|
Friday, November 23, 2007
It seems to me that the only thing people think about with Thanksgiving Day is Black Friday. As I had mentioned in my previous blog entry, I do not like shopping in the mall. My Thanksgiving was the same as the past few years – stayed home and wait for dinner. Yesterday, people kept asking me “What time are you going shopping? What are you going to buy? What mall are you going to?” I cannot believe some of my friends decided to go shopping at midnight. I also cannot believe that some stores and the Great Mall even chose to open at midnight. I heard that people were already waiting in line in front of Best Buy at around 6 p.m. yesterday. I thought the purpose of Black Friday was to buy Christmas gifts at reasonable prices. It seems as if people take advantage of the sales for themselves, because I know I would! Although Christmas is about a month away, I have no idea what to buy for my family. Today, I did not plan on going to the mall; however, my friend and I were bored so we decided to go to the mall. After arguing about who should drive, I decided to drive even though I knew getting a parking spot would be difficult. By the way, I almost got in another car accident on the way to the mall’s parking garage. The driver did not bother using the middle lane and immediately tried to enter my lane! I do not know how she cannot see me and not bother to stop. Crazy driver! I do not know why I bother to waste my time going to the mall. I think I am just hoping the mall will have something I would like, even though I know they usually do not. I did not even buy anything today. I think I should just stick to online shopping. There is only a few days left until Cyber Monday!
Friday, November 16, 2007
There is about three weeks left of school and I am already becoming lazy. Lately, I have been slacking off by not completing all of my homework assignments. I also have not put as much effort as I did in the beginning of the semester to obtain good grades. I think all the stress and hard work I had endured in the beginning of the semester has finally gotten to me that I need some time off from school. Sometimes I think I should have attended a school with a quarter system. I think there are a variety of other reasons that have contributed to my lack of motivation in school. One reason: what I want to do after college. I have one year left of school and I am already having doubts. Later on in life, I do not want to tell myself “I should have done so and so.” My doubts about graduating from college have recently come to my attention. At first, I did not have any doubts; however, when my friends tell me negative stories about their experiences after college, it scares me a bit. Maybe it scares me too much that maybe I am not ready to face the real world after I graduate. When I look at my friends who have already graduated from college, I notice their difficulties of getting a job. One of my friends decided to take a permanent position in the company he has interned for; however, I do not understand why he continues to work there when he claims that it is not what he wants to do. He only works there because it pays well. I understand it pays well, but why continue a job if it is not what you want to do in life? My other friend, who has also graduated with a business major, still works as a server. I am pretty certain that that is not what she wants to do for the rest of her life. I wonder if she has also encountered difficulties of getting a better job. Lastly, my best friend has applied to a handful of jobs. She has even had a couple of interviews, but still no luck. I thought it was suppose to be easy to get a job with a degree. I do not understand why my friends are finding it difficult to get a good job. If that is what life is like after graduating from college, I am not looking forward to it. Of course I want to graduate as soon as possible; but, after seeing my friends’ experiences, life after college does not seem exciting. It is also not as motivating! However, no matter how much I want to graduate from college as soon as possible, I think I should stop worrying about will happen after I graduate.
Friday, November 9, 2007
There are many reasons I prefer to shop online rather than in the store. First of all, shopping online is more convenient. Online stores carry an array of merchandise in an organized fashion. On a store’s website, clothes can be categorized by sweaters, pants, jackets or long sleeve shirts. However, in the store, the store associates mix-match the clothes and put them all around the store. It is harder to see what kind of selections the store carries. I also find myself constantly walking around the store while carrying a handful of clothes in order to compare what clothes I like best. Shopping online for my size is easier to find than in the store. Since I am a size small, the chances of finding my size in the store are relatively slim. Usually, the clothes that do come in my size are those that are not my style. Although shopping in the store helps me to feel the quality of the clothes, I do not like a store when it is messy. Untidiness is one of my pet peeves. I appreciate the employees’ efforts of walking around the store, continuously refolding clothes and neatly placing them back on the tables. Each time an associate properly fixes the clothes, a few minutes later the clothes are usually thrown back on the floor or on another table by a customer. When a store offers a “one day” sale or puts a lot of its merchandise on clearance, that is the worse time to shop. A store becomes packed with customers making it difficult to walk around the store and shop. The only things that are noticeable in a store during that time are customers pushing and shoving other customers around, and throwing clothes all over the place. No matter how cheap clothes can cost on those particular days, I still do not prefer to buy clothes that have been on the floor and stepped on! In my opinion, shopping online is more convenient because I do not have to deal with mess, pushy customers, and my clothes and size are easier to find. I will admit that there is a drawback to shopping online because there is a shipping and handling fee. Sometimes, shipping and handling fees can become very expensive. However, I think it is worth to pay the extra cost because my size is available, the clothes come in good condition, and most all, there is no waiting in line!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Every time it is winter, I try to avoid catching a cold or fever because I hate being sick. I do not understand why my friends do not worry about getting sick. I wonder if my friends have any respect for their body. I heard it is alright to be sick once in awhile. Being sick is beneficial because it allows a person’s immune system to develop antibodies. However, my overprotected mother disagrees. Before I step outside the house, my mother would always make sure I do not leave home without a jacket. She tells me, “Keep an extra jacket in your car, for just in case! You never know, you might get stranded somewhere!” I know my mom is being considerate by watching out for me; however, it is not as if I will be driving too far from home. What I do not understand about my mother is that she truly wants me to avoid getting sick at all costs! She claims that at my age, getting sick will be harder to diagnose! She tells me how there are some dangerous viruses out there and constantly reminds me to be careful and to take care of myself. Since my mother has been a nurse for more than 20 years, she tells me about her patients and their serious health related problems at her work. One day she told me about a lady, younger than me, who already has breast cancer. I thought a woman could only get breast cancer when she is older. However, that is not the case. My mom claims that after a woman turns 18, she is susceptible to breast cancer. That is a little frightening to me. After my mom told me about the young lady with breast cancer, she continued to tell me how I should check myself once in awhile and to let her know if I feel any bumps at all. When I have a headache or if I cough to clear my throat, immediately my mother questions me if I am sick. When I start to show signs of getting sick, my mom makes me take medicine, especially antibiotics! She believes I should take medicine right away before I get any worse. Therefore, when I started to have a sore throat last week, I knew I was going to get sick! In order to avoid being lectured by my mother about how I do not take care of myself, I decided to take medicine without her knowing it. I thought it would help ease my throat; but, it did not help at all. I started to lose my voice during work and for the next few days, I could not talk at all. I managed to stay away from my mother on the days I could not talk. I really did not want to hear her lecture to me. When my throat got a little better, I started to talk to her. She noticed how my voice sounded different and asked me if I was getting sick. I just told her that my throat is sore. Luckily, since my throat was sore and I could not talk much, I was able to avoid explaining to my mother how I lost my voice.
Friday, October 19, 2007
I like having birds as pets because they are easy to take care of. When I was young, I used to have pet finches. I used to also have three quails but after they had passed away, it was difficult to get another bird because I had grown really fond of those quails. I miss those quails because they were quiet and friendly. I enjoyed feeding them lettuce from my hand and watching them play around in our backyard. It was amazing watching them lay eggs, although none of them ever hatched. After my attachment with those quails, I never wanted to get another bird. However, when my dad asked me to consider getting pet birds again, I told him no. Then, a few days after having that conversation with my dad, a parakeet had flown inside our garage. My dad was able to catch it, keep it in our small sunroom until my parents had purchased a bird cage for it. So now I have a new pet bird, a parakeet. My whole family and I have come to really care for that parakeet that we ended up buying another parakeet to keep it company. We also purchased a bigger cage and toys for them to play with. I have noticed that each of my family members always spends a part of their day with the birds. They have somewhat become a part of our family because there is always someone there to feed them, play with them or talk with them. There is not a single day where any of us has neglected them. Lately, my brother and I have been spending a lot of time with the birds because we have been trying to train them. It would be nice to have birds that can talk, sit on my finger and eat from my hand. My brother and I learned that it takes time to train parakeets. In order to start training birds, a person has to gain a bird’s trust. It is difficult to gain a bird’s trust because every time I stick my hand in their cage, the birds fly around in their cage and avoid me. But luckily, for the past week my brother and I had made very good progress with the birds. It did not take that long for my brother and me to have the birds eat seeds from our fingertips from outside the cage. We did that for awhile. After that, we were finally able to stick our hands in the cage to feed them. The hardest thing we have been trying to do is have the birds sit on top of our palms to eat. The birds are not scared when I put my finger inside their cage, but when I open my hand is when they become frightened. Yesterday, when I came home from work, my brother told me how he was able to get the birds to sit on his hand and eat seeds from his palm. I was excited that I wanted to give it a try. I put some seeds on my palm and put my hand inside the cage. Before I knew it, one of the birds was not afraid to sit on my hand and eat. I am glad my brother was able to train them to do that because our next step was to have them sit on our finger and bring them outside the cage. I cannot wait for that to happen. However, after all the progress my brother and I have put into gaining our parakeets’ trust, my mom decided to put her hand inside the cage and grab one of the birds. What my mother did had terrified the birds that after all that training my brother and I had invested in has been a waste of time. Once again, our birds are scared to eat from our hands and even from our finger tips. I was so angry that I had to start all over again. I do not know if I should give up trying to train our birds because my mom will always scare them. Maybe I should not care about them anymore because training birds just takes too much time.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Ever since one of my friends has been to deployed to Iraq, I have realized the care package I have made for him has gotten heavier. My package for him has gotten heavier because when I plan to send out the package, he would call to let me know other things he needs. Therefore, instead of wasting money on packaging supplies, I decided to send all his stuff at once. However, after talking with him today I suddenly realized that there are a lot of diverse products in America. Maybe us, Americans, and generally Western societies have gotten use to the expensive pleasures of life such as the Internet, iPod, or television. We have also gotten use to being exposed to different varieties or flavors of a product such as hot sauce! By being exposed to the expensive pleasures of life and the variety of products have made me realize how I have taken advantage of the simple pleasures of life. When my boyfriend was deployed in Iraq, he would remind me how much harder he has it than I do. When I would complain to him about my friends or how one of my friends had irritated me, he would tell me of the friends that he had lost in Iraq or the ones back at home whom have forgotten about him after he enlisted. He would utter, “At least you have friends.” Listening to him utter the word “have” sends shivers down my back, makes me feel selfish, and most importantly, it makes me feel dumb. I hate hearing that word! When I told my boyfriend I am on my bed, he would remind me how he misses his cozy blanket and soft pillow at home. He would then describe how he has spent the past few nights sleeping on the desert floor with no blanket and his backpack as his pillow. Most of the time I am speechless. I do not know what to tell him, so I respond “I’m sorry to hear that.” When I get phone calls from my friend in Iraq, I will admit, I get nervous talking to him. I really do not know what to say. Before I pick up his phone call, I already know what he has been going through. I bother not asking him how he has been because he always tells me “You already know.” Therefore in order to help boost his self-esteem, I try to tell him the nonsense that I have to go through as a civilian in order to help him make his life in Iraq not as difficult. However, it does not help him because I know that my problems in America will never surmount to the experiences he has to endure while living in Iraq. I wonder if Americans understand just how lucky they are to be exposed to a variety of products that other countries do not have. Or, maybe Americans have become dependent on expensive pleasures and the variety of products that creates them to devalue their simple needs just as sleep and friends. The little sacrifices American troops stationed overseas have to undergo, leads me to question if Americans will ever make the same sacrifices. But then again, I guess that is the reason why many Americans choose not to sign on the dotted line.
a distant mind @
10:18 PM
Friday, October 5, 2007
I had lunch today with a friend I used to work with. It was good to see her and catch up with what has happened at work since I left. With what she had told me, things have not changed. One of the leads only works the easy shift, Monday through Friday mornings, the manager doesn’t close on the weekends, and the employees have been slacking off. What was shocking was how the manager and another lead have been stealing money from the register. Also, one of the employees uses his laptop during work! I thought about the manager when I used to work there. I did not like her management style. My manager would let employees get away with things. All the employees and leads did what they wanted to do because they knew they would not get in trouble for it. Sad to say, but it is true. I felt that some people needed to get reprimanded for their behaviors. Some of the these behaviors have hurt the company and have caused innocent workers to suffer through it all. I am glad I left. There was no way I was going to put up with the way the store was being managed. I could not deal with workers getting angry with each other and everyone doing what they wanted to do while my manager would hide in the stockroom and giggle about the chaos that was going on in her store. Not to point the blame at anyone, but she was partly to blame. There was also no way I was going to stay for another busy Halloween season. It is the busiest season of the year because everyone can celebrate it, including adults. After experiencing what it was like to work during the Halloween season for the past four years, I prefer to stay away from it—including from last minute shoppers. Some customers buy their Halloween costumes last minute hoping their size and style is still in stock but to their dismay, it isn’t. For a shopper’s convenience, the store carries Halloween decorations and costumes three months before Halloween. That is enough time for customers to plan ahead and avoid last minute shopping. However, it never works. Two experiences I believed to be outrageous during the Halloween season were having customers fight over costumes or the manager yelling at customers and kicking them out of store. Although those were always fun to watch, it was stressful work. I have had customers dig through my basket of go-backs (products people decide not to buy during checkout and must be put back) looking for costumes or accessories they hope to find. Some have been lucky. Those that are lucky have realized that parts are missing or the costume is damaged. What I would find funny is hearing customers talk about wasting their time driving around in search of a particular costume. Once they have found what they have been looking for, they end up not liking it and rather look for something else instead. Good luck with that! I don’t understand what goes on in human heads. I wonder if the new employees at my old work know what they are getting themselves into with this upcoming busy holiday. I feel sorry for them and for my friend who has to put up with it all over again. Here is a piece of advice, with only less than four weeks until Halloween, avoid the rush in the store. Instead, buy it online!
| 
