Parking the Car :: Short Story New York Papers

Parking the Car Today has been like most days. I wandered in a dreamlike state from class to class, across a campus with falling fiery leaves, up three flights of beer-stained stairs, into a room littered with the debris of my chaotic existence, and straight back into a chronically unmade bed. I chased images and thoughts in my mind, getting nowhere, while faintly aware of music drifting from my computer. I closed my eyes without trying, and dreamt without sleeping, and thought without thinking real thoughts. I spent as much time luxuriating in nothingness as I could, before the bar of guilt and responsibility clamped down on my shoulders, compelling me to do homework, to think about thinking. Now it is back to nothingness. I am lying on our dorm room floor delighting in an unexpected snack. "This is damn good stuff," I say, shoving a tortilla heaped in salsa into my greedy mouth. "This is amazing," Thea agrees, shutting her eyes to intensify the already orgasmic experience of eating homemade chunky salsa. I disregard the desperate and pained pleas of my hall mates as small pieces of tomato fly from my overloaded tortilla onto the rug. The poor chip is terribly weighed down and breaking under the pressure, causing salsa to slide off on all sides. I remember that in a moment of frenzied sanitary obsession last week, I actually cleaned the toilet. There is, therefore, no reason to be clean now. I recline in a salsa-induced stupor, squinting in vague curiosity at a plate of cookies in the kitchen. I try to ignore them, but I just can't. Eat us, they hiss. I saunter lethargically into the kitchen and engage in a momentary face-off with the provocative plate of cookies. My heart speeds up for a moment as I weigh the attributes of each cookie. I don't want to make a mistake and take the wrong cookie. That always happens, and I end up resenting my cookie and asking it why it can't be more like the other cookies. I finally settle on the biggest one, though it does seem to have fewer raisins than the others, a drawback that bothers me. Nonetheless, I secure my fingers around the cookie in a defensive death-grip, which means I'll be eating a cookie as well as a little bit of everything else I've touched today. Oh well.

A Well Known Musician

Billy Joel is a well known musician who has sold millions of albums throughout the world. Billy Joel has also won multiple grammys and several other awards. He has worked with many other artists and is affectionately known as â€Å"The Piano Man.† Over the years, Billy Joel has broken many records including performing his 65th at Madison Square Garden. Today, he continues to succeed in his music career as he has over his many years as a musician. Billy Joel was born on May 9, 1949, as William Martin Joel in Bronx, New York. He grew up in Levittown, New York, and had two siblings a sister named Judith, and a half-brother Alexander Joel. His father was a classical pianist, and his mother encouraged him to play the piano. He started his career at a very early stage in his life, when he began taking piano lessons at the age of four. His lessons continued until he was sixteen years old. He was in three bands before the age of sixteen. He decided to start his music career after watching a famous band named â€Å"The Beatles† on the popular â€Å"Ed Sullivan Show. † In 1971 he came out with his first album after dropping out of high school to pursue his career in music. The solo album was called â€Å"Cold Spring Harbor.† Billy Joel then decided to move to Los Angeles and got a job soon after as a lounge pianist. After he performed in L.A. in his early years he chose to move back to Long Island. He still continues to pursue his music career around the world and currently lives in Long Island. Billy Joel married his first wife Elizabeth Weber Small in 1973. They had been partners for years before they married. In 1982 they separated from each other and both moved on. He then married famous supermodel named Christie Brinkley. They then had a daughter named Alexa Ray who was born on December 29, 1985. He then split from Christie Brinkley in 1993 eight years after they had their daughter Alexa Ray. Billy Joel met and married television food star and journalist Katie Lee. The two divorced after being married for six years. Billy Joel then went on to meet his current wife Alexis Roderick. They then married in 2015, and went on to have a baby named Della Rose who was born on August 12, 2015. Billy Joel sold over 150 million successful albums and has won multiple awards. Throughout his career his singles hit the top charts almost every time. Through the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's his singles hit the top 40 thirty-three times. He received a Grammy Legend Award in 1990 and a Billboard Century Award in 1994 for his outstanding music. The Johnny Mercer Award was awarded to Joel in 2001 for being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. He was also awarded Musicares Person of the Year in 2002. Billy Joel received three Cable Excellence Awards for his American cable television programming. Joel was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won one for Best Orchestrations. Later in Billy Joel's career he suffered from an alcohol addiction and was continuously in rehab. He then recovered going on to make more music throughout the early 2000's. Joel then released â€Å"All My Life† in 2007. The single was his first in thirteen years with original lyrics. Billy Joel performed multiple times at Madison Square Garden and broke records, selling out his concerts constantly. He made $46 million in sales as of October, 2015. Billy Joel is one of the best selling artists of all time, topping the charts numbers of time throughout the years. He has won several awards and sold out many shows at popular venues such as Madison Square Garden. Billy Joel has continued to perform and tour throughout the world today as the same wonderful musician he was years ago.

Bullying in America Essays - 1107 Words

According to www.how-to-stop-bullying.com, seventy-seven percent of students are bullied. The definition of bullying has recently changed (how-to-stop-bullying.com). The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the verb â€Å"bully† as â€Å"to treat abusively† (Merriam-Webster). There is more than one way to abuse someone. So a complete definition, that comes from www.bullyingstatistics.org, is any type of verbal, social, physical, and cyberbullying abuse that occurs (Naas). Bullying is seen everywhere. It is talked about in movies, media, songs, and inside school programs. What makes the bullies, or aggressors, do what they want? How does the bullying effect everyone? Let us start with why the bullies bully. Ian Rivers, of Brunel University in the†¦show more content†¦Www.bullyingstatistics.org reports that, in 2010, roughly 160,000 students in the United States of America do not show up to school everyday, because of bullying (Naas). To put that number into prospe ctive look at the Quick and Loans Arena. The website basketball.ballparks.com reports this structure, once called The Gund Arena, has roughly 20,500 seats, for a normal event (Munsey, Paul). It would take almost eight full Quick and Loans Arenas to house all of the victimized kids who are too afraid to go to school. Many parents believe this is not a problem, because their kids are not effected. However, the very first statistic reported in this paper states that seventy-seven percent of kids report being bullied. With seventy-seven percent of a school population being bullied, the other thirty-three percent must witness or become the bully. Making this issue an inclusive problem. No one is left out of the equation and everyone is effects. The girls of the entire eighth grade of West Geauga Middle school only confirm this. They were asked to raise their hand if they had seen anyone, including themselves, bullied within the last month. Every girl in the room raised her hand. Not j ust one, but every girl (West Geauga Middle School 8th grade girls). And that is within the past month. This means that every one is effected. But, how is everyone effected? The victim and the bully are effected in different waysShow MoreRelatedEssay on Bullying In America989 Words   |  4 PagesBullying is an act that is an everyday occurrence in some people’s lives. Bullying can be direct or indirect. What this means, is that bullying can be in the form of violence such as hitting and kicking or in the form of verbal abuse such as name calling and teasing. Manipulation and exclusion are also forms of bullying. Bullying can be taken into consideration as a minor assault but any form should be taken seriously. Whether it is taken to an extreme, done over a long or short period of time, orRead More The Bullying Crisis in America Essays1949 Words   |  8 PagesSchools do not talk about it, parents do not know how to stop it from happening, but so many suffer from it, bullyi ng. Bullying has become the biggest growing issue in the world. So many people go through the day in silence while struggling to not let bullying affect them, but it does. Bullying happens in so many different ways, but no one ever talks about it. Everyday 160,000 people suffer from being bullied at school and half of those people will try to commit suicide because of it (Karmazin).Read MoreBullying And Its Effects On America s Schools Today2729 Words   |  11 PagesBullying, often labeled as just a part of growing up, is a major problem in America’s schools today. Although it is such a hot topic in our country right now, it is also a long ignored problem that only seems to worsen. 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