Don’t get swept up in the routine of production

At the Daily Bruin, we can take ourselves very seriously.

We take the office hierarchy seriously, we take our conflict-of-interest policies seriously, and we rightfully take our role in the UCLA community very seriously.

But for me, none of that serious stuff has been what actually mattered. It’s not what I won’t forget as I move on.

What mattered was skipping work to play tennis with Alene and finding out that she has a pair of custom Daily Bruin sneakers she’s too embarrassed to wear in the office.

What mattered was taking a trip to San Francisco with Sam for an awards ceremony and using the plaques, um, creatively. Sam, you know what I’m talking about.

Rick, the Emperor of Copy, mattered. So did digging a hole in the sand with Charlotte and a McDonald’s cup full of urine flying disastrously astray on the New Jersey turnpike with Ari.

What mattered was Will rambling on about how he can predict rainfall in the winter based on acorn fall during the summertime.

A media relations staffer grudgingly conceding the words “good job” after I finally got the dentistry story out didn’t matter. Pretending like I didn’t hear her so she’d have to say it again did.

Meeting Shaudee mattered.

So did running fives on the courts at Wooden with Arvli and playing soccer with Amy’s son Jude on the Kerckhoff lawn.

What mattered was plotting to sway the edi-board swing vote with Adam, jumping on trash in Udeitha’s dumpster and driving to San Francisco without a radio with Jessica.

What mattered was mulling over a 3-D porno book with Edward and rate-my-boobs.com with John and Saba.

In a lot of ways, what the Bruin does for the UCLA community is not nearly as important as what it does for the staff.

I guess what I’m saying is do all that serious stuff ““ respect your editor, try to meet deadlines and be nice to Copy.

But don’t let the day-to-day hustle keep you from remembering what really matters.

Faturechi was the 2007-2008 Enterprise editor.