Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery 'We All Say Hello'

I want it all and I want it NOW!!

America. Land of the free and home of mass consumerism. Between fast food chains where you can get a full meal for your whole family for under 5 bucks a person and one stop department stores where you can do all of your shopping in one store we as Americans haver really figured out how to make everything more convenient for our workaholic-esque lives. Always moving, always going. The only rest we find is those few sparse hours of sleep here and there. Sometimes were so busy we start chugging caffeine via coffee and energy boosting beverages. So many things have just become social commodities that we expect to find, but they're really inventions to find conveniences  for us busy people. 

What are some of these commodities you ask? I think the most appropriate example I can think of that will give us lots of conveniences to explore all in one place is the gas station, also called the, that's right, convenience store. When you pull up to the gas pump, depending on the place you service, there is a gentleman there who will pump your gas for you so you don't have to get out of the car, or you can run into the store for some more of their conveniences. Say you've been driving awhile and you really need to use the restroom. Well you are in luck, here at the Gas n' Go there's a public restroom for you to use. After relieving yourself and washing your hands you start thinking to yourself that you're hungry and as you come out of the loo, well what do you know, you are surrounded by a wonderland of conveniently placed snacks. And what would go better with that snack then an ice cold pop in a styrofoam cup that will keep your drink longer and shaped to perfectly fit into your cup holder. Ah, cup holders another modern convenience made so we can keep both hands on the wheel most of the time. Time to pay for everything. The cashier tells you how much everything will be after adding the tot... what am I saying she probably used something we all take for granted: a barcode scanner. She probably ran them under the red line, the cash register (yet another convenience) beeped to let you know it got it and  adds taxt, then adds up your total. You whip out your bank card and swipe ( OH!  Another convenience made just for you). The clerk then puts your snacks into a plastic bag and sends you on your way. Oh that bag you've come to expect is also a convenience. It's cheeper and more durable than paper, allowing you freer hands to better open the car door and situate yourself and set your pop down all with out dropping the precious convenience store goodies. 

These kinds of things are commodities we as consumers in a fast paced society have come to expect and take for granted and that's only in one location. Think about all the other places you go in a day and all of the things they're doing to make your trips into their store or your life in general a little more, well convenient. Heck the ice cream bar and cone are both two very minor conveniences yet because of their inventions you no longer have to worry about washing a dish after eating, you can just toss it into the trash. 



~You are the dark ocean bottom
      And I am the fast sinking anchor,




Jasmine

Problems. Problems. Problems. All these problem with out solutions

Think about high school, church, employment (if you had a job in high school), relationships--what problems did you encounter in these areas of you life? How did you respond to these problems? Did you take the lead in solving them, or did you rely on someone else's authority or resources to find a solution?

I really don't see the bumps in life as problems, I just see them as learning experiences, but I suppose if I had to choose a particularly large bump in my road I suppose this summer would be the only one I'd like to put under the scope. I had a really hard decision about whether or not I'd return to AU because of the huge price tag. To help me decide I talked with my friends, my parents, academic and financial advisers at both AU and IUS but I still couldn't come to a consensus about where I needed to be. There seemed to be so many pluses and negatives for both sides. I know it's such a human thing to want to solve all of our problems on our own but my biggest struggle in my relationship with God is that completely blind faith that he'll make everything work out for the better. I happen to be having a really rough day and it was getting down to the wire and I was going into my room and I stubbed the crap out of my toe on my Message/NIV translation of the Bible. It was so cliche that I was laughing to hard to actually acknowledge the pain in my foot. I felt like an idiot not consulting God first on this huge decision, but once I did the decision almost seemed so obvious it was stupid of me to have ever questioned his power to make it work.




~Life is good and the sun is shining.


Jasmine

Oh the Injustice of It All.

So today in English (as you all know), we did this exercise where Professor Fox asked us to look around the room and choose the one we liked best and to take it back to our seats. I assumed that we were going to do another one of those oh so monotonous peer review exercises ( I know they're are highly effective, but it seems Profs think we need peer review of everything we do) oh but ich sind absolut falsch. She had us cross out the name of the owner and write our own on the project and then hand it in. We were about to get credit for someone else's work. Ich war stinksauer. I was livid at the thought of someone else getting credit for something that I had spent a good amount of my own time to write, it was unfair that people who hadn't done the work or slapped something crappy together 10 minutes before class were getting full marks for something that they didn't do. It wasn't the fact that I didn't like the project that I'd chosen, I loved actually, however the point was that I wouldn't have tired so hard for my grade if I had know someone else was going to get credit for it. Luckily she cut us down and told us that it was just a simulation and I was in fact getting credit for my own work which made me happy that someone else wasn't getting credit for my intellectual property. That's pretty much why I don't like record lables, but that's another story for another day. 


“Rebel children, I urge you, fight the turgid slick of conformity with which they seek to smother your glory.” -Russell Brand


~Jasmine

It's my Birthday and I'll Blog what I want to.

So yesterday was my birthday and let me start off by saying I have some of the best friends a kid could ask for. (Yes kid, even at 20 I still deny my adulthood) 


At 12pm my Kelsie W. ,Steph and I went out to Taco Bell and hung out in the Smith/Martin court yard. Between watching the Freshmen boys be strange individuals, making new inside jokes and talking about how 9/11/01 had impacted us and what if it had happened when we were the age we are now, in what ways would it have changed our out look I managed to fall into the bushes, scrape the crap out of my leg, and laugh so hard I cried. 


Around 1am I went over to Myers with Gabby, Kelsie D. and Cris to make brownies we never got around to making. Cris FINALLY got me my mango (I've been waiting since Spring Break), we parked on a curb and Cris and Gabby swung in the middle of street that runs between Reardon and Decker (I think that's East 5th, however I'm not positive.) 


When I got back to Martin it was like 3am and Steph and Kelsie came up to my room and we had a Scrubs marathon until 5am.


 When I awoke 7 and a half hours later I showered and actually put on make-up for once. It was nice to feel like I looked good. Then I had lunch with Steph and Kels. OH! Rewind to when I first wake up. I open my eyes and there is a squirrel peaking out of a penut bag staring at me.(See Picture -->) So I pick it up and pull the squirrel out of the bag and it starts making noise and talking, it was so cute! However cute the squirrel was, the note that Lauren, my roommate, had written on the inside was so much better. I kind of love her a lot. 


Fast-forward to lunch: We (Steph, Kelsie W. and I) ended up running into Gabby and Kelsie D. and we at with them, which was nice to see them all at the same time. After lunch Steph and Kelsie W. went back to Martin to do some much needed homework and the other three of us went to Myers where we just hung out(primarily talking, getting to know each other better, organizing Gabby's movies in an almost OCD manner). 


Later on round 9pm Gabby and I came back to Martin to play some DDR on playstation 2 in my room. Kelsie W. ended up joining us and after we were all worn out from Dance Dance Revolution we played random increments of Guitar Hero, Soul Caliber III, and The Sims Bustin' Out. 


Sure it sounds pretty low key and there was no partying, but who needs to get wasted when I can have an amazingly great day just laughing so hard I can't breath and hanging out with people I love very much? I don't think this day could've been improved in anyway. 


~Won't let a world gone mad ever bring me down

Jasmine