The Men Save the Day While the Women Go Shopping

     We just started the gender unit in AP Lang, so we've been talking about what stereotypes there are about men and women, and how certain movies and advertisements perpetuate those stereotypes while other movies and shows and stuff try to deconstruct those stereotypes. Well, today I'm afraid to say that my family has been perpetuating the stereotypes. Me and my mom both have March birthdays, so every year around our birthday, my grandma gives us some cash and takes us out shopping to Gabriel's (or Gabe's, as I think it's now called) and lets us buy whatever we want. Gabe's is one of the greatest stores ever because all their stuff is like overstock or slightly flawed merchandise from other stores, so everything's discounted way down and most of it's really nice. Of course there's the occasional shirt with one long sleeve and one short sleeve, but if you just make sure and look stuff over before you buy it, you'll be fine. So me and mom and grandma were out shopping till we dropped, which was so much fun. I bought two shirts, a jacket, a dress, a pair of sneakers, a sports bra, and matching phone cases for me and MF (teehee, they're great). Then we went out to eat, and then grandma drove us home and I took a nap.
     After I napped for a while, my Dad came home and told us all about how he'd seen this big crash happen right in front of him on a road near where we live (we'd seen the crash too when we came home, but they were just finishing up clearing the site and towing the cars and everything) so he immediately called 911 and they sent the fire department, the police department and some ambulances! Then the police department called him back later and asked him to answer a few witness questions about what he had seen happen so they could try and assess the whole situation. THEN Dad told us about how my brother had called him and told him all about what had happened to HIM today, which is even crazier! First just some back story: my bro rents a little upstairs apartment area from some family friends, we'll call them Allen and Julie. So my brother was heading home from work today around noon, and he saw some smoke billowing near Allen and Julie's house, and when he got there, their whole garage was up in flames! Allen and Julie are pretty wealthy, so they have three cars, two of which are really fancy and expensive. So my brother ran into the garage and got Julie's car out, and then some neighbors showed up and my brother and a neighbor pushed out Allen's restored, antique pick up truck, and the other neighbor drove their Corvette out of the garage. So they managed to save all the cars, and then by that time the fire department showed up and put out the fire, which damaged much of the garage itself.
     Isn't that crazy???? My Dad called 911 for a big car crash and my brother saved valuable vehicles from being destroyed in a fire!!!!!!!! While I was trying on dresses and bras, LOL. So, I'm sorry society, but the men were being strong and heroic while I was shopping and getting sleepy and my feet started hurting. We were definitely filling our stereotypes today.
     In other news, yesterday I wasn't at school because I was attending the Messiah College School of Humanities Accepted Student Preview Day (mouthful, I know). It was a great day, even despite the fact that I was kind of nervous because I had an interview for the Humanities Scholarship at 4:15pm, which meant I had to go through the whole day before I got to get that over with! But actually, by the time I was sitting waiting for the interview, I wasn't really nervous at all. I mean the whole day I had to do awkward ice breakers to get to know my potential class mates, and do things separately from my Mom and talk to professors and stuff like that, so I guess I was just all "nervous"ed out by my interview and I felt oddly at peace. Plus, once I actually got into the interview room, the two ladies conducting the interview were professors I'd met and seen earlier that day, and they were both super nice and treated the interview as more of a conversation, and treated me as an actual person and not just another applicant. And they seemed genuinely interested in me and asked all about my interests and stuff, so it was much more comfortable and relaxed than I'd been anticipating. It just goes to show that, like always, things are so much worse in my head than they are in real life.
     Before the interview though, there were all kinds of sessions that were really helpful in terms of learning what I need to know for when I come in the fall. I also got to talk to and meet some of my potential classmates, which is actually so crazy when I think about it! I met this one girl named Julie who seems pretty cool, but she said she's still deciding between Messiah and another college, so I don't know if I'll see her again or not, but I hope so. I also bought some cool merchandise from the school store, such as a jacket and a little magnetic plush falcon, and I got a free baseball t-shirt and my official Student ID! We also got a "Messiah College Parent" bumper sticker and a couple of other free stickers as well. Overall it was a really great, really informative day, and it just made me even more excited about going there in the fall! Now I can't wait to hear back about my scholarship and then MOVE IN ON AUGUST 25TH! So stinking excited!!!

-VaughnDL