I love my job, I really do. Most people hate their first minimum wage (or the job they are in now) but I am defying all odds by saying that there is no where else I would rather be on a weekday or Sunday night (Fridays and Saturdays are another case).
It's not that I like dealing with costumers although I have acquired a very friendly personality (towards them). What I love to do is restocking. Ice cream, cups, cones. Anything that can be replaced at work. Today was super busy and I only helped like 10 people total because I was restocking everything. My coworkers love me for it (and say I'm working to hard) and I love them for dealing with costumers (and for not letting me sweep or mop because I was "restocking too hard"). It's a nice system we have going on. They never need to run to the back because everything is full at the front.
I noticed that people especially don't like to restock the ice cream which makes no sense to me! I think it might be because you have to pull out the old tub, scrap off the ice cream on the sides, get a new (heavy) tub and blah blah blah (there's more steps but I won't bore myself with them). I live in the freezer though! I get so hot and sweaty "restocking like crazy" that the cold air in the freezer is pure bliss. And today I finally did something that I have been fantasizing about ever since I started working at my ice cream parlor.
I organized all the ice cream by alphabetical order. Oh yeahhhhh.
It's supposed to be in alphabetical order but the coworker that I restock ice cream with when we get ice cream deliveries always does a half-ass job so today I put on a jacket and stayed in the freezer organizing the ice cream for 30 minutes. Now I know exactly where everything is. I love my life and job.
UYL,
Andre the "Crazy Restock-er"
5.30.2011
5.27.2011
Out Here In New York.
Day two of my journey in New York started out nice and sunny. We ate breakfast and then rode the subway down to the tip of Manhattan to go check out the Statue of Liberty. The line was ridiculously huge and according to my mom going to Liberty Island is not that exciting. So I took a picture from far away. Too bad it was a little foggy, but if you would like a closer view observe the "statue" below!
Oh and while I was riding the subway I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden (I really need to start paying more attention to my surroundings...) music bursts into the air. What type of music? Mexican Mariachi music. Somewhere along the trip an ensemble of guys boarded the subway and just started jamming away. It was quite random, I would have loved to film it but didn't have enough time.
Next up we went to Ground Zero which for those of you who have been living under a rock was what the area where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center used to stand. It was a little sobering but I barely remember what I was doing when it happened and don't know anyone who was directly affected bu it. Still, I liked and respected the memorial on one of the building next to Ground Zero.
Oh and in case anyone is wondering, yes, squirrels also inhabit NYC.
As we were walking along to a subway entrance we were distracted by some music and a group of people who were circling something. My mother and I, being the nosy people we are, decided to go and check it out. Turns out it was a very cool Turkish dance group performing in the streets! I'm not sure if it was for some NYC dance group or a college dance group but it was fun watching them dance.
The Face thing above was very cute to watch since it really did look like a little person until you saw the face breathing just like a stomach does! Don't trust my word on its coolness? Just watch more below:
We then proceeded to walk to a place that everyone knows about. Wall Street! This is supposedly where I will want to be working in the future after I study Finance or Economics. Well see how that goes...
After we took pictures of Wall Street my poor camera died! It told me that it was at full battery but apparently it was lying. *sad face* So the next part will be picture less. After wall street we walked up to China Town and then proceeded to eat in Little Italy. Little Italy was probably my favorite place in New York after central park. We went to Mulberry Street which was chock full of Italian ristorantes with little tables and chairs outside. While the street in itself wasn't pretty I loved how everything was so relaxed and the weather was so perfect and the waiters so friendly!
My day soon soured a little though when my mom decided that it was necessary to walk 50+ blocks back to the Bus Station that would take us to our hotel! I remember telling my mom that she made me lose an hour and a half of my life, any feeling I had left in my feet, possibly a pound or two and that I had nothing to say to her for the rest of the trip. Pshh yeah right, we made up like 10 minutes later *smh*
After that we took the bus back to our hotel and then embarked on our trip back home. And guess who drove 200 out of 240 miles of the trip? That's right, this guy!
I really enjoyed my trip to New York, it was very fun. I don't think I'll ever live there though. There's too many people (smokers in particular), too much crazy traffic, taxes that are too high, too much walking and most importantly too many germs! I was using my hand sanitizer like crazy. So many people touching so many of the same things with their unwashed hands *shudder* ugh I don't even want to think about it!
There were some things I really loved though. First was the fact that even though the city is made up of very tall buildings there were a lot of green parks besides Central Park spread out across the city. There were also signs that said that smoking was not allowed in the park. Secondly, there were NO children! I'm pretty sure I saw more squirrels than toddlers in my trip that how scarce they were (which was fine by me). Most significantly though is the fact that New York City would provide an endless amount of blogging material. There is just so much going on that I don't think I would ever run out of things to blog about. But I know deep down inside that DC is my home and has been for almost my entire life. I do plan on traveling to other parts of the state this summer though so please stay tuned!
UYL
Andre
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| lol some guy was dressed up as the Statue of Liberty |
Oh and while I was riding the subway I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden (I really need to start paying more attention to my surroundings...) music bursts into the air. What type of music? Mexican Mariachi music. Somewhere along the trip an ensemble of guys boarded the subway and just started jamming away. It was quite random, I would have loved to film it but didn't have enough time.
Next up we went to Ground Zero which for those of you who have been living under a rock was what the area where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center used to stand. It was a little sobering but I barely remember what I was doing when it happened and don't know anyone who was directly affected bu it. Still, I liked and respected the memorial on one of the building next to Ground Zero.
Oh and in case anyone is wondering, yes, squirrels also inhabit NYC.
As we were walking along to a subway entrance we were distracted by some music and a group of people who were circling something. My mother and I, being the nosy people we are, decided to go and check it out. Turns out it was a very cool Turkish dance group performing in the streets! I'm not sure if it was for some NYC dance group or a college dance group but it was fun watching them dance.
The Face thing above was very cute to watch since it really did look like a little person until you saw the face breathing just like a stomach does! Don't trust my word on its coolness? Just watch more below:
We then proceeded to walk to a place that everyone knows about. Wall Street! This is supposedly where I will want to be working in the future after I study Finance or Economics. Well see how that goes...
After we took pictures of Wall Street my poor camera died! It told me that it was at full battery but apparently it was lying. *sad face* So the next part will be picture less. After wall street we walked up to China Town and then proceeded to eat in Little Italy. Little Italy was probably my favorite place in New York after central park. We went to Mulberry Street which was chock full of Italian ristorantes with little tables and chairs outside. While the street in itself wasn't pretty I loved how everything was so relaxed and the weather was so perfect and the waiters so friendly!
My day soon soured a little though when my mom decided that it was necessary to walk 50+ blocks back to the Bus Station that would take us to our hotel! I remember telling my mom that she made me lose an hour and a half of my life, any feeling I had left in my feet, possibly a pound or two and that I had nothing to say to her for the rest of the trip. Pshh yeah right, we made up like 10 minutes later *smh*
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| I wasn't a very happy camper after walking 4 and a half miles... |
I really enjoyed my trip to New York, it was very fun. I don't think I'll ever live there though. There's too many people (smokers in particular), too much crazy traffic, taxes that are too high, too much walking and most importantly too many germs! I was using my hand sanitizer like crazy. So many people touching so many of the same things with their unwashed hands *shudder* ugh I don't even want to think about it!
There were some things I really loved though. First was the fact that even though the city is made up of very tall buildings there were a lot of green parks besides Central Park spread out across the city. There were also signs that said that smoking was not allowed in the park. Secondly, there were NO children! I'm pretty sure I saw more squirrels than toddlers in my trip that how scarce they were (which was fine by me). Most significantly though is the fact that New York City would provide an endless amount of blogging material. There is just so much going on that I don't think I would ever run out of things to blog about. But I know deep down inside that DC is my home and has been for almost my entire life. I do plan on traveling to other parts of the state this summer though so please stay tuned!
UYL
Andre
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| My favorite picture taken in NY |
Let's Hear It for New York!
Or to quote Saturday Night Live, "live from New York it's Andre Sanabia's blog!" Well actually I'll probably be back in Virginia by the time I post this (with pictures) but at the moment that this is being written it's 12AM and I'm drafting this on my iPod in the darkness of my hotel room.
***
The day started out blissfully with me sleeping in until 7:30 (as opposed to all of my classmates who probably woke up 2 hours earlier ha!) and then quickly making my bag for New York City, New York. I got to drive my parents and grandmother for most of the trip which is great since it counts for my 45 hour driving log that is required for my license.
Anyways, when we got to the Hotel (it's in New Jersey since my mom has an irrational fear that New York Hotels are swarming with bed bugs) I wasn't sure what to expect. The last time I was in NYC was when I was like 10 with my Aunt Carmen and so I only remember flashes of what it was like. I was blown away. Not necessarily because of the city's beauty (it's not that pretty) or the people that inhibit it (they're very different) but because of all of the different little quirks that the city had. Every street had something random happening on it! So here is New York City I'm order in which the randomness transpired.
For those of you that are uncomfortable with too much skin being shown please close your eyes and scroll down a little. But for those of you that aren't, behold! It's the Naked Cowboy!!!
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| Don't ask who that random woman is... |
Apparently this guy has been strumming his guitar in the (almost) complete nude for several years. It doesn't matter if there is hail, rain, snow, sleet or shine you can always find this guy in Times Square. He even trademarked his title and had a big lawsuit with Mars Inc. recently. Regardless of all of that I find it funny how this guy makes a licit off of playing his guitar in his tighty-whities. Oh and according to Wikipedia he is running for the 2012 presidential bid as a member for (wait for it...) the Tea Party (What could he possibly have in common with the Tea Party?!?)
Next up we have all of the crazy bulletins in NYC. Believe me when I say that they are EVERYWHERE. New York has a ridiculous amount of advertising going on. Here are some of the more interesting ones:
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| How not-subtle (unsubtle? insubtle? blatant?) |
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| Woot Woot Dominican Republic! |
And here's a little shout out to one of my favorite TV shows 30 Rock =]
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| Liz Lemon is frequently underneath this entrance! |
And here's a nice picture with my dad, notice the Glee ad behind us!
Once we were in the city we took forever to find a suitable restaurant to eat at. We finallydecided on a little diner because we were so hungry. I had the most amazing (and overpriced!) cheesecake ever. It was so delicious and I scarfed it down so quickly that this was all that was left. It was SO good though, I plan on buying another one tomorrow.
So we were in times square and I was texting or something when I look up and see this line of 6 foot tall goddesses giggling by. It was the Miss America contenders! I'm not sure why these beauty queens were in New York but damn as my Government teacher says, "they were getting things done". What made the situation even funnier was that there was a random wedding going on as well. So what could be better than joining the best of both random's?
After that my family and I strolled down 5th Avenue walking into some of the stores. It was pure awesomeness! The Hollister and Abercrombie were HUGE and not only that but The Abercrombie and Fitch was THREE stories high! They had the jeans in counter displays and then had "clerks" behind the counters who would get your size. And then I was really confused about the Apple store when I saw it from far away since it was just this big glass structure but then when I got closer I saw that the whole store was *underground*! how awesome is that?
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| An awesome glass elevator. |
The Apple Store was very close to Central Park which also blew my mind. It was enormous we barely got halfway through. I loved how the city is so big an yet they dedicated all of this space to nature.Let me assure you when I say that Central Park is HUGE. We only traveled about a fifth of the way in.
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| I like how the skyscrapers are visible behind the trees. |
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| The trees were so huge! |
Some of the little benches had plaques on them and I went to read this one:
I thought it was cute but then I got a little creeped out when I saw the bench next to it!
Freaky...anyways after we found our way out of the park (we got a little...disoriented) we walked a lot more looking for a Pret A Manger since my mother insisted we go there (even though it took us forever to find one). However, I noticed that the city that doesn't sleep in fact DOES sleep. Most if the Shops and cafés where closed by 9. We did find a Pret A Manger though and after that we went to Times Square again to just take it all in and say goodbye until tomorrow.
UYL,
Andre
5.24.2011
Chem, I'll See You Senior Year
This was written on my walk back home around 3:30PM
***
I'm done with Chemistry! (For now anyways.) I just finished taking my last Unit Test and Final Exam one right after the other. I'm walking home right now listening to Glee. In other words, I'm in a very blissful state of mind (body, not so much). Chemistry has stressed me out so much this year but now it's over!!!
***
I'm done with Chemistry! (For now anyways.) I just finished taking my last Unit Test and Final Exam one right after the other. I'm walking home right now listening to Glee. In other words, I'm in a very blissful state of mind (body, not so much). Chemistry has stressed me out so much this year but now it's over!!!
It's not that I hated it. I admit, I really enjoyed Chemistry. It was a love hate relationship. Sometimes I wanted to spend all night doing Chemistry while other days I wanted to rip my notebook to shreds and rip out my hair. Most of all it was the stoichiometry (aka the math part) that I really liked. Most of the times my answers made sense and were right but when they weren't I was sort of clueless. Dr. Newton was one of those teachers who didn't give you answers but made you go out and look for them. Which one day I might appreciate but when I'm constantly getting an equation wrong I'm just like grrr.
Thankfully though all I have to worry about now is Algebra 2 and my final French Exam. I can't believe this year is almost over. Even though the days seemed to drag on the months flew. However the next week better not fly by since it will be my final break before the end of the school. Tomorrow I leave for New York (!!!) an then come back just in time for an early release from school on Friday and then a 3 day weekend. Be jealous. =P
UYL,
Andre
5.23.2011
Pet Peeves List #1
As you noticed this is the first off a series of installments of my Pet Peeves. Not that I'm in a pissy mood or anything but I'm too lazy to download pictures from last weekend and tell you how I spent it. So for now you'll have to stay in the dark about that.
I've been compiling this list on my iPod for a while and gave a lot of thought to whether it was really a pet peeve or not. So here's the list in a somewhat arranged order of most annoying to least annoying.
1. When People Cry: I don't know what it is about people crying but it really gets on my nerves and makes me feel super crying. I'm pretty sure it has to do with how ugly and contorted a person's face gets. I'm just like...ew stop that! Especially if it's on TV or a movie because you know that it's not really crying just acting and the faces actors make are just uglier than normal. Especially the guys! I know that everyone cries and I'm not going to lie and say I got my tear ducts removed (I really wish I could though) but when I cry I go to a room, think about why I'm crying and I calm down in less than a minute.
2. Children: I realize that's a very broad category and most of you think I'm abnormal for nit likeing children but I don't know how you can deal with such annoying things! Think about it, they go through so many stages of annoyance. Newborn-1 Year: These I can kind of deal with since they aren't doing much except for vomittying and crying (omg the crying!!! That is THE worst no doubt). 1 year-3 years: Oh no, they can walk! At this point little children are screaming and running around all the place and breaking things and saying the first thing that comes into their mouths. I'm getting energy drained just thinking about it. 4 years-8 years: These kids actually aren't that bad since whatever you say can easily scare them and their in that (what some people find) "cute" inquisitive stage where the ask questions about everything. 10+ years: They are pre-teens/teens and hormonal and rebellious and have created an infinite amount of ways to rub my nerves the wrong way.
3. Monosyllable Text: I'm pretty sure this gets on everyone's nerves but if I waste my time to send you a paragraph long text, PLEASE, for the love of God do not respond with an "OK" or "yeah". After I receive that I have zero interest in talking with you so don't text me 10 minutes later wondering why I haven't texted back.
4. When People Eat/Drink Something I Have Just Served for Myself: This is mostly something that happens at home but it is the quickest way to get on my bad side - especially in the morning. I take my time and put in effort to make myself my sandwich or serve myself a glass of water and if I leave it alone for FIVE SECONDS a bite will mysteriously appear or my glass will be half empty. BLARGANARGAROG!!!!! WHO ATE MY FOOD?!?!?! ROARRRR!!!!
5. People Who Park In All The Wrong Ways: I know I've only been on the road for half a year but I can assure you that if there's one thing I'm really good at, it's parking. The rest of the world? Not so much. And it isn't necessarily people who park crookedly or step on the white line at the supermarket, no, it's the people on my street. I REALLY don't understand what the purpose of your garage AND driveways is WHEN YOU DON'T PARK YOUR CAR THERE! I mean seriously why would you leave your car on the side of a two lane road making it difficult to maneuver around when I'm trying to get out of my street. I mean I understand that a lot of people fill their garage up with crap but that doesn't mean you can't use your driveway! It makes the street seem like there is a party at your house every night or it looks like you have 15 people living in your home.
Well I think those 5 are enough for right now. I'll make an effort to post something a little happier tomorrow don't worry!
UYL,
Andre
I've been compiling this list on my iPod for a while and gave a lot of thought to whether it was really a pet peeve or not. So here's the list in a somewhat arranged order of most annoying to least annoying.
1. When People Cry: I don't know what it is about people crying but it really gets on my nerves and makes me feel super crying. I'm pretty sure it has to do with how ugly and contorted a person's face gets. I'm just like...ew stop that! Especially if it's on TV or a movie because you know that it's not really crying just acting and the faces actors make are just uglier than normal. Especially the guys! I know that everyone cries and I'm not going to lie and say I got my tear ducts removed (I really wish I could though) but when I cry I go to a room, think about why I'm crying and I calm down in less than a minute.
2. Children: I realize that's a very broad category and most of you think I'm abnormal for nit likeing children but I don't know how you can deal with such annoying things! Think about it, they go through so many stages of annoyance. Newborn-1 Year: These I can kind of deal with since they aren't doing much except for vomittying and crying (omg the crying!!! That is THE worst no doubt). 1 year-3 years: Oh no, they can walk! At this point little children are screaming and running around all the place and breaking things and saying the first thing that comes into their mouths. I'm getting energy drained just thinking about it. 4 years-8 years: These kids actually aren't that bad since whatever you say can easily scare them and their in that (what some people find) "cute" inquisitive stage where the ask questions about everything. 10+ years: They are pre-teens/teens and hormonal and rebellious and have created an infinite amount of ways to rub my nerves the wrong way.
3. Monosyllable Text: I'm pretty sure this gets on everyone's nerves but if I waste my time to send you a paragraph long text, PLEASE, for the love of God do not respond with an "OK" or "yeah". After I receive that I have zero interest in talking with you so don't text me 10 minutes later wondering why I haven't texted back.
4. When People Eat/Drink Something I Have Just Served for Myself: This is mostly something that happens at home but it is the quickest way to get on my bad side - especially in the morning. I take my time and put in effort to make myself my sandwich or serve myself a glass of water and if I leave it alone for FIVE SECONDS a bite will mysteriously appear or my glass will be half empty. BLARGANARGAROG!!!!! WHO ATE MY FOOD?!?!?! ROARRRR!!!!
5. People Who Park In All The Wrong Ways: I know I've only been on the road for half a year but I can assure you that if there's one thing I'm really good at, it's parking. The rest of the world? Not so much. And it isn't necessarily people who park crookedly or step on the white line at the supermarket, no, it's the people on my street. I REALLY don't understand what the purpose of your garage AND driveways is WHEN YOU DON'T PARK YOUR CAR THERE! I mean seriously why would you leave your car on the side of a two lane road making it difficult to maneuver around when I'm trying to get out of my street. I mean I understand that a lot of people fill their garage up with crap but that doesn't mean you can't use your driveway! It makes the street seem like there is a party at your house every night or it looks like you have 15 people living in your home.
Well I think those 5 are enough for right now. I'll make an effort to post something a little happier tomorrow don't worry!
UYL,
Andre
5.21.2011
Scheduling (say it 3x)
Scheduling, scheduling, scheduling. Any readers out there who interact with me on a daily basis know that this is something that I talk about incessantly. It's on my mind all the time. When I talk about schedules I'm really talking about the coursework that I'll be taking for the next two years. In which case I might as well be saying IB, IB, IB (International Baccalaureate) since those are the only classes I will be taking. But I'm completely OK with that and I'm really excited. No joke, I have been working on my IB schedule since the 7th grade!!! That's partly because the private school I went to in the DR for the 7th grade was an IB school (the only one in the Caribbean!) Regardless though I have written and erased and rewritten and rearranged that dang schedule more times than I can count. 4 years of planing into something that last two years...sounds reasonable to me!
But I'm done. I few nights ago I sat down for the final time and said to myself, "this is it, there's no going back". and I wrote my final schedule for the final time. Here it is!
Junior Year Senior Year
IB English I IB English II (HL Exam)
IB History of the Americas IB 20th Century Topics (HL Exam)
IB Physics I IB Chemistry II* (SL Exam)
IB Mathematics I IB Mathematics II (SL Exam)
IB French I IB French II (HL)
IB Psychology (SL Exam) Senior Science Investigations*
Theory of Knowledge Advanced Composition 2
Free Block Free Block
SL = Standard Level
HL = Higher Level
*Sr. Sci. Investigations: Basically another block for you to do the labs of whatever science you are taking, in this case, Chemistry. So not looking forward to that.
*IB Chemistry II: This is the only thing subject to change because since I haven't taken physics I don't know which science I'll like better. I definitely like Chemistry a lot more than Biology though!
So here's a public announcement about how I will not under any circumstances change my schedule again! Ms. Pizzazz you will never hear me deliberating about my schedule during class time again I promise!
Before I go to bed though I just wanted to say how much I have loved redoing my schedule though, it's so fun! And I also love doing other people's schedules! I have done more than 5 people's already and they always walk away just as satisfied as I am happy. I don't think I would ever become a counselor (hey, let's face it, not everyone is as motivated as I am) but maybe a college sounselor/admissions person would be a fun job for a while. I know for a fact that I want to study the college admissions process before I die, that's on my brand new bucketlist that I just started thinking about right now. Maybe I'll make that public some day. For now though, I'm off to bed where I will schedule tomorrow's activities! (I never said anything about not being able to schedule my day!)
UYL,
Andre, an IB Diploma Candidate
But I'm done. I few nights ago I sat down for the final time and said to myself, "this is it, there's no going back". and I wrote my final schedule for the final time. Here it is!
Junior Year Senior Year
IB English I IB English II (HL Exam)
IB History of the Americas IB 20th Century Topics (HL Exam)
IB Physics I IB Chemistry II* (SL Exam)
IB Mathematics I IB Mathematics II (SL Exam)
IB French I IB French II (HL)
IB Psychology (SL Exam) Senior Science Investigations*
Theory of Knowledge Advanced Composition 2
Free Block Free Block
SL = Standard Level
HL = Higher Level
*Sr. Sci. Investigations: Basically another block for you to do the labs of whatever science you are taking, in this case, Chemistry. So not looking forward to that.
*IB Chemistry II: This is the only thing subject to change because since I haven't taken physics I don't know which science I'll like better. I definitely like Chemistry a lot more than Biology though!
So here's a public announcement about how I will not under any circumstances change my schedule again! Ms. Pizzazz you will never hear me deliberating about my schedule during class time again I promise!
Before I go to bed though I just wanted to say how much I have loved redoing my schedule though, it's so fun! And I also love doing other people's schedules! I have done more than 5 people's already and they always walk away just as satisfied as I am happy. I don't think I would ever become a counselor (hey, let's face it, not everyone is as motivated as I am) but maybe a college sounselor/admissions person would be a fun job for a while. I know for a fact that I want to study the college admissions process before I die, that's on my brand new bucketlist that I just started thinking about right now. Maybe I'll make that public some day. For now though, I'm off to bed where I will schedule tomorrow's activities! (I never said anything about not being able to schedule my day!)
UYL,
Andre, an IB Diploma Candidate
5.17.2011
A Gross Post
There is no way to sweetly start this post. As if I didn't like children enough, yesterday one went and threw up his ice cream (among other chunky things!) at the ice cream parlor I worked out. My co-workers went out of their way to go and get me from the freezer in the back where I was looking for some nutty coconut to restock to tell me that I needed to clean up on isle 1. It was the grossest thing I have ever had to do (after scooping my doggies poop!) and I really hope I never ever have to do it again.
Which is annoying because I was no where near the scene of the crime or even helping the couple that decided to give birth to the (several) little monsters. Let's call those co-workers Alan and Sally and they are perhaps the laziest people I have ever worked with. Sally more than Alan to be honest with her stupid little pink iPhone. Sorry hun, but cleaning the same area repeatedly for 5 minutes at a time does not count as cleaning around the shop. But I'd rather not talk about those two lazy bums and how their unproductivity drives me crazy. Instead let's talk about the cool kids at work
My two (possibly 3) favorite co-workers have got to be Deidy and Autumn. Deidy is a 20 something year old studying to be an art teacher and is almost as crazy about restocking as I am. We work our butts of at the beginning of the shift making sure that everything is well stocked and then towards the end do all the cleaning we can with costumers in the store. Which is why we are out of the door 15 minutes after we are officially closed because everything is sparkling and well stocked. Autumn on the other hand is a restocker-wannabe but I still appreciate her effort. The thing I like about her the most is that she likes helping costumers (that's a rarity at my job as terrible as that sounds) and she is really easy to talk to. FInally there is Senayt who, to be honest, I've only worked with once in the two months (omg two months!!) that I've been working at the ice cream shop. But I really liked working with her PLUS she is (was? she's a senior...) an IB Diploma candidate which is amazing because I have a lot of questions for her and she's told me a lot already. She got accepted into some really good schools outside of Virginia but because of certain factors she will be attending Virginia Tech next Fall.
***
(Anything written before the *** indicates that it was written the 16th of May)
So anyways those are the coworkers of mine that are worth mentioning. So yesterday I was working with Kelly and was restocking ice cream as usual when something really odd happened! I pulled off the lid of a tub of ice cream and look at what weird picture the ice cream residue left!
Kind of looks like me at the end of a long Friday night shift...
UYL,
Andre
Which is annoying because I was no where near the scene of the crime or even helping the couple that decided to give birth to the (several) little monsters. Let's call those co-workers Alan and Sally and they are perhaps the laziest people I have ever worked with. Sally more than Alan to be honest with her stupid little pink iPhone. Sorry hun, but cleaning the same area repeatedly for 5 minutes at a time does not count as cleaning around the shop. But I'd rather not talk about those two lazy bums and how their unproductivity drives me crazy. Instead let's talk about the cool kids at work
My two (possibly 3) favorite co-workers have got to be Deidy and Autumn. Deidy is a 20 something year old studying to be an art teacher and is almost as crazy about restocking as I am. We work our butts of at the beginning of the shift making sure that everything is well stocked and then towards the end do all the cleaning we can with costumers in the store. Which is why we are out of the door 15 minutes after we are officially closed because everything is sparkling and well stocked. Autumn on the other hand is a restocker-wannabe but I still appreciate her effort. The thing I like about her the most is that she likes helping costumers (that's a rarity at my job as terrible as that sounds) and she is really easy to talk to. FInally there is Senayt who, to be honest, I've only worked with once in the two months (omg two months!!) that I've been working at the ice cream shop. But I really liked working with her PLUS she is (was? she's a senior...) an IB Diploma candidate which is amazing because I have a lot of questions for her and she's told me a lot already. She got accepted into some really good schools outside of Virginia but because of certain factors she will be attending Virginia Tech next Fall.
***
(Anything written before the *** indicates that it was written the 16th of May)
So anyways those are the coworkers of mine that are worth mentioning. So yesterday I was working with Kelly and was restocking ice cream as usual when something really odd happened! I pulled off the lid of a tub of ice cream and look at what weird picture the ice cream residue left!
Kind of looks like me at the end of a long Friday night shift...
UYL,
Andre
5.16.2011
Stupid Logarithms
I promise you I will not speak about anything too mathematical in this post but I just wanted to state how much I hate logarithms right now. Well maybe not all logarithms but the one that started a mess. It's midnight and here I am basically banging my head against the table trying to figure out why my answer isn't right.
You see at my high school you get a math textbook that teachers use to assign homework from. It's a great system because teachers will normally assign just odd problems. Why odd problems? Because there is an answer key at the back of the book for all the odd problems. So I was doing number 33 in my notebook, finished it and then went to check the back of the book. I quickly scan the pages only to see that I'm WRONG!!! "What??? But I am 100% sure I did the problem correctly!" I think, "Oh well, I'll just move on to the next one it's not like Mr. Nojuice checks to see if we have the right answers". So I go on to number 35, solve it and check the problem at the end of my textbook. WHAT THE SQUARE ROOT I'M WRONG AGAIN! At this point I want to bang my head against the wall because even though I thought I knew something I apparently didn't and I really didn't understand why I was wrong. So I circle that problem as well and move on to the next one. Guess what? I was wrong again! At this point I was about to start crying. Not out of hopelessness (I'm not that wimpy) but because I am tired and my allergies clogged my nose up and because I was so frustrated that I couldn't understand the homework. Well even though the third time is supposedly a charm (and it wasn't) I decided to persevere with the stupid logarithms homework only to fail for two more problems.
I decide I'm going to give up as soon as I try the 7th problem I tell myself. And even though I got it wrong I found out something very important.
I WAS CHECKING THE ANSWERS FOR THE WRONG PAGE!!!
FML is all I have to say to that. Good night.
UYL,
Andre
You see at my high school you get a math textbook that teachers use to assign homework from. It's a great system because teachers will normally assign just odd problems. Why odd problems? Because there is an answer key at the back of the book for all the odd problems. So I was doing number 33 in my notebook, finished it and then went to check the back of the book. I quickly scan the pages only to see that I'm WRONG!!! "What??? But I am 100% sure I did the problem correctly!" I think, "Oh well, I'll just move on to the next one it's not like Mr. Nojuice checks to see if we have the right answers". So I go on to number 35, solve it and check the problem at the end of my textbook. WHAT THE SQUARE ROOT I'M WRONG AGAIN! At this point I want to bang my head against the wall because even though I thought I knew something I apparently didn't and I really didn't understand why I was wrong. So I circle that problem as well and move on to the next one. Guess what? I was wrong again! At this point I was about to start crying. Not out of hopelessness (I'm not that wimpy) but because I am tired and my allergies clogged my nose up and because I was so frustrated that I couldn't understand the homework. Well even though the third time is supposedly a charm (and it wasn't) I decided to persevere with the stupid logarithms homework only to fail for two more problems.
I decide I'm going to give up as soon as I try the 7th problem I tell myself. And even though I got it wrong I found out something very important.
I WAS CHECKING THE ANSWERS FOR THE WRONG PAGE!!!
FML is all I have to say to that. Good night.
UYL,
Andre
5.14.2011
Friday the Pained Day
Yesterday was Friday the 13th but if you know me well you'll know that my bad luck is year round and doesn't need to be pegged to a specific date. That's why my Friday the 13th bad luck ran a little earlier than it was supposed to.
Thursday morning I decided to take my bike to school since I would be conducting my science fair project after school (I live almost a mile away and get home in less than 5 minutes on my bike since its all downhill, woo hoo!). So I was riding my bike and as I was turning at the intersection to go up the hill (the morning commute isn't as quick and easy) my bike's handle became loose somehow and I ended up turning far more to the right than I was supposed to causing me to hit the freaking bolt that holds to signal light pole down. Thank God I didn't hit the pole itself otherwise I would have been in a lot of pain!
The second bad thing to happen to me that day was the science fair experiment itself which was a complete fail with lots of made up results since everything my partner and I were doing went wrong. I'd rather not go into details but on a final note would like to say: I really don't like high school science. Or the fact that I always spell the word experiment like this: expirement. It doesn't matter that I know that I how to properly spell it but every time I have to write that word I always spell it wrong the first time, notice that it's wrong, and then I fix it.
Then as I rode my bike home I was turning into my street and I really don't know what it was but something squishy flew into my eye not only producing a very icky feeling but momentarily blinding me and almost crashing into a car parked on the side of the street! It was a terrifying 10 seconds that I pray no one saw.
For the actual day of bad luck here's a list of what happened: My algebra teacher taught something new on a review day that I didn't really understand, I got a bad quiz in French, I got my finger stuck in a little hole on my water bottle's top for like 2 minutes, I tripped going up the stairs at home, I tripped at work walking backwards and I stubbed my finger getting some ice cream from the freezer causing it to swell up and be sore for the next two to three days. You might be thinking FYL but that is a typical day in my life, regardless whether its the 13th or not.
UYL,
Andre
Thursday morning I decided to take my bike to school since I would be conducting my science fair project after school (I live almost a mile away and get home in less than 5 minutes on my bike since its all downhill, woo hoo!). So I was riding my bike and as I was turning at the intersection to go up the hill (the morning commute isn't as quick and easy) my bike's handle became loose somehow and I ended up turning far more to the right than I was supposed to causing me to hit the freaking bolt that holds to signal light pole down. Thank God I didn't hit the pole itself otherwise I would have been in a lot of pain!
The second bad thing to happen to me that day was the science fair experiment itself which was a complete fail with lots of made up results since everything my partner and I were doing went wrong. I'd rather not go into details but on a final note would like to say: I really don't like high school science. Or the fact that I always spell the word experiment like this: expirement. It doesn't matter that I know that I how to properly spell it but every time I have to write that word I always spell it wrong the first time, notice that it's wrong, and then I fix it.
Then as I rode my bike home I was turning into my street and I really don't know what it was but something squishy flew into my eye not only producing a very icky feeling but momentarily blinding me and almost crashing into a car parked on the side of the street! It was a terrifying 10 seconds that I pray no one saw.
For the actual day of bad luck here's a list of what happened: My algebra teacher taught something new on a review day that I didn't really understand, I got a bad quiz in French, I got my finger stuck in a little hole on my water bottle's top for like 2 minutes, I tripped going up the stairs at home, I tripped at work walking backwards and I stubbed my finger getting some ice cream from the freezer causing it to swell up and be sore for the next two to three days. You might be thinking FYL but that is a typical day in my life, regardless whether its the 13th or not.
UYL,
Andre
5.10.2011
Election Season
It's almost palpable, the anxiety and excitement of election season. Hushed whispers in the hall about who is running against whom and people spewing false information, rumors starting everywhere. But I really love the school election season as stress producing as it is. I mean sure my heart races a little faster thinking about the day in which I will stand in front of my peers and speak to them and I'm pretty sure my hair is falling out because I think about my mini judgement day. But it really shows you how you stand among your peers.
I am a firm believer that elections are popularity contest. There's no question about it they just are. But it's how you define popularity that really counts. You see, for me popularity means how well liked you are by your peers not necessarily how well known you are. It's like sure everyone knows soandso the school flirt but does that mean people will vote for her? Probably not. Which is why I always get super confident about elections right before they occur.
Back in elementary school was when I started thinking about ruling the worl-- err, school. I had a very close group of friends that all dedicated their support to me. So I foolishly ran for Class Treasurer (wow, what is it with me and money??) with about 5 votes for sure. Needless to say I was crushed, both in elections and emotionally. It was my wake up call that I was either a) a loser, b) not popular or c) needed to expand my social horizons. Since I doubted it was a or b (using my definition of popularity) it was time for me to act upon c.
***Brain Blast!!! I just finished writing a draft for my election speech even though I was like mid-blog-post! Now back to the story***
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to "expand my social horizons" at Mark Twain Middle School because I moved to the Dominican Republic which I could write a freaking novel about but I'll just say I meet some life-changing people who made me, a pretty shy and introverted person, a little more outgoing. So after watching some of my peers give their speeches Freshman year I promised myself that I would run for a position for sophomore year. And when election season came around I picked up my packet, filled in the necessary info, write my speech and was then forced to give it in front my fellow Class of 2013 peers, all 400+ of them. Now I could lie and say I obliterated my opponent but frankly there were none. I ran unopposed which was pretty anticlimactic and boring.
Even though I'm not hoping for an opponent this year I don't think I would be devastated because I most certainly held true to my 6th grade promise to go beyond my social circle. I no longer have a total of 4 close friends. I have gone beyond my close-knit group of Mersal, Emma and Melody and now am friends with a wide range of people. I'm friends with the nerdy people, the "popular crowd", the "weird" kids (who really aren't that weird), the jocks and I even have contacts in the JROTC (aka army kids) group. And that's just people who fit into a certain stereotype because not everyone fits in to a stereotype. Even though I'm a little shy and it takes me a while to warm up to people I have tried to make friends with at least half the people in my class. Which is why I always get confident because I know I must have met at least 200 sophomores and had some type of friendship with them, whether its just borrowing a pencil or saying hi in the hallways. Whether those people will vote for me is something I will find out on May 25th.
Update You Later,
Andre
I am a firm believer that elections are popularity contest. There's no question about it they just are. But it's how you define popularity that really counts. You see, for me popularity means how well liked you are by your peers not necessarily how well known you are. It's like sure everyone knows soandso the school flirt but does that mean people will vote for her? Probably not. Which is why I always get super confident about elections right before they occur.
Back in elementary school was when I started thinking about ruling the worl-- err, school. I had a very close group of friends that all dedicated their support to me. So I foolishly ran for Class Treasurer (wow, what is it with me and money??) with about 5 votes for sure. Needless to say I was crushed, both in elections and emotionally. It was my wake up call that I was either a) a loser, b) not popular or c) needed to expand my social horizons. Since I doubted it was a or b (using my definition of popularity) it was time for me to act upon c.
***Brain Blast!!! I just finished writing a draft for my election speech even though I was like mid-blog-post! Now back to the story***
Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to "expand my social horizons" at Mark Twain Middle School because I moved to the Dominican Republic which I could write a freaking novel about but I'll just say I meet some life-changing people who made me, a pretty shy and introverted person, a little more outgoing. So after watching some of my peers give their speeches Freshman year I promised myself that I would run for a position for sophomore year. And when election season came around I picked up my packet, filled in the necessary info, write my speech and was then forced to give it in front my fellow Class of 2013 peers, all 400+ of them. Now I could lie and say I obliterated my opponent but frankly there were none. I ran unopposed which was pretty anticlimactic and boring.
Even though I'm not hoping for an opponent this year I don't think I would be devastated because I most certainly held true to my 6th grade promise to go beyond my social circle. I no longer have a total of 4 close friends. I have gone beyond my close-knit group of Mersal, Emma and Melody and now am friends with a wide range of people. I'm friends with the nerdy people, the "popular crowd", the "weird" kids (who really aren't that weird), the jocks and I even have contacts in the JROTC (aka army kids) group. And that's just people who fit into a certain stereotype because not everyone fits in to a stereotype. Even though I'm a little shy and it takes me a while to warm up to people I have tried to make friends with at least half the people in my class. Which is why I always get confident because I know I must have met at least 200 sophomores and had some type of friendship with them, whether its just borrowing a pencil or saying hi in the hallways. Whether those people will vote for me is something I will find out on May 25th.
Update You Later,
Andre
5.08.2011
Food for (my) Thought(s)
So here I am eating Mac and Cheese wondering what in the world to write about. I think I may have blogger's block because I have not been able to come up with any witty or funny stories! I could tell you about my day and how I had a Mother's Day brunch with my mom and grandma or about how I actually knew what to do for the chemistry homework or even about working at my job. But the fact of the matter is that none of those moments are blog-worthy. So instead I will write about something thtat has been on my mind lately.
Clapping.
I'm not entirely sure why we clap. Sure we clap when someone is done giving a presentation or when a big announcement is made but why? I mean, we can do the same thing by telling people what a good job they did or how proud we are of them. Or we could just stomp or feet. Regardless I'm still beating around the bush here. What I really want to talk about is clapping for yourself! I find it so awkward when I am in a situation where I must clap for myself. Isn't it sort of vain?
Picture this: I'm at the Padres Latinos meeting on Saturday because that is a requirement as my role as Secretary in the Hispanic Leadership Club (Oh yeah I could have blogged about that...Well guess what guys? I'm the new secretary for the Hispanic Leadership Club. I had to go a very thorough interview and application process which I found a little weird since most clubs just hold elections for their officers. anyways back to the story) and they were announcing all the new officers. The new officers would stand up and go to the front of the room where they would either a) applaud for themselves or b) stand there awkwardly. I was the latter because I sincerely don't know what the politically correct thing to do is. I mean I understand when you are part of a group and your all clapping for each other but what do you do when you're alone???
What do you guys think?
UYL,
Andre
Clapping.
I'm not entirely sure why we clap. Sure we clap when someone is done giving a presentation or when a big announcement is made but why? I mean, we can do the same thing by telling people what a good job they did or how proud we are of them. Or we could just stomp or feet. Regardless I'm still beating around the bush here. What I really want to talk about is clapping for yourself! I find it so awkward when I am in a situation where I must clap for myself. Isn't it sort of vain?
Picture this: I'm at the Padres Latinos meeting on Saturday because that is a requirement as my role as Secretary in the Hispanic Leadership Club (Oh yeah I could have blogged about that...Well guess what guys? I'm the new secretary for the Hispanic Leadership Club. I had to go a very thorough interview and application process which I found a little weird since most clubs just hold elections for their officers. anyways back to the story) and they were announcing all the new officers. The new officers would stand up and go to the front of the room where they would either a) applaud for themselves or b) stand there awkwardly. I was the latter because I sincerely don't know what the politically correct thing to do is. I mean I understand when you are part of a group and your all clapping for each other but what do you do when you're alone???
What do you guys think?
UYL,
Andre
5.05.2011
French (is a) Joke 101
Hey guys, sorry I’ve been MIA but I’ve had a lot going on through my mind and just couldn’t sit down and focus. This past week has been going well but I definitely feel like its crunch time with a lot of the teacher’s who are trying to teach us everything before Finals or SOLs (the Virginia Standards Of Learning). Work has also been draining me of energy since I get to bed so late. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but I do feel quite tired. I’m actually kind of falling asleep writing this right now. BUT I felt the need to update you a little on my life. My French class to be specific.
French…well French 3 is kind of a joke to be honest, I don’t do much and still get excellent grades…on one hand I enjoy having a class where I can unwind and just horse around with my classmates because this is their last year taking French (you need 3 language credits to graduate) and they don’t really care much about the language. But then on the other hand I feel like I’m not learning anything which is terrible since next year I’ll be taking IB French I which is considerably harder. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to buckle down and actually learn the language.
But for now I’ll just stick to goofing around. Here’s just a small taste of what my classmates and I actually do during class.
 |
| Ok well this was actually an assignment where we had to talk about a countries environment so we decided to just create our own continent! |
 |
| This is Abel's country. |
 |
| and this is my little island! It's an extreme sport resort mainly inhabited by...squirrels! |
 |
| I SWEAR I did not draw this, I found it in some random desk but what a nice surprise it was! |
 |
| Such intense concentration. |
So that last picture is actually really funny because somewhere, somehow Luke (the bald one) found a giant rubber band and them being the physicist they are decided to use it as a catapult style thing! They launched everything from paper balls to crayons to tissue boxes...the teacher? Oblivious. Another big thing is paper airplanes, they are flying around the class all the time. And that is how I spend most of my french class =]
UYL,
Andre
5.01.2011
A+
All my life I always thought I was A+ material. Why not, after all it's in my veins. No, literally, I have A+ blood type. For those of you that don't remember, about a month and a half ago I donated blood (you can read about it here) through Inova Blood Donor Services. I remember them explaining how after they draw blood they'll send it to a lab and run it up for some test and then if I have anything that should get checked they'll notify me but if not I should receive a donor card in the mail. Well ladies and gentlemen I thankfully got my card in the mail along with a little surprise.
What??? O POSITIVE?!? How can this be? But I thought I was A+ material! I quickly called me mother to ask her if this is true and (not to make her look like a bad parent) but she thought I was A+ too! I am going to have to scour through all the medical records my mom keeps and see if it mentions my blood type anywhere and make sure that Inova isn't wrong. How scary is that though? I spent my whole life believing I was A+ blood type and now I found out I am not. It's like my whole identity changed! Well, not really but I'm glad I know the truth now. Had I been in a situation where I need a blood transfusion (I leave the gruesome accident to your imagination) and said I was A+ I could have had a hemolytic reaction and died! Good thing that crises is averted.
So now I went from having the 2nd most common blood type to having the most common blood type in the US of A. I guess there is one upside to this and its that I can donate to all (positive) blood groups now instead of just A or AB. However, I'm screwed because now I can only receive blood from O+ or O-. What I can take out form this experience though is that I need to go donate blood more often (I'm actually just 3 days away from being able to donate).
UYL,
O+ Andre
What??? O POSITIVE?!? How can this be? But I thought I was A+ material! I quickly called me mother to ask her if this is true and (not to make her look like a bad parent) but she thought I was A+ too! I am going to have to scour through all the medical records my mom keeps and see if it mentions my blood type anywhere and make sure that Inova isn't wrong. How scary is that though? I spent my whole life believing I was A+ blood type and now I found out I am not. It's like my whole identity changed! Well, not really but I'm glad I know the truth now. Had I been in a situation where I need a blood transfusion (I leave the gruesome accident to your imagination) and said I was A+ I could have had a hemolytic reaction and died! Good thing that crises is averted.
So now I went from having the 2nd most common blood type to having the most common blood type in the US of A. I guess there is one upside to this and its that I can donate to all (positive) blood groups now instead of just A or AB. However, I'm screwed because now I can only receive blood from O+ or O-. What I can take out form this experience though is that I need to go donate blood more often (I'm actually just 3 days away from being able to donate).
UYL,
O+ Andre
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