Parting Advice

     I’ve gotten to that point in my life where my allowance has mysteriously disappeared. In general, my parents have grown increasingly reluctant in giving money. They probably expect me to be more independent or whatever, but I just don't have source of income. At least that was the case until a few weeks ago when I took charge of my financial situation. I got a job! I am now a productive member of society. Okay maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but still, it feels good to have a job.

     My official job name is “Crew Member” for Chipotle Mexican Grill. Essentially, you can do a variety of tasks including working the line, cash register, prepping food, and washing dishes. Each task has it’s pros and cons, but none of them are easy. The thing about Chipotle is that it’s very fast pace. If you’ve been, then you’ve probably seen how crazy the line can get. If you’ve never been, then try picturing a roughly 15 minute wait from a line that wraps around the entire first floor. With that many people counting on you to do your job in the most efficient manner, there’s not much of a chance to catch a break – unless you literally go on break – but even then, there’s subtle pressure from your manager to finish up quick.

     The way I’m describing it sounds like an awful time, but it’s very much the opposite. Everyone who works there has a positive attitude, and everyone gets along. I’m possibly the newest guy working there, but I already feel comfortable in the work space. It really feels like you’re a part of a team. I wouldn’t say that working at Chipotle is a sport but it has a lot of similarities. That lighthearted attitude from everyone has made it an enjoyable experience – even when the work is exhausting.

     And no, this is not some kind of paid promotion. I’m just saying you should take a little control of your life, maybe you’ll end up doing something you enjoy.

Wilde Room

     A wise man once said “Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life”.  Oscar Wilde was an influential man and this quote is no exception to his accomplishments. Over a century after his death people still debate how true his statement is. While both sides have strong arguments, I personally believe the contrary in that art imitates life. Look, I’m not here to present you an argument, I will just give you my experience with this common phrase.

     My art is not your common canvas painting or sketch on paper. My art is my room and everything in it are the paint strokes. I start of the school year with perfectly clean room with not a speck of dust on my desk. The room has vibes of tranquility. That’s because my life is at peace. As school begins I have time to do everything, I can even work ahead. My room shows this because I can take the time to put everything away, take the time to clear my desk, etc.

     Let’s jump forward to now. My room is a mess. I’ve got important papers flooding my desk, everything else gets the ground. I haven’t made my bed since Sunday and I’ve got laundry losing their patience after my 4^th “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Essentially my room is gross. I don’t like to have my room like this, I honestly disgusts me and even stresses me out to see it like this. At some point I will do it, probably tomorrow, but until then this is my life. I prefer a nice room, but with so much going with school and extracurriculars, I can’t find the effort to tidy my room up. Cleaning is such a tedious task and I think many people agree that it’s just not a fun activity.

     I don’t have a good ending to this blog post, there isn’t anything insightful I have to say to complete the analogy. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t look forward to cleaning up my room, but I do look forward to the less stressful environment. After all it’s where I spend most my time.

Unnecessary Explication

     It’s getting late and I still can’t think of anything to write. I’ve gone through a variety of topics, but halfway through the first paragraph I get writers block. I’ve decided my only solution is to just give instructions for if you ever find yourself in my body. This is an average day for Mariano.

     Wake up at 6:30, roll out of bed shower and do morning routine stuff. Get to school at 7:59 so sprint up to physics. Get roasted by Nic for coming in late. After physics walk out and there’s your cool girlfriend Gloria. Good morning. Walk downstairs and sign out of study hall. Go to library and save a seat for Josh. At this point you either talk about Pokemon Go with Josh until periods or finish any homework from the night before. Walk downstairs meet up with Akash or Sarah(on good days both) and walk to PE. Go into the xc locker room, even though your locker is in the basketball locker room (more on this later). Do some weight lifting (you’ll feel really weak since your workout starts by benching the bar, while Michael Moore benches about 165). After PE, wait in the lobby until English starts and talk to Matthew and Tina about fashion or something. After English it’s lunch time! Walk back to school, sit at the claimed table, and talk about something stupid with your friends. Go to chorus and carry you’re the tenor section even though you’re lost a lot of the time. Go to history, but you gotta go fast so that no one take the two seats where you and Josh sit. It’s Uni period, which means you’re probably doing French homework. Go to French sit there confused while nodding your head every now and then as if you had a clue what was going on. Go to Math.

     Schools over, but you’ve still got a few things to do before you call it a day. Go to Kenney and possibly take down a gym with Josh from the xc boys locker room. Do some hard work out with the team and then come back to Kenney, change, and go home. Eat some food and talk to parents. Go to room and do homework. Do your night routine and go to bed. Get some rest, you earned it.

Anticlimactic

     Every fall the Illinois Music Education Association holds competitive auditions to play or sing in both district and statewide orchestra, most commonly known as IMEA auditions. So many kids travel with from their school to Bloomington Normal for their 10 minute audition. So many kids in a cafeteria waiting to audition. I don’t know if you can picture what a full cafeteria looks like since we barely have pathetic excuse for a kitchen, but trust me when I tell you it’s a lot of people. The auditions themselves are pretty nerve wracking, but that’s not what makes the auditions so bad. In my case, there are not a lot of people auditioning in the same voice as me, so I get my audition over with rather quickly. After my audition, I had to wait about 4 hours for everyone else to finish before we can head home. Luckily I didn’t have to wait alone since my good friend Matthew Tang also finished his audition pretty early.

     Matthew and I are starving, but we don’t want to get cafeteria food because it’s way too expensive. The price for one slice of Little Caesars Cheese Pizza was $2.50…not worth! Then Matty has the greatest idea “Why don’t we get food?” Obviously we both are down to get some food, so we look online to see what restaurants are around. We found two places; either a meatheads that’s 40 minutes away or an Arby’s that’s 10 minutes away. Meatheads sounds good in theory, but I didn’t want to walk for so long in formal attire. After a quick rundown of our options, we decided that Arbys was the best option since we couldn’t be sure how long we’d be out.

     We ventured out of Bloomington Normal High School en route to the local Arby’s. I had never been to Arby’s before, so I had no idea what to expect. From the way Matty described it, the restaurant sounded like somewhere between McDonalds and Wendy’s. What Matty failed to tell me was that Arby’s serves curly fries. Curly Fries! I love curly fries; they’re superior to normal French fries in both flavor and shape. The burger was meh, but the fries made up for the burger.

     Something I like to do with my food is save the best bite for last. As you can imagine my last bite was a nice crunchy yet juicy curly fry. Before I could savor that final moment with my scrumptious fry, that I really worked hard to get, some subbie came out of nowhere, took the fry right out of my fry holder, and ate it one bite. It’s not like he’s my pal or anything either, I literally had never talked to him, I don’t even know his name. I watched with agony as I couldn’t do anything. He probably saw the look of terror on my face and tried to redeem his action by saying “I’m a firm believer in the one rule, which means if I ask for one I deserve to get one.” All I could think was who does he think he is? He didn’t even ask, he just went right for the last fry with no warning. Maybe he’s ignorant, maybe he feels entitled, or maybe I’m just being really dramatic. Call me old fashioned, but if you spent the last of your money on a subpar meal that you traveled far to get I think you should get to enjoy it.

            We should’ve just gone to meatheads.

Manual Transmission

     Once upon a time, I was hanging out with my friends, lets call them joe and rick. The three of us were at rick’s house, and we had some time to spare before going to meet some other friends. We weren’t sure what to do, and we brainstormed some ideas. Finally, rick had a great idea “I’m going to teach you two how to drive stick!” It sounded like a fun idea but also somewhat dangerous, considering rick wasn’t an expert stick driver. When I mean he isn’t an expert, I mean he has to stalls out the engine in order to park it because “it’s easier”. That being said, he was able to drive around the neighborhood smoothly and at no point did I fear for my life. He took us to parking lot near his house for a nice place to practice. Joe and I were nervous to try. Joe was recently licensed driver, who had never tried stick, I hadn’t even taken drivers ed, and like I said before, our teacher was pretty inexperienced.

     I don’t know if you’ve ever driven stick before, but its tricky. To start the car you have to keep your foot on the clutch while you change from brake to gas. Then take your foot off the clutch very slowly while still keeping your other foot on the gas, until finally the car starts to move. Also, if you do anything wrong throughout this process, the engine will stall out and you’ll have to start over again.

     First one behind the wheel was Joe. He starts the engine, begins the process and wham! The whole car shakes vigorously with no sign of forward acceleration. “What the heck?” Joe yelled. “You hecking idiot, I said take your foot off slowly” rick responded. Joe’s next few attempts weren’t any better, but eventually he got the hang of it. He drove around that parking lot beautifully. “Do you want to try?” Joe asked me. “Yeah okay” I replied.

     This wasn’t my first time behind the wheel, but my no means was I accustomed to that feeling. With one foot on the gas and one foot slowly lifting off the clutch, I breathed slowly and stayed focus. It was the moment of truth. My foot was off the clutch completely and I pressed harder on the gas. Vroom! The car zoomed off faster than I anticipated, but I quickly took back control of the car. I was a stick prodigy. I was all-powerful, nothing could stop me…for a whole minute, until the engine stalled out. I shamefully turned off the car and got back in the passenger seat.

     To this day, I don’t know what I did wrong. That’s just how life goes, you never know what will stop you. If I want you to take anything away from this story it’s that you’re never really in control. SIKE just know that stick sucks.

Avatar is Cool

SPOILER AHEAD ( for Avatar: The Last Airbender)

     Some tv shows are better than others, that’s a given. It’s also true that preference is subjective. My all time favorite tv show is How I Met Your Mother. Plenty people hated the ended. Even I’ll agree it was pretty crap. Some tv shows go beyond personal preference. Usually a tv show is aimed towards a certain demographic, and anyone beyond that demographic will find it unappealing. There are some tv shows that cover so much. I think everyone should at least admire the ambition and appreciate the well-rounded material.

     To me, that tv show is Avatar: The Last Airbender. As a kid I watched Avatar and I found it fun through the slapstick humor and exciting action scenes. The way that Avatar is presented, it would seem that the intended audience is children. However, the way that the show tackles more “adult themes” makes it universal.

     For example, take the character Zuko. At the begining of the series, he is shown to be a character driven solely by rage. As the audience, we are lead to believe that he is the main villain. He even mentions multiple times that his mission is to hunt the avatar. Throughout the series, he faces many tough situations that tear him towards good or evil. His family (the real main villains) lure him with temptations of power. While at the same time, he could join “team avatar,” who are working towards bringing peace. It’s difficult for him to choose the right path, because he has been taught to reject the avatar, but he doesn’t feel right in his family. By the end of the series, he is devoted to saving the world with “team avatar.” It’s great to see Zuko’s personal growth and his overall character development. Most of all he goes to show that Avatar isn’t a typical children’s show with a perfect line between good and evil.

     I’ve got to say, I feel weird reading this much into it. It’s kind of like taking away a part of my childhood. Nonetheless, that’s what I think of Avatar.

Bus Driver Appreciation Post

When I went Elementary school, I rode the public bus. For the most part, it was the worst experience of my life. Bumpy rides for 30 minutes with no air conditioning are not my cup of tea, yet as bad as it was, there was a diamond in the rough. Muhammad, an angel sent from heaven (to say the least) did the most for everyone while asking nothing in return.

The things he went through every day are things no one should have to experience. He stood up to bullies. He broke up countless fights. He somehow kept his cool while 8 year olds mocked him for his Russian accent. Even so, he had an unbreakable spirit to. Every morning he greeted the kids with a sincere smile on his face.

There’s one story that sticks with me the most. I think it really shows what he was about. You see, I live in a relatively new neighborhood, and when I first started going to school, the bus stop was six blocks away from my house. For the most part, it was not that bad, but in the winter, it was a treacherous journey for five-year-old Mariano. For those of you who are thinking “Stop being so dramatic,” well no, I will not stop, but also keep in mind it was a new neighborhood, and there was no one in the area to clean up the snow from the sidewalks.

After a while he noticed my daily struggle to catch the bus without catching fever. He told my mom “If you want a better bus stop, just email my supervisor, but don’t tell them it was me. I don’t have the authority to tell you this.” He put his job on the line for just to help out some kid, who does that? Thanks to his act of kindness, I avoided getting hypothermia in grade school. So thank you Muhammad, I may never see you again and be able to thank you for everything. All I know is that you are somewhere out there making the world a better place.