"Revised" Wolverine

I Want A Super Power Please! ("Revised")

Comic books and movies have thrown the ideas of superpowers in the faces of children across the world for years. Everyday children see superman flying around and they convince themselves that they could fly too if they only had a cape. I cannot help but wonder how many children a year end up in hospitals with broken arms because they tied a cape around their neck and jumped off the roof, expecting to soar away instead of falling to the ground. I have never been big on super heroes and comic books, but I definitely remember watching the X-Men movies and thinking “how amazing would it be to be able to heal like Wolverine does?” Even today, when I am twenty years old, and I have full time job and go to school part time, while I am trying to enter the “adult” world, every now and then my mind can’t help but wander to the “what if?” What if I could be like Wolverine and heal in seconds? It would definitely make my job more bearable, and I would definitely more a more confident person, and maybe even more helpful in my community.

Personally, I think wolverine is the X-Men with the best power, and personally my favorite X-Man. Not only is he devastatingly handsome, but he can be on the front line in battle, and come out without a scratch. And of course, the steel blades coming out from between his fingers are pretty awesome as well. When Rogue asks Wolverine if it hurts when the steel blades slice through his skin to fight, he coolly says “every time.” It is not only pain I fear but the scars and actual injuries that make me want to have his power. Between car accidents, fires, and of course the occasional rogue bullet, who wouldn’t benefit from not being able to self heal from any injury in mere minutes? Imagine being in a crippling accident but walking about unscathed, of perhaps saving a friends life by stepping in front of bullet but you are able to push the bullet back out and heal so quickly it will be like nothing happened. Maybe it sounds selfish, since I would benefit more from this power than anyone else, but to me it would be the ultimate way to ensure I die of natural causes.

Now I realize that most people would not put dog grooming and dangerous jobs in the same category. However, these people are obviously not groomers or don’t know any groomers, because I do get injured at my job every single day. I am a “Professional PetStylist” at PetSmart, and trust me it is not an easy job. I get bit, scratched, jumped on, and beat up all day. While pet grooming may sound like I get to play with dogs all day that is far from how my job really goes. Unfortunately, not everyone’s precious pooches are angels at the grooming salon. I get jumped on by hundred pound Labradors, bit by cute little Yorkshire Terries, scratched by cats, and cut with razor sharp scissors all day long. My forearms and hands are covered with scars from scratches, bites, and the occasional slip of my scissors. Now I know that horrifying coordination is part of my problem, but I am tired of feeling bruised and beaten every time I leave work. If, however, I had the ability to heal my injuries in seconds, I think I would enjoy my job a lot more.

As far as making me a better a person, I am always afraid. I don’t think I had a sheltered childhood, but I was always taught to be wary of everything, and always be suspicious and cautious. I have tried for years to change that about myself, but it is very difficult. I think that if I was impervious to being injured, I really do feel like that would help me be a more confident and less cautious person. I think that I could have a more free spirit and a more easy going life in general if only I could have a superpower.

Apart from helping me in my job and in my personal life, I would love to do things for my community with my superpower. I know that if bullets just bounced off me, and if bombs could go off around me, but I could mend myself in such little time, the military would surely want me to be their “secret weapon.” I could go over to Iraq and walk straight up to the terrorists to talk to them (or kill them before they kill us I suppose) without have to worry about being wiped out. They could shoot at me all day long to no effect. I could do all the most dangerous jobs in the whole world, and always be able to come back home.

I know that in reality getting hurt is a part of life, a learning tool that we use from childhood. But, it would still be nice to not have to worry about breaking your arm on the monkey bars or getting bit by dogs. I’ll still dream about the day when I am like Wolverine and I can walk away from anything without a scratch, or a least a scar.

I want to be like Wolverine

I Want A Super Power Please! (originial)

Comic books, television, and movies have depicted people with super human abilities for decades. Every child sees or reads these things and imagines what it would be like to be one of those gifted people. Over the years I have watched countless “super hero” movies with my comic book loving brother, and have always thought it would be amazing to have a power like Spiderman or maybe even The Hulk. However, after much thought I have decided that if I could have any super human ability I would want to be able to heal in seconds like Wolverine from X-Men. Not only would this help me at work, but also just thinking of how I could join the military and be their secret weapon in combat makes me sure this would be the perfect power.

Personally, I think wolverine is the best X-Men, because not only is devastatingly handsome, but he can be on the front line in battle, and come out without a scratch. And of course, the steel blades coming out from between his fingers are pretty awesome as well. When Rogue asks Wolverine if it hurts when the steel blades slice through his skin to fight, he coolly says “every time.” It is not pain I fear but the scars and actual injury that make me want to have his power. Between car accidents, fires, and of course the occasional rogue bullet who wouldn’t benefit from not being able to self heal from any injury in mere minutes? Imagine being in a crippling accident but walking about unscathed, of perhaps saving a friends life by stepping in front of bullet but you are able to push the bullet back out and heal so quickly it will be like nothing happened. Maybe it sounds selfish, since I would benefit more from this power than anyone else, but to me it would be the ultimate way to ensure I die of natural causes.

Another reason I would choose to have this one super power above all others is because I get injured at my job everyday. While pet grooming may sound like I get to play with dogs all day that is not the case. Unfortunately, not everyone’s precious pooches are angels at the grooming salon. I get jumped on by hundred pound Labradors, bit by cute little Yorkshire Terries, scratched by cats, and cut with razor sharp scissors all day long. My forearms and hands are covered with scars from scratches, bites, and the occasional slip of my scissors. But, if I could heal at a super human rate, my scratches and cuts would disappear in seconds. No more emergency trip to Patient First because some ones adorable little puppy decided to take a chunk out of my thumb. Most people wouldn’t think of being a “Pet Stylist” a very dangerous job, but in the past 3 years working grooming salons, I have gone to Patient First 7 times for work related injuries. But, if I could heal like Wolverine, all of that could be avoided, and I would be much less scarred.

I know that if bullets just bounced off me, and if bombs could go off around me, but I could mend myself in such little time, the military would surely want me to be their “secret weapon.” I could go over to Iraq and walk straight up to the terrorists to talk to them (or kill them before they kill us I suppose) without have to worry about being wiped out. They could shoot at me all day long to no effect. I could do all the most dangerous jobs in the whole world, and always be able to come back home.

I know that in reality getting hurt is a part of life, a learning tool that we use from childhood. But, it would still be nice to not have to worry about breaking your arm on the monkey bars or getting bit by dogs. I’ll still dream about the day when I am like Wolverine and I can walk away from anything without a scratch, or a least a scar.

From Terrified to Mystified

From Terrified to Mystified

This was my first semester at TCC. I did not know what to expect at all, and I was terrified because I hadn’t been in a classroom in almost two years. I was surprised enough that I even tested into English 111 and I was expecting to struggle the whole way through. Somehow though, I got very lucky and ended up with a great teacher, and I found myself actually enjoying writing paper after paper. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t nearly as awful as I expected. Professor Gasparo said from the beginning that he was going to make this an “introduction to college” type course and I can’t thank him enough for that.

I feel like Professor Gasparo not only helped me appreciate writing more, but he also helped me transition from high school learning to college learning. He definitely didn’t hold our hands or baby us, and he definitely didn’t care about excuses. Homework was due when it was due, no matter what sob story there was behind why it was completed. He showed how different college is and without being a jerk, showed us that college professors could care less about excuses and exceptions. In college you are responsible for yourself and Professor Gasparo definitely made me feel like I can be responsible for myself, and somehow, I can make it through college.

Now for the hard part. I have never written so much in my entire life. If you put together all the papers I have ever written in my high school career, I still don’t think they would add up to how much I wrote in this one class, in terms of length and the amount of time I put into writing. Not that I was ever good in English anyway. I am a science and math person so English has always been my weakest subject. That is why I dreaded taking this class so much in the first place. I expected to hate every class, and struggle with every paper. But I found myself actually enjoying going to class, and even enjoying the ridiculous amount of writing I had to do.

The diagnostic essay was the first paper I wrote. I was shocked at how easy writing about what super power I wanted was. It was effortless. I wasn’t worried about sounding like an idiot, because the whole thing was based on fiction anyway. Thank god for spell check, or I surely would have failed, and I know Professor Gasparo would have wondered how I even tested into English 111 and not remedial English. After that, none of the papers was very difficult. Until I got to the argument essay of course. I thought for sure I would never finish that stupid paper. And if I did finish it by some miracle, I would fail anyway and then have to go through the whole class again. But, I did finish it. And I didn’t even fail. I got a 93! How is that even possible?

This class has been full of pleasant surprises. Almost all of the assignments sounded daunting at first (particularly blogging with my limited computer knowledge.) But none of them killed me, and I didn’t even fail any of them either. I made it through this terrifying class, and I am a better writer for it, that I can be certain of. Not only because we were taught how to write well, but somehow I came to enjoy writing. I think the main reason for that is because of the sheer amount of writing that had to be done.

A lot of people complained about how we had so many assignments all thrown at us at once, but I think that writing at least a little but every day, forced me to like writing as it was part of my routine. It all became very easy, and for that I will always thank Professor Gasparo, because somehow he did the impossible and turned my hatred of writing into a new found way to express myself. But, I am mystified that in 16 weeks this class made 12 years of fearing English class seem very…well stupid.