Au Revoir

Au Revoir



I never thought this day would come but it has officially arrived. It’s my ninetieth blog! It’s hard to believe that I have written 90 blogs over the course of the year. I remember thinking at the beginning of the year, how am I ever going to come up with enough topics. At that time we were only supposed to write 30 for the end of the trimester. Now six months or so later those 30 blogs have developed into a grand total of 90.



No matter how much I despise blogging I think it did help me in my writing. Since we were to write 30 blogs each term I had to practice writing at least once a week. As the weeks went by I began to see my own mistakes and correct them. I also developed my sentences more and was able to develop my blogs more than we I first started writing in the fall.



As I state before I didn’t know how I could come up with enough blog topics. This provides to be challenging in the beginning because I couldn’t develop my ideas into more than a couple of sentences, or I would be rambling on about who knows what. Then when second and third term came around, I became a pro at finding random topics to write about. I found that I like writing my opinions on topics that we don’t normally discuss in class. Some topics can be fun to write about and some I can’t wait till the 300 word count comes up on the computer screen.



As much as it has help me become a better writer, I didn’t really enjoy it. It’s not that it was boring; writing is just not for me. It’s like having to swim ten miles when you normally run. It’s tough. Some people continue to blog but that isn’t the case for me. So this is goodbye blog, good bye readers.

Cat Power

I believe in the power of having a cat. This cat can be independent or needy, big or small, furry or bald, but it’s the idea of owning one that affects your life.

I found this to be true when my family got our cat, Piper. She is going to be 11 years old but still acts like the kitten she was when we got her ten years ago. Cats are, I believe, humans but in animal form. They are unpredictable. One day they will sleep all day, the next your cant get them to stop running around the house sounding like a herd of elephants. They don’t depend on other people in order to survive like a dog. Nobody needs to keep them entertained while you are on vacation or take them for walks. Cats keep themselves occupied by starring out the window all day or investigating a box.

I can always count on Piper being there for me. Whenever I stayed home from school because I was sick, she would always snuggle next to me on the couch. On days when I come home from school and no one is home, I open the door to find Piper waiting on the steps, greeting me, since no one else is there to do it. Then she will follow me around to keep me company in the quiet house. Piper always puts a smile on my face from the random positions that I catch her in. Who knew that sleeping on your back with one leg sticking up in the air would be comfortable? Or when she was younger she would jump up on our stair railing (which is not very wide) and walk on it like she was practicing her gymnastic moves. I can always count on Piper making my day better.

As the years have gone by I can see how Piper has made an impact on my life. This is why I am proud to say I am a cat person.

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Advantageous of Seniors Graduating

I could sit here and write a sappy blog on all the things I am going to miss when the seniors are gone but I don’t want to cry while writing it. Instead I will write a blog about all the positive things that will happen now that the seniors are gone. 

More parking spaces will be open! Now that the seniors will be gone there will be a lot more parking spaces that are open. As long as the sophomore’s don’t think their cool and get to them first. As a person who doesn’t have a zero hour and never really gets ready in time to have a good parking spot I have spent basically the whole year walking all the way from the end of the parking lot. I am not complaining, the walk was nice on a warm day, but it’s nice to also have a close parking spot especially when you are running late.

The lunch line will be shorter. No more will there be the regular seniors budging in line in front of you to get lunch before you even though you waited in line. I not saying that nobody else does it but seniors gone there is one less person in front of you in line.

The biggest plus with the seniors leaving is that the hallways will be less crowded! I hate going through the foyer, especially between 3 and 4 hour, because it’s always so crowded. With the senior’s big group in front of the bench and then the annoying freshmen group, there is no room for people to walk. You are constantly bumping into people and then the rude person in the back of the pack trying to be funning and push their friend but instead causing people to run into each other. With at least 300 people gone, there will be more space to move around and I don’t have to awkwardly make my way around. 

Even though there are a lot of positive things that come out with the seniors graduating I will miss them. Just think, this is probably one of the last times you will see some of them. Whatever they end up doing with their life, I wish them good luck!

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Filthy Lavatories

Recently in the last Cougar Advisory Council we had to complete a survey on a list of things at Kennedy. We had to grade our teachers, write the best and worst things about the council meetings and things we can improve around the school. The things we can improve around the school are what I really want to focus on. The first thing that came to mind was not the parking but the bathrooms.

Everybody has to go to the bathroom at some point during the day. You would think that they would be kept clean since everybody visits them. But no, they are the most disgusting thing at Kennedy, at least the girls are. The sinks especially get to me. They are supposed to be were you get the germs off your hands but every time I use them I feel like I am only get dirtier just by looking at them. There is makeup spilled in the sinks making questionable marks. Hair is cling to the drain, which really grosses me out. Paper towels are lying in the sink all wet and nasty looking. Overall it just plain nasty.  We can blame the janitors solely some of it is our fault to, or more specific those who don’t clean up after themselves. If you have to wear makeup, put it on at home. Don’t have time you say, well get up an extra 5 minutes. Aren’t allowed, don’t wear it. Simple as that. Then we have the people who leave their hair everywhere. I know we sometimes have hair malfunctions and must redo are hair during the day, but straightening it in the bathroom? Go home and do it, you’re not at a salon or your home.

Again the bathrooms at school are public, not your bathroom at home. Clean up after yourself, you are in a public place. When I look at the sinks in the bathroom I often wonder if they are making a mess here, I wonder what their bathrooms at home look like. Even the house as a whole. I think ill pass next time you offer me over.

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Miley? Really?

From late elementary school to middle school, I use to look up to Miley Cyrus, or also known as Hannah Montana. I loved to watch her show on Disney Channel, it really was one of the few that I liked even though it didn’t have great acting. Then when Miley decided to end the show and her career went downhill for there.  Hannah Montana appealed to the younger girls, like my age back then, but to Miley it wasn’t enough. She wanted to expand her audience and by doing that she had to quite the show.  This was a bad move.

She didn’t gradually try to appeal to the older crowd which probably hurt her most. The first second she was still Hannah Montana and then the next she was only wearing a leotard, trying to be the new Beyoncé. Then she was caught smoking something out of a bong at a friend’s house. I don’t if she knew that if she was trying to appeal to a more mature crowd, drugs don’t have to have a factoring in the situation. This eventually died down and Miley went on tour over in Europe because “America wasn’t giving her much love.” I don’t blame America because who wants to see a singer who appealed to so many little kids try to act too old for her age in only a piece of cloth.  Now that her tour is over and nobody is paying attention to her, she has to find some way into the spot light. What does she do, she comes pant less to some award show. I would understand if it was lady gaga or some other singer that has dressed like that since they were famous. But Miley?, a girl that is 20 years old if even that. She is only wearing a suit jacket that looks like it barely covers her butt. The first question that popped in my head was “how in the world is she going to sit down without exposing her butt” and “how can she move with such a short outfit”. Let me tell, that this jacket wasn’t made to wear without pants.

The ways Miley try’s to shine are not moments that people should remember her by. She can try to go away from the younger audience but she should have done it slowly. It takes time for people to unattached the kids singer for the person. For a family in the music business she should have known that. The way she tries to get attention now is by making her look bad. Again not something we want to remember about Miley.

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Annotated Bibliography "The Help"

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help. New York: Amy Einhorn, 2009. Print. (pg. 524/524)

The last book I chose to read for this class was “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. I saw the movie in March and have wanted to read the book for quite sometime. Unfortunately the book was on a 10 day check out and I knew no matter how great it was I probably would not finish it in time with my busy schedule. Finally one day as I was roaming the library for a book I discovered that “The Help” was off the limited check out list and got the book. Since I saw the movie and thought it was amazing, I was a little skeptical on how the book could live up to it. But, like always, the book was way better than the movie.  In the first couple of pages I was instantly hooked and could not put it down. Every time I had free time in school or at home I would read the book. I knew how the story progressed because of watching the movie but as I continued reading I discovered parts left out of the film which made the book all the more interesting. 

The book takes place in Jackson, Mississippi around the early 60’s. Every couple of chapters the writer, Kathryn Stockett, switches between the three main characters, Minnie, Abileen and Skeeter, to tell their part in the story. This was not confusing at all because the chapter’s title reveals when it is switching characters. Since the story takes place in the south, there are sentences with southern words and accents. This was most noticeable with the maids, Minnie and Abileen. They had very little education, when they spoke it was not always proper grammar. For example when Abileen says “I guess he know he done lost this one before it even started.” or Minnie saying “Them peaches from Mexico.”  Over all, though, these southern sentences were not that challenging and easierto  pick up what they were trying to say. The book wasn’t an easy read but it thought I would be more challenging than it really was. This could be because I enjoyed it so much. 

If anybody ever needed a book to read I would highly recommend “The Help”. I would advise you that if you didn’t see the movie and want to, to watch the movie first. I feel if I read the book first, I would have been disappointed with how it turned out. I have to say though that “The Help” both the book and movie are on my top 5 of favorite book and movie list.
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Drive-Thru Etiquette (Part Four)

8. My biggest pet peeve is when people come through and complain. I know it can be frustrating when it seems you are paying more for a little cone but I have NO control. I am a seventeen year old, who is working there to save money for college. I have no control over prices. Or, complain how we don’t take certain coupons. Again I have no control, I am not the owner. This was especially prominate when we had the buy one blizzard get a mini for 50 cents. On TV and adds in the paper it said you can get any size blizzard for 50 cents but the Linn county Dairy Queens decided only a mini for that price. People keep on saying we should advertise something that we don’t follow through. We don’t have control over what is advertise and we had signs up all around the building say the mini was  50 cents, yet people still could not read.  Another complaints we get a lot is on our grill closing time. The grill closes when the dining room closes which is a half hour before drive-thru. We have people come through the line saying well you should open up your grill or it should be open till you close all the way. One person came through like maybe a minute after we closed grill, trying to order a hamburger. When I proceed to tell him that our grill was close he yelled at me saying that it wasn’t 9:30 and he was going to call corporate. Complaining gets you nowhere and only makes both the costumer and the employee mad. All it doesn’t is create awkward situations. So please, complain to someone who cares. 

As long as you follow my tips on how to get through a drive-thru, you probably won’t have any problems. And  both you (the costumer) and the employee will leave happy.

Drive-Thru Etiquette (Part Two)

3. Don’t Know, Come inside. If you are not sure on the how big the blizzard or shake cups are then come inside and ask. It is easier to see for yourself than to ask over the speaker. You can’t really visualize it as well when we tell you the ounces than if you are able to see it for yourself. Some Dairy Queens have to different sizes for their shakes and blizzards. The Dairy Queen I work at has larger sizes so many people come through the drive-thru and want to change the size after its all made because it’s too big.  So to create these of a problem, if you have a question relating to size, come inside, it’s easier. 

4. Speak Clearly. It’s really hard to hear the costumer when they are talking like they are in a library. Or, another type is that they mush their words together to make it sound like something completely not what they wanted. For example, one costumer came through the drive-thru asking for “crunch coate something, something” I asked her to repeat it and the second time it sounded like a crouch coate cone. When she came through the drive-thru, she said “oh, I wanted a crunch coate blizzard, definitely not what I heard.  Then these people get mad at you because they have to repeat it so often.  I don’t think they know how heard it is to hear over those headsets. With the noise from the three blizzard machines going and car noises in the background, it’s pretty hard. This would all be solved if the costumer were to speak in a clear, punctuated and load voice. I don’t mean a really loud voice that will break my ear drum, but a load enough like you were talking to a person a couple feet away from you. Not the library level.

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Drive-Thru Etiquette (Part Three)

5. Person closest to the speaker needs to order. You may think it is cute that your little child is ordering by herself but it is hard to hear when she is all the way in the back of the car. If the person closest to the speaker doesn’t have the ability to order for everyone in the car than some else should switch spots with them. This kind of goes along the line with the speak clearly part because its also harder to hear someone farther away. You can always tell which cars these are because when they pull up to pay there is a man or women driving but the person who took the order had the opposite voice. 

6. Don’t Hold Up the Line. This isn’t a problem when we aren’t busy but when you sit at the sign trying to figure out what you want and cars are piling up behind you waiting to order creates a problem. Not only are you creating traffic jam but you are also making us more busier than we should be. If you don’t know what to order come inside and figure it out. That way you can order when you are ready and not prevent anyone from going ahead of you. 

7. Try not to order anything else at the window. I know it happens sometimes, you forget to order something at the speaker but it does slow us down. This isn’t much of a problem when we aren’t busy but if we are then the person usually at window has to stop and make the order instead of continuing to collect money and hand out the items. I will forgive you if it’s an ice cream cone or a dilly bar, but if it requires more work like a blizzard than that’s a different matter to deal with.

Drive-thru Etiquette (Part One)

People go through Drive-ups for fast food restaurants because a. they think it is quicker and b. it easier to sit in the car instead of getting out. For about a year now I have worked at Dairy Queen and have frequently been put on the drive-thru position taking orders and collecting the money. It can be quiet frustrating at times especially when we are busy because numerous people don’t know the correct drive-thru behavior. I have come across costumers that are the whispering queen to people who almost damage my ear drum. So, I have come up with a list of things that I think is correct etiquettefor the Drive-thru.

1.       Slow Down. I can only hear and remember so much at a time, so if you are talking a mile a minute I am going to miss something on your order and don’t go blaming me when that happens. Costumers usually talk fast when they have a really long order. I find it the most complicated when they order something on grill at Dairy Queen. As the person taking the order I have to ask them what they want on their burger, do they want fries, if yes do they want curly fries, onion rings or just fries and if they want a drink with their meal. I have experienced this quit often and am not sure how to handle it. Do I interrupt them and tell them to slow down? Or would that be considered rude. Do I just repeat what I heard and then have them say the rest again? This problem can be solved if the costumers would just pause for a second after they ordered one thing to make sure there are no complications in the order.

2.      Don’t Order An Ice Cream Cake. This doesn’t happen very often but since I have been working there I have gotten about five people through the drive-thru that came to pick up a cake. First of all I feel like it would be quicker to pick up the cake by going inside instead of running into the possibility of a car in front of you. The costumer can also make sure that that is their cake and it is decorated correctly. The biggest thing though is that because our drive-thru window is not very wide, none of the cakes we make, except the log cake, fit through the window. So, instead of thinking that it would be quicker this way, you have to wait while we go outside and deliver the cake to you. Does that seem convenient at all? No, it doesn’t.   This has only happen once so far but a costumer came through the drive-thru asking what kinds they had. So they had to list all the types of cakes we had in the display case and then they did even buy one. This would have been much easier if they would have come inside and looked for themselves.

Origins of May Day (Part 2)

Ireland use to have a pagan festival known as Bealtaine but also switched during “Christainization” and know celebrates “Mary’s Day” for the Virgin Mary. On this day they have bonfires to rejoice summer coming and the cold winter nights are gone. Though, bonfires were more common in the past, they have lost their power and only happen in some communities. Like in Ireland, Germany also celebrates May Day with bonfires but they also deliver Maypoles. Maypoles are trees covered in streamers which are delivered to a girl’s house the night before. Usually the trees are delivered by a romantic lover but if the tree has white streamers than it is a sign of dislike. The girls place roses or rice in the shape of a heart on their loved ones door in exchange. But on leap year, like this year, females deliver the maypoles instead. All of this is done secretly and it is there choose to decide if they want to reveal themselves.



Here in the US, May Day got its start from early European immigrants. In some parts of the country people make a May Day basket, which is what I grew up on, and fill them with treats or flowers. These are left on the door step and the person receiving the basket tries to catch the giver. If they are caught the tradition says you have to kiss the person. This practice thought has been fading since the 20^th century. Know celebrations vary throughout the United States, depending on what region you are in. In Hawaii and other Pacific nations May Day is known as Lei Day. This day is to celebrate the island culture, especially native Hawaiian culture. It was created by a Poet Don Blanding in 1927, later on a song “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii” became the traditional holiday song.



In Sweden they also celebrate May Day, but they know it better as International Workers Day. They made the switch officially in 1938 but it has been celebrated since the Swedish Social Democratic Party left in 1890. During World War One issues like 8 hour working day and women suffrage were brought up but know they have leading labor figures speak and talk about politics. This is also celebrated by many other countries on May Day including the many of the previous countries already listed.



As you discover, their many different celebrations of this spring holiday, from celebrating with a bonfire to delivering maypoles. All and all though, people across the world celebrate the pagan meaning and labor reason of May Day, in some way, shape or form.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day

Origins of May Day (Part One)

As April leaves us, we start the next month off to a good start because it’s May Day, a traditional spring holiday. On this day, people fill little bags of goodies with stuff like popcorn, candy, small stuff like that. Then the bag is dropped off at a family member or friend’s house. I am not sure if this is a tradition but I was taught that when you leave a May basket you should ring the doorbell and leave quickly, kind of like ding dong ditching, but you are leaving a surprise. Then the person who receives the basket wonders who the gift is from because you don’t put your own name on it. This was always thrilling to me because I would always call my friends asking them if they left the candy at my door. Usually I was accurate on my guessing. We celebrate this holiday every year but most people don’t actually know the origin of this spring holiday.



The earliest May Day festival can be dated back to BC period with celebrations of Flora, the roman goddess of flowers. Throughout the years though, many of this celebrations were “Christianized” during Europe’s conversion. Since then a more widely known version of May Day is celebrated in the Americas and in Europe. Now May Day is known for the maypole dance, a folklore dance, and the crowing of Queen of May.



In the beginning May Day was actually a summer holiday because they considered the first day of summer to be May 1. June 21^st, which is our official start of summer, was their mid-summer celebration.



Within each country May Day is celebrated differently. For example in France, people give out Lilies of the Valley as a symbol of springtime to their love ones or friends. In Finland they celebrate the Walpurgis Night, a carnival-style street festival. There is a party outside consisting of a picnic and caps or decorative clothes are worn. “Sima”,special lemonade for lemons, brown sugar and yeast is drunk and doughnuts are eaten. If you were to walk down the street you would see many people particularly students, with balloons and other decorations everywhere.

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