Daydreams, Doubts and Delights

As I changed the date on the heading of my SOAPSTone from February to March, it hit me. Whenever I hear or see anything relating to the month of March, my mind immediately flips to Spring Break. I become disinterested in the conversation at hand and begin to fantasize about what fun excursions my family will find for the upcoming trip. I flash back to previous vacations and relive the joyful and exciting moments. I create a mental list of places I hope my family will go to eat, destinations I hope my family will visit and activities I hope my family will enjoy. However, today, when typing out March 1, instead of thinking about Spring Break, I realized that this March will be different than the past 12 months of March. It dawned on me that this is March of senior year. In six months I will be in college. I soon became sad that this vacation would be my last high school vacation with my family. I guess, having only having one child, my parents can still plan vacation for my Spring Breaks in college, but something about that does not seem the same. When I think of a high school vacation, I think of teens, young adults, hanging out with friends and family and relaxing. A college Spring Break seems to me to sound so much more formal, stressful and less fun. As my stomach churned, the word “college” caused mixed feelings. At first I became excited, thrilled at the idea of meeting new people, yet remaining in close contact with high school friends. Creating more independence from my parents certainly does not sound half bad either. I also cannot wait to experience city life, surrounded by unique and culturally diverse people. Unfortunately, these happy feelings quickly passed as I soon became anxious. I began to fret about meaningless “fears.” I began to wonder if the distance between my future “home” for the next four to five years would end up being too far from my actual home and family. I began to second guess myself: “Did I apply to the right schools? Will I have enough schools to choose from? Have I applied to the right college within the larger Universities?” Eventually these unsettling thoughts subsided as I again as I remembered what my camp counselor told me at the end of camp this past summer, “it’s not the real end; it’s just the end of a chapter. The best is yet to be!”

Spring Break '09

Sleep Deprived?

Currently, I am enrolled in an online AP Psychology class. Every week or so, the teacher assigns a discussion for all of the students. Each student must provide an answer to the discussion question and also comment on another student’s post. Since this criticism occurs virtually, rather than in person, and since only a few of the students know each other, the discussions tend to get quite heated as students let loose at one another. About five males, each from a different high school, have taken to virtually targeting, through call-outs, contradictory examples and differing opinions, a different student each week. Unfortunately last week, I took my turn as the target. Our teacher asked us a simple, opinion-oriented question, “do you feel that you are getting adequate sleep?” I responded that, no, I feel quite sure that I do not get an adequate amount of sleep each night.  Rarely do I get more than six hours of sleep, due to sports, extracurricular activities and homework. When I logged back on to the discussion, the day after posting, I noticed a string of comments that read, “in reply to Emily Hellwig.” As I read the various responses, I realized that each of these students emphatically claimed that he receives an adequate amount of sleep. One student said he believed there to be no excuse to not receive a good amount of sleep each night. Um, I wonder what classes he takes? Another student commented, “Emily, I think you need to really need to think about your health and compare its importance to fun and academic performance. At my school, the teachers stress getting enough sleep each night over finishing the assigned homework. If we become too tired to finish our work, or have not finished the work by the time to go to bed, the teachers have told us to let them know we did not have time, and that then we will be given additional time to complete the assignment.” I was not only startled to read that most students, according to their reports, receive an adequate amount of sleep each night, but also shocked to read that at some schools, students receive additional time to complete their assignments if the student informs the teacher that he/she did not have time to finish the assignment and still receive the recommended amount of sleep. Can this be true, or is the “teacher” their home school “mentor/mom” or did they make this up just to target me? One thing I know; these young men are not enjoying a typical AP-CFHS experience!

A Peculiar Preference

I prefer 20 pages over five.

A Drive-Thru Society

As my family gathered around the dinner table tonight, an interesting discussion topic arose: convenience in American society. I explained to my parents that while surfing the internet today, I stumbled upon an article describing a new iPhone app called “Confession: A Roman Catholic App.” This  $1.99 app, approved by the Catholic Church in the US, will guide users through the process of confession and offer a “personalized examination of conscience.” According to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, confession can only take place in front of a priest. Strangely enough, the app attempts to mimic a priest by providing “personalized examination of conscience” based on the user’s age, vocation and sex. As I read this article, and later shared it with my family, I began to realize how lazy our society has become. You can already start your car using an iPhone, order Starbucks through an app, control your computer through your iPhone and now you can confess your sins to a religious “figure.” What’s next? My mom shared with me an interesting story she read about years ago in a magazine, regarding drive-through funeral homes. “What?!” I was in total disbelief: it sounded too absurd. But, to my surprise, after reading a few articles online, I found that at least one such place does exist. In Chicago, a funeral home has been established with a drive-through access providing numerous cameras and a sound system which enable visitors pay their respects, sign the funeral register and view the remains of the loved one, at all hours of the day, without ever leaving the car or speaking to the family of the loved one. I find it extremely disturbing to read that the high technology of drive-thru banks and hamburger places have come to the funeral world. Somehow this just seems wrong. Shouldn’t we be less focused on our own agendas and create time to pay respects to the bereaved? Once again, convenience seems to take precedence over caring and personal contact in today’s American society. Additionally, I have heard of the drive-thru wedding chapel in Las Vegas. In 2005, the rates for the drive-thru weddings started at $40 for couples who supply their own car. The chapel even offers rates for bikers and motorcyclists. It seems rather bizarre to me to “rush through” a life-long commitment. Oh well. The American desire for convince, as shown through the iPhone apps, the drive-through funeral home and the drive-through wedding chapel, has surely played a fundamental role in the shaping of society. I guess, however, than an iPhone app allowing a person to confess their sins might be not be all bad if its constant presence reminds the iPhone owner to make the morally responsible decision.

Drive-thru wedding window in Las Vegas