A Happy Moment

A couple of weeks ago I recieved amazing news. I mean when I heard this I couldn't stop crying but the tears were joyful tears. A couple of my immediate family members were in my backyard when my Aunt Desiree and her boyfriend, Oratzio, announced that they were engaged. They had just got back from the Bahamas where they went for Oratzio's friends wedding. It was there, that Oratzio proposed to my Aunt who is also my Godmother. I was thrilled to hear that my Aunt is finally going to get married because I used to always "bust her chops" that she is 30 years old and is still not married. So, I was pretty excited for her when the news was announced. Wait, it gets better! They are getting married in Italy! Oratzio was born in Italy and moved to the United States with his mother and one of his brothers when he was only 12 years old. The rest of his family still resides in Italy. Since my family is also Italian and his lives there it didn't seem like a bad idea. I am pretty psyched to go to Italy and about 60 people from my family are traveling over to Italy for the wedding (thats not even half of my family). We should have an awesome time since we are also using the time in Italy as our vacation for the summer. The wedding takes place in the beginning of July so the weather is going to be nice and hot. I am so excited and anxious at the same time for my Aunt and her fiance.

A Scary Moment

A couple of nights ago I recieved very disturbing news about my grandfather. It was about 1:00 o'clock in the morning and I was about to shut my eyes to go to sleep until suddenly my house phone rings. It was my grandparents name and number that appeared on the caller I.D. so I answered it in a rush knowing that my grandparents normally don't call my house so late at night. On the other side of the phone was my grandmother. She sounded calm and collective however when she told me what was happening my reaction was not calm. My grandmother told me that my grandfather didn't feel well so she called 911 and the ambulance were at her house and they want my grandfather to go to the hospital. I told her I will be right there and hung up the phone. I ran into my parents bedroom and told them the news. My mother jumped out of bed (it is her father) and together we raced to my grandparents hosue which is luckily only 5 minutes away. When we arrived the ambulents were in my grandparents kitchen and my grandfather was standing. I was expecting to see him in a strecther in the ambulence but instead he just had a cold.

However, my grandmother proceeded to tell the story which went like this: She was calling my grandfather for a question while he was on the computer. After she had called his name several times so went into the computer room and found my grandfather's head thrown back in the chair and his eyes shut. She thought he had fallen asleep until he wasn't waking up. She began slapping his face and asking him what to do, what to do. In a rush she called 911 and the ambulence and fire trucks arrived. The ambulents could not force my grandfather to go to the hospital but they advised him to. My grandfather is very stubborn and he said he didn't want to wait in the emergency room for hours. I thought he should have went because he sounded weird from the cold he had and because of ambulents suggested so. In the end, he had to sign a couple of papers refusing to go to the hospital and my mother and I went home dissapointed in him. I couldn't sleep all night and I know my grandmother stayed up all night watching him sleep just incase of another emergency.

Just A Memoir

A memoir is a piece of autobiographical writing, usually shorter in lenght than an autobiography. One's memoir tries to grasp certain highlights in one's life as well as to grasp sentimental moments in one's past. Memoirs' are big in publishing today and often one has to think really hard about the meaning of that event and the time it occurred in one's past. The memoir may be more emotional and concerned with capturing particular scenes, or a series of events, rather than documenting every fact of a person's life. In other words, memoirs are records of events written by an individual who has personal insight and knowledge of these records based on their observations. Usually, the person has personally experienced these life situations. On the other hand, a memory is simply one's mental capacity to retain and recall past experiences of a person, thing, event, fact and so on. Personally, I have a bad memory so to right them down, as in a memoir, is beneficial.

Another Brittany Dilemma?

I use to be a huge fan of Miss Brittany Spears until she put her career and her life on the line. Soon, it was not only her life in danger but her ex-husbands, Kevin Federline, and her two sons. For about four years there has been public attention towards Brittany Spears and I am getting the feeling she likes it! Well I hope she is proud of herself now because she just might be losing custody of her 2 year-old and 1 year-old son to her ex-husband, Federline. Federline would not be my first pick of a husband and if she was thinking clearly back then I doubt it would be her either. Well, a superior court judge of California practically "gave up" on Miss Brittany Spears because of her accessive drinking and driving incidents along with overdoses of drug abuse. Clearly, this is not good parenting and Brittany Spears has screwed up her life. However, I would like to know how she is still recording songs, selling number albums yet losing her children?

Wireless Connection in Subway Stations

Last week I read an article in the New York Times that the MTA has officially allowed a wireless service to line the subway stations. However, the wireless connection is not offered on the subway themseleves out of respect for the other passengers who are not on their cell phones whether they are trying to sleep, study or have a conversation with another. This wireless network offered the MTA about 4 million dollars. If it's not obvious, this company defeated other networks who wanted to begin the project because they offered the most money. MONEY is all that matters in New York City. Anyway, I am glad that this project is about to begin because it can help in emergency situations such as the flood that occured in August and knocked out wireless communications so passengers had no clue what was going on. No one was allowed to phone a friend or their boss for that matter. This project does not really affect me because I do not commute on the subway on a daily basis like others but when I do travel into the city it is reasssuring that I will be able to stay in touch and keep connected so I do not become lost. This article stood out to me because I saw the words cell phones in the title and as a young woman and for any other adolescent, cell phones are a vital part of life.

McDonalds = Obesity?

Last week I watched a T.V. documentary with my mother on how McDonald's is the lead contributer to obesity. The reporter on this issue spoke to numerous managers and CEO's of McDonald's in North America. The reporter also traveled to Asia and met with one of the CEO's of McDonald's who overlooked McDonald's in Asia, Africa and India. McDonald's meal plan is the same throughout the country. Although McDonald's has added apples, 1% milk and salads to their menu most people stick to the regular numbers ones or two's shown above the registers. Also, a standard happy meal for children comes with burgers or chicken nuggets, french fries and a soda. A customer must ask for apples to substitute for the fries and a water to substititute for the soda. If the customers don't know what McDonald's has to offer how will the diet ever become healthy? Across the world in China, the infamous feature around America, the drive through, is brand new to the Chinese. There are only thirteen present drive throughs which took a lot of training and discipline for the Chinese to understand how to use one. For instance, they showed a clip of one McDonald's worker, who was working the window of a drive through, walk out of the store and around the corner to where the car was parked waiting at the window. However, not only do the workers need training for such a new invention but as well as the drive through customers. For example, some customers first drive through the exit instead of the entrance while some park their cars and bring the food into the restaurant after they waited in line at the DRIVE THROUGH! While I found this information amusing at the same time I found it interesting because drive throughs are common in America. Back to the nutrient of McDonald's I don't think they should be blamed for obesity because there are plenty of other fast food restaurants such as Burger King, Wendy's and Checkers just to name a few whose diets are similar to McDonald's. Also, McDonald's advertise the packs of apples and 1% milk on their commercials which most Americans probably see because the media is big a thing. I wish the documentary went into a futher investigation on McDonald's in other parts of the world as well because to learn about China's culture was interesting.

The Madeleine McCann Dissappearance

I am not sure if people are aware that a 4 year-old British girl, named Madeleine McCann, has been missing since May. A friend of mine approached me with the story and was shocked that I had not heard about it. What was even more surprising was that this little girl has been missing for over a hundred days! My friend gave me a newspaper article on the story of Madeleine from the Washington Post. I was informed that while this little girl and her family were on vacation in Portugual, her parents went out to eat in a nearby restaurant and left Madeleine and her twin siblings unattended. Although the mother went randomly to check on them in the hotel, Madeleine still went missing. I agree with some of the critics and reporters that the parents should not have left their children, who are sooooooo young, in a hotel room on vacation by themselves. However, I found out that in Britain many restaurants do not allow children so it is common for kids in Britain to be left alone. The parents of Madeleine were never suspects in her dissappearance however investigators have begun to question them.
While the search has continued to look for Madeleine, a website was designed to remind people of the little British girl. Since the investigation has been going on for quite some time, her parents fear that society will forget about their little girl. I had a chance to visit this website and found it heartwarming. The many photos of Madeleine McCann were spread throughout the homepage of the site as well as various information. What I also found interesting on the website were blog entries. Madeleine's father, Gerry McCann, keeps a blog which he updates every so often. Of course he cannot reveal to much information but I felt that it was another way to let the public know how important his little girl is to him and the struggles his family has been going through.
I encourage everyone that has read this entry to visit the website. The site accepts donations and additional information on child exploitation.