Cleaning, Studying, and Interviewing

Today was going to be the day that I studied for my African Politics midterm. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.

I woke up around 11am. Then my Aunt Louise called me to see if I would help her with a oral interview around 4pm. When I said yes, I knew I had 5 hours to study before I had to leave.

Being hungry, I made "brunch"- macaroni and cheese. I watched TV while I ate, then I went to take a shower. When I was in the bathroom, I noticed that it was really dirty. I spent the next half-hour cleaning it. By the time I was done with everything and ready to study, it was 2:30pm. I studied for an hour, then I went to meet Louise at my grandparents house.

When I got there, my Grandma offered me some raspberries that were freshly picked. I made a bowl for myself and started eating them, and then I noticed something moving. I showed the snail I found to my Grandma and she started laughing and laughing! She said, "I'll go get some salt."

"Don't do that Grandma! I'll let it outside," I said.

"No you won't! What good do snails do?" she exclaimed.

"Well, God wouldn't have made them if they didn't do any good," I told her.

Raspberries and escargo don't go together.

Louise arrived and she tried calling the lady that we were going to go interview. She had a hard time getting ahold of her, so I spent the extra time taking pictures of my grandparent's house. Someday, I want it to be mine.

The interview I did was with Rhoda, the custodian of a Mormon church. She cleaned the church for 7 years with her husband, then 21 years as a single mom after he passed away. The church is going to be renovated, so Louise wanted to see if we could get some history out of her.

I was a little afraid because the only person I've interviewed was my grandma who knows me. Fortunately, Rhoda opened up to me and even cried at a point when she was talking about the chapel. It was an interesting interview and I learned alot about the building that she loved and cared for.

This got me thinking- Why don't I turn this into a business? I had such a great time with my Grandma and Rhoda. I think people would pay someone like me to do interviews, edit and transcribe it, and give them a DVD and book. I couldn't find anyone in the Salt Lake area who provides this service, but there is a lady in Alaska who does it for about $3000-$5000 a pop. I wouldn't charge that much, but there is potential here, especially with all the Mormons who are interested in family history. It's a great market. I'm going to do some more interviews to see if I could do it viably.

I talked to my Dad about it. He said he thinks it's a great idea. I'm going to explore it more after this semester.