Be Healthy

article 1: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119031468354034206.html?mod=health_home_stories
article 2: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119020873012232400.html?mod=health_home_stories

These two articles, both from the online Wall Street Journal, focus on health issues that are affecting us today. The first article talks about a number of students on a high school band trip who contracted TB from their bus driver. The bus company was sued and ordered to pay 5.25 million dollars to those who contracted the disease. TB is not a very common illness these days but still a very serious one. The bus company had not kept up with the physicals of their drivers and because of it they suffered greatly.

The second article is about the lack of people getting flu shots this season. People may think the flu is just a really bad cold but it is much more serious than that. The illness is especially harmful to those under the age of 5 and those over the age of 50. I can tell you from personal experience that you want to get your flu shot ASAP! last year I got the flu and it was the worst two weeks of my life. No I was not in any grave danger, but as a result I lost quite a bit of weight which I wasn't big to begin with, and I also missed out on a lot of things during school. No one wants to get the flu, I can promise you that.

These two articles together focus on the importance of our health and how if you don't keep up with all the vaccinations you could be greatly affected. If only the bus company had checked up on their drivers' medical records, if the students had kept up with their TB vaccinations, if people made sure to get their flu shots every year, etc. then we would be much better off.

I definitely think that the bus company is to blame because the driver was showing symptoms of the illness while on the trip and had a family history of the illness. But I also think the school system who sent the students on this trip should have checked up on their medical records to be sure they had had their vaccinations. If both parties had been a little more careful, none of this would have happened. The bus company would be 5.25 million dollars richer and the students would not have this illness which could possibly affect them for the rest of their lives.

As for the small number of people who get their flu shots. I think that is totally a personal issue. It was my fault for not getting my flu shot last year. And if you get the flu, it's your fault for not taking the 30 minutes out of your day to get a shot.

Basically keep track of your medical record, get your shots. And if you are around someone who is coughing a lot...move away.

Prime Directive

Reading this article I was somewhat confused on what the author was trying to get across. I still am not quite sure what the meaning behind this story was. I began to somewhat understand some of what he was talking about when he got to the part about Abu Ghraib.

I think the idea of the man and woman portraying Graner and England is dispicable. They were basically making a joke of the disgusting things they did to the prisoners in Iraq. It's people like Graner and England that make people in other countries think that Americans are animals. I think that's what Griffith was sort of getting at. Is that we all have that in us. He didn't even realize what he was doing until the next day when he saw the picture and felt sick with guilt.

Griffith seemed to be kind of a loner in the story or somewhat of a pessimist because he didn't really talk to anyone. He purposely kept to himself at the parties for the most part and didn't participate in the group activities. I didn't see how this played into the whole meaning of the story until he got to the part about Graner and England. I think he didn't realize what he was doing when he took the picture because he hadn't been socializing. The next thing he knew he was taking part in a sick joke. I didn't really get much out of this article other than it's a shame how some people represent America as a whole. Because unlike Griffith who thought we were all represented, I think it's the kind of thing where a few people mess things up for everyone else. I don't think everyone in America is like that. That's about all I really got.

Sorority stereotype

So my roommate went through sorority recruitment last week. I've never been the girl that was the sorority "type" so I decided not to go through rush. Not to mention how expensive it is. I was happy for my roommate, who is one of my best friendsw, but at the same time I wondered if she would be different after she joined a sorority. Everyone knows the stereotypes that go along with being in a sorority. We've all seen Legally Blonde and movies like it that show how dumb and snotty and shallow sorority girls are. So I figured, well there goes my best friend. Once she joins the sorority she's going to ditch me for her sorority and she's going to be a shallow bitch.

Well Thursday she invited me to go out with her and her sorority sisters. So I went, as skeptical as I was. I knew as soon as I walked in the door they would look at me and think I'm a bitch or something because I'm not in their sorority and they won't talk to me and I will be soooo bored. But to my surprise as soon as we walked in I was greeted by a crazy fun girl who seemed so glad to have me there even though she had never met me, and all the rest of the girls were nice too. I was kind of like huh? This isn't how it works. Why aren't they snobby? Why don't I hate them?

They've already invited me back to events with them and they made me feel like one of them even though I'm not even in their sorority. It totally changed the way I looked at them. And I've alwayd been the kind of girl who hated the sorority type-dumb blonde-ditzy girls. But they were not like that at all. It's crazy but I guess you really can't judge a book by it's cover, to be completely trite.

Theme- The Family

Preface

The theme of our group is family, but I wanted to think outside the box so the group decided to write a story incorporating our experiences and ideas.

“The Family”

The back door of a tidy middle class home slammed shut.

“Oops! Sorry mom. I didn’t mean to do that,” said Peter.

“Oh, Peter. You are something. I’ve made some homemade cookies for you. And don’t forget to do your homework,” said Mrs. Ramses.

“Mom, I’m sixteen,” says Peter.

She smiles and ponders on how fast her only son has grown up. A couple of hours later Peter walks into the kitchen and grabs a cookie.

“Hey mom, I’m going over to John’s to hang out,” said Peter.

“Okay, be home by dinner time,” replied Peter’s mother.

Peter walks over to Sina’s home to find his other friends Heidi and Rita there also. However, instead of finding his friends laughing and joking with each other as they normally do, they were mellow and frustrated.

“What’s going on guys?” Peter asks confused.

“Oh, it’s just our families. We’re so irritated with them,” replied Heidi.

“If it’s okay for me to ask, what’s wrong?” said Peter.

“Well, I’ll start first,” said Heidi.

I just started dating a wonderful guy this past Sunday. He's absolutely great! My mom and most of my family think he's pretty cool, but my dad and his father aren't too happy about his ethnic background. He's half Mexican, half white. My dad and his father are very against interracial relationships. Not only that but also my mother is very controlling. She tries to control most parts of my life. Thus, she doesn't want me to take any risks and follow my heart right now and start a long relationship. We know we don't really have the time and money to do so. We weren't planning to make this relationship serious right away because we are still in high school. My sister said that we should wait until at least after college and then to feel free to do as we please. My mother cannot control me no matter how hard she tries. She holds the fact that she still pays for all my belongings as leverage.

“That’s real unfortunate,” said Peter.

“No, that’s not as bad as my story,” said Rita.

My family works like if my mom says something, it goes. We might as well not ask my dad anything because all he says is "asks your mother". And if she isn't home, well we are just out of luck. My mom is being really strict. I think my mother is so strict because she grew up in a family with conservative parents in the Navy. Who knows? But she always has rules and more rules. Call me when you get there, call me when you leave, call me if things change are her most common phrases. I don’t know why I don’t just put my cell phone on speaker so she can pretend like she is with me all day. I hate it when she would ask me how my day was or anything else because her words are meaningless because she doe not show affection. Her rules are really ridiculous, especially being in high school and still having to call my friends’ parents when I went to their house. My brother and sisters area always my saving grace whenever my mom drives me crazy at the end. We have gotten really close lately since they always have some sort of elderly advice for me.

Recently, I started dating my boyfriend who is black. I didn't really know how that would go over with my parents. I knew my grandparents would freak out but my parents aren't really as old-fashioned. Well, when my boyfriend came to pick me up for our first date, he walked in the door. Immediately, you could feel the temperature of the room reach the freezing point. My mother at the time was trying to be polite, but it was obvious from her facial expressions that she was bewildered. After that she tried to change my mind and mention things like "maybe you should date someone that's the same color as you". Though, I ignored everything she said. I wasn't going to let color affect the way I felt about someone. She tells my grandparents everything, but she didn't tell them I had a black boyfriend. She seemed ashamed. When she told people about him, she would refer to him as my "friend".

“Phew, that was long, but it’s true. I feel all bottled up and ready to explode,” said Rita.

“I see where you are coming from Rita, but my mom is trying to persuade me what college to attend, what field of studies I should major in, and what occupation I will have,” said Sina.

Being of Persian heritage, I daily encounter the ins and outs of the Persian culture and way of thinking. Persian people are very proud, elegant, and also lazy (who isn’t and the Chinese don’t count). For some reason, having “Dr.” preceding their name or “Mohandis” (which is Farsi for Engineer) gives Persians a sense of accomplishment. However, my mom has a prejudice against engineers, mainly since she is one and so is my father. She always complains that they are too many engineers in the family and not enough doctors. Then she gives me this look of khodahyah, oh my god, I’m going to take you out of my will if you don’t become an orthopedic surgeon. This really bothers me. Oh and I almost forgot to tell everyone about the guilt trap my mom tries to play on me by saying doctors help people so they are automatically going to heaven, which is really a naïve perspective.

Although she has a point that I learn by memorizing information better than working with theories and concepts, I still prefer engineering. I have to admit to that one. Another point that she keeps bringing up is my ability to comprehend material very easily without having to delve too much time into one subject. I hate myself now; truly I would make a great doctor. So that’s the million dollar question, why don’t I just become a doctor.

First of all, I don’t like blood. I might be able to get use to it, but come on who likes to cut other people and then sew them back together. If you think about it, medicine has not really changed. Well ok it’s changed but the basics are still there. The doctor cuts up the patient, takes out what the problem is, fixes the problem, and then puts everything back together like a puzzle. It’s a gruesome depiction but it gets the job done.

“I’m sorry to hear you all are having trouble with your families. You know my parents are relaxed about those kinds of situations,” Peter explains. My parents know that in the end I’ll have to make my choices and their job is to give me advice along the way and support me through the process.”

“I think we can all agree on that one,” said Sina.

“Yeah, thanks Confucius,” said Rita.

THE END

The concept of family is what has brought civilization from the Babylonians to the present. Without a sense of family, humans lose the ability to function. No matter how dysfunctional a family is or is not does not matter; at the end of the day when you’re sick, tired, and demoralized, you can go to your family and talk things over. Additionally, this is for all teenagers, we as offspring from our parents are in a literal sense part of them as they are a part of us. The genes from our parents made us; the blood, nutrients, and bodily functions of our mother all helped to create a child. And to say that they don’t know what they are talking about is absurd, our parents care for us or they would have never put us on the production line. They are trying to make sure “we” don’t make the mistakes they made. They are only trying to help us, so listen.

Familia

So I suppose I'm running a few blog posts behind. I posted my list and now it's time for my story. My group's Wendy minutes (as Daniel calls them) ran out so we didn't choose a point of interest on my list. But they kind of all fit in together so I'm just going to write a collaboration of thew points. Our group's common theme was "Family".

So a little background on my family might help you all. Growing up I lived with my dad, my mom, and my big brother Alex. I also have two half-sisters from my dad's previous marriage but they are a bit older: one is 35 and the other is like 40 I think. My family works like if my mom says something it goes. We might as well not ask my dad anything because all he would say is "ask your mother". And if she wasn't home, well we were just out of luck. My mom was really strict. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she grew up with in a Navy family with very conservative parents. Who knows. But I always had rules. Rules on top of rules. "Call me when you get there, call me when you leave, call me if things change". Why don't I just put you on speaker phone and you can pretend like you're with me all night? I mean really. So needless to say once I was in high school and I was the only child left at home, I was getting pretty sick of all the rules.

My brother and one of my sisters were kind of my saving grace whenever my mom would drive me crazy. I'm really close to both of them so they always had advice for me. My mom was never the kind of mom that I would tell things to. I hated it when she would ask me how my day was or pretty much ask me anything because I pretty much just hated talking to her. I never tried to sound like a bitch to her, it just came out that way because I was so annoyed. We fought all the damn time. No matter what we were doing, we would end up fighting. Her rules were really ridiculous especially me being like a senior in high school and she still felt the need to call people's parents when I went to their house. Just stupid things like that...I could go on to name all the dumb and ridiculous rules, but that might take a while.

My dad...well I wouldn't really say we're close because we don't really talk about anything but we get along really well. Much better than my mother and I. My dad knew that I was responsible and smart and so he never felt the need to place restrictions on me. But he never stood up for me against my mom. I mean he's my parent too...I never understood why he couldn't make the rules. It kind of sucked. Because he would tell me that he thought my moms rules were ridiculous and she should trust me more, considering I had never done anything to break her trust, but yet he would never say that to her. So I just had to go along with her dumb rules.

Once my senior year hit, I was pretty much just through with her rules. I told myself I pretty much just didn't care what she said anymore. So I did pretty much what I wanted. If she said no, then I would yell at her until she would just break down and pretty much cry and then I just left. She always called my grandmother and cried to her and told her whatever happened. Then I would wait for my grandmother to call me or send me a letter saying how I should appreciate my mom because she does a lot for me and blah blah blah. I stopped answering calls from my grandmother because she kept trying to make me feel bad but she didn't understand what it was like to live under her rules. My grandparents are very conservative and Baptist and my grandmother lectures me all the time on things that don't really apply to my moral/belief system. So whenever she would cal me I would just say ok and try to bite my tongue.

Last summer I started dating my boyfriend who is black. I didn't really know how that would go over with my parents. I knew my grandparents would freak but my parents aren't really as old-fashioned as they are so I wasn't quite sure how they would react. Well when my boyfriend came to pick me up for our first date and he walked in the door (and my parents didn't know he was black before this point) you could tell that my mom was thinking "what the fuck?!" while at the same time trying to be polite. After that she tried to change my mind and mention things like "maybe you should date someone that's the same color as you". But I pretty much ignored everything she said. I wasn't going to let color affect the way I felt about someone. She tells my grandparents everything, but she didn't tell them that. It was like she was ashamed. When she told people about him she would refer to him as my "friend". So needless to say that didn't make us any closer. Eventually she got over it, I mean I've been with my boyfriend for over a year now and I mean she never really says anything about it.

I think over time just all of her rules and ridiculousness just pushed me away to the point where I don't even want to talk to her anymore unless I have to. Even when I try to go out with her for a nice lunch or movie or something and try to have a nice time with her, we end up fighting. Thank God I don't live with her anymore. But I don't think I'll ever be able to be friends with my mom. I will never confide in her. I will never tell her about things in my life besides the basic necessary things for her to know. It's kind of sad. Because most of my friends are really close to their moms and they tell them everything and half of them go out clubbing and drinking with their moms and I just think "I would never ever be on that leverl with my mom". My brother used to not like my mom either but since he moved out he's found it easier to talk to her. But I know I'll never be like that. I just can not stand the woman.

So I guess my story isn't really depressing. I didn't have a "hsrd-knock life" by any means....nothing to feel sorry about. But that's just how I feel about it. Sorry it was so long. I think my typing/internet grammar has improved to Wendy standards...I hope anyways.

my list

My group decided our common ground was family/family issues. So here's my list!

~conservative grandparents ("true love waits" speech)
~fights with mother
~mother tried to change relationship (with my boyfriend....we're "not the same color")
~mom makes gay rules
~dad is reasonable...A.K.A. kool as shit
~i'm the baby-all the focus on me
~don't get along with mom
~dad doesn't stick up for me
~don't feel close to family (with exception of a few members)
~i'm not the favorite

Corporate=Hell

so i didn't get a chance to write yesterday so i'll post two today and hopefully that will make up for missing yesterday. The reason I didn't get a chance to write yesterday is because I was working. I tried though. I took my laptop to work with me but my wireless connection wouldn't work for some reason. and I didn't get off work until 3 am so as you can imagine I was a bit tired when i got home...not really in a blogging mood. I love my new job though. I recently started working at Young Avenue Deli in midtown at the corner of Cooper and Young. If you've never been there it's a bar/restaurant/pool playing place/listen to kool bands place....but it's awesome. I've always waited tables but I've never worked at an independant place before. I've always worked at corporate restaurants. Which kindof gets me to what I was thinking about when i started writing.

Corporate restaurants. They suck. T.G.I. Friday's, O'Charley's, RED ROBIN....all corporate. Has anyone ever seen Office Space? That's what i think of when I think of corporate restaurants. Chochkeys (sp?)...the place where Jennifer Aniston worked in the movie where she had to have so many pieces of "flare". It's totally like that. I worked at Red Robin this past summer. There are so many rules that there are rules on top of rules. Uniforms to the way we wear our hair to the way we greet a customer. I felt like a robot when i talked to customers. and i could hear them getting bored with me going on and on with "thank you for choosing Red Robin...have you ever dined with us? no? well here are all of our sandwiches, burgers, drinks, appetizers, salads, entrees, soups, and desserts....and don't forget we serve bottomless french fries....are you ready to order?" it was just so long and annoying.....i wanted to slap myself in the face sometimes. I just don't understand why businesses feel they have to dictate ever detail to impress the customer. Customers just want pleasant, efficient service. They don't need all the bullshit. How many people are really offended by my nose ring? that's right I couldn't wear that. I just don't think corportions go about things right. Take my new job for instance. I can wear whatever I want, I can sit down if I'm not busy which is completely out of the question at Red Robin, and all the while my customers are still being served. Even with my noe ring in! GASP!

My point is that corporations like Red Robin say they are all about their "people" meaning the employees. But when they force so many rules on us, it just makes things miserable and forces people to quit. Everyone I knew from Red Robin just about has quit. Whereas at my new job the people who work there have been there for years. It's because there aren't so many miniscule details and rules. I mean really....when you go to a restaurant do you care what color your server's shoelaces are? Or whether or not they have a goutee? I don't. I just care if they are polite and bring me my food.

(I tried to do better on the punctuations and paragraphs Wendy.....hope that helps)