1/7/25
Before you say it, I know, I know.
It's been a while. This last week has been pretty crazy. I am writing this to you from Helaman Halls room 1217. To those who know, I'm a Merrill Man. I apologize for being so absent from your inbox lately. 2 weeks ago was Christmas and last week was New Year's; amidst all the chaos, I didn't write an email. Sue me. Oh, and happy holidays. Hopefully your last couple weeks were enjoyable.
Finding housing was nigh impossible. You would think, "Oh, it's Breed 'Em Young University. Surely someone is getting married and frantically trying to sell their contract." Well, voice in your head, you are correct. Somehow, only girls are getting married. If it's straight as can be BYU, then where are all the boys' contracts that are marrying said girls? It is an unanswerable mystery. If someone can offer an explanation that satisfies me, I will give them a spotlight in my next email.
In my quest to find a room in these Helaman Halls, we were messaged about a house across the street from the BYU Broadcasting building. On a Facebook Group, we had just said that we were looking for a place that was close to campus with a lease ending in April. The house seemed perfect. We messaged the dude who said that it was a good place and the pictures looked legit. We asked him if he was the owner, and he said "yes, I'm." As an English speaker, that contraction shouldn't be used there. I figured it was a typo. We checked the land records and saw that he was not in fact the owner. The owner had just died recently and the house was transferred to her son. We looked at the pictures again and realized that the front window in a bedroom didn't match any on the front of the house. The guy's Facebook profile seemed legit and had pictures from years ago. Apparently, if you see a little clock symbol next to a post date, you can click on it and find when the picture was added to Facebook. He made his account a few days before, and the same 3 people had reacted to each post with the same reactions. We told him we thought he might be running a scam and he blocked us on Messenger. Good thing we didn't fall for that one.
I signed my agreement for Helaman Halls last week. Turns out you have to have a meal plan, but they don't let you use the cheapest one. Rent at Helaman Halls cost 1620$ for the winter semester. That's pretty good. However, the cheapest meal plan cost 1630$. Ten dollars more than the rent. They are convinced I will spend 1630$ on food in 3 months. I signed the agreements at 11:59 pm, just before midnight. BYU Housing told me that I was required to sign the agreements by midnight on the day they notified me that a hold was available. 13 hours to decide seemed a little crazy. I signed them, then got an email that said there had been an error. I got a call the next morning. BYU Housing told me that there was an error and that they would keep the hold open until Sunday at 12 pm (not 12 am). I said okay, thanks for being understanding and went about my weekend. I didn't forget about my hold. I waited until Saturday night to try and accept it in case I found something else. When I tried to sign it, I got an error that said, "There has been an error. Please try again later." It was late, so I figured I'd do it the next morning. I woke up, tried again, and got the same message. 10 am, same thing. 11 am, same thing. 11:30, 11:45, 12 pm hits, and it says "This hold has expired. You can rejoin the waitlist." I immediately called and left a voicemail.
I went into the housing office the next morning at 9 am and told them my netID. The girl said she was familiar with my netID. I signed it at her desk on her computer. Then I went to Helaman Halls to check in. After waiting in line for over an hour (and enduring 2 line splits where I got moved to the back), I got a text from the the girl who helped me at the housing office. She said, "Sorry, I realized we booked you for the 18 year old bedspace rate, not the 19+ rate. We'll have to recontract. I've called Helaman to give them a heads up." I got out of the check-in line, digitally signed two forms, walked to the front counter, and explained the situation. They were so understaffed, so it took forever before she looked me up and saw I had two agreements. I told her "I know, they said they called you, can I get my keys so that I can move my stuff in?" She gave me my keys with many an eye roll and other tics of annoyance. I couldn't move in immediately. I had to go help a friend get their college education underway.
I helped my friend meet with their advisor and pick a couple classes. Their advisor happened to be an English teacher from my days at Dixon Middle School in Provo. He was an opp (opposition, you're welcome boomers) in middle school, but was super chill when I talked to him this time. Something about being around 13 year olds all day must make you a little crabby. Unless you're a certain middle school art teacher. No comment.
I went to move in today at around 3, and guess what? My ID card wouldn't let me in the building. I went to the Cannon Center and asked about getting it fixed. The kid at the desk had a hood on, which normally I would not care in the slightest about, but when you're working front desk reception, that seems like one of the few times you shouldn't have a hood on. He was super unhelpful, but he did give me a temporary key fob and told me he'd email some body (say it how it's spelled) about my problem. I moved my stuff into my room, and noticed that my roommate had absolutely nothing in the room. No clothes, no sheets, nothing. Then I went home. I placed 2nd and 7th in Fortnite with the one and only Chloe Rutter, then came back to Merrill. I met the guys in the hall and they seem pretty lit. Nobody too crazy, but not too tightly wound either. I dodged the mission question pretty well when it went around. Sounds like there's 1 returned missionary in the hall. Everyone else is in their first year.
I have no roommate. He moved out. Alas, I am alone. A lone Merrill Man, just looking for his place in the world... and still scared when 2 X chromosomes are put together. Classes start tomorrow morning at 9 am with a French class that may or may not be way too hard. We'll see tomorrow. Other than that, I'm mostly taking math and science classes, which I like, so hopefully I make it to April. I'm taking way too many credits and working more that I should. I'll reevaluate my position in a week, and write another email. Sorry for being quiet for so long.
I wish I had some deeply philosophical thing to talk about this week. I have some ideas for next week, but I'm simply out of time. It's 11, and for the first time in 8 months, I have school tomorrow. I'm excited and a little bit nervous, but I think I'm gonna like it.
Bye for nowsies,
Will Ott
PS. To the few people that have sent me emails, I'm sorry I haven't replied yet. I've been pretty busy, but I'm hoping to get to them this week(end).
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