So This Is RD Life

A perspective from a starting out Student Affairs professional in Residence Life Housing trying to live a balanced life between work and life as encouraged by my colleagues. Here is some of my work educating college students within the residence halls and...

[sothisisrdlife]

RA Tip: using a projector, you can project an image you want to a butcher block paper and replicate the image you want.

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Strange Conversation

Student: [walks into office] Hey Dan! I have a question but it's going to seem strange.

Me: That's okay. I've seen Stranger Things on Netflix.

Student: Damn it, Dan...

[sothisisrdlife]

Favorite Disney Princess

Student A: Hey who's your favorite Disney princess?

Student B: Mulan. How about you, Dan?

Me: Leia.

Student A: She's not a Disney-

Me: [raises eyebrow]

Student A: Oh yeah...

[sothisisrdlife]

How about Quicksilver today to go workout?

[riveralwaysknew]

I took my father to see Rogue One today. I’ve wanted to take him for a while. I wanted my Mexican father, with his thick Mexican accent, to experience what it was like to see a hero in a blockbuster film, speak the way he does. And although I wasn’t sure if it was going to resonate with him, I took him anyway. When Diego Luna’s character came on screen and started speaking, my dad nudged me and said, “he has a heavy accent.” I was like, “Yup.” When the film was over and we were walking to the car, he turns to me and says, “did you notice that he had an accent?” And I said, “Yeah dad, just like yours.” Then my dad asked me if the film had made a lot of money. I told him it was the second highest grossing film of 2016 despite it only being out for 18 days in 2016 (since new year just came around). He then asked me if people liked the film, I told him that it had a huge following online and great reviews. He then asked me why Diego Luna hadn’t changed his accent and I told him that Diego has openly talked about keeping his accent and how proud he is of it. And my dad was silent for a while and then he said, “And he was a main character.” And I said, “He was.” And my dad was so happy. As we drove home he started telling me about other Mexican actors that he thinks should be in movies in America. Representation matters.

[riveralwaysknew]

Hello Guys! A lot of you have been asking for my dad’s reaction after Diego Luna tweeted out my post, and here he is. He was off to work this morning when I snagged him… 

[sothisisrdlife]

Break RD on duty… It's like holding two batteries that are slowing draining power.

[sothisisrdlife]

Picture of me on Dec. 31st, 2016 after completing my last run of the year to accomplish my goal of running every day. Woot! 366 days of running completed!

[dyrewolves-deactivated20170727]

“Obviously, you’re going to address it. It’s real. It’s a thing. I am Asian, and Glenn is Asian. But I was very honored to be able to play somebody that showed multiple sides, and showed depth, and showed a way to relate to everyone. It was quite an honor, in that regard.”

[sothisisrdlife]

Next semester’s door dec idea. The premise is to get residents to interact with the door dec using the flashlight on their phones to find the right angle to get the name to appear.

[sothisisrdlife]

Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Radio interview for Dial-a-Carol with a Snyder Hall Council student. :)

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Dial-a-Carol 2016 window ad!

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I’m allergic to cats and so this was fun to watch. Made me think “So this is what the Walking Dead characters feel like.”

[sothisisrdlife]

Why Can't Vacation Be Vacation?

Flying home to see friends and family. Random thoughts are flying all over my head. When was the last time I was home? How am I going to answer mom's three questions? 1. Are you eating? 2. Have you met anyone? 3. Are you happy? Am I happy? Why can't I get a new job? I hate always coming in second place. Why can't I move on? Is it okay for me to gripe? I just need to make it these next five days. What's will it be like to meet my niece? How do I explain to my friends that I don't drink anymore? I need to get that done once I get back to the office... Why is vacation feeling just as stressful as when I'm working?

[sothisisrdlife]

I hide a link within my hall update email to see how thorough students were reading through it. I’m getting a lot of responses already which has encouraged the community to read through the emails more carefully.

[sothisisrdlife]

So I've been wanting to be an RA since I was a freshman. I applied freshman year but ended up doing an internship for the next semester instead. Now I've transferred school and I'm trying to apply for the position again but on the application we have to have a reference from someone in reslife. i dont know anyone in reslife here!!!! do you think theres anything I can do?

I’ve seen this a lot from several schools and it is challenging to get an immediate “in-house” reference as a new student. I would recommend talking with your RA or Resident Director about getting involved and letting them know your predicament of not knowing anyone who could be a reference for you. Share that you want to get involved and so they will have the opportunity to see you in action to be a legitimate reference for you and follow up with that so they can see what you can do. Ask your RA if they need help with anything with their job like posting flyers (something that I feel all parapros would appreciate help with) or helping create a bulletin board or door decs. Get involved with the hall council or student groups within the hall to show commitment to the community and get to know others as ultimately it will display your abilities and skills that will transfer over to the RA position.

[sothisisrdlife]

In your face, Barry Allen! (I would like to thank my watch's GPS error for this accomplishment)