halls after quiet hours. To many people, this seems like it's a lame thing that RAs really shouldn't make such a big deal out of. Maybe so, but either way it's my job! If I just let everyone in Woodland be as loud as they please, then the place would turn into a down right mad house (DRMH). But seriously... So with that all being said, I had to write a few people up (like every week) for noise. I normally give warnings, but most residents know that they can get a warning all the time, so I decided to crack the whip, so to speak. So I was doing rounds and my duty partner and I stopped by a room to ask them to turn their music down, cause it was kinda loud, when we heard some guys in a room down the hall screaming. So, we went down the hall and told them that they need to be quite and that they would get written up for being so loud. There was one guy, we'll call him John Johnson to protect his real identity. Well Mr. Johnson came forward and said that he was the only one who was being loud and to just write him up if we had to write someone up. So I thought that would be cool. So we did. But I think that he said that to try to make it seem like he was the good guy or something so we didn't write anyone up or somethin like that (I'm not really sure what he was thinking). So I asked him for his info and stuff and he told me his ID # as fast as he could and said stuff like, "Man, this is B.S." (except he knew what that stood for). So I finally got all the stuff I needed to follow through with the necessaries and left the room and started to do the rest of the wing's rounds. When we got back to their room, not only were they still being loud, but they were out in the hall. So I told them ta go into their room and they got furious. John said that the time that we came to his room was the only time that he had been loud the entire night and we were just waiting for him to get loud. He complained about not getting a warning and gave me the toughest time. I eventually just got mad (which I wont always do, but it helps alot sometimes) and I said something to the extent of, "Quit being such a baby. Just be quiet when you're supposed to and you wont have any problems. It's just a noise violation, big honkin deal. And oh yeah, there's 500 residents in this building (you idiot), I don't have the time to be sitting outside of your room wating for you to be loud." So John (still angry) went back into his room and slammed the door. (a classic move for a disgruntled pouting resident) Thats when I said we've done all we can do here and we moved on.

I don't know why that of all stories I chose to share with you today, but I think that pretty much sums up my life as an RA. I've had to mess with tons of stuff in the past. I had to deal with a resident who was on suicide watch by hanging out with her all night and managing to get a bottle of night quil away from her. I've had to calm a 250 lb basketball player down when he was in a drunken rage and then had to show the cops who he was when they came to arrest him for doing over 500 dollars worth of damage to his room and some of his roommate's stuff. I've had to deal with persecution from anonymous residents who think me and my stuff are racist and Christian hypocrites and bigots, all because they they had the wrong thoughts about our motive for writing them up or our reason for doing our jobs. I've found over 12 cans of alcohol in someone's bag when they try to sneak them into the hall. I've had to chase people trying to sneak into woodland. I've had to deal with people who smoke pot in their rooms and call the police when we smelled it. Theres a ton of stuff that I have to deal with. I don't think that I really want sympathy (at least not from anyone who will read this) but I just want some residents and people to realize that I'm not a jerk that trys to ruin their fun, I just want to do my job and keep the Wood a safe place to live.

Haha. Thats my schpiel. For those who made it through all of it, I'll give you your prize later. Anyways...

Grace and Peace to you all.

God Bless,
Andy