Mar 31 2009
The Space Between (Period 3)
Kincaid suggests that an idea and its reality often do not coincide, particularly when the gulf that divides them broadens and deepens. Cite an instance in your life when your IDEA of something “jumped and died and disappeared forever” in the face of its REALITY, like Kincaid’s impression of England. Be brief but descriptive.
79 responses so far
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Before I went to Mexico, I was told that it was a dangerous and violent place. It was the home to people that had no life, and that were dirty and rude. Everyone was telling me that I was not going to like it and to prepare myself to see things that I wouldn’t like. I went into the trip with these ideas, thinking i would be let down and scared when i first arrived. It was actually quite the opposite. I was there with my church and we were there to run a kids club and socialize with the people of the town. They were very kind and so grateful that we were there and it was a complete surprise to me. I had thought that these people would not want us to come into their town and act like we were better then them but they were very welcoming and warm and happy. Even though they didn’t have anything, they lived in complete poverty, they were happy. It was so different from what everyone had told me and I had been too busy stuck in the fear that it was going to be horrible that I didn’t let the people into my heart until towards the end of my time spent there.
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Lilli G Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:48 am
Ginny, thats sounds like so much fun! I didnt know that you went to Mexico last summer. Anyway, Im happy that you opened up towards the end of your trip, because it sounds like such a great time!
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The first time that I went to New York City I was so excited to see the this glamorous place that was full of hardworking people who had made there dreams occur. I was twelve and wanted to see the sparkling lights of times square and all of the famous people; movie stars, models, and wall street workers all clad in fancy outfits. I had heard all of these things from magazines, seen fancy pictures, and heard stories of others from television. When I got there, yes NYC was very pretty but it was also very smelly. The heat of the sun during the summer made China town smell and the sewage reek. The people walking the streets were not famous, but average people. They were sweating and chugging bottles of water while they walked to their next destination. I saw apartments and buildings with graffiti on the windows and knocked out glass. This was not the NYC I had dreamed of but the real thing.
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Sara E Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:51 am
Any city you go to there will always be graffiti, broken down houses and average people. But New York City is not this bad. Well actually depending on the part you go to, New York can be beautiful with lights twinkling everywhere at night. You can also see famous people. When I went to New York this past summer, I met this actress from Disney Channel and she was so nice. The chaos of the city gives me a rush of adrenaline to rush with the crowds of people from place to place. Beyond the broken down parts of New York, the city can be what do did dream of it to be.
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I lost the idea of Santa Clause when I was younger. Santa had come every year to deliver presents to everybody. Watching movies around Christmas time I believed St. Nick was a good chubby man in red. One year while sitting on his lap at a restaurant, it suddenly dawned on me that this Santa looked really fake. He wasn’t like in the movies or stories. I asked my friends about him and they all agreed he wasn’t real. Someone had stayed up late to only watch her parents put the presents under the tree. She stayed up longer but Santa never came. In that moment I was shocked and for a little while in my young adolescent ming, Christmas was ruined. The lies made my little stubborn self angry and cry.
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Sarah B Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:05 am
OMG! I hated the times when I had to sit on Santa’s lap. i was soooo scared of him because he knew about all the bad things I did during the year. I never even looked into his face to see if he was fake, but I learned he was fake early on.
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Sam R Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:10 am
Curiosity killed the cat =( That’s a bummer, though one we all went through sooner or later. it’s everybody’s personal experience that makes it…well, grim.
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The largest contradiction, and biggest let down was hearing about cruises and eventually experiencing one. Commercials portray cruises as a place where people, of all ages, are happy, having parties, and are always on the go. The staff looks pleasant and the people, because of having so much fun, are also nice. They show rooms with ocean views that are always clean that showed beautiful weather.
When finally going on a cruise for myself, it was nothing that I thought it would be. Despite being so happy, the people were rude. The staff was creepy, and did not look at all happy to be there. There was abosloutely nothing for people of my age group to do. There was either the bar, or the kiddy room. Neither of which interested me. After dinner was over the parents would run off to the 18+ clubs leaving the older kids to babysit the younger. And then there was the weather. It was horribly frigid and windy, and half of the time it rained. What had been experienced was completely different from what I had seen for years and heard about from others.
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Gigi W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:04 am
That is a let down
Especially when it’s a commercial build-up feeding a mental image that turns out to be wrong.
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Marco L Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:09 am
Yeah, for real, that blows. All of a sudden, Disney sounds a lot worse, huh?
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When I was younger, all of my teachers “prepared me for what was next.” They were forever making empty threats such as “In middle school, if you don’t write in cursive, you will get detention.” Or in eighth grade when teachers would claim that in high school a new eight page paper was assigned weekly and it was not uncommon to receive three projects in one day from the same teacher summing it all up by warning that eight hours a night would be minimum for completing homework.
After hearing my alleged future, I forced myself to write in cursive or master my assignments in an almost obsessive manner. Writing in cursive meant practicing before school, after dinner and again before bed. Completing my assignments quickly meant doing math problems between classes, social studies definitions at lunch and themes the moment I got home. After all, if these tasks were not accomplished in a neat and orderly manner, as etched into my brain, my school career would be all but over.
Looking back I find humor in my intensity. My obvious obsession in “preparing myself” because though my preparations were not for nothing, my future was certainly not riding on my ability to loop my cursive “y’s” with perfection. Given a smaller amount of time to fret over my rapidly approaching future, I might not have had the time to build up the idea that my obsessive work was necessary.
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Jane. C Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am
That is very true Shae, I remember when I was younger, my teachers would actually give me lessons on how to write in cursive and I also made that an obsession to write in cursive but then reality stepped in, and I realized that I actually didn’t have to write in cursive in order to reach a perfection of neat cursive handwriting.
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:02 am
Does anyone still write in cursive?
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Andrew A. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:04 am
Yes, my elementary school teachers. In MDP, we had a writing booklet (I hate that word) that we had to practice each individual letter each day in cursive. It was paaaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnful!!!
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CHRISTINE H Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I do. Some days.
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Carmen S. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:05 am
I agree. Those teacheres told us a lot of things that were not true. Like telling us stories about being careful not to stuffed in lockers and that in high school we have a lot more freedom. I haven’t see any difference except for Friday Fun is available anymore. Besides the lockers are too small to be shoved in.
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After Hurricane Katrina, my family took a trip down to New Orleans LA to help our family get there home together from the horrific water damage. I had been to New Orleans many times before and only knew it as that happy go lucky, musical town. However, what I was hearing on the news was the total opposite. I couldnt get it out of my head that New Orleans may have changed foreve…
I was right with that assumption, NOLA is, and will forever be different after Hurricans Katrina and Rita, but the people are the same. I thought that everyone was going to be depressed, and gloomy after the horrible tragedy that happened to their city. But I was wrong, they were determined to rebuild, and get back as soon as possible! Its too bad that outsiders couldnt see what I saw; a community of people who sincerely want a safe, and well built home to come back to. They had nothing and I expected them to do nothing. I was wrong, and I will always remember the sence of pride that I felt as we helped my family and their neighbors clean up the damage.
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Christine M Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:21 am
Lilly that’s awesome that you got to go down and help out, regardless of how awful the situation was.
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Everyone after reading this essay will link it to a place going and a thought changed; where a person is going and how it is going to be. This can be interlinked with anything. Where I am going is something everyone may take for granted. They will go home and expect their parents to come home. The love for a person’s parents and family is unconditional and very strong. These people may neglect the chance that your parent or parents just might not come home that night. There is an idea that a teenager’s parents will live to 60+, but the reality is that the unlucky percent of students have to experience a time when their parents do not come home. This is what happened to me. Your parents leave for the nearby town and you expect them to come home as always. You don’t realize that there is a slight possibility that they just may not return. That is the reality. You don’t realize that who you love just may not return, hence that idea of everything being perfect as you grow up jumps of that high cliff, killing itself, to show the reality, which was as it was. Death leading to reality. Losing someone dear leads one to think outside of the box, think of what /could/ happen. The idea lost, reality realized.
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Before I had ever tried Franzone’s pizza, I would hear from many people about how great it was and that it was the most outstanding pizza there was around here. All the kids on my Bridgeport Little League team would tell me how good it was and that they’d enjoy it all the time. Of course with the widespread passing of opinions of Franzone’s pizza that included nothing but approval and joy, I thought to myself that I would have to try it out someday. At an end of the year baseball party at my friends house when I was about ten or eleven there was boxes of Franzone’s pizza on the table as everyone hurried to grab their slices. When I opened the box I was pretty disappointed with the appearance, especially noticing a bolt from the restaurant’s slicer in my piece. I took a bite and was absolutely disgusted. With no doubt in my mind that had been the worst pizza I had ever tasted in my life, and I couldn’t stand it. All of that talk about how great Franzone’s pizza was pushed me to imagine the perfect pizza pie, but in reality I came to realize that it was not all that great at all.
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Marlena I Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 8:55 am
Ummm are you insane Franzones is the best Pizza EVER!!!! your crazy me and kellie think that ur nuts.
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:44 am
i agree with john – i hate franzones…their sauce is so sweet…gross
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Andrew LeGendre Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:46 am
Yo john its not that bad dude only when its cold then its def the worst pizza ever. But franzones is good they have broccoli bites john go eat them.
Andrew A. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:06 am
Yeah, um, Franzones was not good at all. I like cheese, and it failed in that respect, sweet sauce does not belong on pizza, it belongs on a tomato pie, and that was bad even for that.
Gigi W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:48 am
Mr. Reagan would be so disappointed. VC lives on Franzone’s.
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Bill O Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:51 am
Are you on something…high? ?Ha your messing up man franzones is ballin!
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:01 am
actually, gillian most recently i have seen reagan eating out of angelos boxes for events such as the choir concert.
and bill – ewwwww no. their chicken fingers are quite good though.
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Dan W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:10 am
John I agree, Franzone’s sauce is awful, way, way to sweet. If it’s cold it’s even worse, it’s stale and soggy at the same time. Nasty stuff
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I remember a year ago, my family and I went to a fine Greek restaurant, if worse came to worse I would never think that the restaurant would offer us fish eggs. Although the appetizer was not called “fish eggs”, the waiter kindly told us that it’s real fancy name was caviar but then again he told us that it was made of fish eggs. I looked at the waiter with a nasty face, thinking, are the employees crazy to offer such as special? Anyway he showed us a picture of the appetizer and it looked really fine and rich, so my family and I decided to try the appetizer. In the end of it all, we tried the caviar and we were amazed by it’s taste. I will never again look at something badly just because of how it is made. So sometimes reality is for the better, just to experience it is good and reality can prove our ideas wrong sometimes.
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Carmen S. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:58 am
I had a similar experience to that! Except it was with octopus. It sounds so gross, but when the waiter came out with it, it was fried and breaded. It actually wasn’t that bad. It kinda tasted like clams. But the knowledge that it still was octopus made it bad. Though it was okay I would never get it again.
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All my friends had been talking about the movie as if it was the greatest movie they had ever seen. Listening to countless stories of how it was impossible not to laugh the entire movie I was pretty excited to finally watch Pineapple Express. I had wanted to see it in theaters but never got the chance so i had been anxious. When i finally got the chance to see the movie it was definately not what i had been expecting. I’ll admit i did laugh once and a while but the movie was far from reaching the hilarious quota it was supposed to posess. Everyone telling me how funny and great the movie was made me think it was going to be amazing when actually it only turned out to be somewhat decent. Much like Kincaid’s idea my idea of what the movie was going to be died and left me dissapointed.
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John G. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:49 am
You are nuts! I understand that Pineapple Express may not have had much of a plot, but at least there was one. Plus it was filled with incidents that nearly brought me to tears because of how hilarious some parts were. That movie should be appreciated!!
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John W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:50 am
YO!!! Pineapple Express was everything and MORE to what i expected. It’s hilarious!!! You know what, Pineapple Express has feelings too, and you just hurt damn near every one of them. I’m so angry with you right now that i am about to own you with a Daewoo Lanos. Pineapple express is like if Caddyshack and Talledega Nights met and had a baby, and then Dodgeball and Superbad had a baby, and then those to babies, by some miracle those to babies met, and did the nasty, and had a baby, that would be like Pineapple Express right there, thats how good it is. You know what you are, you’re like the loser at the sleepover who falls asleep at nine. Andrew, you just got served!
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:53 am
jwid. – and you can’t forget stepbrothers.
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Lilli G Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:01 am
Andrew I totally agree that Pineapple Express was supposed to be hilarious and didnt live up to expectations. I laughed alot but I laugh at everything. Anyway, it was definetly no SuperBad…
Christine M Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:18 am
Dear John,
Dave and I pretty much just cried in laughter. You’re a nut.
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When I was little I would always hear about an insanely fun family reunion that supposedly went on every summer for a weekend, but to which my mother told me we were “always too busy to go.” So I put up with my cousins talking about it for years (I have a very large family, so I thought at the time, many cousins included) until finally, when I was thirteen, I begged my mom to take me. She sighed and almost cracked a smile but just reluctantly agreed. Finally, the big weekend came. I was geared up for a nice family getaway in the open air and we headed to our family reunion. I had my shorts and bathing suit on and was ready to roll. My mom laughed at me. When the car finally parked for good, I woke up to see a weathered, disfigured statue of Jesus giving me the stink-eye from atop a large building. I stumbled out of the car and into the building behind my mother, who was obviously concealing glee, to find a few people I recognized and a whole vast number I didn’t. A nun, who I later learned is my 80 year old cousin, came and put her hands around my shoulders and squawked at me- “We are SO GLAD you have come to worship the Lord!” Then quieter – “Now let’s get you into a nice, long sleeved dress…” Utter horror prevented a reply. I could hear my mother cackling all weekend.
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Shae R Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:46 am
Good times. I learned at an early age to try and skip those family events.
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Andrew A. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:53 am
I think that if you see Jesus as giving you the stink eye, you might want to consider it a sign…
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:54 am
HE HATES YOU!! RUN FOR HELP!!
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Gigi W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:59 am
jesuslovesmethisiknowbecausethebibletellsmeso. FBGM.
Sarah B Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:03 am
HAHA. I used to go to family reunions and I would be excited for each one, but at the end of the day, I hated the whole thing because it was so boring. i don’t see why I got excited every year just to be disappointed, but probably not as bad as you were.
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When anyone turns 16, they are able to drive! They can get there permit and soon enough, get their lisences and be more “independent.” Before I turned 16, that was all I could think about. Getting a new car on the day of my birthday, being able to go wherever I wanted, and having the ability to just drive. I imagined driving being fun and I was looking forward to driving myself down to the beach and going on road trips! I thought I could just stay out late and drive home whenever I wanted. I figured when I turned 16, that day I would get my permit and start to learn to drive.
Well, I didn’t get my permit the day I turned 16. I got it a month later. Once I got it, I would always be nervous to drive and wouldn’t want to. When I did, my mom would always yell at me and mess me up so i would do something even worse and get mad at myself. Then finally when I did get my lisence, I found out that I would have to share the car with my brother and my sister. The majority of the time he makes me fill up the car with gas even if I didn’t drive the car that week. I don’t have independence because I’m not aloud to drive long distances and I have to ask my brother to even use the car because I don’t do things like “move the seat back.” And when I do fill up the car or move the seat back, I still get blamed for leaving the lights on, when again, I wouldn’t have even driven the car that day. So I thought I would gain all this freedom and independence from driving when in reality, I still get rides from my parents and I don’t even enjoying driving as much as I thought I would.
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Kira R. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:45 am
I totally agree with you about your license. I thought that getting would mean more freedom but now I don’t even get to drive my moms car anymore because I’m not included on her insurance. I wish I still had my permit because then I would at least get to drive.
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:47 am
Sara I totally agree with you! The cliche thought is that we’ll get a car on our 16th birthday and live happily ever after and have tons of freedom and have fun. haha It definitely is annoying to share a car because you constantly have to realize that someone else has priority with the car. Anddd my mother does not let me drive long distances either and I’ve had my license for a year now! Its really annoying. But anyway, yeah this is definitely something I can relate to!
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:47 am
I have been 16 for a while now, but still have not gotten a permit. I expect driving to be no major change to my life, and so if I do get one and my habits change, it relates to Kincaid’s essay.
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:50 am
money – i do not agree – you do get some freedom, you can drive yourself anywhere you want….even if you don’t have a car you can still share a car and do your own thang. It is a big deal.
-GINNY. not gini. dummy.
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:51 am
Then I have to go get that permit soon.
Kincaid again. What now?
Lilli G Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:52 am
gahhhh I totally agree that the whole scene is a cliche, but to be honest I love having my liscense, and I do feel like I have so much more freedom then i did with my permit… you all are WACK!
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:58 am
money money money.
get your freaking permit. thanks.
i think you’ll find when you get your license then you’ll be happier..permit not so much because you have to drive with your parent but after that you’ll be driving on the open road all by yourself. you can listen to any music and however loud you want!
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:06 am
Ginny. Gini. Jini.
I will. And in 6 months get a license.
My mom won’t like that so much. She already thinks I’m out of the house too much. So I won’t be driving around too much. But the music idea sounds nice.
virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:09 am
MONEY. MUNE. MUNIEE. $$
yeah now you can listen to the spice girls at your leisure.
Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:11 am
Aha. Yes, Genee, Jenee, Yini. I will blast it down the highway.
Last year I went on a field trip to New York with the Spanish Club. I had been to New York before and was so excited to go again. When we finally got to New York after the long bus drive we ended up spending the whole day waiting in lines. We didn’t even get to spend much time on our own. After already being disapointed our bus got in an aciedent and smelled like sulfur. We had to wait hours for the police to come. The bus ride home was almost umbearable. It smelled so horrible. It was the worst trip to New York ever. Never again will I go on a field trip to New York.
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Jamaica Kincaid’s, “On Seeing England for the First Time”, tells the story of a little girl who grew up in Antigua’s view on the England, and how her expectations greatly exceeded the reality when she finally traveled to England and saw it for the first time. Everyone has, at one time or another, had expectations of something just to be disappointed later when they experienced the reality. An example for me would be my driver’s license. Before i got my license, i thought it would mean, complete freedom and tons of fun. In reality, all it really did was cost me lots of money. Also, i have a cerfuw at 11:00, which killed that whole total freedom idea. The truth is, things arent always as they seem.
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Sarah B Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:59 am
I totally agree with you. I thought when I got my car that I could do whatever I wanted, whenever i wanted. This was proved wrong when I knew I could not stay out late or when my parents set down the rules. I think after you get you license, all the excitement goes away.
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I was down in North Carolina one year with a friend and there was this deal with the movie rental place nearby the Realtor. We could rent two movies each day for free. My parents got one and we got one, movie night each night. There was this one movie called Absolute Zero, and it was a sort of scifi thriller. My friends dad had recommended this movie and we only learned later that it was a similar movie, not this one. The premise of the movie was that the magnetic field of the earth shifted, and thus the temperature around the equator dropped to absolute zero. Right there, i started to cry a little bit right there. Then the movie progressed and i died a little inside each time they tried to make it sound logical. The movie was so bad that i can only recommend it if you want to make yourself feel smart. Even then, the movie is bad. I came into the movie thinking of the high praise and was sorely disappointed.
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:56 am
hello andy. one time i thought a movie was really bad too.
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Gigi W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am
Ayoo. THIS ONE TIME War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise was really disappointing too. But I did not cry about it
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Andrew A. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:10 am
I didn’t actually cry, I meant that i cried on the INSIDE… and see IIIIIIIII, they be capitalized!!!!
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Gigi W. Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Herro, i am andrew and i don’t capitalize my “i”s in blogs because i am too cool.
Chelsea RB Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:36 am
Oh shush, that movie was amazing, and you know it.
There was definitely a tear running down your face, lies!
Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am
You left out the part where there was wind in the absolute temp. atmosphere and the people walking around in suits.
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virginial Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:04 am
YOOOO. actually, cloverfield was really bad. everyone was like “heyooo its soo good” or “that s*** was bangin”
but it wasnt. and i felt like i was going to throw up while watching it. i had to look away.
ok bye.
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Mani V Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:07 am
Exactly why I didn’t watch it. And pineapple express and all these other comedy movies.
As I sat in my seat on a plane, Monsignor walked up to me and asked, “What are you expecting?” I did not how to answer that question, I have been to other countries, but never to the third-world. I thought about commercials I have seen for Africa on television and I also thought that I might be wrong. I answered with an “I don’t know” and he explained what was going to happen. We arrived in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, where there is a lot of theft. It reminded me of maybe a city in California from the 70’s. I thought this could not be too bad, until we went into the country. We stayed the night in Jinotega, which was very small and the roads very bumpy. The next day we traveled to Bijagual and I seemed to have lost reality, when being welcomed in a new kind of world. The people did not speak my language and they celebrated our coming as if we were celebrities. The world was so unreal and my looks on the world were changed, I thought the commercials showed the people were very unhappy with their life, but the people seemed different, they were dancing, singing and smiling. You never know what to expect and have a good idea of a place until you go and see with your own eyes.
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CHRISTINE H Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I love happy people.
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“On Seeing England for the First Time”, by Jamaica Kincaid is a story about Kincaid wanting more than anything to experience England more than anything in the world, she had grown up with everything being made in England so it’s natural for her to want to go there. When she finally got to England she hated it. I have had the same kind of experience, when I was a little kid my dad always talked about how going to the beach and surfing. After years of waiting to go to the beach and be aloud to surf with my dad, I did. I was eight years old and paddled out into the ocean with my dad. After hundreds of attempts at standing up the best I could do was stand on my knees. The experience of riding was nothing like what I expected it to be. It was a complete let down, although I still love surfing.
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My brother’s an egotistical guy. He’s always been an egotistical guy, so after a porcine sacrifice and a good bit of grovelling, I was still shocked to find he was genuinely willing to fix my computer. The rig in question had recently overheated, igniting the duct-tape that held its frame together in a blaze of sulfur-tinged glory. 3 months of waiting for parts, floated by the image of my own HAL 9000 sitting in the living room, had yielded a trio of cardboard boxes from UPS, filled with rattling parts (and, to my more immediate delight, bubble-wrap). The next day I took my seat in front of the monitor, threw the switch of my newly-constructed powerhouse of a tower computer, and promptly fell out of my chair as an enormous “SQUAWK!” bellowed from the beast’s innards. It began to shudder and smoke, then issued another squawk and proceeded to die. The next try gave me another fire, and the one after that actually swallowed a CD-ROM (never got that back, either). I now expect nothing from computers, and have been duly rewarded by crashes, viruses, and–naturally–fire.
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CHRISTINE H Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Yo, you know my friend Bob Sacamano? He says to check out the Commando Computer 5000.
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Sam R Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 9:54 am
It’s an elephant computer 0_o
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Like many people on this blog, I was also let down upon going on a supposedly ‘fantastic’ vacation. During the summer of 2005, I traveled to China, anticipating a vision of beauty and remarkable craftsmanship that is the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Instead, I found excessive heat, poverty, and disease everywhere. The most educated person i talked to during my stay was a high school drop out. A man offered to cut off his hand for $5. Sure, the Great Wall was big (not intending to belittle its awesome) but it did not make up for how the majority of China..well..basically sucked. The tour bus was more fun than the places it stopped at.
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Marco L Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 10:11 am
Dude, im sorry man, can i get you a muffin?
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Chelsea RB Reply:
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:20 am
You are a horrible person Marco, only offering 3 dollars for a mans hand =(
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I was so excited to go for my liscence in October. One week before i was suppose to go i shattered my hand in a football game. Of course everyone was telling me how i am not going to get my liscence because of it. One week later and two days after my surgery i went to go for my liscence. The driving instructor checked out if i could grip the steering wheel and let me take the test. I took the drivers test, parallel parked, and did everything right. I was happy that i knew i passed. So we parked back at the DMV and my driving instructor who was a new i later found out and i was his first student, told me that it is illegal to drive with a cast on so he failed me. I wanted to kill this guy and i couldnt do anything about it. i was pissed
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Note: I wrote this in narrative form…and I have no intention of, oh, censoring my writing at all.
Rave.
I sneeze, and then look down at my chewed up fingernails. My hands are wrapped around glowsticks. My grip is tight, knuckles paling.
Welcome to my Saturday nights.
Where this is supposed to be, should be a gigantic underground basement, pulsing with techno. There should be half-naked girls vomiting neon on each other. There should be secret code words like “pineapple”.
Or “magisterium.”
Or “pontificate.”
Random, secret words that you whisper at the door to get in and then, voila! Thousands of people in some warehouse beneath the city. The party of the century.
That’s where I should be at least. Instead, where I am, is the back entrance of some skeevy dive in North Philly.
There’s no underground warehouses, or naked girls.
And the only words I’m whispering at the door are, “Oh shit.”
I knock. The door opens. Disillusionment awaits.
But let’s backtrack momentarily.
Who I’m supposed to be, is some legit rave girl, a piece of club candy left over from 1994.
That’s who I’m supposed to be. Who I am, however, is a different story. Who I am, is a girl wearing fishnets and short-shorts outside of the Broad Street Cabaret while black men leer from across the street, drinking beer on their lawn at midnight.
I’m not a piece of club candy left over from anything.
I was two in ’94.
Most kids who want to go to raves usually have one thing in mind. One thing, one letter.
X
Now, I need to say a few things about this drug called X.
It’s chemical name is Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, which is shortened to MDMA, which is understandable. However, MDMA, is then long-ened to “ecstasy”, which is shortened again, to “X” or “E”.
I’ve never done X. But a general understanding of it is necessary, as that is what people generally associate raves with.
What you need to know about this drug called X, is that it’s a pill. It goes in your mouth.
It messes you up.
Most kids who want to go to raves usually have one thing in mind. One thing, one letter.
I’m more like a cat. I’m just attracted to shiny, glowing things that move quickly. I like techno. I like to dance. So naturally…I like raves.
Now what raves are supposed to be, are like the outlaw parties of Michael Alig and the New York clubkids.
Million dollar soundsystems.
Transvestites in full drag, painted with glitter.
Spatters of fluid everywhere, shining at full force under the blacklights.
But where I’m standing, I’m the closest thing to a drag queen. The door is spray painted with the numbers “5727”. The men across the street are starting to throw their bottles.
When I finally knock, a girl lets me in, and pulsating techno comes from inside. I duck into a dark lounge. There’s twenty people with glowsticks. The New York Clubkids and million dollar soundsystems are nowhere to be seen.
What the hell is this?
This is not what a rave is supposed to be like.
The only thing reminiscent of a rave is the abundance of X. No one’s even wearing neon. The room is ringed with shabby couches and disgusting people. There are more septum piercings than glowsticks.
Rave really did die in the 90’s.
It’s going to be a long night.
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When it came time to start looking into visiting colleges i was very confused, I knew i wanted to look at Temple University but everyone told me that North Philadelphia was too dangerous. I would hear all the stories about people getting mugged or raped right off campus, this made me nervous to even visit, but i knew Temple was known for its art program and it was worth a visit. Although, my mind was clouded by images of violent gangs running the streets of Temple University’s campus I tried to take everything with an open mind. When i arrived on campus i was surprised to see that it was completely the opposite than what i thought or what i was told. The campus was almost completely separated from what was going on outside it, there were old gothic style buildings and many happy students. The tour guides had nothing but great things to say and i could see why. This school was way above my expectations and if i had not visited i would have let my imagination get the best of me and i would have missed out on this great opportunity.
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When i was finally able to go for my license i was so excited. The thought of being able to drive around and do whatever i wanted without having to get a ride from my parents just flashed my mind. I was looking forward to this day for years. Then, on December 18, when i finally got my license, this dream was crushed. first, i didnt have a car to drive so i was still stuck walking or getting a ride from my parents. And secondly, when i did have a car, I was asked to do many different tasks for my parents. The reality of driving turned out to actually suck.
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When I heard I was going to Arizona over my thanksgiving break a couple years ago, I will admit I was disappointed. Instead of spending my time off with my friends, I would be traveling to the barren desert. What was there to do there? Stare at a cactus? Get bit by a scorpion? During the plane ride there I sulked in silence wondering what fun things my friends would be doing without me. Then, as I landed in Arizona, my perspective completely changed. It was beautiful! Arizona looks completely different then what I imagined. The sky was open and bright, and the rocky formations of purple and tan were completely indescribable. Then, as we were traveling to the Grand Canyon, we drove through snow! Plus, the Grand Canyon itself was pretty much amazing. Holy Moly. By the end of the trip I was dreading going home. I hope I get to go again. Since then, I’ve always had an open mind to new experiences.
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