The Smell of Success

This is going to be a short post, but I am very pleased with myself, so I figured I'd share it with my blog readers.

Tonight I wrote my Psychology mid-term exam, and it actually went great!!! I have to let you all know, that I have never experienced that before....EVER, in my whole life. I ACTUALLY felt good after writing an exam! YAY!!!

This Psychology course that I am doing is an online course. It is exactly the same as the in-class psych course, however, I had to teach the whole thing to myself. Every night I had to take it upon myself and dedicate at least an hour of my time to study. That was a very hard thing for me to do. It's not like you have your scheduled classes, and the teacher stands up giving you notes and starting class discussions...nope, just me and the book.

I achieved something tonight...the confidence that I can do it; with or without a teacher. This feels good. I'm just hoping I haven't counted my chickens before they hatched (or whatever that saying is, hahahaha).

P.S. To the arsehole (who I worked with at a previous job) who said I won't do anything with my life because I have no drive: Shove it, pal...not all of us have Daddy's who pass down empires to undeserving, lazy hands! Look at me now and say it! Hahahahahahaaaaa!!!!!!!

"Dear Mr. President"

As I was driving to school this morning, I heard a song with the most beautiful melody which instantly gave me chills. Have you ever listened to a song, and really focused on the lyrics and what they meant? You can tell that a song really cuts deep when you feel chills throughout your whole body. Not only did "Dear Mr. President" by Pink give me the chills, but when I attempted to sing along to the chorus, I felt so much emotion, that I actually started to tear up. This song is about Pink wanting to have an honest, real conversation with the President about the most common problems in society today. The issues that you hear about almost everyday on the news, experience, or see...but yet, we can all go to sleep at night and only worry about our own problems or dream peacefully. Although this song is directed to Mr. President, it got me thinking...

Maybe Pink's intention for this song is not to only attack the decisions of the President, but to tell society that WE are not doing enough either. How many times have you passed a homeless person and acted as if they weren't even there, just so you didn't have to give them any of your money. Do you ever look out of your window on a cold, rainy day and wonder where that homeless person is right now or how he/she is staying warm and dry?

My point is, "Dear Mr. President" helped me realize that we have so many ignored problems in our world. It is not only our leaders who can help, either. We can get the ball rolling towards making a difference too.

I would like everyone to try something; the next time you experience a cold, stormy day, try wondering what that homeless person is doing to stay warm, dry and alive. What you see outside your window is not just a scenic picture, it's reality.

(Click on link to the right for "Dear Mr. President" lyrics)

Hi, my name is Melissa Parrott, and I am a.......

Tonight I discovered something about myself, that I never really put much thought into or took very seriously. This is a BIG DEAL, and will effect me for the rest of my life. I realized that I cannot save money... Hi, my name is Melissa Parrott, and I am a Spendaholic!

I was just informed that there is a cheque with my name on it, en route to my little 'money-hungry' hands. This cheque amounts to enough money for me to pay off that evil piece of plastic that I call my visa. "YAY!!!!" was my first thought. Then I realized, nothing in life is free. This cheques' purpose is to cover almost 3 semesters in college...

Ladies and gentlemen, this is where I had my big breakthrough, and realized that I have a problem. After speaking with everyone in my house, we all decided that it COULD be a smart decision for me to put the money on my visa, and pay back the X amount of dollars before the year 2009. Sounds great to me. However, after further discussion we all remembered that I can't save money...so here are my ground rules to make this work:

• After my visa is paid off, I have to cancel the account.
• Since I have no willpower, my mommy (lol) has to set up a savings account in HER name so she can put MY money in it.
• I am not allowed to know what bank she will be using for this, any passwords, or my account number.

The funny thing is, I still think that if I saw a cute pair of jeans that I couldn't afford, I would somehow get to my money. Now how brutal is that?

I have to admit, I am not very proud of my newly discovered problem, or addiction (I guess you could call it). I need help. Any advice?...or even if you know of any Spendaholic Rehab Centers nearby that I could check myself into, it would be a great help, Hahahaa!

"Until Death Do Us Part"

I would like to wish my Nan and Pop Parrott AND my Nan and Pop Williams a belated HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Both sets of grandparents celebrated their wedding anniversaries this year, and they've been together for about 100 years now, lol! It's so beautiful seeing husband and wife, who have lived the majority of their lives together still love each other as if they were on their honeymoon. I have taken many opportunities to ask them all about their lives together. I've heard about the good days and the bad days...but whatever days they had together, my grandparents got through it and here they all are today, simply in love.

This got me thinking...what the hell is wrong with everyone these days? Here's a question: How many grandparents do you know that have divorced or at least separated? Now, think about how many parents you know that have been divorced or at least separated?

Almost 50% of all marriages these days end in divorce. This dirty old "D" word has evolved into an answer, an easy way out. EASY...DIVORCE? Sounds crazy, I know...but very true. What are we doing wrong? Did the definition of marriage shrink into being just a piece of paper? If my parents generation are having such a difficult time making a marriage work, what will it be like for my generation?

I obviously have many questions, but from what I hear, the obstacles that married couples experience these days are not much different from those in generations before. I believe most people have become lazy. Adultery isn't as jaw dropping and sinful as it definitely should be. Money issues turn the vow "for richer or for poorer" into "for richer or for richer". Rough patches tend to merge a relationship, ever-so-smoothly into a lane leading to a dead end. Where have the values gone? We could all have what my grandparents have today. Now, I am not saying that they are necessarily the "perfect match". However, from what I can see, everything they did go through together, good or bad, has made them appreciate one another so much more, and has moulded them into the loving couples they are today.

Maybe we should all try a little harder to be more like them, so we can end up having what they have....from what I can see "Until death do us part" does not seem all that bad.

Halloween on George Street

We are into the first week of October, and the perfect Halloween costume is all anyone can think about. George Street in St.John's throws a huge bash called the "Mardi Gras" every year for Halloween. It is a time for people to come together, have a few drinks (or a few too many), and dress up as whatever they wish, to see how many heads they can turn for that one night. It is fun...yet, extremely stressful.
I visited with a few of my girl friends last night and saw that they were all on the website www.mydivascloset.com. I never heard of it before, but it is a site that you can buy Halloween costumes, lingerie, accessories, etc. The costumes are a bit revealing, or slutty looking, but hey, Halloween is a night for us "non-hoes" to look like hoes, and still walk away with a great reputation, hahaha!!!
After looking through the all of the costumes, I fell in love with a little sailor girl costume. I was all ready to buy, had the evil credit card out and everything. Then I realized, the costume itself was $55.00 (American, which doesn't mean a roll of beans anyways), PLUS another $35.00 to get it to Newfoundland! I figure if I wear the thing every Halloween until year 2013, I'd get my moneys worth. However, everyone knows you can't wear the same costume every year, or ever again to be honest...I'm a girl, remember?! Hahaha!
Well, this is one of those posts where I would like to get all of my 4 readers involved...Let me know what you want to be this Halloween!!! Also, if you wish, give me some ideas for myself, but make sure your ideas will go easy on the bank account!! :P
Take Care!

Server Not Servant

I have been a full-time waitress/bartender for about 2 years now. There have been many laughs, jokes, and shared secrets among the employees, you name it. I work at a restaurant that has hired on probably the best group of people to work with. We have regular work parties, we help each other out whenever we can and we get together outside of work at times. Sounds great, right? Wrong-o!

Let me tell you about a portion (take note of the word "portion") of the public who walk into our content environment and piss all over it. These guests see us (the wait staff) as a life form with superpowers.

To start, we are expected to be at all of our 5+ tables at one time. Allow me to elaborate. They sit in our section, and can clearly see that we have several other tables. As we run back and fourth from table to kitchen, bar to table, table to table, sweating, out of breath, the whole nine yards, we are expected to arrive to their table the second they put their menus down to order. If this doesn't happen, we have some personal vendetta against them. Therefore, the meal is now going to be as unpleasant as they can make it, for us and for themselves.

Finally we do get to their table with a smile on our face, and ask, "How are you all doing?", "Hungry", they answer. (Really, smartass?) Now they ever-so-rudely put their order in, avoiding all eye contact to get their point across and possibly end up waiting 30-45 minutes for their meal (I don't work at McDonalds, by the way). At this point we are reminded that they are waiting for their food. We know. We also know that from this point on, we are screwed out of any of their leftover coffee change as our tip. Let's not forget the possibility of the guest yelling, cursing, etc. in between the time they sit and the time they leave. This is one example that all servers will deal with at least once a night when the restaurant is full.

Here are some helpful guidelines to this portion of our guests:

1. If you had a bad day, don't take it out on the person who is handling your food.
2. Try to remember that your server is human. He/she has a mother, father, brother, sister or child, and they put their pants on one leg at a time too.
3. Don't disregard that your server is running around and persperating. This actually means that they are working hard, not ignoring you.
4. If the parking lot is full, chances are the restaurant will be too. Don't come in and say that you are in a rush (a.k.a.bring food up right away)...you are not special. Remember, there are other tables waiting on food too.
5. If you are the type of person who believes that people should drop everything for you, because you are special. Or, if you are capable of being miserable, sooky and rude if things don't go exactly as you imagined...stay the 'F' home out of it!!!
   

At this point, I would like to remind these people that we work for our tips. We actually do want you to be happy and have a great eating experience at our restaurant.

Now...I would like to take this time to thank the guests that understand that we are humans too. You are all a pleasure to serve, and we wish everyone was just like you. Take care and have a good evening!!!!

I May Be Small...?

To start, I would like to say that I really don't know a lot about the world of blogging. This is just a learning experience for me. I may enjoy it, I may not, I may never know unless I try...so here I am. My goal for this experience is to put ME out there, for example, I am not gonna come on this using perfect grammer...I am from Newfoundland (haha), and this is not English 101. You are gonna get Melissa. Love me or hate me....but most people love me, so you probably will too!

I would like to explain why my site is called "I May Be Small...". First of all, it has nothing to do with my size, although I am what you could call 'small'...it has to do with so much more, it goes a little deeper. It has to do with peoples expectations of me. I say I want to be a doctor, others suggest that maybe I should be a hairstylist, for example. It's about living my whole life in the shadow of an older brother, who defined the perfect child, nephew, grandchild, cousin, student, worker, athlete, friend...everything. I knew my whole life that because I was nothing like him, people automatically had lower expectations of me. Actually, I began to accept it, and become it. I played stupid, I've asked people questions that I already knew the answer to. I remember when I was about 3 or 4 years old, pointing to a picture of a brain in a medical book, and asking my babysitter what it was. I knew what it was...and as I look back, I have no idea why I even asked. So that kinda explains the "I May Be Small" part.

Now for the "...". I feel that I am going to blow the socks off everyone someday really soon. There is so much more to me that people don't know, and maybe this site will help myself and others take note of my growth as Melissa Parrott.

Thank you for reading my first post. Feel free to leave your comments, give advice, anything. Take care!