Hoffmann of the Month: September

Some say this is long overdue. Not my return to the world of academia (more on that in a sec), though that is in fact long overdue. No, the day the masses have been waiting for, have been downright clamoring for, has finally arrived--I have been crowned "Hoffmann of the Month" for September. Congratulations, me!

On Monday afternoon, I posted the above picture on Facebook with the following caption: "Today was my first day of school since 2004. I'm now on my way to eventually becoming a high school English teacher. I didn't tell many people I was going back, in case something came up that forced me to change my plans (it's happened more than once before; I've been planning this at some level since at least 2007). It's vital to note that while I now attend the University of Utah, I will NEVER be a Ute. #GoCougars"

And boy, did this resonate with my friends. 33 comments have been made on the picture (only two by me), and it has been Liked a whopping 168 times! That's more than twice as many as my previous record, and more than I would've expected to get if I had posted an "I'm engaged!" picture. If I were to add a new friend and they immediately liked this photo, then exactly 20% of my friends would've given me their virtual thumbs up. Thinking of the numbers that way makes it seem much less impressive, so forget I brought it up. Instead--wow! 168 Likes!

I have just one week of classes under my belt; moving forward I imagine I'll have plenty to write about what I'm learning, my career progression, and such, but for now I just have a few comments about what it's like to not only be back in college after a 9-year break, but to be doing it at a school that doesn't have an honor code like BYU's. Some of the weirdest differences:

--I'm pretty sure I'm older than 3 of my 5 teachers, and one of the others is probably just a couple of years older than me.
--People can ride bikes and skateboards around campus with impunity. I just know I'm going to crash into one at some point. It was comforting to see that unicycle riders are looked at by passersby as the freaks they are, just like we did at BYU.
--So many girls in super-short shorts.
--So many guys with scruffy facial hair.
--So many guys with tattoos, and even MORE girls with tattoos.
--People smoking! They don't do it in buildings, obviously, but I would've assumed it was banned entirely on campus.

One of the comments on my FB photo was another picture--this one:

It's a common barb hurled at BYU fans by their U of U counterparts, as is the fact that Brigham Young founded the Salt Lake school well before his Provo namesake. This is true, but face it--if he had gotten it right the first time, he wouldn't have needed to found a second one. BYU forever!

This week's Gospel Doctrine class focuses on the transition of church leadership to Brigham Young after the death of Joseph Smith. Study up on it here.

That's right, I combined this post with my weekly BASOTRUSSL blog. It might seem like a cheap move, but you ought to cut me some slack. After all, I'm the new Hoffmann of the Month!