Short Anecdote

I was buying a present for a friend of mine a few weeks ago and ans I quietly stood in line at the grocery store. I watched as a mother beseeched her child who was around eight or nine to stay with their shopping cart while she went to pick something out that she had forgotten. The little girl stood her ground as the line moved progressively toward the checkout counter. Five minutes went by, and she began to look more and more nervous as she searched for her mother. The girl pushed the cart filled with groceries to the next spot in line. And as the last lady in front of her had finished paying...the little girl began to scream and cry...."I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY, MOM!!!"

She ditched the shopping cart and began screaming for her mother. I stepped forward and bought what I had set out to, hopped on my bike and laughed to myself as I pedaled home. I remember having those few moments of terror when my mom would do that to me in the grocery store.

Ten Things I Never Thought I'd Say Or Do:

1. "So, you cracked an egg on your brother's head?"
2. Fight with a ten year-old about who really won a scooter race.
3. Play 'Mafia' with a group of twelve eight year-olds
4. "John, my foot grabbed that spoon before your's did!"
5. "Haha! Take that scum! Ooooh, you want a piece of me? Time to die!" (while playing diablo 2)
6. Make up my own rules to the game "Life" when i was eleven, because it was too simple. (I added extra expenses for miscelleaneous items, taxes, costs of children, extra college if you wanted a more difficult career, more realistic salaries for the jobs, time measurement, practical housing, etc.)
7. Laugh uncontrollably after being thrown off a jet ski in the middle of a lake.
8. "Never put blueberries in your diaper again, understood?"
9. "Please, stop licking my hair."
10. "So, why exactly did you pee on your brother?"

Movie Quote of the Month!

Once again another month has passed. Happy Mother's Day, by the way to all you moms out there. OK! Today's quote is from one of the greatest movies of all time, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." And this is one of my favorite parts in the movie. (The whole movie is my favorite part.)

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"Listen, strange women lying in ponds and distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farsicle aquatic ceremony. You can't expect to yield supreme executive power just because some moistened bink threw a sword at you. I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some watery tart lugged a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"
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it also makes it funnier to see him and a "woman" stacking mud for no apparent reason.

I'll Be There For You, Even When Our Show Is In Syndication

I find that the end of a certain TV show has sent most people walking around with deep sadness the past week. But, if we hunker down and stick together, we can get through this most trying of times, survive the devastating economic recession that the end of this series will undoubtedly trigger, sidestep the bodies of the dead who’ve flung themselves from the rooftops, navigate the riot-torn streets of America and, just maybe, live to watch TV another day.

Yeah, the cancellation of The Parkers is really going to suck.


Naw, just kidding, I'm talking about Friends which is ending its 10-year run this week with a grand finale expected to rank up there in zillion-hood viewership.

For those of you who don’t know, Friends was about the breezy lives of pals Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, Rachel and (must repress hatred) Ross, all 20-somethings prettier and wittier than anyone you know, who also live in fabu apartments they somehow afford with the jobs they supposedly have.

I realized how this goodbye is affecting our culture. Even those who don't like Friends are tuning in to the last episode. This is definitely not one of my favorite shows but I have seen twelve episodes probably in total, and yet, I still know the ENTIRE plot line of the show, along with each of their relationships and past.

I have heard my peers talking throughout the years, hoping that Rachel won't dump Ross, and that Joey should just get over Rachel instead of trying to pull "the perfect couple away from eachother." Also, fighting about whether Monica and Chandler are ready to get married or not.

The gang spent most of their abundant free time making fun of eachother in a coffee shop, sharing their recent trivial problems. The story line has remained simple enough that, no matter when you happen upon an episode of Friends in syndication or on cable (you’ve missed approximately 18 syndicated episodes since you began reading this), there isn’t much to figure out.

I've even, to my everlasting shame, tried to get the infamous "Jennifer Aniston" haircut, as odd as that sounds, because I was once sooo jealous of her hair. (I learned about a year ago that her hair is synthetic. IT'S FAKE! SHE PUTS FREAKING EXTENSIONS INTO HER HAIR AND THAT'S HOW SHE GETS IT TO LOOK SO PERFECT. I am no longer jealous of her hair. “It might not be as pretty, but at least mine is real.” Is my motto.)

I will not be home for the last episode, but just for good measure, I will be taping it. (It's not just me, it's my sister, Josh, and my parents) I do admit the show gets me to laugh, but I tire easily of “the fashion show” that goes on during the show. (I.E. None of the women have any body fat, perfect hair at any time in the day, and wear different clothing every episode. How does someone who serves coffee for four years afford that? Who knows?)

Even those who have never watched more than two episodes of Friends (like my mom and dad), will be tuning in for the last episode. Even if only to mark a point in history when the storm of idiotic magazine articles asking dumb questions like: “Which Friend are you like?”(By the way, I took this quiz. I was Joey.) “How you doin’?” “Could it be any funnier?” “What’s next for the Friends?” and “How will you kill yourself when Friends is over?” And those who have been avid Friends watchers will finally, be kicking the habit, then joining a twelve step program. (Hi, my name is Jenny, and I'm a recovering Friends watcher. I just can't believe it's over! ITS SOOO SAD. *sobs uncontrollably*) But tomorrow, this mania and the craziness will end.

Life Lessons

I work at a summer camp for children ages 3-10 and I am a counselor there. Counselors are normally the bottom end of the workplace feeding pool there, not counting the Operations Assistant who do all of the dirty work (most times my superviors don't even HIRE Operations Assistants so the Counselors end up doing their job, anyways). The job can be very difficult but also rewarding and fun.

I had been expecting a call regarding my work schedule in the summer for the past month or so. Finally, on Monday I got the call. I have been working there for the past four years and I know most of the faculty. When an unfamiliar man named Frances called me with my schedule, I had a feeling there would be a lot of new staff this summer. Changes like these can roll off my back but they also can be very stressful especially if you get a new supervisor (which happens frequently). When Frances began talking, I listened intently with a pencil in my hand to write down what new changes would have been made to my schedule. (They never give me all of my available weeks, but I put them down just so they know which I can work.) But nothing prepared me for what he would say:

Frances: We'd like to have you come to camp as our CDC. But that would mean we would like all of your available weeks during the summer.

I stood there thinking I had heard wrong.

Me: Wait--I would be the CDC? That's the Camp Director of Curriculum, isn't it?

Frances: Yes, it is.

Me: But I'm normally just a Camp Counselor.

Frances: Yes, but we are in need of a CDC this summer. So, are you available all of the weeks you signed up for?

I told them I'd have to check with my parents because I normally never get all of the weeks I sign up for and then I hung up the phone after the call was over. I told my mom that I had just gotten a promotion but I was very unsure of what this job really entailed. CDCs do all of the organizing and working with the parents. Also, because of the added responsibility, I would be more liable to be clobbered by my awful boss. (There have been legendary stories that are told at my job about her flipping out. So far, I've never had her even a little mad at me. In fact, she loves me, but that's because I'm good with the children and I always do what she tells me to without any questions or complaints, even when she's being a psycho hose beast.)

My mind went straight for the negatives. Would I really want to give up all of my free time during the summer to work five days a week for eight hours a day? Would I want to do a less hands-on job with the kids to be mainly working with the parents and teachers? Do I really want to be under the eye of criticism for my demon boss? And most of all, who would hire ME for an organizational job????

I was used to being a counselor I loved having one-on-one time with the children, playing with them, getting them excited to do the next assignment. Sure, it was tiring, but it was never boring. I knew that was the main thing I'd miss about being a counselor. I knew that job, I had made all of the stupid rookie mistakes and learned from them. Now I was going to start over with a job that entails more responsibility and beginning with the knowledge that I have a hundred more crucial mistakes to make and three more years to really get good at my job. I suddenly felt very nervous.

Then I thought, that's how life is and will always be. I'll be feeling the same way when I graduate high school and college. I mean, I've got the being a kid part down pretty well. I can behave myself and finish my homework and still have time to focus on the important things in life like church or video games.

I'll feel this way the day I move out of my parents' house. I'll feel this way before I start my first day of my career. I'll feel this way when I get married or when I have children. This feeling won't last. So, I decided to buckle down, take the job and handle the responsibility. Responsibility is definitely one of the hardest lessons I'll have to learn.