Cans and bottles hurt me...

Today in AP Biology, we sorted cans and bottles after finishing a movie we watched. If you are one of the more than 51,000 people that work in the same corporation as myself, this probably sounds familiar. I work for Hy-Vee. This means that our little job of sorting came pretty easily to me as I recognized the familiar signs of can shed bags and too many bottles to count.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate having a job that will give me more hours during the summer and a leave of absence during the school year. However, like most people, I'm not exactly looking forward to going back after school ends. For the most part, my job at customer service isn't so bad as high school jobs go.

However, I am not a fan of the bottle return policy. If people were not often disgusting, I would be perfectly fine with it (normally, I think it is a good idea as it encourages people to recycle). But the cans are often sticky, crushed, hairy, not empty or just plain dirty. We actually are recommended to wear gloves from the health hazard they cause. That's not a good sign.

Anyway, it was just a reminder that I must go back to the world of work soon. But at least I get paid.

The seniors are gone

Yesterday was the seniors' last day of school. It may be strange that I am taking such a note of this since I am a junior, but it feels very weird with them gone. There are the few reasons.

#1: My boyfriend is a senior. So now he is making that first step towards leaving the high school where I get to see him every day to a strange and mysterious place that is much closer to the "real world." The fact that he has already left school means that he is that much closer to graduating and leaving for Egypt in about two weeks. It's really exciting that he gets to go to another country and then off to college, but it will be very weird not to see him. We've been dating for almost 2 1/2
years and during that time, I've seen him at least multiple times a week. So that's weird to think about.

#2: It makes me realize that my senior year is very close. It seems like I just started my junior year with new hopes and goals and soon I will have to edit those goals for my senior year. And there are all these "lasts" coming up: last football season, last homecoming dance, last basketball season, last prom, last Mock Trial competition...It doesn't seem like that long ago that I started high school thinking that it was just like the teenage movies (it's not, by the way, especially if you are like me). And then there's the prospect of preparing for college. I don't even know what I want to do when I graduate, just that I'm interested in biology. I don't have any idea what college I'd like to go to either. That's a lot of uncertainty.

Either way, the hallways seem less crowded and noisy with the seniors gone. This means a lot of changes for my class and myself, which is scary but also very exciting. Hopefully we will have a great year/summer and will fulfill the idea of the rock in front of our school: "no regrets."

England

This summer I am going on vacation to England. I'm going with my mom, grandma, aunt, uncle and my two cousins. It doesn't feel like I'm going yet though. I have yet to get a travel book and look up possible places to visit. I haven't figured out who's bringing a laptop and I don't know the exact date of when we are leaving. But even though I don't have most of the details worked out, I am excited about the idea.

One thing I am worried about is the fact that I am going with my family. A couple of things I haven't mentioned so far is that one of my cousins is around 4 or 5. Another is that quarters will be so close that I will be sharing a two-bed hotel room with my mom and grandma...and I'm sharing a bed with my mom. This alerts me to the fact that we are most likely going to be in a very small room. I'm less excited about these aspects of the trip.

I love my family very much, but I'm afraid I may be less affectionate when spending every waking (and sleeping) moment with them.

Stromboli

Deep in the food court of our local mall, there lies a fast food restaurant called Sbarro. Surely, many of you have heard of this wondrous place with pizza slices so large that you can't completely hold one in your hands. But Sbarro has another amazing creation: THE STROMBOLI!!!!!

The stromboli may seem fairly safe from the picture linked above, although perhaps with the exception of the cheese oozing out (I think I may be drooling as I'm writing this). However, the item contains more grease than your car engine which inevitably comes leaking out at some point. Delicious, trans-fatty grease, that is.

So now whenever I venture to the mall during lunch, I eat one of these strombolis. This is a decision that both pleases me and hurts me at the same time. On the one hand, it is by far the most appetizing items in the food court. On the other hand, there's so much grease and calories that I'm usually left bloated and perhaps even feeling slightly sick. Thus: our love/hate relationship.

Ultimately, I would recommend this sumptous product to those not afraid to get a little oily. Despite its obvious lack of health, the stromboli is very tasty. And it led me to discover my dad's newfound talent at making calzones (which are healthier and just as tasty). In other words, Sbarro makes good food happen.

Pam + Jim = Jam

What can I say about the season finale of my beloved show, The Office? I am a very sad and disappointed girl who takes too much solace in the romance of TV characters. If you are even an aquaintance of mine (or you read titles of blog entries), you know that I'm referring to Pam and Jim.

When I began watching The Office with Tim, I was instantly rooting for Pam and Jim to get together. This, of course, was what the writers of the show intended when they forced us to slowly become entranced with the idea. Finally, Pam broke up with Roy and began dating Jim. Things were looking sunny and clear, especially when we got the clue that Jim was planning to propose to Pam:



So, obviously, most thought that Jim would propose before this season ended for the summer. But no! Andy ruined "Big Tuna's" big moment and now we must wait until the next season begins to see what happens. The worst part is that Pam, like the rest of us, thought Jim would propose that night. But hopefully things will go well when the show returns. After all, this is The Office, not a soap opera. One of the best parts of the show is that they focus on comedy and not drama. I've been waiting so long for Jim and Pam to join forces and create Jam! It must happen soon.

Rap "Music"

Granted, I have more than a few pet peeves. But what I find worse than PDA and people who find themselves incredibly smart is rap music. Now, I find it debatable that this noise can even be called music. How can someone named Bow Wow (seriously...Bow Wow?) compare with the likes of Bruce Springsteen or Aerosmith?

To answer this question, I came up with the possibility that maybe their fame is derived from their amazing lyrics. So, I looked up what is the number one rap song right now (according to AOL music because, really, who can we trust to tell us what's number one than the Internet provider that constantly cuts out?). Apparently the number one rap song right now is called "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne. I'll just give you a little sample of the lyrics:

Shawty wanna thug
Bottles in the club
Shawty wanna hump
And ooo I like to touch ya lovely lady lumps

This is just a tiny portion of the song because I really didn't feel comfortable putting most of the lyrics on a school-checked blog. But you can look it up yourself and for now you get the point. Basically chauvinistic and violent undertones highlight the entire song. So I think we can rule out those amazing lyrics.

So maybe the real key to their success is that they're great dancing songs? Well, I know there are many people who would disagree with me, but I would not agree with that. Sure, the beat is usually fairly exposed in rap songs but it seems like every song sounds the same. There are no instrumentals and no real singing, just talking. Compare that to blues, jazz or rock and you'll find that it doesn't really compare. Hell, I'd rather dance to "Cotton-Eyed Joe."

So I guess the real question I have is why does this music appeal so much to the majority of those in my generation? First, there's the fact that the majority of kids in my school (the school that is predominately white...by a lot)seems to really enjoy this music. Honestly, how many of you know all about that "thugging?" Then, you have the black people who enjoy it. Obviously I don't know the first thing about being a minority, but it seems like music that promotes gangs and violence is the last thing that will create equality. But I do know the first thing about being a woman and as such I find these songs very offensive. The songs are usually very demeaning while featuring scantily clad women humping the air. Come on, this is the 21st century, shouldn't we be beyond this by now?

Henry VIII

I just finished reading a book called The Wives of Henry VIII. This may sound like an unusual choice, but it might make more sense if I explain how I became interested in the subject. This beginning came when I saw The Other Boleyn Girl with my mom in theaters. This is the story of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of a king who divorced/killed five of his six wives. So the movie made me wonder what actually happened in history since Henry VIII is one of the more bizarre tales in history. My mom had started reading this book a while back and lent it to me.

All in all, the book was pretty interesting. Usually my nonfiction books are more limited to David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell so this was uncommon for me. But the subject itself is obviously one that it is hard to make dull and the writing was good anyway. But I guess the biggest thought that occurred to me while reading the book is that Henry VIII became extremely fat. Don't think chubby, think morbidly obese. I understand that he had power and wealth, but how do you force yourself to be attracted to such a man? Especially when the guy wasn't exactly a sweetheart. I mean, who decides to let their daughter be courted by a man who has a history of tantrums and cutting off his wives's heads? Very weird.

Ode to the AP Tests (otherwise known as ap-ness)

Finally, the day has come when I will not be tested every single day! Honestly, I think if the room were very quiet during some of the AP tests you would be able to hear the grunts of my straining brain cells. However, my brain cells that are responsible for recognition of my own name must be very happy. I think I wrote my name twenty times in the past three days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be possible getting college credit for much cheaper than I would in an actual college. However, taking an AP test three days in a row is like taking the ACT three days in a row. But perhaps its more stressful than that because you can take the ACT over.

I think the worst part about the AP tests is the time left over. For example, today they gave us 2 hours and 15 minutes to write 3 essays. For those of you who don't know, this is a lot of time. I ended up with 20 minutes left, but others ended up with almost 50! This is a lot of time to sit and stare at a ceiling. And then you inevitably end up staring at the digital countdown, willing it to be faster. Which just slows it down.

Walks with Jack

At my dad's house we have a Golden Retriever named Jack. Jack is...well, crazy would be the best word for it. But lately I've noticed something else. Although both my dad and I run on a daily basis, Jack is actually out of shape. You wouldn't know this by looking at him:



But walks with Jack are always an interesting event. First of all, recognition of his leash as time for a walk seems to be about the only idea we can get to diffuse through his thick skull. Actually, it's probably one of the few times that we get to see him calm. It's like he dares not to move because his treat might be taken away from him.

But then when we get outside my 90-pound dog begins pulling frantically on his leash. My boyfriend and I tried to teach him to heel once. Our walk ended up taking a half an hour to walk three blocks because we stopped every time he pulled. You might think that, while he wouldn't immediately pick up the trick, Jack might at least get a little hint. But no, he pulled until he was wheezing against his collar, but when we loosened it the memory of this discomfort was long gone. I'm not entirely sure that he has long-term memory.

But despite all of this vivacity in the beginning of his walk, Jack begins to tire after about a mile. And this isn't just in those hot Iowa summers that make even me feel like I'm in some sort of desert. Towards the end of every walk, Jack begins to look up at me like "Aren't we finished yet?" His gait turns into a slow, lumbering one as he pants and continues to look searchingly for signs that we're almost home. I find this very strange as most days one can find Jack sprinting around the backyard in circles for no particular reason. And when I say sprinting, I mean really sprinting. Where does all the energy that he puts into jumping and biting me in greeting go?

21

This weekend I saw the movie 21. I was actually very impressed. Although I suppose whatever review I give must be taken with a grain of salt since I am a fan of Oceans 11 types of movies, which this was a lot like. And we see yet another excellent performance from Jim Sturgess. But this role was a lot different than his roles in Across the Universe and The Other Boleyn Girl. In this movie, his character went from being his usual quiet type to being more extroverted. So that was interesting to see. It was also interesting to see Kevin Spacey play the role of a more dangerous character.
One thing that I learned after seeing this movie was that it was based off of a real story. This was surprising to me because the movie is about MIT students who travel to Las Vegas during the weekends to count cards at blackjack. Obviously though, there were probably many elaborations in the movie. At any rate, I thought it was interesting that there really were students who did this and I have to wonder who found out about it.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this movie. I couldn’t stop watching!

America's Next Top Model

One day I needed something to watch while I was riding our recumbent bike in the basement and I naturally turned to MTV to find a show that required no thinking. America’s Next Top Model was on, so I decided to watch it because I knew that some of my friends enjoy it. What I found is that it is not only the incredibly vapid show that I imagined but also very addictive.
The idea of the show is that some models complete a challenge and some sort of photo shoot every week. At the end of that week, they are evaluated on how they did in these by a panel of judges and one of them is let go. And when they are not out on photo shoots, they are living in the same house together and interacting with the result of much drama. So essentially it seems to be a mix between The Bachelor and American Idol.
I don’t watch America’s Next Top Model when new episodes come out in the current season, but only watch reruns on MTV on the weekend. Because of this I only see snippets and random episodes of old series. However, you can get the general idea from that. One thing I have noticed is that the panel of judges (who mostly stay the same) are often very rude. I have heard models compared to Michael Jackson and even heard it said that a girl could stand to lose 150 lbs (even though that would make her 30 lbs, which “would be better”). Granted, some of these things were said when the models weren’t around, but still. They often praise models for their positive attitudes, but usually that means smiling at someone who just said something quite offensive to you. I’m not entirely sure why the judges feel that the perfect model is someone who lets people degrade them and talk down to them. That doesn’t exactly sound like confidence to me.
Obviously though, the show is very entertaining to watch. But here’s a good example of the treatment I was talking about earlier:

Flight of the Conchords

For those of you unfamiliar with Flight of the Conchords, I can tell you something definitive: you are missing out. I was introduced to the “band” when I showed up to a friend’s house. We were sitting in her bedroom and talking when all of the sudden I started paying attention to the music being played. The following lyrics reach my attention:
I’m not crying
No, I’m not crying
And if I am crying
It’s not because of you
It’s because I’m thinking of a friend of mine who you don’t know who is dying
That’s right, dying

So obviously my first reaction is “What the crap is this?” and you are probably thinking the same thing after reading those lyrics. So, in answer to your question, Flight of the Conchords is a show on HBO that is sort of a parody of the band shows of MTV/VH1. I have yet to actually see a full episode (however, I’ve seen most of their music videos on YouTube), but apparently it’s a show of their trials and tribulations, complete with their songs. Of course, one should keep in mind that this is obviously a parody.
Here is their video for “I’m Not Crying”

Attention: STOP MAKING OUT!

Usually I’m not the cynical, I’m-too-mature-for-high-school-thing type of person. However, one major exception to this is people who feel the need to share their deep passion for each other in the hallway. And usually even this isn’t much of a problem as one can choose to simply ignore them. In the past few days, though, the national alert of PDA has reached alarmingly new and high levels. Because of this, I must beg the general public of my high school: please desist your groping and kissing!
This became a problem when I returned to my locker after school one day and found that a new group had decided to make the same area their new home. Up against the opposite wall, they stared deeply into each others’ eyes and kissed….right in front of me. Now I find that my new friends are there every single day just groping away. This is rather awkward as such obvious and “passionate” PDA is like some sort of car wreck that you just cannot look away from. And trust me, you want and need to for your own sanity.
So before you start this dangerous habit, think about everyone else. I know you’re just so deeply in “love,” but the rest of us are trying so hard not to vomit.