Fun at Chevy's Saturday night

Meet Eddie from Ghana

This is a picture of me with former professional soccer player Eddie. Eddie used to play for Egypt's "Arab Contractors," Switzerland's "Junior Grasshoppers," and Sweden's "Dejeaux F.C." Today I sold Eddie and his wife Magdaline a security system.

Eddie and Magdaline lost their baby boy last November to a choking accident. The babysitter did all she could to get an ambulance over, but unfortunately the child died on the way to the hospital. Magdaline showed me her son's baby pictures and funeral pictures. She even showed me the baby's room--now empty. Hopefully with their new GE Simon 3 panel, the Quarcoos can get an ambulance faster next time and avoid a situation like this one.

Post inner city

I'M SO OVER THE GHETTO.

OK, well, I still think the hood is cool. I'll never get over how much fun it is to be surrounded by the slum types. The only problem with ghetto areas is that everyone is, well, poor. Poor and irresponsible. Yesterday I checked 13 people's credit and only one lady passed. A woman named Gail. I was so happy that I gave her a high-five and a hug.

Today I ran eight credits. Two actually passed, but I couldn't close the deals. Pretty sad day. I miss my Latinos.

In the ghetto every day is a block party.

I've never felt more comfortable in the hood than this afternoon.

Today I ran into a couple of black women chilling on their porch in Irvington, NJ. That's all black people do in the ghetto--sit around and laugh at the world. For them every day is a block party.

Anyway, one of them wanted their daughter to get a security system, so she drove me across town to sell it to her. As we rode in her beat-up car through the hood, I smiled to myself. I had never before felt so welcome in such a strange and different place. It was like a movie. In the east the hood is so alive, so busy, and so ironically beautiful. I love feeling like I'm a part of it. I guess that in itself is ironic. One day I'll build my mansion in the hood. I'll give to the poor and have all the thugs to protect me. One day.

As for my weekend, Anela was here. I took her out on the town Saturday night. We ate Italian food at one of those outdoor restaurants in the Village. It was awesome. We made friends with this middle-aged painter named Sara. Sara was fascinated by our perkiness and our Mormon opinions. She seemed depressed about life and became fixated on us. It was really a strange occurrence. After dinner we walked around McDougall Street and got some sweet ice cream.

Sunday Anela, David, and I went to the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Harlem. The Mother African church is the oldest black church in New York state--founded in 1796. It was awesome. The architecture was all classic, but the music was hip and modern. There are times I wish we too could have drums in church. Sigh, oh well.

Shakira

I think I have a crush.

fun fun fun work fun fun

i find that i sell more security systems when i treat this job as a side thing. my philosophy is: the more crazy fun i have in the city, the more sales i'll get. that said, here's a run-down of some of the cool things i've gotten to do recently.

last week john bonner came to visit, and we ate breakfast in times square.

anela is here in town, and this morning we went to see shakira in bryant park.

last friday andrew, alex, phil, and i joined up with cousin kristina in rockafeller center to see def leppard and bryan adams on the today show. yes, katie couric is just as nice in person as she seems on tv.

last saturday i took gracie to brooklyn to see apollo sunshine at northsix in williamsburg. they were amazing. i love knowing about awesome bands that have small followings. i'm sure two years from now i'll have to fight with all the indie kids to get a good spot at their shows. let's just hope they don't get too big. as a side note, it was so great to hang out in my old stomping grounds. williamsburg is really growing.

on memorial day gracie and i went to see "fearless freaks," the new flaming lips documentary. it was showing at the two boots pioneer theater in the lower east side. interesting show.

oh, sales? i think i have like 18 or 19 or something.

Seth goes to White Castle

As I study more and more about advertising, I realize just how important a product's brand image is to its success in the marketplace. You know what I'm talking about. Volvo=safety. Subway=healthy. Target=cheap chic. Millions of dollars worth of research go into every one of these corporate cultures. Years are spent building and maintaining these important identities. After all, Macs didn't just become cool overnight, did they? All successful companies know exactly what type of people they want to attract and a simple stroll through their product showroom, restaurant, or retail store will fast clue you in to who they are.

Then there is White Castle.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today I dined at one of the many restaurants in the infamous White Castle fast food chain. I'd heard so much about the ghetto-ness of this burger joint that I could hardly contain myself upon hearing there was one right by my assigned work area today. I was so excited. For the record White Castle completely lives up to its reputation. My food was greasy, my burger was cheap, and my clerk was brown. Come to think of it--everyone there was brown (even me).

That said, let's talk a little bit about White Castle's brand image. How exactly do you sell "ghetto?" Do you add graffiti to your store's look? (see McDonald's.) Do you feature five racial minorities per every white male in your TV commercials? (see again McDonald's.) Seriously, I would have sworn before today that White Castle sprung up somewhere in East Harlem during the early 1980's. If not that, it had to have arrived from some 50's Southern-born tradition, right?

Wrong.

White Castle was founded in Wichita, Kansas in 1921 and is credited as the world's first fast food restaurant. After looking past all the grimy tables and cheesy product names there, you'll notice a very nostalgic motif going on in the store's decor. Yes, folks, despite the ghetto feel that even the mere words "White Castle" conjure up, the company still goes for the classic, black-and-white, Caucasian Americana look. To top things off, the store logo is done in stained glass. What the heck? I have never before seen a store that so visibly missed the mark. Not since the Provo hospital food court's unlikely capturing of the local indie/hipster market have I seen something so ironic.

Then again, maybe this apparent incongruity is actually the reason White Castle is alive and well nine decades later. Just what is it about those onion-steamed burgers that attracts so many fans? The world may never know, but one thing is certain. You can bet this irony-seeking, indie/hipster wannabe is going to be chowing down on White Castle fries all week long.

Life is great when overlooking Manhattan.

Today I sold a security system to a Dominican lady named Milka. It's still amazing to me how black Dominicans are. I feel like they should be speaking Ebonics, but instead they speak the most amazing Spanish. It's awesome.

Another interesting thing is that in Latin families the husband almost always wears the pants and the wife is more submissive. With Dominicans though, like blacks, it seems that the wife actually plays the more dominant role in the decision-making process. In my sale from Friday the Dominican husband didn't even carry a checkbook because his wife handles the finances. Milka makes sale number 7 and install number 6.

The mundanity of this job is finally kicking in. Luckily I have New York City at my fingertips to make things OK. I cruised into town solo Friday night and checked out the Times Square Virgin Megastore. Saturday a bunch of us headed into town after dinner to see "Sahara." We walked all the way from Times Square to the financial district. Long walk, but it was fun.

Sunday Jenny (roommate David's cousin from Brooklyn) made us all barbeque chicken bagel sandwiches for dinner. We gathered a big group of girls from the ward and all dined in the clubhouse overlooking Manhattan. It was awesome.

Right across the street from the temple

Sethillama meets Ben Folds for the second time.

Stats

sales? one

allergies? lots

health? ok

depression? some

concerts? Ben Folds free in-store performance/cd signing Tuesday night at Tower Records

news? new roommate: David, 23, Riverside, CA, technician, nice guy

fun? getting on the top of the Trump Tower (don't ask how)

enough? yeah

a giant sigh of relief

This is a picture of the 12 inductees to the creative track for 2005. It was posted on Doug's door the Friday after portfolios were due.

Welcome to West New York

So my 7th semester at BYU ended last week. It was so eventful that I didn't even have time to write a thing about it. Most importantly, I got accepted into the creative track of the advertising program. Basically this means that when I graduate I'll have a nice ad portfolio and hopefully be able to work in an ad agency as either an art director or copywriter. Design classes: here I come.

A lot of other cool and not-so-cool things happened during the last four months, but I'm too lazy to write about all of them. I remember something about winning a beat-boxing contest and several trips to the BYU health center. The rest is all a blur.

As for now, I've decided to once again try my luck selling security systems door-to-door. This year it's New Jersey. I know I swore I'd never knock another door after last summer; however, the promise of another year was just too great. In other words, I was heavily recruited, hounded, and pampered by past managers and somehow got convinced.

I live now in a place called West New York, NJ. I love it. Our apartment complex overlooks the NYC skyline. Today we took the ferry to Manhattan and went to a singles ward in the city. The sassy Sara Payne was there along with New York internship faculty adviser Brad Rawlins. They accompanied Andrew and I along with some new Firstline friends on a stroll through the city. Because we all arrived late last night and have no food, we dined at a nice Chinese place by the chapel. After that we walked through Central Park and Times Square. I was mesmerized as always. Highlights included:

*seeing a djembe circle complete with capoeira and interpretive dance *pretending to be Sara's bodyguard as she sported J-Lo sunglasses and hid her face under her collar

It should be a good summer.

Foot fun

My foot seems to be healing quite nicely. It's great to have people stop asking me about it. Hopefully this means I don't look like a gimp anymore when I walk. Today I even wore the new shoes I got in Quito instead of Danny's boots that don't let my feet move. Hopefully I'll be able to actually get out soon and be active for once this semester. I'd never realized how active a person I am until I suddenly had to stop doing stuff. I have a checkup appointment with the doctor on Monday.

As for school, things are finally looking up. I got to Provo a few days late at the beginning of the semester, and then I sprained my foot like two days later. As if all that wasn't enough, I had signed up for two classes that I really did not like. It took me a while to come up with a schedule that works, but it was worth all the hobbling and hassling because I like all of my classes now.

I am taking:

TTE 255...a class for Technology Teaching majors actually. My communications counselor recommended it to me to help develop more creative skills for my major. It's essentially a graphic arts class--just what I need. So far we've studied layout, lettering, advertising, etc. My favorite part is all the training in Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator.

Span 451...a Spanish literature class for my minor. Right now we are in the Romantic period. Individualism, liberty, nature, and indigenous pride. Heck yes.

Comms 365...Photojournalism. This will also help me with my ads. I did not want to leave BYU without taking a photo class. If I’m good enough, my photos will end up in the Daily Universe.

Comms 319...Communications research. I love my professor; who knew a Comms class taught by a sociologist could be such a great idea? My big group study is going to be about the positive and negative effects of cell phone usage among students.

That's it. Just 12 credits. As if that wasn't awesome enough, I'm only working 11 hours a week in the MAD library. After I started having stomach problems last semester I decided that less stress is better for me. I am also learning that less credits means more learning. I have more time to actually care and study about the things I am taught in class. Oh, and I am awake for more of class than ever before too.

My other reason for taking a light semester is that I will soon be devoting more time to my ad portfolio. It's going to be so much fun. Right now I'm still brainstorming. The deadline for the creative track is April 9.

In other news, last weekend Jamen and I hung out with Camille and her roommate Stacie. We went to a benefit concert at the Hollywood Juice Cafe for the tsunami victims. "The Otters" and "Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls" were good. We also saw "Saints and Soldiers" with hometeachee Mallory. I should also comment that on Monday I got my first (and most likely last) facial. Don't worry, it was only because these girls in my ward really, really, REALLY wanted to give some guys some facials. How could I refuse?

Jamen and I have been practicing like mad for some upcoming events. Next weekend we will be playing a private show for this girl in our ward and her roommates. On February 4 we will play at the BYU 83rd ward talent show. This is going to be so much fun. I can't believe it's taken so long to get started. Guess we just needed Jamen's cowbell to come in the mail. Now we can rock.

My new map

As many of you know, I just got back from a whirlwind visit of South America. I feel it an appropriate time to update my "Countries Visited" map. I will shortly be posting the day-by-day travel log of the trip for your enjoyment.

In the meantime you should all know that, after spraining my foot this Saturday, I am hobbling along just great on my new crutches. Who knew flying onto lightly snow-covered parking lots in inflatable rafts was a bad idea?

Miss Peru

My friend Zeke recently informed me that Miss Peru was crowned Miss World a couple of days ago. In celebration Simon and I are going to Peru for Christmas. Our purpose: congratulate Miss Peru for a job well done and see if one of us can score a date.