Julia's Justifications

  I have always been indifferent about my name—I never hated it but was not exactly that proud of it either. Now, I know I have the privilege of having a European name that does not get made fun of and butchered by others, or ever see the substitute teacher look at the attendance and struggle to pronounce my name correctly. I would say I have a relatively common name, sometimes there would be another Julia in the class, and with a couple in the grade. I suppose the only thing that bothered me was the Julia would have way more friends than me and I would just be the “other Julia.” People have actually called me this. I cannot ever forget the embarrassment when the chaperones were calling the names on a field trip, and she only said first names. Surely you would recognize that there are kids who share names, right? So, when she said “Julia,” I said, “here,” not knowing that there was another Julia on the bus. Realizing what just happened, I sunk deep in my seat. Basically what I am t...

  One thing I learned this week is that every first job sucks. Even if you think you will enjoy it, and everything will be okay, it won’t. Do it for the experience and references, and then quit. But whatever you do, do NOT work at a grocery store called Meijer. Do not do it, it is not worth the 11.50 per hour, which is not even that great. It had been a pretty typical week for me, except that my boss had scheduled far more hours than I was willing to work. Everyday I just woke up, did my online school, and went to my part-time job. A typical day. However, it seemed that the weekend was about to take a turn for the absolute worst. How is it that when things in my life are finally going smoothly, something has to go wrong? So, it is a regular day at Meijer in the deli department, as I am slicing meat and cheese for the customers that come up. I work four days a week, and it is usually not that bad. There will be the occasional customer, but most of the time, I am cleaning the counter...