Stereotypes

                On my way home from school, I drove past a biker coming onto the interstate. He was dressed in leather from head to toe, had a mid-sized beard, and was driving a black Harley motorcycle decked out with saddlebags. From the parts of his body I could see, I saw a tattoo climbing up his neck. As I passed him he pulled out a long, white cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He then reached down into his saddlebag to pull out his lighter and proceeded to light his cigarette. I couldn't help but take notice of this perfect example of a biker stereotype.

                I found nothing abnormal or strange about him due to that stereotype. But if I were to go to my local physicians office for a check-up and this man walked in as my doctor, I feel like I wouldn't be able to help question his credentials.

                As I continued my drive home, I couldn't help but think about this man and my reaction to him. The way this man dressed had nothing to do with the man he actually was. For all I know he could be superman, or a lawyer, or the top surgeon in the state, and yet I am still not able to see past his biker-façade. Why do we have all of these stereotypes? I remember reading about stereotypes in my AP Psychology class last year. The book conducted a study that tested how well people relied on stereotypes. The study described the stereotype of a professor of literature and asked people whether it was a professor or a truck driver. Most people answered the professor, and it turns out that there was a lot higher percentage of that man being a truck driver.

                Thinking back to that biker, I can't help but feel the influence of the biker-stereotype. I know that under his disguise is a man like any other lawyer or surgeon out there, and for all I know he might be one. I guess my point is that stereotypes affect our judgment of people and cause us to make snap decisions about what they can do and how they act. If you have ever heard the phrase "never judge a book by its cover," it is made for situations like this. I had no right to decide on his characteristics or behavior before I had even seen him for more than ten seconds, and neither should anyone else of anyone else.

Do Something Different!

I feel like every holiday has its traditions; Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, etc. Each year may differ a little but it is basically the same thing. Don’t get me wrong, all Holidays need to be traditional and have their own traditions, but some can change right?

                I guess it probably depends on the holiday. Religious holidays are the most traditional I think. Take Christmas for example, every year my family reads The Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve and then attends church and opens presents on Christmas Day.  Other religious holidays like Hanukah and Kwanza are probably even more routine. I think that national holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween should be a little less routine than they sometimes are. Thanksgiving has one big event that everyone should do, Thanksgiving Dinner. But should everything else going on around Thanksgiving be the same? I don’t know about you but I go through the same thing year after year. Halloween I feel like is the same thing over and over for every age group.

                When you are little, you go trick-or-treating, and when you grow up you still may have the urge to do so but the candy-givers are a little less than pleased when you show up at their door in your teens. If you decide not to be any kind of festive and stay home I guess you can do whatever you please with your time. Others that are older and not with children may go to parties, usually costume required. These may be fun but in my experience they all have pretty much the same schedule.

                You may argue that you can go to haunted houses or other “haunts” but again, there is only so much you can do with a haunted house. I think people should just do their own thing and be a little spontaneous, especially on Halloween. If they cannot think of their own things to do, they could even combine holidays. For instance, instead of trick-or-treating, organize a group of carolers and sing ghostly songs at people’s doorways. Or, host a Thanksgiving dinner with a twist. If they feel really creative decorate a palm tree as a Halloween creature, or give out May baskets and see what happens.

                See what I mean? Holidays could be so much more entertaining if people did not stick to their typical traditions and were a little spontaneous.

Toddler's and Tiaras

               

                 Earlier today I was watching Toddlers & Tiaras, a show on abc family. It is a show about a lot of little girls that dress up, get spray tans, painted or fake nails and wear an extreme amount of make-up.  Most of the girls they showed seemed to be already self-centered and proud of their "assets." I can't imagine what they will grow up to be and how they will behave. The thing I noticed was that the mothers seemed to want their daughters to win more than their daughters themselves.

                I guess I can't really make this assumption without actually meeting the people in person, but I just thought the kids did not really want to be in it. At the beginning of the show, it introduced the names, and lifestyles of each of the girls that were going to be competing. Some seemed like alright girls, and some seemed very snobby. One of the girls, who ironically won the most pageants, refused to practice with her mother. She threw tantrums any time her mother asked her to stop jumping on her trampoline to go and help with some detail on the upcoming pageant. Other girls reluctantly practiced their walks, and smiles, and turns with their mothers.

                I was surprised how many of the girls did not like getting ready and glamorous but were fawning over themselves when it was all done. The snobby girl I mentioned earlier was crying the whole time they were getting her ready for the pageant and yelling at the stylist. She also threw a fit when she needed to get a spray tan and her nails done. Of course this girl had the most doll-like qualities when they were all done.

                Unfortunately I did not continue watching the episode because as soon as the actual pageant came on and the girls started doing their routines and walks across the stage I realized I was kind of tired of watching the screaming girls and obsessive mothers. I think I must comment on how addictive the beginning of the show was. I was in a trance watching it, although it was more of an "Is this really happening?" thought process going on in my head.

Not Enough Time in the Day

There needs to be more time in the day, just saying. A twenty-four hour day is simply not long enough for school, homework, extracurricular activities, and if you have a job you can say goodbye to your social life. The planned hours of my day do not make any sense. I have regularly scheduled classes from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm and if my sports practice goes until 5:00 or 6:00 at night that would be a total of ten hours of my day spent at school. Not including the hours of homework some teachers expect students to finish in their "free time"

Workers during the industrial revolution went on strikes because their work hours were too long and their pay was too little. I have not heard of students working toward fewer hours of school, or less homework. They may have thought about it or even acted upon it but I have not heard about a single instance where students actually succeeded in reducing the amount of hours of school and homework. I think it is because students have no respect. Adults do not care to change what they went through when they were in school because they want the new students to suffer as much as they did.

            My Spanish teacher shared her opinion the other day of how school should be handled. She thought that the school day should go from around nine to five. This way there would be more class time and kids would get more sleep. There would also be no homework assigned, rather teachers would use the extra class time to do more work. She thought it would also be beneficial to change all sports so that they are strictly club. That way school funds could be used for academic programs. I agree completely with her ideas. Even though more hours at school may take a little while to get used to, if there was no homework, kids would be able to get a lot more sleep and spend time doing extracurricular activities.


            To summarize my argument; either extend the hours in a day or the hours of a school day.

Job Interviews

                Job interviews are brutal. Whether it’s the hour of asking questions you don't know how to answer, or the fact that you will spend days after it wondering if you got the job, interviews are simply brutal. I just finished with the second job interview I have had in my life and even after my little experience, I can assure you that they are not fun.

                As if going into a new place, and meeting with a person that will decide your employment future isn't enough, they go and ask you questions as well! Questions I might add that are completely self and experience-based. I know that some people can talk about themselves for hours, and bring up their positive attributes on cue but I definitely cannot. Second of all, they ask the same questions over and over expecting a different answer every time! I think that is the worst method in the world because if someone can't answer it right the first time, what makes them think that the interviewee can answer it again?

                Let me provide some examples of the questions asked at an interview. Question number one: "Why should I hire you?" Really, could you get any worse than that? Obviously, that is a question for you to answer, not me. I feel like that is just asking for selfish/vain answers. Which brings me to question number two; "What are your best qualities?" Well, I am a great ear-wiggler, and I can sleep through a fire alarm. Hmm, maybe they should be a little more specific. Number two here clearly shows that they are looking for selfish people. Interviewers also ask questions like number 3: "What did you do when you got into an argument with one of your coworkers?" This would be what I like to call an open-ended question with a pre-generated response. What if I haven't gotten in an argument with a coworker before? Even if I have, it's not like I would say I punched them in the face or something (which I wouldn't) because that would almost guarantee unemployment. Which is why I am sure the majority of applicants would say "I would work it out in a calm and productive manner." Yeah right, because that’s what people always do in a fury. "Calmly talk the problem out."

                I understand the reasoning behind the questions; to find suitable people to fill the job. But will the questions really rule out people with anger issues or bad qualities that they don't want to say because it would make them look bad? I would assume that any one stupid enough to comment on their extremely bad qualities aren't really expecting to get that job. I am just saying that the interviewers need to reconstruct their interviews.

Procrastination

                Why is procrastination so prominent? I am someone who procrastinates and I can say from experience that it sucks. I think it is because I can think of so many better, or more fun, ways to spend my time. Take homework for example; that is about the least entertaining thing in the world. I guess I should bite my tongue before I figure out something worse. I guess the phrase "watching paint dry" would apply. Although, I personally think it can be interesting sometimes depending on the color, and which parts dry first.

                Back to my original topic; teachers know their students will procrastinate. The other day, my AP Biology teacher assigned us a journal article review to write. He kept saying, "Don't put it off until Sunday night because you will be up late if you do." As much as he said it, there were a whole lot of people, including myself, who were sitting at their computers Sunday night, typing up their article reviews. If teachers know our behavioral habits, why do they assign the homework in the first place? I will save that topic for another post.

                I think the main cause of my procrastination is due to the fact that I can think of so many other things I would rather be doing. The only difference between a procrastinator, and a non-procrastinator is that the person procrastinating goes and does that other thing. Whether it is playing outside, watching t.v., reading, or going on the computer, the person that ends up procrastinating goes and does it. Unfortunately, the smarter of the two people figures if they finish their homework first, they can go and do fun things later. I just don't think it has the same effect.

Seussical the Musical

I know this is a little bit late but I realized I never wrote a review about the Kennedy Play.

                This year the chosen fall theater production was Seussical the Musical. The musical was a mixture of different Dr. Seuss books with its own little twist. The play was about an elephant named Horton that finds a little world the size of a speck of dust. Since Horton has big ears, he can hear the people talk to him when no one else can. To the rest of the jungle, this makes Horton look crazy. During Horton's mission to keep this little world safe, he encounters love, hate, and challenges to overcome.

                I thought the play was very well cast, but the costuming and makeup wasn’t as great as previous years. Other than a few pitch problems, everyone sang very well. I thought they adjusted to each other's voices rather well and the songs were lovely. I saw a snippet of the play in the school's play preview and came back to watch the show the following night. Everyone I was with thought that is was great and I know the parents and babysitters appreciated that it was kid-friendly.

                During the play, a chair malfunctioned and the "bird" that fell through handled it rather well when it happened. She did try to fix it and I thought that it would have been fine if she hadn’t. I heard afterwards that she was extremely angry with the tech person that set it up. I don’t understand why though, I guess it could have been the heat of the moment but I thought she reacted a little harshly.

                Even though there were a few problems during the play, I thought it was really great overall. I could tell that the actors added their own little touches here and there which really added to the quality of the play. The boy that played the narrator - the Cat in the Hat in this case, was very funny and the perfect choice. The singers all had very beautiful voices as well. I thoroughly enjoyed going to the play and look forward to going to the next play production.

Scream Acres

                Last Saturday, a group of friends and I went to Scream Acres up in Atkins, Iowa. When we got there, the eighteen dollar entry fee kind of startled us but at the end of the event I think that it was worth it. Don't get me wrong, I definitely  think they could reduce the price but with all the construction I understand that they needed to pay for it. At Scream Acres, there are three "haunts" that you go through. There is the Curtain Chaos, Slaughterhouse, and the Haunted Cornfield. Each haunt gets increasing scarier, starting with the least frightening and ending with the most.

                The Curtain Chaos is the first haunt. Walking into the building, the door which looks like a very large and creepy clown is a little intimidating. The building is basically like a maze that is laid out like what a convention would be. You are guided back and forth around the building while random people jump out and scare you. To describe what it is actually like, you will have to imagine it while I'm describing it. basically you come to a small closet size area and there is a wall to the front of you, and two to the sides of you. Each are covered with red and white curtains that touch the floor, only one wall is only a curtain. That would be the path you would take.

                The slaughter house basically describes itself. It reminded me of a creepy old house with lots of butcher shop qualities. There was a lot of "dead bodies" and cut up meat. At one point in the slaughterhouse you get to a floor that is not there, only it is. If you have seen spy kids, it was kind of like walking across the falling floor.

                The last haunt was the Haunted Cornfield. If you have been to the Bloomsbury  corn maze before it is kind of the same set-up as in turns, but a lot less easy to get lost in. Being in the corn maze at night has its own eeriness but add in creepy monsters that jump out and scare you, and run after you with chainsaws; eeriness turns to frightening.

                If you go there I would recommend going on a warmer day or dressing appropriately for the weather. The line took us about two hours to get through and after each haunted area there was another line to get into the next area. This line however didn’t take as long as the first. It pretty much only took about ten minutes to go through but you are so jazzed up about the last haunt that the time flies by fast. If you get to Scream Acres closer to opening time, there is a lot shorter waiting time. Aside from waiting awhile my overall experience at Scream Acres was a positive one. I personally hate being scared but being with your friends and going through the haunts is a lot of fun for everyone. 

Bow Wow Wow

So when I got home today, I let my little dog out of his cage only to find that he was covered in pee. Of course the first thing he does when he gets out of his cage is run round and round. Since his cage was covered in his urine, he was  clearly also covered in urine. As he ran around my house, he got his nasty pee-footprints all over. I hastily let him outside and got to work cleaning all of the doggie-footprints up. I guess the real question is how to get them out of my carpet. Obviously, I couldn't leave him out there all day so I reluctantly let him back in and carried him up to the shower to give him a bath.

                Why can't dogs just take care of themselves? Or at least learn how to use a toilet. I did actually learn when I got a dog that they are a lot of work and very expensive. There are people in the world that have not learned this lesson. They will go to the pet store and buy a dog that they expect will feed itself, and water itself, and let itself out to go to the bathroom. I don't understand why people are so astonished that there is so much animal cruelty when it’s really not that hard to figure out where it is coming from. I'll admit that there are fancy new mechanisms that you can buy that make taking care of a pet easier, but they still require work! For instance, if you buy an automatic feeder, you are still required to FILL IT BACK UP! It is not that automatic. Dog doors are also a nifty invention, but you still have to train your dog how to go out of it, and not to run away. The point I am trying to prove is to take care of your pets! They can be a little nasty at times, but remember, you were the one that got it!

People and the Pool

                After we lifeguards go through the hours of training, the pool finally opens for the summer. It is amazing how often I am astonished by the people that actually come to the pool. There are four main types of people that come to the pool; the regular families, the non-swimmers, the pool rats, and the absolutely crazy attendees.

                The regular families are usually pretty well behaved; they watch their kids and if they get out of line they will normally correct their children's behavior. On occasion they will also apologize to the guards on duty. Although guarding family is nice and serene, unfortunately it makes for a boring evening.

                Pool rats are kids that attend the pool the most often. I don't understand how they do it, but they will come and swim at the pool every single day in the summer. Some would think that if people attended the pool enough times they would gain an understanding of the rules that need to be followed. However, for some odd reason, the more time the pool rats spend at the pool, the more they seem to break the rules. I have to say that my pool was lucky to have genuinely good kids that were regulars. Although I must say that it made it harder to discipline them, and they should have been punished more .

                Pool Rats are more of a term that describe the kids who actually swim in the pool. Other children come to the pool and just sit. They sit and talk the whole entire time they are there. This situation is all fine and dandy until they come on slow days and raise the people count. In case you are unaware, the pool has to have a minimum amount of people at the pool to stay open. If the people count goes below that pool's minimum and stays there for an hour. The pool is eligible to close early. The absolute worst feeling as a lifeguard is when the minimum amount of people needed is 30 and there are 32 people at the pool. This would be easier to deal with if all 32 of those people were in the pool and not just sitting and talking in the grass or concession area . Needless to say the non-swimming group should either go in the pool or just leave.

                   The final type of patron is crazy. When I say crazy I don't necessarily mean insane asylum, it is just the way they behave that distinguishes them in their own category. I can't specifically define the crazy patron, I can only share recollections of my personal encounters. Crazy person number one, nicknamed "octo-mom," came to the pool one afternoon with her Chinese- tattooed  regions, bare ring finger, and her eight or so children. This delusional woman thought that her 2, 4, and 6 year olds would not be a problem and decided to just not watch them most of the trip. If her three children under 6 were actually capable of watching themselves maybe it wouldn't have been a problem. However they are only 2, 4, and 6 years of age. At the end of the day, the kids were rescued about 5 times each. At the second showing of octo-mom, she grew a few brains and brought fewer children under the age of 6 and her strange looking boyfriend. I must say although it was smarter to bring older and fewer children she still, did not watch them. Unfortunately this is not the craziest person I have seen, and I am sure other lifeguards could tell stories of their own pools' "loony bin." Examples might include over-parenting parents, bi-polar patrons, and of course the anti-management rebels.

                In my next blogs I will be sure to write about other experience I have had as a lifeguard.

Men Ruling the World

Throughout history the leaders of countries have been primarily men. My only question is why? Men seem to be primarily trigger-happy, aggressive, have WAY too big of egos, and tend to get their feelings hurt too often. Now before I start hating on all men, let’s get something straight. I am not referring to every single man out there; these are only my observations of past events and recent news. My observations may seem kind of stereotyped but whose aren’t? I am sure there are a lot of kind, gentle, and caring men out there, I am only writing about the typical trend…

Men. There are too many of them in leadership positions. If you think about it, most of nations’ problems can be directly routed back to the fact that a man was in charge. Think about it. The US is in debt, a very large debt I might add, and a large amount of it is because so much money is going to the military. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that big guns cost a lot of money but if we weren’t in so many wars then we wouldn’t need as many guns.

                My theory of why we are in so many wars is that men are very aggressive.  If some foreign country pounces on their egos, they go and write a war declaration. I think we should play a little cat and mouse. Haven’t you seen the cartoon Tom & Jerry? The mouse sure wins most of the time, he just goes around doing his business and the pouncing cat gets hammered on his own.

                The attacks on 9/11 were tragic, but did we really have to be so quick to go to war? They might have tried to figure out who actually did it before they went to war with the wrong country! Not even counting the fact that it wasn’t even a country that did it. It was a terrorist organization. There is no such thing as an organized terrorist country. So why in the world would we pick a fight with a country in the first place? Why not CSI or someone to go and kill/capture the terrorists without going to war with the country they are residing in? We have been in Iraq now for 10 years. Doesn’t anyone else think that’s a little ridiculous, considering we assassinated the person responsible for the attack years ago?

                Now if women were in control of nations instead of men, I feel like we would have a lot more periods of peace. The overall stereotype of women is that we are calm, kind, caring, and thoughtful. Women wouldn’t retaliate after an attack. I’m sure we wouldn’t leave it be, but there would be no war declaration. Women can be viscous, but they are not rash. Even in adolescence women think of tactical ways to get inside the enemy’s head. We make relationships and pick and choose alliances.

                Even though both sides can be mean in their own ways, how would history change if the world was not always ruled by men?

The Steps to Becoming a Lifeguard

          Lifeguards. Anyone that has swam in or been near a supervised aquatic area has seen us. We are primarily described as tan, wearing our signature red swimsuits, and just sitting in our high chairs watching people. All day long. However, I don't think people actually understand what it truly means to be a lifeguard and everything included in its job description.

          Before someone becomes a lifeguard, they have many hours of training to complete and many tests to pass. The first step is to take a lifeguard certification class which normally takes anywhere from 30-40+ hours. After each class, the normal person is completely exhausted. Normal:  meaning not a conditioned swimmer. In lifeguard training we are taught rescue skills, first aid, and CPR/AED. To pass the class, each lifeguard is asked to perform final skills that were taught at some point over the duration of the class. We also need to pass a written exam with a certain percentage per section.

          After the initial class is over, and each guard is certified, we still have to apply for a job and go through an interview process just like everyone else. After actually getting the job, we have even more training. We also have to pass another skills test (as well as many throughout the lifeguard season) to ensure that we still know how to save drowning victims. The training process at my pool took about ten more hours overall.

          During the job training we improve our skills that we learned in our certification classes and go over pool procedures, rules, and whistle blowing. Some of the specific skills are how to save active drowning, passive drowning, and submerged victims. We learn how to rescue some with a head, neck, or back injury. We also learn skills required when the victim is out of the water such as CPR and all of the different ratios, the Heimlich, first aid, and whistle blowing. I presume whistle blowing does not seem like a skill that needs to be learned. Let me assure that in order to get a crisp, clear, and short whistle blow, it actually takes practice. There is a specific amount of breath needed and a correct tongue placement. My first attempts sounded like a train's whistle but eventually I figured it out.

          In my next blog I will be sure to talk about the experiences after learning how to be a lifeguard.

Gay Marriage

          I know the controversy on gay marriage has basically settled down now since the gay marriage law was passed, but honestly I do not understand why people cared so much about it. What did gay people ever do to them and why is it any of their business?

          Some people’s argument against it is that is against God. There are passages in the bible that comment on homosexuality.  One quote from Leviticus is “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” Obviously this strongly opposes gay relations, don’t you think that people that are gay are aware of who disagrees with their sexual preferences?

          Even though the Bible opposes gay relations I do not believe that it is our job to judge the people it is opposing. The Bible portrays God’s opinions, and laws, and wisdom. This may just be me but I do not think that we have the right to judge homosexual people. Judgment should be saved for God, not us. We do not have a right to make people feel inferior or out of place from our own doing. Isn’t it the whole point of the Bible to make us better, and nicer people? Free from judgment, jealousy, hate, and fear.

          I guess the point of this blog is to discourage people from openly voice their opinion about gay people, and to create laws prohibiting gay marriage. I know many homosexual people and the ones I know are the nicest people in the world. I would hate to see them discouraged because some disrespectful person openly voices their opinion to them without even knowing them. To put it plainly, it is not very nice.