Reveal

1. definition
2. cause/effect
3.narration
4. compare/contrast
5. argument/persuasion
6. description

Wanted: Reward Ryan Gosling

Desire is an inescapable evil of sorts that everyone wants to pretend we can resist. Truth is…we all know what we want and what we’re willing to do to get it.

 1. To desire is to wish or long for. It is craving something so bad you simply cannot imagine living without it. Desires motivate us and make us work to fulfill our dreams. They push us forward because we are all seeking satisfaction. To desire is to want something that will ultimately lead to happiness or at least the illusion of happiness. After all, aren’t some of our desires illusions themselves?

      2. We desire because we are all seeking this big happy ending portrayed in fairytales and movies. As we floss away the popcorn after a night at the theater, we think about where our lives are going and wonder where our Ryan Gosling is (Still waiting…just for the record). Movies have made our desires slightly unreasonable. While we would all love to be swept off our feet by Gosling, we might have lower our expectations a little bit and realize that Prince Charming may have a little more ribbit than we planned. 

.    3. For years I begged my parents for a sister. I went as far as asking them to adopt me a sister if they weren’t willing to produce any more kids themselves. Being the only girl of three kids, I was going nuts with two little brothers. I would have given up my entire Barbie collection to have a baby sister, and considering I had twelve zillion Barbies, that is saying a lot. It only took fifteen years and a different dad, but my wish finally came true. And I wouldn’t trade her for anything (not even Ryan Gosling).

     4. Desire can be associated with hope, but desire does not always hold the same optimism hope does. Sometimes you recognize that your desires aren’t going to be fulfilled. But a desire is a lot like a wish; even if you know it isn’t going to come true, you still have hope. We don’t abandon our wishes because they are outrageous; usually we desire them even more. When we dream big, we have hope that one day we will find happiness because we know how far we are willing to go to make our dreams come true.

     5. Fight for your desires. Life isn’t about being handed everything like on free sample day at Byerly’s.  You have to work for the thinks you want in life, and it isn’t always easy. Life is about finding something that you would do anything to obtain and doing whatever it takes to get there. Find something that you can’t live without, and don’t ever let it go. If we don’t have something worth working for, what do we have in life?
    
     6. Desire is red hot. It is boiling and bubbling over the edges of the pot. Desire is the aroma of fresh baked cookies and Christmas trees. It is enchanting and leaves you wonderstruck. This is something that no one can escape because it is all around us. Desire waits for you at home and follows you into the dark. It pulls you close, wraps it arms around you and doesn’t ever let go.

So what do you want?

The Missing Pot of Gold on the Other Side of the Rainbow

Grocery stores are filled with magic. There is a magic little man that goes around spreading joy to shoppers by filling the shelves with Marshmallow Lover's Hot Chocolate and Lucky Charms. It is as if every aisle brings a new discovery and all sorts of possibilities, and the whole experience is peaceful and wonderful. The grocery store is the perfect place to wander around and just think about life while mindlessly filling the shopping cart. Of course everything changes the moment you get a job as a cashier at Rainbow Foods.

Now I wince every time any one even mentions a grocery store. It seemed like the perfect place to work because I love going grocery shopping. I arrived at Rainbow at 3 o'clock on June 11 running off of five hours of sleep for my first job interview because I did Relay for Life the night before and stayed up all night. Nonetheless, the manager was impressed by the fact that I was so dedicated to volunteering. Once I got the job, I realized there was so much I didn't realize about the working world. For one thing, people are mean.  I have had people be rude or mean to me in the past, but I never realized how psycho people are to cashiers. People seem to think it is ok to take out all of their frustrations at cashiers. For some reason, people also think cashiers are paid to listen to their problems. We are their shrinks.

Over the summer Rainbow played Monopoly. One day I asked a guy if he played our Monopoly, "Ha, as if I need any more games. Try having two women love you, one being your fiancée and the other your boss." My eyes widened, and I'm pretty sure all I could mutter was, "eh, haha ok have a nice day…." Another lady exclaimed, "I'm going to get a kitten tonight!" when I asked her if she had a Rewards Card. But some of my interactions have been less humorous. I've experienced everything from being yelled at about not scanning the monopoly card to 50-something-year-old guys telling me I'm pretty. As you can imagine, many times I have wanted to toss my apron to the floor and walk out.

I've also started a list of the types of customer I don't like:

1. Mean people (Seriously, stop shopping. Hire someone to do your shopping for you, take an acting class so you can at least pretend to be nice, or take the advice given to five-year-olds: if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I mean it, stop being mean to your cahsiers.)
2. People that are obsessive about their coupons (You would be surprised how many people have coupon books).
3. People that have five transactions and hold the line up
4. People with five transactions and a million coupons so that they get $100 worth of stuff for less than $15
5. The lady that only buys a bag of potatoes and then causes other people to leave the line because we have been waiting for a price check for so long
6. The guys that smell
7. People with dirty hands
8. People that watch the screen and freak out when the price doesn't come down right away (I can't tell you how many times I have said, "The price for the [insert their food item here] will come down at the end of the transaction").

But there are also people that I like:

1. The couple that offered to pay for a woman's groceries because she left her wallet at home (It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen at Rainbow).
2. Young guys (It is less creepy if they think you're cute, and they are fun to talk to)
3. People that start conversation with me
4. The woman that said it was nice to meet me after our conversation tonight
5. The people that tell me what a good job I am doing
6. The old man that thanked me for working on the 4^th of July
7. My coworkers (They are some of my favorite people in the world)
8. The couple that told me I look like a movie star today (The wife said I look like Natalie Portman, and the husband said I look like Mayim Bialik from the Big Bang Theory).
9. One of the guys in my grade that thanked me for "Checking him out" via Facebook and had to clarify "Checking my groceries out of course."

These people make me happy; they make up for every person in the first list that ruins my day. Thankfully I am no longer a consistent employee at Rainbow because of school. I only worked today because they need extra help before Thanksgiving. And while my feet hurt, my back aches, and I didn't get a chance to do homework, I'm glad I worked today. Sure it was a long day, and eight hour shifts really suck, but it was nice to be back. My coworkers (all women from their forties to late sixties) greeted me with joy and told me how glad they were to have me back. My favorite, Terry, (this lady in her sixties that every customer I know loves) called me from the next register over to tell me, "Don't worry about that last lady. She's always a pain the ass." It made my day.

Natalie Portman                                Me                                  Mayim Bialik

(Yeah… I'm not seeing it… but I still like those people)

eXposing the eXtremes

You can tell a lot about person based on the TV shows and movies he or she watches. Usually they display personality traits that are already evident, but sometimes they reveal ones that hide behind the surface. Often times the genre one chooses reflects his or her interests but everyone has their guilty pleasures. From the Bachelor to Jersey Shore, our society is hooked on the pathetic lives of these wannabe famous reality stars. Our society thrives on the extremes in movies and television. We want the most scandalous, the hottest, the fastest and the goriest. The younger generation just keeps getting worse because we are already addicted to the competition of outdoing one another in attempt to get the spotlight.

Shows like Glee no longer can entertain with happy songs and steady relationships. They have to push the limits to ensure their fans keep the series recording on the DVR. From teen pregnancy to bullying of gay students, Glee touches on hot topics in today’s society. E!’s the Soup pokes fun at many reality shows, exposing the ridiculous aspects of today’s entertainment.  E online describes the “wildly popular show” by saying “Joel McHale satirizes pop culture and current events.”  While the Soup makes fun of the absurdities on TV, there are certain features one could argue are just as outrageous as the very ideas it is satirizing. The transitions like “The Clips of the Week” (pretending to clip a Chihuahua) and “Chat Soup” (a pot full of talk show host faces) portray the values of today’s society. The whole show is very silly and brings humor to demonstrate how pathetic these shows actually are.

Themes in television and movies have changed over time as values in our culture have changed. If you look at sitcoms from the twentieth century, you see pure clean humor with reassuring family themes. In the past decade we have changed from innocent to a society driven my sex, drugs, and money. Look at the titles of the shows now and then:

Then: Leave It To Beaver, Seinfield, Boy Meets World, Bewitched, Brady Bunch

Now: Sex and the City, Cougar Town, the Bachelor Pad, Take the Money and Run, Dirty Sexy Money, Intervention

As our values have changed so has TV, but that doesn't mean it is always as negative as it may seem. We have many family friendly shows that are enjoyable for the masses. Abc's Modern Family brings joy even to the crabby old man that yells at you for throwing your football in his yard. Nbc's the Office makes the meanest boss bring cupcakes to all of his workers (or at least consider it for the brief moment between shredding your confidence and spitting in your face). And Eli Stone (a show that played on Abc for a few seasons a couple of years ago) brought a sense of happiness that even the most sarcastic people would be touched by. 

TV and movies may be trying to go to the extremes nowadays, but sometimes they can be eXtremely inspiring. 

(X squared p. 119)

My Heart's A Stereo

If there is one thing most people don’t know about me, it’s that music plays a huge role in my life (or maybe that my nickname’s Birdie—but that’s another story). Most people don’t know that I play the guitar, but that isn’t a surprise seeing as I can’t play much. And by that I mean I know how to play Amazing Grace, When the Saints Go Marching In, and the beginning of the song The Middle by Jimmy Eat World… But I am currently working on learning I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. (At the rate I’m going I’ll have it down by the time I’m thirty.)

Music has always been such a big part of my life because it is the one thing that keeps me sane through all of the hard times. Whether I am sad or angry or stressed, music has been the one thing that has always been there for me. When everything sucks and I feel completely let down, music builds me back up and shows me I’m not alone. It never leaves me or lies to me or breaks my trust. I can rely on music night or day to guide me and make me feel better. It has helped me through every tough situation in my life by either making me forget about my troubles or giving me lyrics that fit exactly what I’m feeling. I think the song that has been the most influential is Keepin’ It Real by Shaggy. It is a song about being happy with what you have because there is always someone who has it worse. So whenever I feel things are as bad as they can be, I turn on Shaggy and he helps me through it. The song Someday by Elliott Yamin helped me deal with the loss of my cousin in September. It reminded me that this isn’t goodbye; it’s more like see you Someday.

My favorite part about music is that it gives you words to the feelings that you never knew how to describe before. I hate to admit it, but even Taylor Swift has helped me put words to what I’m thinking. I feel like the majority of her songs are either whining about guys or sharing how crazy she is about some guy. But what teenage girl doesn’t relate to something she’s saying at some point? It’s kind of this unavoidable evil (Like secretly not hating Bieber—everyone wants to say they hate him, but let’s be real guys, at one time or another you’ve hummed along to Baby when you think no one’s listening too). I see it as a common bond between all teenage girls, because it shows we all have the same boy frustrations at some point. But I like Colbie Calliat songs the best when it comes to those kinds of things. She has such an incredible voice, and everything she says is completely true. Like What I Wanted To Say, this song is genius. Pure genius.

The biggest reason music plays such a large role in my life is I am just completely and utterly madly in love with it. It is like chocolate chip cookies, seat heaters, 80’s movies, and corvettes all wrapped into one.  I get this warm fuzzy feeling, and I Like How It Feels. I listen to music every chance I get: in the car, in the shower, while I’m getting ready, while I’m getting my homework out, right now…Most of the time I can’t concentrate on homework when I’m listening to music, but I have no problem dividing polynomial functions and belting out This Love (Maroon 5 of course—my favorite band on the planet) simultaneously. So math homework is slightly more entertaining. Speaking of Maroon 5, I have now seen them twice in the past year. And that is not enough. I Can’t Lie, Adam Levine is pretty much one of my favorite people in the world, and I don’t even know him. His voice makes me melt.

Like I said, I’m in love with music. Music from the decades before I was born is my favorite: the Eagles, Bon Jovi, Boston, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Lynard Skynard (the guitar solo in Free Bird is my favorite thing in the world), the Bee Gees, Billy Joel, the list goes on. These artists help build the soundtrack of my life. They have shaped me as a person, and continue to affect me in my everyday life, because as the title mentions, My Heart’s a Stereo.

Adam Levine at The State Fair Concert 9/5/11