Coming of Age Final

Coming Of Age Final

            Riiiiinnnggggg! As my alarm on my phone woke me up to get ready. It was 7:30 and I needed to get ready for work. I had a few small jobs here and they’re before but those weren’t really considered a real job since it was simple chores I did for my family. My aunty had just opened a new kiosk at Ala Moana Shopping Center around Christmas time and asked if I wanted to make a few extra bucks. Of course I accepted, who wouldn’t? My first day on the job was pretty hard. There were some customers that were so rude and mean that I wanted to scream my head off. But I couldn’t. I had to just keep my cool, and put a smile on my face till they bought something and leave.

Customer after customer, I was really starting to get the hang of how everything worked around here. I knew what I had to say, how it say it and how to sell the product to the customer. As the day passed by, it slowly came time to closing. The best part of the day. In just a matter of half an hour I would be home to take a nice, long, hot shower and a nicely made bed where I can just knock out. I was so drained from wearing heels all-day and working an almost 12 hour shift that I was about to pass out on the car ride home. I was ready to just sleep till noon the next day but I couldn’t. I had to wake up for work again.

Even though I had to wake up early again the next morning to get up for work, I knew it was all going to be worth it when I got paid. 80 dollars on the weekends and 50 on the weekdays. It wasn’t that much, but it was better than nothing. It felt rewarding when I got my pay after each night. The feeling that I worked for something felt good. Not like before where I would have my parents buy and work for everything I owned. This time, I got to decide what I wanted to spend my money on. Whether it is clothes, shoes, food, or electronics.

But with the large amount of money I was earning for a 15 year old came a great deal of responsibility with it. I made myself remember that I needed to save up the money and not blow it all off on one store. I had to make sure that I was being responsible with it as well. Not leaving it anywhere it might get lost or stolen. Once the weeks passed by, my parents realized they amount of money I was making and started making me pay for my own stuff. They kept on saying, “If you want it, you have to work for it.” Which made me have more responsibility because now, I had to buy the things I wanted to buy with my own money and not rely on my parents.

By working at such a young age, I realize that you can’t always rely on your parents because one day they might not be there anymore and you have to learn to be independent and do things your way. By working, it has taught me to be more responsible with money, be more respectful for my parents and learn that hard work pays off. I learned to be more respectful for my parents because its hard working and coming home tired. But they do it almost every single day just to make our family lives easier. 

College Essay Final

Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

When given this question to others, the most commonly found answer would be their parents. Either it is their mom or dad. But not mines. Yes, my parents have been a big influence in my life, but the main one who had a significant influence on me is my auntie, Auntie Kelly. Growing up with my father and five other kids in Vung Tau, South Vietnam. Life wasn’t exactly easy for them growing up as kids. Vietnam isn’t really a rich country. So growing up they didn’t have the most comfortable life ever. As a little kid, she learned right away to be grateful for what she has, as others do not have anything at all.

When she reached the age 10 my grandma and grandpa decided to move their whole family to Honolulu, Hawaii hoping it was going to be a new opportunity to find a great job and for them to have a new life. Growing up as a kid for me, I would always stick with my auntie. She even said her self, “ Lina was a magnet to me. Everywhere I went she would come with me.” Although not all the things she does are the best example ever, I still push those aside and learn from the good ones. Being a single mother and an independent storeowner, I learned many things from her.

   I’ve learned to have a lot of responsibility. Since I was constantly with her as a little kid, I would always help out. Throughout the years, my auntie has had quite a few stores. From having a space at the flea market selling jewelry, a store located in downtown selling jewelry to her own company named Island Girls Shoe Company. By her having all these stores, I eventually would have little jobs here and there that I was able to do. From working for her at a little age, it taught me some responsibility. While on the job, I had to work on what I was supposed to do. Working as a sales lady made me open up as a person. I had to learn to speak up and ask if they needed any help.

Also, with my auntie being a single mother, it shows me how much stronger she is handling everything by herself. Watching her supporting herself and her daughter is amazing. How she manages to keep up in her busy schedule from work to her 5-year-old daughter is just truly impacting.

Angry Letter Final

5080 Likini Street #318

Honolulu, HI 96818

November 14, 2012

MAC Cosmetics

1450 Ala Moana Blvd Ste 2072

Honolulu, HI 96818

Dear MAC Cosmetics Administration,

I have always been a satisfied customer of your makeup products. It’s a great high-end company that sells excellent quality makeup.

However, I have recently encountered some problems with an inappropriate attitude with most of the sales associates. It may just be that the employee’s were having a bad day, but it has happened to me more then once and at different MAC Cosmetic locations as well. When walking into the store I am automatically greeted with a hello, but the tension and the vibe was very intimidating. Although I may be still a teenager, it is no right to constantly stare me down thinking I would steal some something. Yes, I get your trying to limit the amount of theft going on in your store, but it’s to constantly stare. I called one of your locations asking about what your job description is as a sales associate. They told me that you have to be a well-rounded person as well as have good attitude and an open mind. With my past experiences at MAC, the sales associates haven’t shown these types of qualities. 

Not only was I the only one to get this type of attitude towards myself, but others as well. I have checked yelp reviews for MAC Cosmetics around my area and others too were irate by the way they have been treated at your store. Although not all of them were bad, these are just a few random quotes I pulled out of some reviews. “Most of the time, I am just ignored when I wander in there.” “And what’s up with all the attitude?” These are just two of the many unpleasant reviews that your store has been getting.

I completely understand if some of the times your workers were just having a “bad day”, but that has no right to interfere with their work ethic. They applied for this job so be a sales associate, it is expected they be a well-rounded worker with a good attitude towards customer. I suggest that you have a meeting to discuss their work ethic.

Please keep up with the good work with making the MAC Cosmetic’s store a good affordable high-end quality brand makeup. But I do advise you to just talk to your staff members about their attitude towards the customers.

Sincerely,

Lina Nguyen

Risky Business Final Essay

Risky Business Essay

            With the generation now days, it’s the new “it” thing for teenagers to get drunk or high. But such thing is illegal for a minor and if caught with such item, you can get arrested. That's why teens are turning to household items, manipulating their purpose to get a high or drunk. Since drugs and alcohol are hard to obtain, teens are turning to household items to abuse to get the “buzz” because they’re cheaper and more easily accessible.

            With this topic not being too talked about, some might not even think this is a problem because they’re focusing on the more mainstream topics that teenagers suffer from. For example, alcohol, weed, and drugs. When people hear that teenagers are abusing household products to get the “buzz”, they don’t really take it in and consider the fact that this is a really dangerous problem that has already gotten tons of teenagers killed. Also, some people may even think that this isn’t as bad as other growing problems out there such as alcohol and drug abuse. Even though those things are illegal or have an age limit, it doesn’t necessarily mean that abusing household items isn’t as dangerous.  Because household items isn’t illegal and its very easy to attain. Kids are turning to the fact that they can search on the Internet to learn how to abuse such items. For example, hand sanitizer. According to an article online from Medill reports Chicago; the California poison control system received at least 60 reports of teenagers drinking hand sanitizer since 2010. There have also been five reported cases of such products being ingested for abuse purposes in 2012, but none were teenagers. And in 2011 in Illinois 11 cases were reported, of 11 two involved teenagers. Although these statistics may be low, it shouldn’t be overlooked. Kids have figured out that there is a very high alcohol content in the item and they go on the Internet to learn how to separate the item to only get the alcohol. While other kids drink the sanitizer straight up.

            Abusing such items also causes some major health effects that may damage you both long and short term. According to an article on selfgrowth.com some short-term effects it may give you are dizziness, hallucinations, anger, dazed, excessive tiredness, slurred speech and feeling light headed.  Although you may not think these side effects are that serious, there are some long-term effects that may also occur when doing such things. For example, severe mood swings, depression, becoming suicidal, unable to concentrate, easily agitated, personality changes and memory loss. Then of course with excessive usage of abusing household items there is also the risk of brain damage and death. “A very common inhalant that teenagers find easily and readily available is Dust-off. It is a spray used to clean computers. When this chemical is inhaled (also known as dusting) it gives someone an intense high and causes dizziness for approximately 10 seconds.” Because teens are willing to try anything now days, they resort to abusing household items. They think that the product “Dust-off” is just compressed air into a can and is harmless but their wrong. “Dust-off” contains many harmful chemicals that can cause death such as difluroethane, a propellant like R2. A chemical like this is a heavy gas and expands n the lungs when breathed in and will not let oxygen enter the lungs. As a result, the gas reduces the oxygen to the heart and the brain, which may result in death.

So why do kids experiment with such things? There are many different possibilities on why teens choose to abuse household items but some main ones are the pressure to “fit in”. If kids at their school do such stuff all the time and think it’s no big deal, they might feel the need to do the same things as them as well. Or maybe you're the new kids in school and you get into the wrong crowd. You try to fit in with everybody and you end up doing the bad things you knew you would never do. Then there’s also the factor that they may have been peer pressured into doing so, and they had a positive effect on them, which made them want to continue to do it. And with the generation now days, teenagers think it’s cool to get drunk or high because of media influence. Especially because of how it is portrayed in rap music, movies and etc. It talks about the great things that come with doing these types of drugs. They influence kids in music videos/ movies that having that sort of lifestyle is great and fun. From abusing these household items, teens like the “effect” they get from it and they feel as if they’re more “grown up”. Another reason why teenagers abuse household items is because they are easily accessible and it’s sometimes very affordable. Since its very easy to walk into a drugstore and buy these items, its not that hard to obtain. And sometimes it may even be at your home. Some items that may be abuses are whipped cream cans, aerosol, cough syrup, nutmeg, hand sanitizers and man more other products.

            Some may think abusing household items still isn’t a problem after reading this, but it is. With kids experimenting and willing to try new things, teens shouldn’t be worries about not trying something just to fit in because in the long run, its better for your life and you might just save your own. 

Movie Review

Lina Nguyen
Period 2

Language Arts

Mr.Zavala

November 14, 12

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream, directed by Darren Aronofsky is about 4 people that are hooked onto drugs and eventually abuse it. Taking place in Brooklyn, New York., these four characters struggles with their life and with each situation they become addicted to drugs. Starring Ellen Burstyn as Sara, Jared Leto as Harry, Jennifer Connelly as Marrion, and Marlon Wayans as Tyrone, they all develop a drug addiction to either cocaine, heroine, and speed (diet pills). Requiem for a Dream, nominated and as well as won quite a few awards. Most of the awards won were in the “Best Actor” category for Ellen Burstyn. Some other awards this movie won were the Chlotrudis Award as “Best Movie”, The Gloden Trailer Awards as “Best of Show” and many more.

The movie Requiem for a Dream is about four Individuals who struggle with their addiction to drugs. Ellen Burstyn as Sara loves to get her daily dosage of a hit infomercial. She one day gets a call promising that she will appear on the TV show. Suddenly overwhelmed with excitement, in hopes of showing off her son, she decides to wear the same dress she wore to his high school graduation. Not being able to fit it no more because of the weight she gained, she tries to go on a diet. But the “no sugar and grapefruit and coffee” doesn’t sound filling enough for Sara so she decides to go to a doctor to try some diet pills. Because of the need to fit into the dress, Sara soon becomes addicted to the drug in hopes of starring on the infomercial. Harry, Tyrone an Marrion on the other hand as a different type of addiction to drugs. They’re all addicted to heroine and cocaine. All desperate to make a little cash in order to buy drugs, they constantly steal just to buy a small bit of drugs. Hitting rock bottom after a while, everyone all tries to constantly try as hard as they can doing no matter what to get the drug they need in order for them to keep sane.

            Overall, I thought the movie was very good. I really liked all the shots and the editing. The wide variety of shots really helped the viewer to understand what was going on, and same goes for the editing. Especially when one of them was “high” it was as if we were experiencing the hallucinations from the drugs were causing them to us as well. This movie really kept me on the edge of my seat. It was pretty gruesome, since it was a rated R movie, but it was a very educational and taught a good lesson.  Overall, I think I would give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 stars and I say go watch it.