Black Friday at the Staten Island Mall
Ah, Black Friday. A shopaholic’s joy and bane.
I’ve participated in Black Friday shopping twice in the past few years. One year, my sisters, cousins, and I trekked to Woodbury Commons Outlet at an obscenely early hour. Big mistake. There were long lines to get into the stores and the prices were the worst. Basically retail. Another year we went to Jersey Gardens Mall at midnight. Again, not worth it – crowds and high prices. Finally, we threw in the towel and said no to Black Friday.
For a couple of years.
Happy Thanksgiving
I started the day feeling pretty sad. I always feel sad when I see my grandma in the nursing home. Not because its not a great environment filled with helpful and compassionate staff – because it is – but because she has to be there and there’s not much I can do about that.
She is a champ, though.
The concept of Thanksgiving is a bit of a challenge for me. I feel overwhelmed when I try to be thankful for everything in my life all in one day. The effect is that I’m strangely apathetic. So, I try to focus on being thankful everyday. This helps.
Today as filled with the usual family stuff. Cute kids, copious amounts of food.
Is anyone else feeling like a weirdo on Thanksgiving?
Cheating Scandal in Long Island Discovered
Some may argue that cheating is a way of life.
I remember almost getting caught cheating on a history quiz with a friend in the seventh grade. I also cheated on a math quiz using a little cheat sheet of formulas – this was sophomore or junior year in high school. I was caught for plagiarizing parts of my history textbook in high school. I was never caught for plagiarizing parts of an essay for AP American History during my senior year in high school.
I drew the line in college though. That’s serious business, right?
When I was in college, I remember this girl who cheated on her entrance exams. I have no idea why she did this, since it meant she was placed in classes that were too hard for her. Why would you want to be in calculus so badly? I think she majored in some type of health profession. A quick Facebook check confirmed that she is indeed a health professional… Shudder.
These guys charged thousands of dollars to take the SATs for high school students. Now, they’re charged with felonies. The thing is, they go to some pretty mediocre schools, including my alma mater, Stony Brook University. I’m not trying to demean or offend anyone who attended these schools, but my point is that while they’re solid schools, you don’t have to be a genius to get in. It really makes you wonder how under qualified those kids were.
It really makes you wonder how far have people gotten in life by cheating. How many of our nation’s leaders have relied on other people to get by?