Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
There have been many relationships for me over the years. I have met many interesting people. There were the friends and teachers from grade school who you have your first real relationships. The first girl that you kissed and you knew that this time would last forever. The bully at recess, who you knew would have a tough life ahead of them. The other kids who stayed overnight to play hide and seek in the basement. The fun we had, and the dreams we had we knew would keep us all together. I had different friends in high school, some were the jocks and some were the geeks. We went to prom together like everyone else, yet it seemed that the interaction among us started to change. The feelings were stronger and the pain was longer. The weekdays were just as long as the weekends were short. The breakup after 3 months with a girlfriend seemed like this time would last forever. School was tough in other ways too. I had a lot of friends, but it seemed like there were bigger things to come after graduation. We all went our separate ways to meet other new friends. We moved on to new adventures. Meeting new people in college and working odd jobs became a whole new social experience for me. Working at a restaurant and meeting middle-aged men washing dishes seemed a little unusual, but then I began to think about what their circumstances were about. I met a girl who was about 10 years older than me and she was a single mom, she was going to school at night and she worked as a cook. Her story was how she wanted to help her son by getting him into a better school, since he had difficulties learning. The other cook was proud to moving up at the restaurant as a the head cook, he had been there for nearly 4 years. The older lady at the check out was here to make some money and to make new friends since her husband had passed away. I realized that this was just a moment for me while during school, this was a big deal to them. Some days I did not want to work, because school was getting me down. As I looked at the others and their situations, I began to realize that my experiences were not about me, but about everyone else.
After college I got a job far away from family and friends because it was the best opportunity at the time. Although, I began to see more hardships of others around me. I was not always the type who considered the glass half empty, but I guess this kind of stuff was more evident to me than the good things at this point. As I moved on into my adult life I guess I really began to understand my life lesson. I began my first real job in sales and have not looked back since. I will share my job experiences on a future post. I have learned how to better see and feel the needs of others. This has helped me in my experiences with others. No matter how difficult your life may seem, there is always someone who has a bigger challenge.
I have now begun to explore other personal experiences on the web and have enjoyed blogs and forums like these to share and read about others. Words cannot describe that the world is so much bigger than you are, look outside yourself to see inside of others and you will have a more positive social experience.
Posted in Awkward Experiences, Business Experiences, Financial Experiences, Happy Experiences, Internet Experiences, Life Experiences, Marketing Experiences, Proud Experiences, Relationship Experiences, Sad Experiences, Travel Experiences, Winning Experiences | 2 Comments »
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
I am almost eighteen years old and I had yet to experience any greater loss besides a cat that I’d had my whole life. So its the truth when I say that death was still a very foreign concept to me, personally. But that all changed one Saturday morning.
My drama class was taking place in a competition and we were all meeting at another high school for the competition. I got there a few minutes late but that wasn’t a problem. Despite the excitement that I felt about the upcoming competition, I instantly could tell that something was wrong with a friend of mine. She was quiet, which knowing her is strange enough and she wouldn’t talk to anyone. I went all morning wondering what was wrong with her.
(more…)
Posted in Sad Experiences | 1 Comment »
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
As I sit behind this mindless monitor, plinking at the keys of a wireless keyboard, clicking the wireless mouse, I think to myself, “Where the hell is my office?”.
A poignant observation as the fall air chills and makes me long for the hayrides of my youth. The “cubicle” of corporate America is being corrupted by the fat-cats in power that take, and keep on taking. My office is erased by the notion of “Work at Home”, and as I get a call from my creditors in India telling me my account is past due, I think “ Geez, I’d love a job calling people telling them their bills are late”, especially the CEO’s of the banking institution because they were caught spending company funds on hookers in Costa Rica, and funneling the “business expense” through an off-shore bank account, while people trying to buy houses are unable to get quality loans because of the abuse of the past.
I think, that as the government bailed out these lenders, the lenders are holding on to the homes trying to persuade the consumer that they can’t quality, but in reality, they are holding on the homes so they (lenders) can turn the house around when the economy rebounds.(whatever that means)
The economy for me pretty much sucks, not because I lost thousands in stocks, or that even though gas prices have declined, I still can’t travel, no. The economy sucks for me because as unemployment increases, I can’t even get a job as a cashier because I’m “over-qualified”. I had to dumb-up my resume to reflect my lack of achievement, and not my achievements. I’ve had to omit degrees, experience, qualifications, and work experience to get even the most basic of employment. (As of this writing, still unsuccessful.)
The office I speak of at the beginning is the cubicle of the mind. The confines of the cubicle are a direct reflection of the aptitude and resolve of the common American. As an American, I feel (personally) that I am not too good for anything. I am willing to assume a position (sic.)that will allow me to live above the poverty level. (Apparently, 150% below the average income means)
I write, because it affords me to escape the cubicle, and allow the freedoms as Americans, have lived and died for. Basically, it’s the last place a boss can affect you work, because of it subjectivity. (Also, every once and a while, someone will pay you to do what you enjoy)
As the corporate cubicle compresses on the average soul, my office will continue to have a hand grenade on the desk, sitting on a sign that says please take a number, as a number one hangs every so gently from the pin.
Andrew Rutigliano
Posted in Business Experiences, Financial Experiences, Office Experiences | No Comments »
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
So I had just gone to the doctor to get a frenectomy, which removes a tissue in the gum. It hurt like crazy, and I had stitches in my mouth, so it was pretty hard to talk or laugh. I felt pretty awful after the surgery, but I still decided to go to Tysons Corner with my best friend, Radhika, and her sister and mom.
While her mom was buying some silverware, Radhika’s sister, Pallavi, stole her flip flops and pretended to throw them down a few floors. Then she handed me one and we ran off with them. Considering I’ve never stolen my friend’s shoes before, I was a little clueless as to what I should do with it, so I just tossed it lightly into a nearby kids’ store called Kidz Zone.
However, I seriously misjudged the height of the toss, and the flip flop got stuck on the Kidz Zone sign and knocked down the z in Kidz. Radhika and Pallavi laughed and I was stuck trying to explain to the store clerk what happened, with my best explanation being “It fell……up.” I had a difficult time telling the story not only because I was laughing, but also because it hurt to laugh with my mouth full of stitches.
My friend’s mom had no idea what was going on and wanted to shop in other areas, so Radhika made me give her my shoes so she wouldn’t get in trouble while I tried to get hers back. The manager was yelling at me for being a careless teenager, threatening to charge me for the damage. He wasn’t aware that the z was missing; I hid it in a corner to avoid further trouble. He called the building service’s men and someone came, laughing the entire time while climbing up a ladder to get the shoe. I quickly thanked him and ran out of the area before I received any fines. I went back down to find Radhika, Pallavi, and her mom crying with laughter at the sight of me wearing flip flops too small that had been on a serious journey.
From that day, I learned that destroying a sign in a mall is the best way to recover from painful stiches in the mouth area.
Cvcarnie116
Posted in Shopping Experiences | No Comments »
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
From my experience, Digg has chosen a very intrusive advertising method. Here is a screen shot of my Digg home page and the ad that popped up. Notice the very subtle close button, for all intents and purposes, hidden in the top right.
Posted in Internet Experiences | 1 Comment »
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
Living in hilly snow country 35 miles south of Buffalo, New York is a colorful experience all year long. One of the best experiences was a particular winter morning. We had several feet of snow on the ground and an ice storm had covered everything.
As I waited for the bus to go to work, I admired the moon over the western hills as the sun crept over the eastern hills. I was sorry when the bus came because the scene was enchanting, however, the bus
driver closed the door and sat there watching the sky begin to lighten with shades of yellow, red, violet and light blue. Soon the ice on all the trees was sparkling as though they had been covered with diamond dust. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that God was at work as we silently communed with nature at her best. We carried that scene in our hearts and minds for a long time; for me it has been more than 40 years. No artist ever produced a more inspiring panorama.
I am sure we all went to work that day with a renewed outlook.
Marilyn Shie
Posted in Happy Experiences, Inpirational Experiences | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
This is the eighth month after the death of my mother-in-law.
She was a health freak and never used to eat out. I lived with her for seventeen years and never saw her missing her daily exercise routine. She was a role model for many people in the hospital where she was working as a matron. It was in 2006 that she started complaining for stomachache. I was upset with her bad health. She was diagnosed with the second degree cirrhosis of her liver. Poor lady! My husband and I took her to the best doctors in the town and started her on medication. Unfortunately, she did not respond to any of the medications as it was too late to get the damage repaired at that stage.
During this course, she became very hostile with us. She was irritated to the extent that she started calling me names. She was amused in bad mouthing me to every individual who used to come to see her. The doctor, however, explained it in another way. He was of the opinion that she is terminally ill and scared of death. Since her liver was damaged, she had all possible deficiencies in her body because of which she was not able to eat anything more than a couple of spoonful of soup and half a glass of juice for the whole day.
We were finding it difficult to adjust between our work and home life. It was very difficult for me to tolerate her bad words. In spite of supporting my husband in that critical time period, I used to criticize his mother’s behavior. He tried to make me understand several times, but my brain had a block set up there and was not ready to listen to him. This continued for all those months while her health was deteriorating. It was in the month of October that she breathed her last and finally the horrified episode of my life came to an end.
As a matter of fact, I should have had peace after this, but I am sad to loose her this way. Every now and then, I feel the loss which her death has created in my life. I go out for work and my children are alone at home. She used to be there with them when she was alive. I never realized it when she was alive. She used to take care of several things at home and I never knew many of them until the whole responsibility came on my shoulders. I regret my behavior with her. I could not understand the pain she was going through.
We tried all alternative medicines available but what can substitute love and care!
My only motive here to share my experience is that the parents can not be replaced once lost. There is no way that we can get them back. My mother used to say that parents can raise ten children but they together also can not look after their parents.
The Nature would never change its course for anyone, but we can change our nature to incorporate an element of love and care in our hearts to be given away
Posted in Female Experiences, Health Experiences, Life Experiences, Parenting Experiences | No Comments »
