Grocery Store Rules

This is just going to be a quick little rant-type blog, because most of what I have to say in the way of intelligent dialogue came out in my blog on Blogspot earlier today. For those of you who don't know (which is about 99.9% of people reading this, I would think) I work at a grocery store as a cashier. Glamorous, no? Actually, it is a pretty good job, except for the fact that I've been working long hours recently, and dealing with the pre-Easter rush. Coming out of the frustration of today, here are 5 rules to follow if you don't want your cashier secretly plotting ways to poison your food using only the materials provided at a standard cash register:

1. Don't ask for "paper inside paper" bags. Really, it's not necessary. Unless you truly want to pack your entire order of 30 items into a single bag (thus pretty much ripping your arm from your shoulder socket) there is no reason why you can't get by with a single layer paper bag. Here's a suggestion: how about you get two paper bags, fill them quasi-equally, and then you won't fall over when you're walking down a set of stairs because all your weight is balanced on one side!

2. Please figure out how to use a credit card. I'll let it slide for the 80 year old, but if you're a twenty year old guy, I'm sorry, but you have no legitimate excuse for not knowing how to slide a credit card through a slot that includes diagrams. Come on, you're a member of a consumerist generation, if you don't know how to work a credit card, what hope is there left for a completely soulless, materialist world! *sarcasm note*

3. Don't speak to me as though I have the IQ of a rock. I'm aware that I'm working at a fairly "no-skill-needed" job, but last time I checked, neither hospitals nor law firms hire sixteen year olds. I'm doing what I can, and even though I'm going to respect you even though I may want to bash you over the head with an oversized squash, you can at least pretend to reciprocate the favor.

4. Do not ask me where the chive-stuffed olives are. I work in the front end, not grocery. I am a part-time teenager; I am not omniscient (although I can bag at a surprisingly quick rate of 17.13 items per minute! XD ) ! I know that it's supposed to be my job to know where everything in the store is, but the grocery store I work at is roughly the size of some smaller European nations, so that's a bit of a dilemma.

5. Don't haul your cat litter/water bottles/charcoal/ice up onto the belt: I have a remote scanner, I can just get it in the cart! Exciting as it is to have to field 40 pound items rolling towards you down a belt, it would just be easier to deal with them in your cart! Besides, if I wanted to join a weight program, I join one!


Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

The Woes of an Grammar Nerd

[Warning: Very Disjointed Blog Ahead]

It would make sense, normally, for the worlds of "grammar nerd" and "person who listens to music about a book series" to intersect...right? Well, yes. Except that being a grammar nerd in the wrock world can often lead to confusion, largely involving pronouns.

For example, if I want to refer to The Whomping Willows (or Tonks and the Aurors, or Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills...) within a sentence, would the verb need to be plural to agree with the subject, even though technically the band name is a plural noun referring to a singular person? And if I used, to continue the example, The Whomping Willows, and wanted to use that as an antecedant to a pronoun that came later, would that pronoun be "he" or "they"? The amount of time I've spent wondering about this is truly sad...

I'm having trouble thinking of anything else interesting to say at the moment, sadly... I think that all the cashier work I'm doing is sapping my soul. Although I can name a huge number of grocery codes. What would be really interesting is if I could develop some sort of code for cashiers, where the 4 digit code referred to the first letter of the produce item it referred to.

For example...
4225 (Avacado) would be A
4011 (Banana) would be B
4050 (Cantelope) would be C


So, steppint off one nerd train and onto another for a moment, has anyone heard about the pirates? I'm not talking Jack Sparrow here; a US ship has actually been taken, and a hostage taken, by Somalian pirates. This would be funny, if someone's life didn't hang in the balance..

Quote of the day: There are a terrible lot of lies going about the world, and the worst of it is that half of them are true.

Winston Churchill

Peace. Love. Happiness
~Cody

Is it summer yet?

I just watched this video, which if you don't feel like actually watching, is Brian Malfoy covering a song that I've unfortunately never heard before today, Construtive Summer by the Hold Steady. That, along with The Remus Lupins announcing their tour dates today (my frustration with the world of wizard rock and pronouns at another time, likely tonight) just made me realize how very much I want summer, and more than that, how many huge, probably unfulfillable dreams I have for summer. I have this image of being able to see my friends, and not be an awkward, unintentionally anti-social dork. So, I guess more than anything, I hope that summer will bring out the person I want myself to be. Huh. Yeah, psychoanalyzing yourself isn't very productive, it would seem....

Anyway, back to some semblence of topic. I've been writing in essay format for pretty much the last 24 hours straight, so I'm going to rebel and go with a list format. Becuase I'm just that original...

Reasons Why I need Summer.
1. Because I am sick of having to wear sweatshirts whenever I'm not wearing my coat
2. Because I'm sick of junior year
3. Because I haven't seen a wrock show in over two months, and that's getting on my nerves
4. Because summer will mean the end of ridiculous contest essays for awhile
5. Leakycon
6. Because that will mean I'm just that much closer to being able to get my license in August
7. Because HBP comes out in July
8. Because I need more sleep
9. Because I want to be able to ride my bike again
10. Because I'm lonely

Peace. Love. Happiness. (and Sunshine?)
~Cody

Totalitarian Librarians, Obnoxious dialogue, and what the Hell is Going on in Minnesota

Like the random capitalization in the title? DFTBA!

This blog comes to you in three semi-distinct parts! (and perhaps more if I think of something else when I get to the end. It will be a surprise, I suppose!)

1. Totalitarian Librarians
This was inspired by a post in my friend Kat's blog mentioning how her school has totalitarian librarians, and I felt the need to relate some of my stories from 9th and 10th grade involving librarians. Actually, I think I need to go back a bit further. As I'm sure is no surprise to most of the people actually reading this blog, I was sort of an uber-nerd in middle school...to that point that I was horribly, painfully shy and didn't talk to anyone my age, so I ended up in the library during every lunch period for 7th and 8th grade, and the librarians knew me by name and what kind of book I liked, and would often recommend things to me or discuss things we both had read. It was a wonderful little haven for me. And then I hit high school. Our HS is divided into two buildings, South and North. South is generally for grade 9 and 10, and North is 11 and 12 (although there is some crossover) so in grades 9 and 10 I mostly used the South library. The librarians there were horribly strict. If you came in a minute late, even if you had a note from a teacher, they wouldn't let you in for study hall. One time, my friend and I were sitting across from eachother, not talking at all, and the librarian made us move so our backs were to eachother because she insisted we would make too much noise. She then proceeded to talk loudly on the phone.

I feel like I'm going to need to enter a witness protection program now...anyway, the good news is that the North librarians are much nicer...and I now I in the library every morning to read the New York Times. Like old times again!

2. Has anyone ever read the Grapes of Wrath? As in, the entire, cover-to-cover thing? If you've done so without repeatedly hitting your head against a hard object, you're a stronger man (or woman) than I am. Honestly. It is a wonderful narrative about the corruptive power of industry, the strength and resiliance of the human spirit, and a testament to kindness even in the darkest of hours....but the entire thing is written in phonetic dialogue. Example:

"I don' feel good. I wisht Connie would come. I don't feel like doin' nothin' 'thout Connie"
"Rosasharn, you git upright. You jus' been mopin' enough. They's a ladies' committee a-comin', an' the fambly ain't gonna be frawny when they get here"
"But I don' feel good."
"Git! They's times when you how you feel got to be kep' to yourself"

Approximately 600 pages of this. Sing joy.

3. Minnesota
And the results of the 2008 election are....really? We don't know yet? Come on ,that's a little bit embarrassing...it's been 5 months...you do know that the new Senators are in office already, right?

Yes. That's right. As of now, Minnesota has only one Senator. It was an exceptionally close race, generally decided by about 200 votes on each side, a ridiculously small amount in a Senate race. Now the two contestants, Al Franken and Norm Colman, are engaged in a legal death match. It would be ridiculous, not to mention funny, if it weren't that Minnesota sort of deserves equal representation in the Senate. Maybe we should settle this Solomon-style. You know the story, the one where two mothers claim that a baby is theirs, and Solomon says "OK, just cut the baby in half" and the mother that said "No, I don't care if I get the baby, I just want him to be safe" was the real mother? How about that. Since they seem to be tearing Minnesota apart in their process.

Well, look on the bright side. At least they aren't running for a House of Representatives seat. Theyd be up for reelection before either of them even took office at this rate!

I'm supposed to get my SAT results tomorrow....and I'm nervous.

Peace. Love. Happiness
~Cody

Postsecret

I'm sure that most of you (I love how I write these blogs in second person, based on the assumption that there's some nebulous "you" out there reading this) have heard of Postsecret.

I know that some people are probably groaning "oh, she's heading in the touchy-feely direction again". Well. Yes. I figured that I already jumped off the emotional cliff earlier today, so in for a penny in for 1.2 trillion dollars. Or something like that.

Anyway, what I wanted to say was that one of the things I love most about Postsecret is that it reminds us that people aren't perfect. It's funny- we consider vanity a flaw, but I think worse than vanity (and much more pervasive in society) is the feeling that they're something wrong with us, that we're weak, the only ones thinking this, etc, and that everybody else has their act together. Seeing peoples' secrets, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, reminds us forcefully: No. Everybody else doesn't have their act together. People are malicious and they are vulnerable. They look for love and sometimes don't like to look in the mirror. All in all, they're human.

And thank goodness for it. I mean, would you want to live in a word where no one has problems? We may think we do, but I don't think we're being honest with ourselves. Don't you feel amazing after you conquered something that you thought would stand in your way or haunt you forever? I know I sound horrifically cliche, but every time we mentally drop kick something that weighs us down, we grow just a little bit. It never fails to amaze how we can be so vulnerable, screwed up, and terrified, but at the same time, so strong, kind, and determined.

And hey, if you look around Post Secret enough...you may even see a postcard about reading dirty HP fanfic. Because really, who in fandom *doesn't* have that secret...

I promise something less mushy tomorrow

Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

Suddenly I See

Has anyone ever heard that song by KT Tunstall? I started playing it from playlist.com, because I really needed something to cheer me up. Whenever I hear that song, it makes me think of carefree, summer, dancing, all things that make me smile. For reference, anyone who hasn't heard the song can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-At6avvY_4

Anyway, the reason why I need cheered up at the moment is because of some research that I've been doing for an essay. I'm researching the Holocaust, so I think that, to some degree, why that is depressing doesn't really need to be explained. The specific book I'm reading is about how ordinary Germans became executioners, not because they were coerced or threatened, but because something in them wanted to do what they ended up doing, and they just needed the opportunity.

One of the most depressing parts of all this is that...they weren't alone. It wasn't just Germans in the 1940s who committed mass atrocity like this. The Japanese against the Chinese in the early 20th century, Serbs against Bosnian Muslims, Hutus against Tutsis. I don't think it's some German-specific gene that allows us to do things that make us sick in an abstract sense...maybe it's something human.

I guess what's bothering me is the question...would I become a willing executioner? I know that everyone's first response will be "no, no, of course not, you're a good person." So...were all of these executioners just bad from the start, in some kind of mode of predestination? If someone had asked the average German in 1920 if they would condone mass murder in twenty years, I doubt you'd have gotten many affirmatives. So what is it? Is it some specific spark inside us that can just get lit, and awaken something horrible inside ourselves that we had hoped wasn't there? Is there ever any way to know what we would do in a situation like that before it actually happens?

Some part of me can't accept that. Some part of me can't accept that any moral conscience I have would just disappear, controlled by some animalistic response. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that I can both love humanity and hate it at the same time.

In some less depressing food-for-thought...has anyone heard about Iowa? If you haven't, I'll fill you in: the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state ban on same-sex marraige. The practical application? In 21 days, gay couples can get legally married in Iowa. It's a little sad (not to mention politically weird) that gay couples can get maried in Iowa...but not in California (any more). At this point, 3 down, 47 to go. Not counting Puerto Rico. This could take awhile. One of my dreams is to see PA in the civil rights column sometime in my lifetime. I know that it won't be easy, but what that's worthwhile ever is?

This post is getting too long, and I need some sunshine therapy.

Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

Regrets

I went to see the school production of Beauty and the Beast tonight, and it really was fantastic. However, as usual, my mind began to wonder in weird directions directly after leaving the theater. When I was a freshman, I was involved with band (I played the flute). However, I thought I was going to keep swimming in sophomore year, so I quit band, and never was able to get back into it. Now, a big part of me wishes that I'd stayed with it, because then it would have given me a group to be a part of. I know, I know, I'm morphing into cliche-teen mode, but I shouldn't stay there overly long. It's just frustrating sometimes to sort of drift on the edges of all the lovely cliques and groups that make up every high school. I'm really, really ready for summer, for seeing Potter fans where I don't really need to belong to a specific clique. That, and I'm really ready for weather consistently warmer than 55 fahrenheit.

I really am also looking forward to college, just because I feel like there I'll have a chance to start over, and do all the things I regret not doing in High School. Who knows- maybe I'll even take up the flute again.

Tempermental Authors

Life really like to slap you in the face sometimes. Like, you've had a great day, and then something happens to just totally reverse that happiness. Today was a good day. We had begun to plan our family vacation out West, I had even gotten a new bike, because my old one was rusty and not functioning well. And then the mail came. I've been entering into a lot of essay contests recently, hoping that I could get money for school from some of them. This year, I really thought that my essay for the National Peace Essay had a chance of winning, that it was strong. A letter came in the mail: I had made it to the second round of judging, but hadn't been awarded one of Pennsylvania's three prizes. Guess who had won? Every single one of PA's winners is homeschooled. I just wanted to cry. I don't understand how on earth it's fair to let homeschool kids compete side by side kids who actually go to school. If you're homeschooled, you can spend time during school doing these essays, somehow work them into your curriculum. If you actually are in school, you have to do them, AND all of your other work. I just think that it's a totally different situation, and that people who go to school should be in a different category from people who can devote however much time that they need to these type of projects, and just write it off as school.

I used to be homeschooled, but from my current perspective, I realize why I did so well in things back them. It was because I didn't have other things like, oh, I don't know, school, to worry about.

I know I missed my blog yesterday, so expect one later today to make up for it.

Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

The Green Pen of Envy

Anyone who likes to write, anyone who likes to read, or anyone who's naturally competitive will probably identity with this. Have you ever read something, and just felt like it expressed something that could have come out of your mouth? (or pen, or keyboard, or theoretically, if you lived before the last 20th century, keyboard) Then you feel as if they stole it, and that idea, which you realized was complete and total gold as you wre reading it as expressed by them, is now lost from you as far as new writing goes.

Also, I get the Green Pen of Envy, as we may call it, when I look at the writing style of people I really admire. I suppose that people like my writing (at least they keep telling me that) so there must be something stylistically good about it, but I've usually seen it so many times before I hand it in that I come to see my own style as boring and monotonous. I'm not going to get into the whole deal about being yourself trough writing.

My eyes are literally closing of their own accord at this point. Sleep isn't calling anymore, it borrowed an airhorn.

Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

Wet Hair

April Fools day is always trying for me, especially on those occasions when I've had a particularly unexciting week. I always feel as though I need to push down past the part of me that desperately wants to go to sleep at 3 in the afternoon, and find something intelligent/crafty/unique as an April Fools joke. Today, I was simply far too tired for such efforts. Anyone in high school (particularly in State High) will probably know what I mean when I say that the last week (or the week before the last week, as the case currently is) is as close as secondary education ever comes to hell personified. I'm not kidding.

This week contained, or by Friday, will have contained (don't you love the future perfect tense? I love how we come up for all these sophisticated names for part of language, and yet cockroaches will still outlive us once we decide to go blow eachother off the face of the earth. Go figure) a total of five tests, a vocabulary journal in English, a 50 point timeline in US history, a discussion in European history, a writing reflection for English, reading 100+ pages of Grapes of Wrath for English, writing a journal on Grapes of Wrath for English, a poem project in French, and two articles of varying length in Journalism, both in some way related to the American education system and education policy in general. I apologize for that laundry list, but sometimes it's really, really nice to vent.

Anyway, in other completely not pertinant information (have you noticed that if you add the prefix "im" to pertinant as you would in impossible, to negate the term, you get seemingly entirely unrelated term, "impertinant"?) my hair has been wet for pretty much the last two days straight. I haven't wanted to/ had the time to dry my hair, and since my hair is growing at such a rate that it will need its own social security number any day now, a bun is pretty much the only way to keep the wild mass somewhat managable. This, however, leads to my hair NEVER actually drying. Go figure.

I'm going to be trying to update this every day, as part of BEDA for April. We'll see how that goes. It's strange, actually. I'm not even sure if anyone will ever read this. Maybe my words will just come together into a file, float out onto the internet, and never be read again, like a ship lost at sea. It makes me think of the question, if someone says something, and no one else is there to listen, was it ever said?

To anyone who read down to the end, many thanks
Peace. Love. Happiness.
~Cody

An Explanation

I'm not good with continuity. I get interested in something, throw myself in head over heels, and then get distracted by something else several days later. If you're wondering where the "take two" in the title of this blog comes from, it is because there was a PPP original blog with all of two entries, an account to which I forgot the password. Long story short, I was too lazy to think of a new name. My newfound determination (however long it ends up lasting) comes indirectly from Maureen Johnson's "Blog Every Day in April" project, and directly through my good friend Kat, who told me about it. So, I am, as the completely ambiguous title suggests, going to (try to) blog every day in April.

This should be interesting.

See you on April Fool's Day!