Michelle's Blog My life is almost as interesting as this theme.

November 19, 2012

Profile- Attempt #3

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 5:02 am

President Barack Obama has not always been the polished Commander-in-Chief that America has known for the past 4 years.  He started from a much humbler upbringing, but soon went on to greatness. A fact that could very well be at least partially attributed to his wife of 20 years.

Barack Hussein Obama was born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother is a white Kansas native while his father, from Africa, was on a scholarship to pursue an education at the University of Hawaii.

Obama enrolled in Punahoa Academy where he excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors.

He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a degree in political science, and he moved to Chicago to work with low-income members of society.

In 1985, he attended Harvard Law School where he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at a law firm. The Obamas graciously welcomed me into the White House where they discussed their relationship.

“It was all uphill from [when I met Michelle],” Obama said with a smile, looking around the lavish Red Room of the White House.

Michelle laughed, “Our relationship was first a friendship. It took off from there.”

Barack scooted closer to his wife on their ornately designed red leather couch with yellow trim and exchanged smiles, obviously in love.

Even though Barack was advancing in the political field, Michelle felt like he never changed as a person.

“To me, he was still the guy who’d picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door.”

Eventually, the two were married in October 1992.

Despite the fact that their marriage and love looks so easy to the public eye, it’s hard work to maintain.

“We have adjusted to maintaining a really solid relationship at a distance. We talk every day, every night. If we have a moment, no matter how tired we are, we go on a date,” remarked Michelle.

Barack nodded next to her, “It’s vital.”

The Obamas had their first daughter Malia in 1998, followed by Sasha in 2001, which added love but also more work to their already stressful lives.

“Those early years [of child raising] are a whole lot of work. But the truth is that everybody struggles with it — we just don’t talk about it out loud. And then also I had to change. Because there were a lot of things time-wise that he couldn’t provide, because he was not there,” said Michelle.

When he was at home, though, Barack was still a typical guy.

“It is important that when I’m home to make sure that I’m present and I still forget stuff. As Michelle likes to say, ‘You are a good man, but you are still a man.’ I leave my socks around,” he said with a smile aimed right at his wife. She rolled her eyes and playfully punched his arm.

The two adapted to the struggles of child raising along with a political career quite well. Through it all, they have maintained a closeness and a genuine respect for each other.

As I watched the night the Obamas took the stage when Barack won his first presidential term in 2008, his daughters looked out to the crowd with hesitant smiles. Amidst the flashing lights and waving flags, Malia gripped her mother’s hand tightly and Michelle looked down at her with a huge smile, reassuring her daughter by mouthing, “We won.”

President Barack Obama said it best that night in his first inauguration speech,  ”I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady … Michelle Obama.”

November 16, 2012

Personal Narrative- Happy

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 2:01 am

I know I’m supposed to tell a story, a day that was happy. Frankly, I can’t do that because I can’t remember the last day I had that was happy. Every day that I’m in college is a bad day because there is always something to do. Even if you finish your homework for the next day, you can always do the next day’s, and so on. I always feel guilty and anxious whenever I am not doing homework or working because I know there is something that I COULD be doing. So, even on days when there is nothing pressing I have to do, they are still not happy because I can’t help but dwell on the work I will have to do later and could be doing at that moment. So, instead of a happy day, I will describe moments that make me happy.

You know, when you wake up 5 minutes before your alarm in the morning and you get to casually wake up instead of being jolted awake. My personal favorite is when I get to sleep in, and the weather outside is cold and snowy. I can stay in my warm blankets as late as I want followed by the ultimate joy: reading for pleasure.

Another little thing that gives me joy is old men with dogs. I know, this sounds weird, but I have heard so many stories of old men who have lost their wives so they adopted an old dog to care for in its last years, as they did for their wives.

Animals in general make me happy, actually. If you know me, you know that in general I dislike people. I would so much rather have a dog or a cat than a human friend. Dogs don’t guilt you if you don’t text them every day; cats aren’t always mad at you because you want to be alone instead of having “girl time.” They are just there, and they don’t judge you. Something that we all, especially me, could learn from.

What else makes me happy? Romantic gestures that aren’t spurred because I ask for them. Summer nights where there is no homework and I can just be the weird girl laying in my driveway with a book about stars trying to find constellations. Seeing that I am doing better than ex-boyfriends (I’m human, don’t judge me.)

I wish I could end this with some theme that pulls everything together or a “Most of all…” with a happy little cliche, but I can’t think of one. So, just a final thought, it makes me a little sad that this post was so much harder for me to write than the post about what makes me angry. I hate my job, I hate school (although I love learning), and even though those are the majority of the components of my life, I need to work on finding the little joys in life more often. People pay so much for therapy, and I just had all kinds of self-revelation for free. Free stuff makes me happy, too.

November 12, 2012

Column about stuff: Personal Narrative

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 6:23 am

The subject of this assignment is “What makes you mad?” (“What makes you happy?” was another option, but I don’t want this to only be two sentences long.) My question is, how do I narrow that down? A lot of things make me angry. Religious people, bad drivers, douchebag/slutty peers who drink all the time, etc. The other part of this is that I am not supposed to rant. So, I will talk logically about something that makes me angry.

I feel like a compilation of my Facebook statuses would be fitting here (“It’s funny how girls whine about not having boyfriends and not being able to find a good man but dress up like sluts for Halloween (and other times). Here’s a hint: the real men don’t respect you. So, have fun getting banged for 3 seconds with that “playa wit swag.” He like totes loves you.”), but I will TRY to be original.

After much ado, my topic for this column will be “Assholes at the Register.” I know I said a “bad word”, but look at the title of this blog. It doesn’t say “Sensitive Sally’s Baby Blog”; it says “Michelle’s Blog,” so sit down, strap in, and let’s go for a hypothetical ride.

This ride takes us through the life of the cashier. Look at her, all smiling and happy. She’s obviously a robot; let’s try to annoy her. Fun fact for everyone, we aren’t British guards and we have the ability to show you how much of an asshole you are, not to mention deny your coupons, bitch (see above).

I work at a pet store, which most people know because I complain about it so much. “Why don’t you just quit?” you say. Because then my life would not be as satisfactory because I need something to complain about. Anyway, today I had a young man with his dog come strolling through my line, all smiles. Sounds cute and quaint, right? Don’t be fooled as I was. After his dog proceeded to shit all over in my register lane, he looked at the mess and said, “Not my dog!” as he laughed and walked away. My day’s greatest regret was not picking it up and throwing it at him.

Soon after, here came a little girl and her mommy buying a hermit crab. “Her very own first pet!” her mom exclaimed. I proceeded to “aw” at the gross little scaly thing with pincers. Suddenly, her daughter piped up, ” Mommy, why do we always have to go through this girl’s register every time we come here?” “She works too much!” her mother cleverly retorted.

After I apologized to the little girl for my existence, I began to think about this assignment and knew that these moments were my inspiration. So to everyone who has ever said “Must be free!” when a barcode wouldn’t scan or gotten angry at me because they coupon was expired and unacceptable, here’s an especially sarcastic “Have a nice day!”

November 9, 2012

See below for edited profile…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 6:08 am

I couldn’t figure out how to move it above my column on Election Day.

November 5, 2012

Column on Election Day

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 3:29 pm

It’s no secret that today is Election Day. The day where Americans head out in droves to their nearest polling place to cast their ballot for who should become the next President of the United States. To me, Election Day does not really matter. The President really cannot do anything. Our nation is run by Congress, that group of stubborn children (and this is offensive to children, actually) who refuse to compromise and make good things happen for American citizens.

Despite the corruption in Congress and the lack of power of the President, I must say that regardless of who wins, I am thankful to be an American. My boyfriend took me to see Argo today, and being the sheltered Midwestern and middle-class white girl that I am, I was shocked to see how things have been and very well still might be in the Middle East. I am thankful to live in a country where I don’t have to live in fear each day. A country where there are not public slayings. I can make something of myself despite the fact that I am a woman.

I do support President Barack Obama, but in all honesty, I don’t really care who wins. The biggest reason I support him is because my asshole boss tells me it’s wrong to support him, and I would love nothing more than to see an Obama win to wipe off that smug attitude.

So, what does Election Day mean to me? Not much. I exercised my right to vote, but the President can’t change anything because Congress is a group of morons. I don’t care who wins just because that no matter who wins, we will still have better and safer lives than most of the world, anyway.

The life and love of President Barack Obama EDITED

Filed under: Uncategorized — Michelle @ 12:29 am

President Barack Obama has not always been the polished Commander-in-Chief that America has known for the past 4 years.  He started from a much humbler upbringing, but soon went on to greatness. A fact that could very well be at least partially attributed to his wife of 20 years.

Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother was a white Kansas native while his father, from Africa, was on a scholarship to pursue an education at the University of Hawaii.

Soon after he was born, Obama’s father left his family to attend Harvard University with the hopes of receiving his Doctorate. His mother remarried that same year to an Indonesian man. Barack and his mother moved to Jakarta soon thereafter, but due to safety issues, his mother sent him back to live with his maternal grandparents in Hawaii.

Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahoa Academy where he excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors. He was one of three black students at the academy, and it was here where he first encountered racism.

“I began to notice there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog … and that Santa was a white man,” he said. “I went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking the way I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me.

He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a degree in political science, and he moved to Chicago to work with low-income members of society.

In 1985, he attended Harvard Law School where he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at a law firm.

“It was all uphill from there,” Obama said with a smile.

Michelle laughed, “Our relationship was first a friendship. It took off from there.”

The two saw Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing on their first date, which was a fitting movie since their coming together was the right thing for both of them.

“You see, even though back then Barack was a senator,” Michelle said, “and a presidential candidate, to me he was still the guy who’d picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door.”

Eventually, the two were married in October 1992.

Despite the fact that their marriage and love looks so easy to the public eye, it’s hard work to maintain

“We have adjusted to maintaining a really solid relationship at a distance. We talk every day, every night. If we have a moment, no matter how tired we are, we go on a date,” remarked Michelle.

The Obamas had their first daughter Malia in 1998, followed by Sasha in 2001, which added love but also more work to their already stressful lives.

“Those early years [of child raising] are a whole lot of work. But the truth is that everybody struggles with it — we just don’t talk about it out loud. And then also I had to change. Because there were a lot of things time-wise that he couldn’t provide, because he was not there,” said Michelle.

When he was at home, though, Barack was still a typical guy.

“It is important that when I’m home to make sure that I’m present and I still forget stuff. As Michelle likes to say, ‘You are a good man, but you are still a man.’ I leave my socks around,” he said with a smile aimed right at his wife. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

The two adapted to the struggles of child raising along with a political career quite well. Through it all, they have maintained a closeness and a genuine respect for each other.

President Barack Obama said it best in his first inauguration speech in 2008,  “I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years … the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady … Michelle Obama.”

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