Reflection #5

This week I talked to one of my really close friends from home. We've never really talked about how much we appreciate each other before, even after 20 years of knowing each other. Since high school, we really haven't had a chance to talk very much so it was nice to have an excuse to talk about this. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, clearly since I'm only 21. She goes to college in Wisconsin and even stayed over the summer, so we rarely see each other. Before this exercise was assigned, she put me down as a reference for a big brother/big sister program. They gave me a call and of course I talked about all of the great things about her, so before going into this, I already had in mind what I was going to say. We decided to skype since we couldn't actually sit down together and at first we talked about how life was as kids together and how much fun we had. Then I got to telling her how much she meant to me as a friend. She reacted in such a positive way and even said some things back to me. It made me feel great! We've always been close, but I believe we became closer as a result of this assignment. It was also nice to talk to her again, and we've made plans for the summer to lunch. I can't wait to actually hang out and catch up in person.

Reflection #4

It's mid-October and my friends and I finally have a day off from working at the All-Star Resort in Disney World. We decide to go to Hollywood Studios. This is the perfect time to be down in FL because the park is in it's slow season and the cast members definitely use it to their advantage. There was no line for Tower of Terror, which isn't unusual for this time of year, and get right onto the ride. Before we walked in, one of my coworkers said that she was gonna sit this one out. She said that she had a bad feeling about it, and just didn't like the ride too much anyway. So the rest of us got into the elevator, strapped on our seat belts, and it took us up. We watched the movie-star family get electrocuted (which is a normal part to the ride), went up another floor, and started to move forward through the hallway into the elevator shaft, that's when it all went wrong. The elevator brought us up to the top and we got stuck. It wasn't dropping like it was supposed to. Suddenly, all over our seat belts came undone, we heard a maniacal laugh, and then we heard a very loud snap and I shouted, "Everybody, hold on!" The elevator started to drop. I know that's the point of the ride, but this was definitely not going to end well. I was hanging on for my life and parents were hanging onto their children. It was total chaos, everyone was screaming. In a matter of seconds , which felt like minutes to all of the passengers, we heard a thud at the top of our elevator, and we started to slow down until landing gracefully at the bottom of the ride.  When we finally weren't too scared to open our eyes, we saw Superman standing over us on the elevator's chain-link cover. "Don't worry, citizens. You are safe now." He flew down, pried open the ride doors, and took off up the elevator shaft to deal with the villain. We all walked out of the ride and my coworker who sat out came running towards us, "Did you see that?" She was pointing to the sky. We all looked up, and there was Superman, flying off to save more lives.

I experience nostalgia almost every time I go back home. My family and I love to watch home movies and we even quote them sometimes in our normal conversations. We love sitting around and watching them together. I think what I long for, when I watch those movies, is to go back to simpler times when I could have a tea party with my Dad in my new Minnie Mouse tea set. Back to times when my mom would help me and my sister build a fort around the TV so we could have a movie marathon, but really only get through one and a half movies. Back to a time when my sister and I would play polly pockets for hours and keep our little town set up so we could play with it again tomorrow and continue on our story. When I think back to these times, I realize that I need to keep making sure to take joy from the simple things as I did when I was a kid. I know things may be stressful in life, but that doesn't mean you can't take ten minutes to enjoy coloring in a coloring book.

Reflection #3

This week, we are to reflect on anything and I'm going to talk about a couple things that are different in my every day life since taking this course. First, superheroes have taken over almost all of my conversations. I can't talk to someone without bringing up something I read in one of the books or the articles we have to read for class. Last Friday night, I stayed up with one of my sorority sisters until about 2:00 am talking about superheroes and morality. Superheroes are almost all I can think about now. It's definitely taking over my life.

Second, since studying the different superheros, and reading this opinion in an article, I've come to find Superman to be my least favorite hero. I know he was the first, and without him we wouldn't be where we are today, but he's almost too perfect. Nothing could stop him and he always won. I haven't read too many of his comics before, but from what I know he's not that interesting. I find his personality to be a bit bland.

Last, I used to like DC heroes more than Marvel, because of Batman, and Batman is still my favorite, but, overall, I like the Marvel Universe better. It seams more realistic. Not just the cities, but the superheroes act how I think superheroes should. They can't be perfect, like Superman, all the time. Each one has their faults, which makes them easy to relate to. Any problem you have, whether it be with family or the loss of a loved one, there is a Marvel superhero there to help you through it.