The Invasion of Market Basket

    When people say snow, people get scared. When others say blizzard, they become afraid. When people become afraid, they decide to stock their houses with food. When people decide to stock their houses with food, they all rush to Market Basket at 12:00. When people rush to Market Basket en mass, there aren't enough carts in the store, and when there aren't enough carts in the store, people get angry at the guys responsible for the carts (me).
    This past Sunday at Market Basket, in the week leading up to THE BLIZZARD OF 2015, people were losing their minds and almost fighting hand and foot for any type of food that they could get their hands on. The only way I can think of describing it is Market Basket's version of D-Day. Apparently when you say on TV that we are going to get like 30 inches of snow, everyone becomes extremely worried. It got so bad that they had me and every other employee that they could spare scouring the parking lots for any carts that we could find. At one point, I was bringing in at least 12 or 13 carts at a time, and I didn't even make it through the front door. A huge mob of people actually came out of the store and met me in the middle of the street, blocking traffic for like three minute, and took all of my carts. After a few more attempts with bunches of carts, I actually made it into the store with one cart left over. Inside were three people. One man's face was pleading with me to give it to him, another was a woman with murder in her eyes, and the last was some guy trying to reach over my shoulder and snatch it away. I looked at all of them, threw my hands in the air, said,"Switzerland," and walked away as fast as I could. I'm not quite sure who got it, but afterwards the first man asked me if I could go and grab one for him as well, so I ran out into the parking lot and tried for five minutes to find a single cart. I eventually got it to him and he was extremely happy.
    While I was out there, a friend and I started talking about how we could make a fortune by opening a business of pre-ordering carts to people for five dollars each. We would have made a ton of money just from that day alone, and even though I doubt I'd be a part of it, I think that that should be something that grocery stores do, since it just makes sense.
I hope that next Sunday is better, but with more snow on the way, I'm not counting on it.

The Ace of Hearts

I Am the Messenger: Ace of Hearts

      I think that this is my favorite Ace out of all of them. It would be fun delivering messages to complete strangers, but when you have to deliver them to your friends? That’s when it gets interesting. I was so happy during this Ace because we actually finally find out what is up with Marv. Throughout the entire book, he is just portrayed as a low-life and a jerk, but during this part, we catch a glimpse into who he is and what he stands for. For years, he has been putting all of his money into an account to give to his kid that he had with his old girlfriend Suzanne Boyd. Her father took her away from him, and instead of giving up, he decides to help them, even if he does so and never sees the child. He isn’t stingy for the sake of being stingy, it isn’t even being saved for his use, he’s passing it on. Another interesting message to me, was Ritchie’s. Throughout the entire book, he is displayed as a kind of uncaring, go with any flow that he can find kind of guy. The kind of guy that just drifts through life, never achieving anything or even attempting to do anything for himself. I like his message a lot because it seems like everybody knows a guy like him at some point in their lives and it was nice to see that Ritchie managed to work his way out of that way of living. Lastly, one of my favorite messages was the one delivered to Audrie. Throughout the ENTIRE book, I’ve been waiting for that message to happen. It makes me feel so happy for Ed, knowing that he had been waiting for the moment forever. It must have been wonderful and dreadful for him at the same time. Wonderful because he gets to be there with her and love her, but also dreadful because he loves her so much and wants to go farther than the dance. Yet, he restrains himself, and manages to deliver the message in a beautiful way. These messages seem to be the most beautiful, since they all end up returning to Ed. They are the most special, and transform the group completely for good.   

The Ace of Diamonds

Response to I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, Part One: The First Message

    This is seriously one of my favorite books of all time right now. I love it a lot. In my mind, this is the best Ace, the Ace of Diamonds. My favorite message is the girl who runs barefoot, because that was one of the happier ones that he delivers and because of that it was way more enjoyable. I love the way that he gives her an empty shoe box and her father looks at Ed like he's a crazy lunatic.
     Another great message was the one for Milla. It's impossible not to love her. She's so nice and loving that it makes everyone feel bad about her alzheimer's. It is so sad, as she is just about the least deserving person for something like that to happen to. I really wish that she was like my grandmother or something. It seems as if her entire life is like a sick joke. She marries a good guy who dies in the war, loses her mind, and then simply starts accepting this random stranger as her husband, loving and caring for him as if he was her husband.
     I didn't love the other message very much. It was a worse one with a terrible man in it who should go and die somewhere, alone and unloved. This entire message is filled with Ed going back and forth on his plan of action. He tries to go into the house, but cannot due to his paralyzing fear that takes control of his body, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks. He leaves, and then finds a gun in his mail box. I love his reaction, because it seems so close to how any regular person's reaction would be if it happened to them. I'd end up doing the same thing, except I'd end up blasting AC/DC all night long while losing my mind. Other than Ed receiving the pistol in his mail box, my favorite part of this message is how Ed decides to deal with the guy. I mean, he manages to drug him, drive him out to the middle of nowhere, force him, at gunpoint, to climb to the top of the cathedral, and then manage to actually pull the trigger took a lot of self control that I wouldn't be able to possess. I'm so happy however, that he chooses not to shoot him and instead give him a second chance. It's that human part in all of us that shines through in this message and shows us that no matter what, we are all human.