Hollister Co.

Three weeks ago, I got a new job working as a "model" for Hollister, a Californian inspired, nation-wide retailer. I have loved the stoe ever since they opened up shop in our mall last December so I thought it appropriate that i go work for them since they consume most of my earnings anyway. Not tomention the 20% discount. While the job is fun and I enjoy my co-workers, standing on my feet for five or six hours get very old very fast. Time passes like tar dries in the middle of August. One day while I was working the cash register or "cash wrap" as they prefer to have you call it, i was visiting with another model while I rang up an obnoxious little 12-year-old girl. I said, to no one in particular, "If you are ever told by your doctor that you only have a matter of weeks to live, get a job at Hollister, because every day feels like an eternity."

In addition to the long hours of not being able to sit, my job is not to just fold the clothes, my job is to fold the clothes immaculately. to ensure that all stacks are the same height, the shirts are the same width. Jeans can be folded one of five different way and you must know how each style is to be done. Size stickers are to line up vertically, perfectly straight. Basicly, if the store is not a show piece at the end of the day, you can't go home. Not to mention that it is the darkest and most intense smelling store in the mall; possibly the world.

Getting out of the "Twilight" zone!!

I feel impressed to discuss the crisis that is facing our nation. You may have heard the occasional teen-aged girl, suburban mom, or confused teen boy talk about the "Twilight" series. While I have not read the books, I feel that, because of the hype, I may as well be a rogue scholar on the subject. I am so disgusted with the books and the problem they have created. For one, I trust the advice of many well read people I know that have comented on the writing as "less than mediocre", which leads me to believe that it is the sheer story that ditracts mothers from their laundry and girls from their schooling. However, it is with the story line that I have my next and largest issue. The idea that a semi-normal girl could fall head-over-heals for a vampire is comparable only to the idea of a 12-year-old girl birthing a centar in a world other than this one. Singlehandedly, Stephany Meyer is destroying the hopes and dreams of young women accross the nation. By reading of a great love between a girl and a vampire, they are being set up for failure. They will not settle for the "average" man because their standards will be on a supernatural level and will hold out for the vampire until they come to the realization that vampires do not exist and they will never get back the chances they passed up while waiting. My heart goes out to all the men seeking for true love but can't find it because they are being turned down for vampires. If you care about the future of this country, you will not read Twilight.

BMW? Porsche? Mercedes?

I have lived in my current ward for over a year now. At first, I was not open to the prospect of embracing the members of our ward, but over time, I have grow to truely love my ward family. About 8 months ago, the boundaries were changed to encompas what is, for all intensive purposes, my average house and the colossal homes accross the street. Let me restate that i truely do love my ward. That being said, pulling into my church parking lot is like driving through lines of a car show at a luxury auto dealership. Immagine your dream car and i will give you the name of someone in my ward with that car. Hummer, Porsche, Audi, Cadillac, and BMW are just a few of the words and emblems stamped on grills around the building. For now, all I can do is dream that one day, I will have the resources to own a few luxary cars of my oun and still be able to be a generous as the families that I attend church with. But until then, I will just have to drive my Honda Accord to church and park between the Jaguar and the Lexus and pray I don't get door-dinged.