Field Notes Week 4

My fourth week of field work took place on Friday the 26^th of September between the times of 12:00 pm and 1:30 pm.  After the previous weeks observation I decided to return to the time of the first two weeks of observations to try to further confirm the patterns I saw develop during the first two weeks of field work. In addition to this I began my observations earlier than previous sessions to hopefully see how the groups I had previously observed form.

 As I started my observations it was still the lunch period and the majority of the tables under the outdoor awnings where all completely filled with students conversing or eating their lunches. Inside of the cafeteria was no different with groups of students of varying size gathered around tables while engaging in the same activities as those outside. At this same time there where two small groups and several individual students eating in the oxygen buildings’ common area.  In the grassy area in the courtyard between the buildings there was a relatively large group of approximately twenty students throwing a Frisbee possibly playing an organized game or simply a session of catch. There seemed to be a relatively light monitoring form the staff of the school with only about 3 teachers monitoring the entirety of the student body preset at the time.

Lunch period ended at 12:20 pm but students began to head to their classrooms in large numbers about five minutes before the period ended around 12:15. This is similar to the pattern I had previously observed where it appeared that students who were not already in a class on campus began to arrive between ten to five minutes early for their classes. This trend was only noticed before the second, third, and fourth class periods and another observation period is needed to determine if this is true for the first class period as well.

During the third class period of the day the patterns that I had observed during my first two sessions of field work seemed to repeat themselves. The Drawers group was gathered at the same table that they had been during my first session of observations, which was also the table they had been sitting at during lunch. The Doors group however had dispersed soon before the lunch period ended and members began to arrive and took a place at a different table about twenty minutes after lunch ended with cup from Macready’s. Both groups continued in the pattern of conversation that they had performed in the previous weeks of observation.

After this week’s observations it began to appear that the groups I had already established chose the seats that they occupy well before the times when my observations take place. It also appears that the Drawers group appears to be much more sedentary that the Doors group who are more willing to move and change tables.

Unbelievable...

Unfortunately all the clouds and rain have left the sky and it’s a rather hot and sunny day today, quite miserable if you ask me. The extreme humidity from the recent rains makes it feel as if it is hard to breathe and like your clothes are stuck to your body. As I opened the door to the establishment, a gust of cool dry air refreshed my damp face. I noticed a rather heavyset woman that walked in right behind me that was sweating quite a bit considering she had only walked about 5 feet from her car to the front door. She was also breathing quite heavily which I found rather annoying even taking her size into consideration, I still believe that she was purposely exaggerating as if it were cute or amusing which just made it all the more irritating and annoying.

As I was seated and asked what I would like to drink, I heard a black male that was sitting a few tables down from me ask his waiter for grape soda. I thought to myself of how stereotypical that was and tried my best to inconspicuously laugh. My waiter noticed what I was laughing at and she began to giggle amongst herself as well. After my waiter left I began to think myself as to what would possess the black man to ask for grape soda, as it not a common soft drink that most restaurants have and especially due to the fact that it is so stereotypical.

There isn’t many people in the restaurant aside from a few older couples. All of the older individuals are drinking coffee aside from one older lady that was drinking orange juice. The fact that most if not all older individuals drink coffee really astonishes me because it is rare that such a vast majority of the populous all like and consume a specific drink and do so on a regular basis.

As I noticed the commonality amongst the older individuals in the restaurant, two women in their early to mid-thirties entered with two children about five years of age. I assuming the women were each a mother to one of the two children that entered. Overall they seemed to be of the lower class of society as they were all wearing clothes that could be considered pajamas. Neither of the women had their hair and it looked like they had both just awakened and crawled out of bed straight to a restaurant. Their children were also very dirty as both of their faces were dried with food and saliva with mucus dripping down their faces. In disgust, I wondered to myself as to how they could be allowed in a public place, much less a restaurant. The children we very misbehaved and loud as they kept running around and going under a nearby table that they were seated next to. I continued to watch the children in disbelief as they continued to misbehave. Other people began to notice the disruptive children and began to watch in disbelief and disgust as well. Neither of the mothers scolded or instructed their child to behave, but instead it seemed as though they were ignoring them as they most likely did not care what their children were doing as long as they were not bothering them. The children then began to collect the eating utensils that were placed on top of the table they were playing under and began to engage in an activity that seemed like “swords”. They collected two butter knives each, placed one in each hand and began to bang them together. Their activities got louder as they hit the knives together and began to attract more attention from nearby customers. Still, the two mothers paid no attention to their children. Finally, the waiter arrived with their order and the mothers then called their children to their table, leaving a mess underneath the table they were playing under. Still the two mothers showed no care at all, simply leaving the mess that was left by their children.

1st day at football practice

I coach a football team and the first day of practice is always interesting. All of the players  are very diverse. I will refer to these students as 'athlete 1, athlete 2, and so on. Athlete one shows up with a gallon of water for himself and a gallon of water for everyone to share. Athlete 1 is very liked among his peers, obviously. He is very respected by his teammates, even though he doesn't get much playing time. During the first week of practice, he bought some new cleats. Athlete 1 was convinced his new footwear would make him run faster. He has already been one of the most improved player thus far. Athlete 2 likes to do a lot of trash talking on the field. He is made a good play at practice and started boasting. The other players weren't too fond of that. A few other players talked smack back to athlete 2.  After three of the players ganged up on him, he stopped talking smack for the rest of the day. Some of the athletes are very interesting to be around. they can be pretty funny at times. One instance, athlete 3 raised his hand multiple times to ask questions but forgot half of what he was going to ask. In these circumstances, it is hard to hold in  a laugh when they can't remember what they were going to ask. At one point athlete 3 raised his hand and when he was called on, responded with, 'Never mind, it was a dumb question so I won't ask it. This is just a small sample of the team I coach for the first week of practice. I'm sure there will be many other good observations for the rest of the season.

Too Loud

This weeks restaurant adventure took me to a steakhouse. Finding parking at this place was rough, as they are always busy. In my opinion they have some of the best ribs in all of New Mexico. I walked through the doors and was immediately hit by a wall of music. The music was loud and the smell of various cooking meets filled the air. The staff was very friendly and asked us how many and to have a seat till they call us. The lights are not very bright and it is hard to see the expressions on peoples faces.

Our name has been called and as we follow the Hostess to the table I scan the almost full room. Employees are dodging each other while carrying drinks, food, or dirty dishes. There is a group of servers dancing. Country music all around. The tables I pass are all big groups of people, there are a fews birthdays as I see balloons or presents. We find our table and I choose to sit with my back against the wall so I can observe my surrounding better. We already know what we want and place our order right away. I look around and see people laughing and talking. I notice that at least one individual has sort of closed themselves off from the rest of the group, and has their face buried within their phone.

We get our drinks and here a shouting from across the restaurant. We can barley make out what is said but I catch a few keywords, such as, Happy Birthday and an age. They request that everyone in the restaurant yell to celebrate. After that noise resolves, I look toward the bar and see that a football game is going on and there are men sitting there yelling at the T.V. on some play that the Referee threw his flag on. The restaurant is busy as ever as people are trying to talk over the loud music and yelling from other people. I can barley hear the people that I am with.

We get our food and a family next to us decides to leave, as both children have started crying, possibly tired and wanting sleep, as it is getting late at this point. They leave cash on the table, thank their waitress, and head out. It is getting late and the place is still full. The guys at the bar calm down as the game comes to an end. I look around and see that the people that were once buried in their phone have joined the conversation, and another one of their party has fallen to the cell phone addiction. Me and my party have not touched our phones once the whole dinner, yet we see these people falling in and out of conversation, due to a text or Facebook notification. I hear the roars of people as 2 or 3 birthday parties are going on.

Warriors

On a beautiful Friday afternoon I am, once again, where the warriors are. I am sitting outside on a bench. I am observing people in the parking lot. I see an older blue car, Oldsmobile, pull up and stop in a handicap parking spot. A young man, sharply dressed, wearing brown lacks and a blue button up exits his car. He walks to the other side and opens the passenger door.  He the opens the trunk with his key and pulls out a wheel chair. He unfolds the wheel chair and secures the brakes.  The young closes the trunk and wheels the chair to the passenger side.  He helps and older men get out of the vehicle. He lends support by letting the older man pull himself up using the young mans arm as a sturdy prop.  He provides any assistant needed as the older man slowly gets out of the vehicle and sets firmly in the wheel chair.  He helps the old man carefully and unlocks the brakes and pushes the man in the wheel chair insides. The two men disappear inside.

I notice a man sitting in another bench ten feet away from me. I notice him and his appearance seems to be impatient. He scans the parking lot, looks almost disappointed, and then looks to his watch. He has a pocket watch in his left hand. He appears to be waiting for someone.  He is also nicely dressed. He is wearing black slacks and a polo shirt white in color. I notice off in the distance a younger man jogging towards us. He looks to be rushing in our direction.  The young man is wearing blue shorts and a yellow shirt. He looks clean cut and has an airborne tattoo on his right forearm. Maybe he is in the army himself or maybe he sports the tattoo in remembrance of a brave person he knows. The older man looks relieved and very impatient. He says to the younger man, that he will be if the do not hurt it up. The younger man replies saying they still have fifteen minutes to the appointment.  The old man says if I am not 15 minutes I am already late, the younger man laughs and says Dad you are not in the military anymore and there will be no issues. The dad laughs.  The son then pushed the dad into the double sliding doors and enters the building.

My friend, who I came to this location with, sees someone he knows. He gets up from the bench and walks up to some man and shakes his hand. My friend asks the man “how are you doing?” The two men shake hands and the other man replies that he is doping well. The man is a colored man who looks like he is my grandfathers’ age. He appears to be over the age of sixty, I am thinking he might be over seventy. The colored man says that he wishes this place would indeed give him gas money considering all the cash he spends getting to this location from his residence and back.  My friend reaches into his pocket, separates some papers he has in his hand, and grabs some money and reaches towards the colored man and says here please take this twenty dollars. The older colored man reluctantly takes the cash from my friend and with a very thankful look on his face says that he is much appreciative and says this will help him out more than my friend knows.  My friend tells the colored man that if all the people in the world took care of each other, this world would be a better place. The old man chuckles and slowly puts the cash in his pocket. They shake hands and then share a big hug.  The older man makes his way to an older Chevy truck. He gets in the truck and starts the vehicle. I look away from observing this man as my friend walks back towards me. I was very impressed with this act of kindness my friend showed. I tell my friend how generous you are and what a genuine nice act to share. My friend just smiled and said that the colored man was in one of his classes where the people of the class share support. They talk about their lives and how they have changed from coming back from being deployed. He says that veterans of America always take care of each other like an unspoken bond.

My friend and I watch the smoking area. We see a few people talking to each other, not smoking. We see another person on the phone talking and smoking. One gentleman walks up and says something. He must have asked for a cigarette.  Several men that are in that area reach in pockets and pull out the cigarette packs. Two of the men offer the man a smoke.  He lit the cigarette and starts smoking.  They are out of ears range so I can not really hear their exact words I can only see their actions.  They sit around talking to the man who accepted the smoke.  While he is smoking he looks around the parking area. With quickness, he tosses his smoke down on the ground and rushes to the loading and unloading area near the front of the building.  Some lady is driving a brand new SUV.  I am guessing it is his wife that is driving. I hear the lady, in a stern voice; tells the man “you should not be smoking”. The man replies that it was only one cigarette and he was not able to finish it. He also says that death is inevitable. He enters the car while she looks at him with no expression at all. He shuts the door and she carefully and slowly drives off.

Fit Fam.

   I can smell the stench of sweat dripping down his face. He looks tired. His hair clings to his face like a magnet to metal. I notice his face begin to tense as he lifts the heavy weight up and down. He begins to pant as he cannot catch his breath from the workout. I see his chest move in and out as he begins to slowly catch his breath again.
   A loud squeak begins to register from the north side of the gym. I notice the calves of a warrior pressing up and down amongst the sea of people. I wonder if there is a prize given to the most fit animal in this cage of competition. The weight although heavy to me seemed to be nothing but the weight of feather for him.
  As a loud drop echoes throughout the building I am shaken up. The weight was too heavy for her to hold. I wondered if dead lifting was meant for girls her size. It didn't matter because in that moment she was defeated. I notice her feet begin to move from side to side as she looks nerveously around to see if anybody saw. Nobody did, except for me of course. She was small. She couldn't be taller than 5'3 and weighed maybe 120 with a cheese burger. Her hair was pulled back into a slick pony tail. I assumed she did this so that her hair wouldn't reach her face when dealing wiith such heavy lifting. I sure hoped she didn't slick her hair back on her face for beauty reasons. She was pretty enough to attract attention and boy did she.
   I sometimes see the gym as a market. There tends to be 10 girls tops amongst a sea of 30 guys. There was this attraction men had to fit girls. I noticed it the moment I walked in. For instance blondey. She comes into the gym everyday in hopes of a fit physique, but gains the attention of curly everyday. Any machine that she happens to use he will use after. I notice he makes it a point to ask here if she is done with the machine. Even though she has clearly moved onto the next one. Curly is short. Although he has muscles you can tell that at one time he was fat. He wears glasses that cover half of his face as I'm assuming has to do with his bad eye sight. He seems to see clearly with the glasses, but now clear enough as blondey clearly isn't feelin it.
   As an hour passes the gym begins to clear. I notice 4 guys clan together. They begin to cheer and hoorah for the weight lifted by this tall athlete. He was attractive. I wasn't sure if it was his biceps or dimples. His smile was wide, as he greeted the athletes with a thank you.

I wish there was more to convey on the gym, but there wasn't. Today was a slow day at the gym.
Then again most college students don't want to workout on a Sunday morning do they?

Slow Day to Write

Today was a very slow day, here at the usual place. not many costumers were up for this type of food today and had left me alone with the ceiling art only accompanied by a few others who had probably felt that today was going to be a quiet day, and kept to themselves. There were five others including myself, three girls and two boys, all relatively the same age. We are all dressed casually and giving off a laid back vibe.

The guy to my far right is at his table with three different colored and sized books assumedly textbooks, flipping through one then the other jotting down notes as he does so. His drink is halfway through with no visible food around, probably wanting to get finished with whatever it may be he is doing. The other guy is almost directly in front, seated comfortably with a book in one hand and food in the other. He was listening to something on his earphones, presumably music seeing as how he sometimes bobbed his head. What I find strangely peculiar is how people can read a book or anything else while listening to music; you are not fully committed to one task, which can maybe just waste time. This guy was apparently reading a novel, but I was not able to tell of what sort, perhaps a classic or a homework assignment.   

Across from me was a girl very engrossed on her tablet. She appeared to be watching a movie, sometimes laughing, other times gasping in surprise. She had her tablet propped on the table with her earphones extended to her ears. Her hands were caught up with her food, doing a fine job of multitasking, between eating and watching the movie. Finally the girl to my left was propped on a sofa, having claimed it all to herself, reading a book. Using her sweater as a pillow she was curled up enjoying every single word. Not once did she tear her eyes off the pages, as she reached for her food and occasionally a sip from her cup. We were all in our own little worlds, I being the only one not closed off in my own little world but watching how the others created a world to themselves.

Interesting Day....

It was a slow weekend at this new venue for field work.  There were some people who seemed to have been in more of a rush than others.  There was an older man that caught my eye.  He must have been about six feet tall, wore a cowboy hat, boots, Wranglers, and a button up.  He walked with three little girls, who I assume would be his granddaughters.  The girls must have been between five and nine years of age.  The youngest, excitedly grabbed her grandfather’s hand and pulled him to an ice cream stand.  He smiled down at her and explained to her in Spanish that she hadn’t eaten food yet, so she couldn’t have ice cream just yet.  She crossed her arms in protest but did not insist further.  He sat the girls down while he went to order food for all of them to eat.

As I looked around, I noticed this young girl, who looked to be about fifteen.  She was wearing extremely short shorts, and was sporting a Rayfield High t-shirt.  She sat by herself, and hunched over the table fully invested in her phone.  She seemed to be getting a little ancy.  She moved quite a bit and changed her position just about every minute.  She wore glasses, and it looked as if she couldn’t decide whether to keep them on, or take them off.  Finally, a tall boy approached her.  He looked slightly older than she did, but her face lit up like the nighttime sky on the Fourth of July.  He hugged her, and his hands wandered a little lower than they should have for being in a public place.  She smiled and they walked together hand in hand down the walkway to a different food area.

To the left of me, a young couple sat down with their newborn baby.  The baby was such an adorable baby boy.  The young man went to go order their food from a burger stand.  Meanwhile, the mom pulled the baby out from the carrier, and breastfed the baby.  As she did this, there was a group of middle school-aged kids who giggled, while other people displayed a look of disgust.  Most people did not seem to have a problem with her breastfeeding in such a public place, however, some still were not happy although she covered herself and the baby with a blanket.  As the young man approached the table where his significant other and child were sitting, the baby began to get fussy.  Mom covered herself with her shirt and removed the blanket then cradled the baby in her arms until he fell asleep. 

From the doors came a group of girls who were dressed with almost no clothes at all.  They all wore crop tops and short shorts.  As they walked, guys, both young and old, began to turn their heads.  As one girl passed by me, I heard her murmur “ew, that is so gross!” but continued walking, all while swaying her hips slightly.  The girls stopped to get ice cream.  They sat just close enough for me to slightly hear their conversation.  They were gossiping about their high school drama.  One of the girls was pretty short.  She was definitely under five feet tall.  She had the mouth of a sailor, and was pretty vicious.  Eventually the girls moved on from the drama of high school to making fun of those around them. 

There were some interesting people here.  Not all of them were students this time.  The young couple could pass for college students, but nonetheless, it was an interesting day today.

The Night Life

Field Blog #4:

            This week I decided to visit my field site a lot later than I usually do, and boy does socialize hall like to come out at night. The noise and hype level was triple the amount it usually s during the late afternoon. Everyone and their mother decided to come. The rooms were so filled that some people had to site on the floors because there weren't any more chairs to be used.

            Because of how late it was, I unfortunately had to do more homework than note taking of my environment. However, the noise was so loud that a test that I normally take in 15 minutes took me the whole 45 minutes to do. Even though it was night time, the energy levels of all the athletes were at its peak. I stayed all the way until socialize hall’s closing time and there was not one second of silence.

            After attempting to take my test, I decided to visit Hat in single room number five since there was an empty chair. Hat and I both had homework that needed to be finished, but that of course didn't stop her from trying to make conversation. We would both work for 10 minutes and then talk for 10 minutes continuously, but we still were getting more work done than anyone would have in the group rooms.

            Socialize hall always seems to be livelier at night. If someone were looking for a place of peace and quiet to get work done for the night, this would definitely not be the place to go.

The Waiting Room

The lights were bright and the room was cool. The smell slowly started turning foul, and your eyes, well they were better off shut. I dislike hospitals, yet I’m here in the waiting room for a family member. The sickness that lies in this room is over whelming. I sit patiently across from an African American family. The mother chats with the father while the three kids are distracted by their cell phones. Next to them are a Chinese couple. They are sophisticatedly dressed and I know they are Chinese by the newspaper the man is reading. He must get them mailed. There are several people that sit in another row across from us. A Hispanic family are male and two females that are in there late 30's and sit next to an elder man on a wheelchair. His stare is blank and he hardly moves. His family looks concerned but they try to keep each other relaxed. The male has his arm around one of the females. The other female stands behind the wheelchair while speaking with the male. Their two kids are no more than five years old and they are jumping from square to square on the tile floor. Behind that Hispanic family is a mother and her son. The son sits on his chair and is on his mother’s tablet playing children’s games. The mother looks tired and would be asleep if not for her kid. At the front desk are two female nurses, one Hispanic and on African American. They sit on their computers typing away what I believe to be important information.

Hunger starts to set in as the minutes keep ticking away, so I walked over to the vending machines. I purchased a Snickers and as I reached through to grab it, from the corner of my eye I saw one of the Hispanic kids standing next to me. I know it’s his way of saying he wants some, so I walk quickly back to my seat. When I sit, I glance up to see if the kid was still staring at me, and to my surprise he wasn’t. His face had a worried expression so I followed his gaze. The elder man in his wheelchair was having a seizure. Suddenly there were five nurses holding him down, two of which were from the front desk. The man kept shaking and as if it were contagious, people quickly turned to see the man and stared without saying anything. The African family were the last ones to notice what was happening. The seizure finally passed and as if on cue, people suddenly returned to whatever they were previously doing. Not a minute passed before the seizure struck the man again. This time more nurses came and the man shook so hard he was no longer on his wheelchair. He shook uncontrollably on the ground and the father from the African American family urged to help but his wife told him to let the nurses do their jobs. He still looked very uncomfortable while the older man’s seizure took hold of him. When the seizure passed at last, the nurses immediately took him inside the ER. As soon as the man was taken in through the double doors of the ER, everyone let out there breathe. Conversations of empathy went through the room. My night continued with the foul smell and misery that lingered in this room. 

Subir la Música

    It’s around 3:00 P.M on a Saturday afternoon. I am at the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso Texas. There are at least 800 people here on a mission. Some people are just window shopping while others have tons of shopping bags. I am zeroing in on this one particular group of individuals however. It seems that the individuals are in a dance crew. By the style of clothing they are wearing it seems that they are in a Hip Hop dance group. They are dressed in: red tank tops, baggy camouflage and black Nike high tops. 

     There is a mixture of people in this crew: males and females of Hispanic, White, Black and Asian race. Their age range seems to be from 10-20 years of age. It appears they are getting ready to take the stage that is set up in the main entrance of the mall. To my surprise the type of dance is a mix of Reggaeton (Reggae mixed with Rap) and R&B (rhythm and blues). 

    They have danced for about 12 minutes a total of 3 songs. All of the dancers seem so enthusiastic about dancing. The dancers are interacting with the audience and getting them all pumped up to get active. The music is nice and loud and catchy. The dancers are very energetic. Although the dances are choreographed, I can tell that each one of these individuals have their own unique dance style.   

      I must say I am really enjoying seeing all these people from various backgrounds and cultures find something in common and collaborate with each other and share it with others!

The Old Sun Shop

Fieldwork Week Four

 

               As I show up to work today I notice that the weather is wonderful. Blue sky and sunny with temperature about 70 degrees. It’s not hot nor cold and I see a few people walking around the plaza. When I open the shop I do not light the candle that I usually burn. The owner has a bouquet of gorgeous fresh flowers that smell divine and filled up the shop. The smell is not as strong as the candle and not a lot of people smell the flowers. However, I still received comments all day about how good the store smelled and that it smelled fresh. A few people said it did not smell like flowers. Maybe this could have been because the smell of the candle still remained slightly in the room. After all we burn the same scent of candle every day.

              Today started off pretty slow and within the first hour and a half to two hours, only five couples came in. I thought it was a bit peculiar that no one came in by themselves or in groups. It was five couples at different times. The first couple that came in have been in the shop a few times before. The girl looks partly Asian and was wearing a big hat that covered a part of her face. The man was Anglo and was a little bit taller than the women with her hat on. They seemed very nice and they carried a light conversation between themselves and slightly with me as well. Some of the products they talked about were the black pottery, jewelry and of course the little pigs. They joked around and laughed and seemed to be enjoying each other’s company and their day. They walked through the store as if it was their first time being in the shop. They looked at everything. It seems as though they were keeping an eye out for something new or something they might have missed last time. I could tell when they already had seen something because they did not take as long to glance at it. They ended up not buying anything today but they look like they will be back later on in the month or in the year like I’ve been noticing they do.

              The following couple were extremely chatty. The women was either Hispanic or Anglo (I couldn’t tell). The man was very tall and was Anglo. They had such a positive attitude and seemed very energetic and happy to be walking around and enjoying their day. They were looking for something specific but at the same time not specific at all. They were one of those people who are looking for something different, perfect, and special but don’t really know what they are looking for. They said “I’ll know it when I see it”. As they looked at the horse hair potter, Ms. Chatterbox shared a personal story with me. She told me about her daughter making her a beautiful piece of pottery and when she was moving to Las Cruces, it broke. She said that piece of pottery was so special to her and it broke her heart to see it broken. What was worse was it could not be glued back together. She continued to walk around admiring all the art in the shop especially all the different pottery. As I saw them walk around I noticed Tall guy was holding a painting that looked like modern art. It was red with a few other bright colors that did not exactly make a picture or at least that I could tell. The way they took their time and talked about and admired all the different art in here made me realize that they could be very artistic people. I could see that they had a very open mind to new things as I could tell a lot from their conversations. They would say something about it being different and never seeing anything like it and liking its unique features. They seemed to like getting to know people even if it was for a few minutes. They left with such a positive attitude and told me to enjoy my day. Surprisingly, not a lot of people say something like that to me. It was so nice having someone wish me a nice day.

              The third couple did not so much walk as one. There seemed to be a dominant which in this case was the lady with short red hair. Her hair color unlike most people looked natural so I believe it was her actual hair color and it looked very pretty. This couple was possibly in their late fifties early sixties. The man was slightly taller than her and seemed a little goofy and seemed to crack his private jobs as he would look at something and start giggling slightly to himself. He followed redhead everywhere she went but stay a foot or two behind her. Surprisingly to me they seemed very happy. He had a big smile on his face and the lady had more of a neutral face expression.  They did not converse very much. In fact they were quite most of the time. The only time I heard them actually talk was when they were about to leave and the lady hurried back in to look at a wind chime. It was a little bit funny because the man walked ahead of her to open the door for her and did not notice her turn back. As soon as he noticed he quickly walked back to be at her side and see what she was looking at. They both agreed it was very nice and then left.

              The next couple were Hispanic. They did exactly look happy neither did they look mad. They walked in the store and seemed as if to be in a small rush. The lady was glancing at mostly jewelry but did not look at many other things as she quickly kept walking. The guy seemed very impatient and walked around the store looking a bit annoyed. They did not speak to each other at all while in the shop. The guy didn’t even seem to look at anything he just look like he wanted to leave. They were even in the shop for two minutes when they left. However, they walked around the store. Maybe they were looking for something very specific and did not see anything like it in here and decided to move on to another shop.  

              The final couple were Anglo. They were quite for the most part but still held a small conversation between the two. They took their time and looked at whatever would catch their eye all of a sudden but did not spend a lot of time in the store. Soon enough the couple left happily and as they were leaving for the door they began to chat a lot more and spoke a little louder.

              Soon the very nice sunny day turned cloudy. After being at work for two hours finally people started to come in a little more. The couple thing stopped and groups of people were coming in. Unfortunately nothing was selling today. This could be because a lot of people might be choosing to spend extra money in the festivals going on in town. The exception to this were three ladies that came in and another couple. The three ladies; mother, daughter, and cousin to mother, were visiting and shopping. They took a long time looking at everything and decided what they would take. Mother would leave a few items near the cash register and would constantly take an item back and bring back another one. Prima (mother’s cousin) bought a small rooster magnet. She thought it would be so cute for her kitchen. Mother bought a bunch of semi-precious stone bracelets, a pig, and an angel bell. Over all it was a pretty good sale for a slow day.

              Finally the other couple bought a Native American silver cross with a turquoise stone in the center. She bought it with a silver chocker. It looked very nice on her. Over all the two sales came to be slightly over a hundred dollars so it wasn’t so bad of a sale day after all.

              Since we did not have our candle burning not a lot of people looked at the candles or bought any today. However, I noticed that almost everyone looked at the pigs. Today no one commented on them like I usually hear customers do but at least people took a look at them and one sold today.

The brave, the strong...

          The night cools down, the sun begins to set and Tiguas begin to dance. Drums beating loudly in the back as for cultural support an protection. Family, friends,all supports attended in this walk to give hope and strength for children with cancer. Each family gathered has had a child in the family diagnosed with cancer, Balloons being separated amongest each individual, and each family

 dressed in uniform support t-shirts for the child in each family. 

          The children play and enjoy the energy of the day and family members, friends began to converse i presume the overall factors that a child with cancer has undergone and the battle they fight, but their amazing strength they've shown/progressed. As t he walk begins to proceed the Tiguas lead the way of the trial while they dance and beat the drums. The Tiguas in this lead were some children dancing with maracas, lead by older Tigua members beating the drums. As the walk proceeded placed along the path were candlelight bags with drawings, names and pictures of child who are fighting cancer and for some who have lost a child due to cancer. As the walk began to proceed further and further, the conversation level of the people around in the path has increased and people are well adjusted. A child in front of me has been diagnosed with leukemia last year and is feeling "One-hundred billion times better" but the process of her progress has been a difficult one and she prayers for others to be free from cancer.

She told me that her improvement has been very exciting for her family, but along with has been a rough road the process chemotherapy has put her through. She begins to thank her family for all their love and support they have undergone with them and to  be part of this walk to support all who fight cancer. As the night begins to take over the day the Tiguas ahead of the trail begin to reach the end of the walk. People begin to gather for a speech and ceremony held by the TIguas to thank everyone for their support and for their donations to help children in need of  cancer treatments and to help the childs cancer process much easier for them and their families. After the walk was over families gathered such as a picnic gathering and each seemed to enjoy their day, after all the weather couldn't have been any better. Each family was packed with chairs, chips, ice chest full of beverages, pizza and burgers. I not noticed that many family member here are Hispanic with over 15 family member in their group. At the end of the day people began to pack up there things the end of a wonderful day to be with the ones that mean the most to you and to support the ones that struggle but fight stronger than anyone can imagine. 

An unstoppable force

As I step into the gym I am confronted with a sudden influx of new patrons. While happy to see the gym being used to its potential for once, I have a hard time finding a place to work out. Mr. O greats me and has secured a bench for today’s exercises. While working out I take note of the people working out. It seems that more beginners are at the gym, due to the improper use of equipment and unneeded accessories they use it was easy to pick them out. Mr. O points out this as an opportunity, he knows that the amount of new patrons is frustrating but maybe if it continues then the gym would require a larger area to compensate all the new people.

During sets I try to pay close attention to the people around us, it seems that the bigger people around Mr. O give him praise for his larger muscle, but he stays humble in his conversations making sure to never get cocky from the praise. One of the side effects of the influx of people seems to be the unavailability of equipment, space, and resources which make the work out time for Mr. O and myself stretch from 90 minutes to 120 minutes. It seems that a majority of the new comers usually speak to a few of the intermediates in general fitness but almost never to the body builders. It seems that there is a sort of social barrier for body builders.

Mr. O has pointed out time and time again that it is easier to be slightly fit and work for 45 minutes than it is to be fully dedicated to building muscle for hours a day five days a week. My theory is that when a majority of the new comers do not see a big benefit of working out they will quit, a few will stay and even fewer will pursue a more serious lifestyle change. I base this on the experience of a gym goer for the past two years. People realize that gaining muscle and losing fat is hard work and takes a change in the life choices of individuals and are immediately off-put by this commitment.  In my eyes I feel that joining this group of constant gym goers and putting forth every drop of will and effort each rep, each set, and each work out makes you a part of an elite group of extremely hard working people who refuse to be satisfied with their current stage in life.

I’ve noticed a big increase in my effort put in school work this semester in college compared to when I didn’t work out as hard last semester. I’ve developed a new mental attitude that isn't satisfied with “good” or “decent” it has been replaced with  the need to be “excellent” and “inspirational” . This is the same fire I see inside Mr. O, Ms. L, and all the larger weight trainers who are in the gym for two hours or more a day. The determination to never stop seems to be growing in all of us who attend the gym every day. I have started to become what I am trying to study. 

Leftovers

Surprisingly, Taos on a Sunday night is a really happening place. I've somehow avoided swiping my card here on this particular day and time of the week up until this point for fear of being fed leftovers. However, no one here seems to share this fear with me.
Tonight, rather than everyone sitting by ethnicity, the tables are split by genders. Out of all of the tables, only 3 or 4 tables have both genders sitting at them.
Most people are dressed very casual, including sweats, hats, loose t-shirts, etc. The only people not dressed in this sort of attire are two guys wearing suits. They look like freshman, and my guess is that they're pledges for a fraternity.
Since a lot of the food stations were closed tonight, most people have a burger except for the few who stuck it out in the pasta line. It's very strange to me that most students are basically corralled through this cafeteria and are forced to eat the same foods over and over.
A table full of 8 guys are sitting to my left. They keep getting on their phones and laughing to each other. Something tells me they're up to no good. They're definitely the loudest ones here.
The workers tonight are fairly relaxed. One of the ladies is hanging up decorations for the dinner to raise money for breast cancer tomorrow. She's standing on a ladder in the busy restaurant, every time someone walks by I get unreasonably nervous for her safety.
A table of sorority girls sits behind me. They're talking about a frat's "date party" that they attended last night. Based on their conversation, they party sounds like a lot of fun.
Most everyone is calm tonight. They're just sitting and talking, not very much commotion or too interesting of things to note. Until next time.

Anxiously Waiting

As I walked into the coffee shop the first thing that I noticed was this lady that was anxiously staring at the door, it was as if she was nervously waiting for someone to come in. I decided to get a table by her, that way I could observe who she was waiting for and possibly find out why she was so anxious and nervous. A few minutes later, Linda then came over to say hello and take my order. As I’m having a conversation with Linda, there is someone approaching the door, I turn to take a look at Lady, and again I could tell that as the door was opening her nervousness was at an all time high. As soon as that person walks through the door I noticed that once she saw it wasn’t who she was expecting she quickly turned to her phone, Linda noticed what I was doing. She then says, “She’s been here since we opened, the whole morning she’s been staring at the door. I too want to know who she’s so anxiously waiting for.” As Linda walked away I looked down at my watch, it was about to be 10:30 a.m. Had Lady really been here since 6:30 a.m.?

Her behavior had intrigued me; who was she waiting for, and for that long? Every time anyone approached the door her behavior was the same, thirty minutes go by and nothing changes. At this point I just want the person she’s waiting for to arrive. I was looking down at my watch when the clock strikes 11:23 a.m., as I look up I see a really pretty girl walk in, Lady was just starring down at her phone, she hadn’t noticed that someone had just walked in. The girl, Bee, approaches the table where Lady is sitting down; at this point my entire focus is on them. Who is that girl? As Lady looks up at Bee, I saw her face light up, it was as if she hadn’t seen her in forever, she quickly got up and hugged her. Lady began to cry, I could tell Bee was happy to see Lady but she wasn’t showing as much emotion as Lady was. They both then took a seat, and began to talk.

Linda walks over and says, “Who do you think she is? Her daughter?”, I didn’t know what to think, Bee’s reaction kind of threw me off, why wasn’t she as excited, nervous or even anxious to see Lady as Lady was to see her? After that it seemed as if they were just having a calm conversation, their behaviors didn't tell me much after that.

Boot Barn

It was a cloudy day on September 22, 2014 my friend Cameron and I decided to go to the mall and look at boots at boot barn.  We walk into the store and notice there aren’t a lot of people in the store. As we started to look at their hats. I show Cameron the hat I want to get sometime in the near future. The hat is a chocolate brown color with a square top and a nice crease on it. She says it’s a nice hat but would rather have a white or tan hat instead. We continued looking around and found some nice western long sleeve shirts. The one I like the most was a pink shirt with a white stripe design on it. They had other shirts I liked to there was a blue one and a purple shirt I wouldn’t mind buying. The shirts were a little expensive for my taste. I have noticed that this store and another western store I go to marks their shirts a little too high for me. The shirt was $60 which isn’t horrible but I don’t want to pay that much for a shirt.

We then decided to go look at boots because we are both wanting a new pair.  She started trying on boots that were pretty nice. The first pair she tried on was really nice they were a dark brown boot with a brown top with a turquoise pin stripe down both sides. The boots were square toes which are really good looking boots. They had a kind feather design on the tops which looked really cool. The sole of the boot was rubber and the heel was rubber too. The next pair of boots Cameron tried on were nice too. They were light brown on the bottom of the boot and a really nice light blue with a white pin stripe down both sides. They also had a feather design, rubber sole and rubber heal. The next pair of boots she pick were a little different but still nice. The boots were completely brown with a crazy line designs on them. The sole was wood and the heal was wood, between the heal and the sole there was a chain which just adds style. The last pair Cameron tried on were beautiful they were tan. There was a really cute flower design and the toe of the boot and went all the way up to the top of the boots. The sole and heal were both wood and had a little square toe on them. After she tried those on she decided to see what boots I liked.

I looked at a bunch of different boots. But there were these one pair of boots that caught my eye. These were the ugliest and dumbest boots I have ever seen. They were brown square toe boots that had really stupid stuff on them. The toe of the boot had rubber strips on the tops with these ugly lime green lines. Then the tops of the boots had lime green lines go up the sides and had a squishy top. The boots were $300 I have never seen a boot cost that much and be so ugly. The second pair of boots I saw I really liked. The boots were square toed and had a light brown bottom. The sole was wood and so was the heal but the bottom piece of the heal was rubber. The tops were really nice they had western feather design which looked really nice and the tops were a greyish blue that was really pretty. The other pair of boots I liked were black square toes with a wood bottom and wood heal. The tops were black also and had the same type of design the brown pair of boots had which looked really classy on the black.

Cameron and I both decided not to get boots that day but I did end up buying a new belt buckle before leaving. The belt buckle is silver with a gold outline, it has a picture of a man kneeling at the cross with his horse right behind him that also is gold. Above and below the picture there are 3 stars and beside them are gold feather designs in four corners around the picture. On the rim of the buckle there are four flowers in gold. The belt buckle is really nice and was really cheap for all the craftsmen ship that went into it.