Working at Paradise

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

One night over towards the middle of the summer my family and I decided to go to Paradise Bakery for dessert. We got our cookies and hot chocolate, and stood outside listening to the music students playing mozart and the can-can.

Pardise Bakery in Winter

It was dark out, but warm, and the line extended all the way out the door and around the corner. The manager was out handing small sample cookies out to everyone waiting, and my dad saw him just as I saw the help wanted sign in the window.

My dad called him over, and we began talking, and somehow or another we ended up asking him if I could apply for a job. A couple days later I went in for an interview, and the following day I showed up for work.

Paradise Bakery is a small coffee and ice cream shop in Aspen, Colorado who just sold their other location to Panera Bread. But what you really need to know is that their cookies are heavenly, their gelato is to die for, and their coffee is just right. And it’s all homemade downstairs.

Working at Paradise was my first job, and I showed up for work my first day nervous. I didn’t know how to make coffees, or work the register, how to treat customers, or where anything was. Who knew there was a right way to scoop ice cream?

Paradise Cookies n' CreamRead More »

Don’t Leave Me.

eternity1030Leave a comment

The warmness in your eyes
Just like how the sun shines
Remember the day we first met
You bit
On my old furry carpet



I always tell you my thoughts
You always sit patiently on the stairs
Although you never speak
But you gently lick
On my left chubby cheek


Chasing a ball
Running in the hall
Come to me happily when I call
With your shaking tail
That’s our life
For all

We had our precious decade
But now you can’t even stand
With your paw in my hand
For the tears that I shed
Don’t leave me
Don’t make it the end.

Fight through Pain-It hurts to write this one, guys!

backinphilly2 Comments

I mean that completely literally, by the way. Last night, we traveled to Maricopa to play a football game. We knew from the beginning that this one was going to be a battle.

This is probably the understatement of the century.

We worked hard and just couldn’t make anything happen on either side of the ball. We started strong, and finished strong. But somewhere in the middle, we lost ourselves a little bit.

We didn’t lose our drive and our determination. We were confused and in pain. A lot of what happened last night was very controversial, especially to the spectators, who had a pretty good view of the carnage that was being left on the field.

I want to thank the spectators that came out to support and cheer us on. I speak for the whole team when I say we could never show how much we appreciate the shouts and yells from the sidelines. Trust me, we hear you.

The reason this post hurts is actually completely physical pain. I’m still a little shaken in the head from taking as many hits as I did. Also, I have a very swollen hand that is making typing very impossible. I am also sitting in a position that keeps the computer close to my body, as I cannot fully extend my left arm.

None of that matters, however.

Pain heals itself.

We will get back to work this week and keep on going.

Enjoy this picture of men running into each other.

For those wondering who that is, yes it’s Brian Dawkins hitting Alge Crumpler :).

Souls from Southeast Asia – Pee Sai

theycallmedameLeave a comment


His name is Pee Sai.
He is 23-years-old.
He is my friend.

Pee Sai speaks very little English, and I speak absolutely no Burmese, but the language barrier is not detrimental towards our friendship.  I don’t need to speak his language to know that Pee Sai is hilarious, kind, and worrysome.  He does not need to speak my language to know how well we get along.

When I first met Pee Sai, I had just crossed the Burmese-Thai border after sitting between the two countries in horrendous heat for an hour.  I was sweaty, irritated, and was suffering from one of my headaches; he was shy, not speaking to anyone as we found our way to the bus that would take us throughout Burma.

I officially met Pee Sai outside of a school in the Burmese mountains.  I was asked to grab my ukulele from the bus so our group could sing a song for the schoolchildren, and Pee Sai was asked to escort me.

“Hello, I am Pee Sai, what is your name?”
“Hi, I’m Aria!”

When I tried to converse further, I realized how those few words were some of the only English words Pee Sai knew.  After we discovered this hurdle, we communicated through outrageous gestures, silly faces, and universal sounds of approval, disapproval, annoyance, and happiness.

Pee Sai would seem to be, to most of anyone, a shy but friendly face; a man who has lived a relatively easy life and recognizes that.

Pee Sai has not lived such a life.Read More »

Burma VJ

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Burma VJ is a 2008 Danish Documentary. It tells the story of a group of reporters in Burma, which is a closed country, who film the 2007 protests and smuggle the footage out of the country. Their footage was used by CNN, BBC, and other news stations to tell the rest of the world of the proceedings in Burma.

The film is narrated by one of the reporters, who is forced to leave the country and work form Thailand after being caught with his camera out and interrogated by the police. Throughout the movie, he references the 1988 revolution.

In 1988 the people of Burma rose up and protested the government. As a result of the uprising, 3,000 people were killed. The country spent 19 years in fear, too afraid to speak up.

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We Run.

eternity10302 Comments

Yesterday was a special day for me. I had my first cross country meet in my life.

We left for The Thatcher School for the meet. The whole team went there and most of us were going to run under the fervent sun for 3 miles.

My leg still hurt from last day’s practice and I didn’t really feel nervous until we stood on the starting line, with other girls talking by my side. They cheered, laughed. Five of us – me, Min Ju, Momoe, Emmy and Ally represented our school. I was in Line 6, the number stands for luck in Chinese.

“Take your mark, ready, GO! ” We flew out of the lines like birds finally gained freedom from the cages. “Three miles, just as what we usually run at school. ” I encouraged myself.

It was hard, I admitted. We need to run two times of the course. For the first one, Min Ju and I was running together and we sometimes talked to each other so that we would not feel tired.

I ran.

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Brian Dawkins-An Eagle Forever

backinphilly1 Comment

Last week, Brian Dawkins‘ number 20 was retired by the Philadelphia Eagles during their game against the New York Giants on Sunday night Football. As many of my readers may recall, my role model has been Brian Dawkins throughout my entire life. He’s the number one reason I play football. He has acted as someone that I strive to be everyday. This past Sunday was the final act in Dawk’s storied career.

The Friday before the game, my cousin went to Lincoln Financial Field to join in the celebration with the rest of the Eagles personnel. The team, coaches and alum were celebrating Dawkins’ career and my cousin decided that he wanted to get involved. While not to the extent of myself, my cousin also has a strong admiration of “Weapon X”.

My cousin then made his move and did something that I will always appreciate and never forget. He decided to surprise me by getting Dawk to call my cell phone and talk to me. I almost had my chance.

EXCEPT I WAS AT FOOTBALL PRACTICE!!!!

However, Dawk left a voicemail that I consider almost better. I can never replay a conversation that I have over the phone, but I can always replay the voicemail. He didn’t even have to say too much. He just told me to “Make sure I ball out every play”. For those that don’t know, “ball out” means to play every play like it’s your last. I’ve been living that way since day 1 of my football career, and Dawk’s words have resonated throughout my mind, body, heart and soul since the first Eagles game I ever went to.

That voicemail has meant the world to me. I have played it every night since I’ve received it before I go to bed. Finally, I have a piece of the Wolverine that I can share with everyone.

App Review: Dungeon Village

frog3Leave a comment

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Hello. As anyone who goes to OVS knows gaming has been banned in the dorms. There is a grayish area however (More of a ignorable area). iPhone Apps, more specifically iPhone Games can be amazing.

At 1ST Dungeon Village may seem like a Gameboy era Final Fantasy or Zelda game. In reality it is an entertaining bastardization of the Sims.

In Dungeon Village your job is to build a town that will host typical RPG Adventurers: knights, archers, merchants, or mages. You are given some gold, one adventurer and a quick tutorial before you are left to your own devices. In spite of its low graphics the game does have some complexity.

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Camping, Here We Come!!!

moustachulous1 Comment

Last year, I went camping with third graders for three days. It was a lot of work, but tons fun. I got to miss three days of school hanging out at the beach everyday and just being a kid again. Who couldn’t love that? Well the reason why I mention this is because I get another amazing opportunity to go with the third graders again. I am leaving tomorrow (Wednesday, October 2, 2012) and will be back on Friday. I’m actually really excited to go. It is nice to take a little break from school that is longer than two days. I’m going to miss my friends and my lovely horse, but it will only be three days. Don’t miss me too much while I’m gone! I’ll write all about it on Friday or Saturday!

Oh and I don’t have any pictures yet because, well I haven’t gone yet, so here is a picture of a cat.

App Review: Puppet Wars

frog3Leave a comment

ede Hello. As anyone who goes to OVS knows gaming has been banned in the dorms. There is a grayish area however (More of a ignorable area). iPhone Apps, more specifically iPhone Games can be amazing.

The one that I have been obsessed with of late is Puppet Wars Episode 1. For everyone who likes First Person Shooters but can no longer enjoy them this is the solution for you.

Puppet Wars is like this. You are a janitor, a survivor of the Puppet Apocalypse. Your old job was cleaning toilets at a Puppet TV Station; your new job is killing Puppets.

At level one the puppets are weak, stupid, and purple. As the levels get more difficult the variety of the puppets increase. Before you know it your fighting: agile yellow puppets, invisible Ninja Puppets, purple puppets that throw heat-seeking chickens,

and (my favorite) red puppets that pop out of trashcans and throw tomatoes at you. After a while you will encounter your first boss, a troll-like monster puppet.

The weapons in Puppet Wars are divided into two categories, Melee and Firearms. At level one you are given a pistol and a mop. The pistol and the mop are effective at 1st but they are soon rendered obsolete by the increasing difficultly of the game. As you progress through the levels you begin unlocking new and more powerful weapons. Some of these weapons are (of course) quite ridiculous. The most over the top weapons in Episode 1 are the Plunger-Crossbow and the Mystic Sword (mystic sword= OP).
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Weapons are not the only things that help you in your quest to kill every puppet that moves. Puppet Wars has added perks giving you a wider ranger of abilities and tactics. My favorite perk is the Invisible cape, it not only renders you invisible for a limited time but it also confuses the puppets.

Unlocking weapons and perks is not very hard; buying them is the real challenge. After you unlock a weapon or perk you must buy the unlocked item from the Workshop (a type of armory) by using the in-game currency. On death each puppet you kills drop a yellow star, tougher enemies drop a large yellow star. These Yellow Stars when picked up give you money that can be used to upgrade your arsenal.

This is one of the most engaging apps on Apples App Store. Good Graphics, easy gameplay, and a smooth on screen d-pad makes this game a must buy for app and FPS lovers (minor annoyance; there is no reload button).