Letting Go

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 285-347 (Total: 940)

Andy supervises at one of Miranda's parties with Ilana, a security guard. Andy takes Emily's place in assisting Miranda for her annual Fashion trip in Paris.

When Andy meets up with Ilana, Ilana hands Andy a picture of Miranda's head enlarged glued onto a rattle snake's body. Given that these two working gals hate Miranda, this picture was necessary for Andy to release stress. Although this photograph gave Andy the momentary alleviation, it did not solve her problem. Being the smart girl that Andy is, she rips up the dehumanizing picture of Miranda in realization that holding a grudge against her boss would not help reverse her what-used-to-be Friday nights with her friends. One reason why I believe some people are never happy in their life is because they are unable to let go of the pass. They have to realize that the damage has already been done, and holding resentment against someone/thing would not erase the pass. Recently, I had an argument with my mother, and being immature, I decided to ignore her. Whenever my mom would ask me a question, I would walk away. At first this act satisfied me, until two days later; I knew that my decision was unmanageable and irrational. So, I accepted the fact that I had an unsuccessful argument with my mother and moved on. Andy and I both made good decisions in that we are able to escape "grudge stage" whereas some people in life are never able to. These are the ones who live in pain.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 222-284 (Total: 877)

Andy is becoming very distant with her friends and explodes her feelings to Alex and Lily. Emily, senior assistant, also explodes.

All the yelling and commands from Miranda is driving Andy crazy. She does not appreciate how Miranda treats people so rudely just because of the position she has. I’ve noticed a different personality from club officers. I would see two sides to my friend. When she is with me, she is a happy and nice person, but when she is trying to control the 100 plus Interact members (community service club), there is a whole different side to her. She would have to yell at and threaten-that she will take away their hours if they do not quiet down- the members. This is what you have to do sometimes to get peoples attention and to have your way work, as a higher authority. Emily tries to explain to Andy that Miranda always mean well when bossing Andy around, but Andy is having a hard time believing.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 160-222 (Total: 815)

Andy meets a writer at a party and finds him attractive and has yet to tell her boyfriend about Christian(the writer) asking Andy out on a date. Andy and Lily will now be living in an apartment together, and Miranda continues to order Andy around.

Andy is getting really sick of people being fantasized by her job. They believe that she is living in a job of luxury, yet Andy still doesn’t tell the people her truth- that the job is not a "fantastic opportunity" (Page 173). Every person she encounters with tells her how amazing it must be to work for the chief editor of a fashion magazine. Andy is unable to tell each person the real truth that she is suffering every moment having to slave for Miranda Preistly, her boss. Instead, she tells B-DAD (Miranda's husband) that everything is running smoothly. Andy's lack of honesty upsets me, because I sometimes feel unappreciated, frustrated, saddened, and angered when receiving a false answer. I would say that I am quite intuitive for being able to quickly sense feelings and thoughts of others. Like, when I was asked my friend about how things were going with her life, she responded that everything was fine; even though her voice stated yes, I saw the concerns in her eyes and knew that there was definitely something going on. This lie is also present during American culture lifestyle: You would hear an employee ask his co-worker how he is doing and he would reply with a “fine.” When really, there is more to the “fine.” Andy does have the right to want her privacy, but what I really think is going on is her not wanting her vulnerabilities to be displayed. After all, she does have a reputation to hold as a workman for Runway, the hottest magazine company. So, this is the sacrifice, painful holdings of truths, that one, Andy and perhaps others, suffers from, in the return for a positive peripheral look. Sometimes it is easier to just tell a lie then to go on with the whole truth, and this may help explain why sometimes when you ask someone how they are doing, they suddenly break down and tell you the whole story, because they cannot hold it, their untold pains, any longer.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 99-159 (Total: 752)

With the holidays being over, Miranda returns back to the city and things turn from bad to horrible. Andy notices some differences about her self- her weight loss, less time with Lily and Alex, and her increasing stress level and fear of being fired with every conversation she has with Miranda.

Miranda had sent Andy out on a mission to retrieve two of the not-yet-to-be-sold Harry Potter books for Miranda's daughters, unfortunately only one book arrives and Andy, pressured under unemployment, left her friend Lily and their movie marathon party to fix the mysterious mission. Lily does not understand why Andy complains so much about her job, where "any girl would die for it." (pg.108) Every person she runs into tells her how lucky she is to land a job at Runway magazine, but only Andy knows the truth. Andy's job may seem worthwhile and the best to others but it defiantly is not. What you see does not necessarily dictate for what something is. To form a legitimate opinion on something, you need to experience it yourself, and then you can judge for yourself. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato talks about shadows being the false truth and the sun being reality. He states that only one with his “eyes fixed” can go on to understand what is “beautiful and right.” Fixed eyes is someone who has experienced both sides of the situations, and is able to form a more legitimate opinion, and Andy would be the representation of fixed eyes. Whereas Lily, her friend who does not work in Runway, is in the unknown-the cave- where she only hears about the job, thus creating her own visual “shadow”: her false perception. Both Lily and Andy have opinions that are truths to themselves, but Andy’s truth is more valid since it is a first hand experience.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 38-98 (Total: 691)

Andy (Andrea) ordered furniture for her new room and enjoyed her independency( away from her parents) even though she lives with two roommates: Kendra and Shanti who are also workaholics. Andy celebrated Thanksgiving with her family and told them-sister Jill, mother, and father- about her new job.

On the first day of Andy's job, she learns from Emily, that Miranda Priestly is on her annual vacation and will not be in the Elias-Clark building for one month. From all the rumors about Miranda Priestly being harsh, Andy is glad that she has some time to adjust herself before Miranda arrives back in New York. Andy cannot help but feel excluded from her co-workers about conversations and gossips of A-listers whom she does not recognize. The obvious difference between her and her co-workers doubts her abilities of commitment and intentions. Over Andy’s Thanksgiving dinner with her family she plays it cool by explaining the exclusivity and desires of her job, yet her father, a shrink, was certain there was more behind what she was saying. Andy commits her concern of belonging and whether she will learn or gain anything from this mindless job, but her father reassures her that she is making the right decision. The feeling of loneliness has also struck upon me when I was in a class full of students who have already formed into cliques where I was not in. My attitude changed and made me want to give up on learning, then I realized that I did not go to school to try to fit in, but to learn. An impressive resume is Andy’s priority and education, mine. As long as we both keep our priorities straight, we will achieve what we want.

Title: The Devil Wears Prada
Pages: 1-37 (Total: 630)

Andrea, an aspiring journalist with dreams of working at The New Yorker, interviews at magazine Runway in hopes of building a creditable resume. Andrea interviewed with Emily and Alison and was hired.

Even though fashion is not Andrea's total "thing," -creative writing is more of her interest-Andrea wants this bad enough to accept the job. In fact, she states, "I didn't know anything about fashion and I didn't care. At all. And therefore, I had to have it."(pg. 14) It is funny how something we never once desired for, suddenly becomes a small obsession of a must have when it is unavailable. This is part of the human tendency to want what you cannot have. Maybe this reasoning explains why girls are attracted to the bad boy types or why some citizens love to do a little meddling with the law. The danger and thrill is what intrigues a person to convince them towards the unattainable. Even with Andrea’s watchful distinctions between her dress style and the Runway's working employees does not stop her from a challenge.

Title: Cupidity
Pages: 183-273 (total: 593)

Laura, now fed up with the responsibility of the magical bow and arrow, decided to confront Cupidity yet, she runs into Cupidity's "father"- who is actually Mercury, the Roman god. Mercury then reveals the truth- of his and Cupidity's disguise and the whole plan in that Cupidity is assisting Laura to get a boyfriend- to Laura and tells her that she is the one who must find Venus to help solve this dilemma.

Is trouble brought upon us or is trouble brought upon ourselves? Trouble is associated with us, and only us, when we interact with it. Trouble and misfortune just cannot come all to you without any self involvement: reaction, input, action, and voluntary presence. Laura asked the gods for their help and never fully accepted the plans of the god, Cupid (in disguise as Cupidity). Laura's action and reaction is trouble brought upon her. Although she created her own situation, she remarkably solved her own problem, of course, with the help of Venus, Mercury, and the satyrs. In convincing Venus to come to Fimbrey High School and saving the lives of teenagers' hearts that were falsely in love, was Laura's dissatisfaction solved. With the help of Venus, Laura was able to reverse the spell of the bow and arrows leaving all couples together except for Megan and Peter, who were only in love because of the magic. In the end, Laura did prove her friend Taryn wrong; Laura did too get a boyfriend by the end of the year, who just happened to be one of her good friends, Peter. Laura created a course for herself, and made it out just the way she would have wanted it. The things that we want and desire does not come to us; we have to fight for it just like the way Laura did.

Title: Cupidity
Pages: 127-182 (Total: 502)

Laura, still curious about Cupidity as Cupid and the anarchy of the most opposite people getting together, researches the topic of love, from love potions, spells, candles, fortune-telling, and the history of Cupid and Venus. After her double date with Rip, Cupidity, and Cody, Laura meets with a love psychic to finally prove her hypothesis that the arrow Cupidity owns is the one Venus, the god of love, has and that innocent people are falling in love with each other for no real meaningful desire by the shot of Cupidity's magic arrow and bow.

Laura's determination to prove what she believes in is what any one human would do. He would too go mad at the fact that no one else is seeing wrong with the two worlds colliding: the mixture of social class A and B. She earlier stated that it was either of two possibilities, that she was either crazy or the rest of the world was crazy. The character's perception here, even through present day, displays the truth that we, human beings, still live in a world where we believe we should abide where we "belong", within our social class-judging through race, sex, religion, age, looks, wealth, personality, and intellect. Laura's madness about the sudden change of stereotypical regularities, stirs up her world into actions where she is out to solve the mystery. This action of hers further implies Laura’s incapability to accept the changes of reality breaking the traditional mold, that Blacks do marry Whites and that a female has as much right as a male.

Title: Cupidity

Pages: 66-126 (Total: 446)

Cupid's goal is to find Laura a boyfriend, but Cupidity was able to assist everyone- Emma, the Goth girl, and Peter, the school nerd-but Laura. Laura is starting to feel that there is something strange about how Peter and Megan and Jake and Laura, the two most unlikely peoples were able to be in a committed relationship.

Laura is becoming very suspicious of Cupidity, besides her coincidental name towards Cupid and her fascination for bows and arrows, Laura cannot help but contemplate Cupidity's arrival at Fimbrey High and the oddest people getting together. Sometimes when the world is getting tough, you do not know what to do, but stop and look. The world is always changing and evolving: Fashion trends, improving technology, and discoveries of new cures. What was cool five, ten, fifty years ago is no longer "cool." And, this is when you realize that you are not in movement with the rest of the world. Events, occurrences, and incidents have made history, but you are still “there” but not “here.” Laura, of course, being that she was mortal, was unable to actively distinguish the now flawless, beauty, Cupidity, as the three-foot century-year old man (after Vulcan's-one of the gods-artwork). How else can Laura conclude that Cupidity is actually Cupid when what she sees is all she can believe? Laura's arising suspicions may very well discover the truth about Cupidity, but it has left her in a “pickle” with nothing else to do but stop and look.

Title: Cupidity
Pages: 1-65 (Total: 386)

Laura beginning senior year, in search of a first boyfriend, unknowingly and desperately calls to Jupiter to send her a boyfriend. Little did she know that the gods above received her request and Cupid is turned into a stunning actress type teenager girl who purposely befriends Laura on her first day of school to assist her in getting a boyfriend.

Laura is the characterized as the classic smart type with the wonderful G.P.A in dual competition with her childhood friend Peter for Valedictorian. Over the summer, she commits to her best friend Taryn that she would get a boyfriend, and that being said, he would be the most desired boy at school, Jake Mattson-the hottest jock on campus. This book is, once again, another cheesy, corny, yet "cannot get enough of" type of romance novelty that a young girl would love to read, also known as the "chick lit." Many producers create "chick flicks" where the poor yet adorable "girl next door" is ignored by the populars, but is amazingly noticed by a sincere soul, that just happens to have it all: the sensitive yet ridiculously handsome jock who is sometimes bright. We, the media consumers, love to fall for these types of crazy and somewhat realistic romantic comedies. Even though, the gist of all "chick flicks" may be generally similar, we just sometimes need a little encouragement to give all us, girls, a hope in that one day, we will meet our prince charming.

Title: You're Hired
Pages:127-198 (Total:321)

Bill Ransic advises the reader on lessons about vision, execution, and success. Among these lessons, success is the outcome of all the lessons put together.

According to the text, to achieve success, you must think things through, take inventory, fit yourself in, give something back, have balance, understand your core purpose, and draw a personal building plan. Over the weekend, I have been contemplating about success through giving back. Rancic involved himself at the Mercy Home for Boys in Chicago. I can relate with Rancic words in how, " it is only in the returning the favor that we can fully appreciate the favors that have been visited on us." I deeply understand this conception of giving and then appreciating what you have. In life, you stand somewhere among the ladder of success, whether it be money, social status, or power, it could be anything and whatever you perceive it to be, and in this viewpoint whether you are at the top, bottom, or middle, happiness is truly what one really desires. How do you generate this feeling of pure bliss? Sure, material possessions are a great way to instantaneously fill up empty feelings, but it is only temporary happiness-similarly to fake happiness. What you want is something real, something pure. I have visited my sick grandparents this summer, and in giving my time through assisting and caring for them at the nursing home in Virginia, I have experienced this realization and conclusion that, what you may consider not “good” enough, others, would be entirely grateful for. It saddens me to actually have to experience to get the total message and feeling across that we, humans in general, do not take what we have for granted. Sometimes, individuals never discover bliss, because they have not given any or enough effort to find the value and appreciation of what is theirs.

Title: You're Hired
Pages: 65-126 (Total:250)

Leadership is another key lesson that had helped Ransic along his great success(his cigar business). In attaining leadership, you must attain skills such as conquering your fear, planning ahead, reading about current public events ad and economic developments, listening to your staff and customers, and encouraging your staff.

There are many roles in becoming an entrepreneur. It is like almost becoming a mother and cheerleader in one. You have to make sure to always have your team where you want them to be and to give them spirit when they need it at times. The mother position is in played when directions and assignments are assigned. You always have to be more than on the top of your game because the world is always turning and you cannot expect exactly one event to happen after another. No one knows what will come of next; likewise to business. Anything can happen in an economic world. The gamble and thrill of chance and danger is what catches so many business men/women to this passion: selling.

Title: You're Hired
Pages: 1-64 (Total: 189)

Bill Rancic, the hired apprentice from The Apprentice, informs the reader with goal, value, and strategy tips. These personal description of his experience tells the reader to know him/herself because "the key to knowing what we're looking for comes in knowing where we come from."(pg. 43)

I especially liked this lesson from Ransic, because it makes me think of why I really want to become a business person. To really "know thyself" (pg. 43) is to understand who you really are, and in discovering who you are, it describes where you are at(socially, economically, politically, artisically, emotionally, and etc.) and what you need. I guess part of the reason why I want to excel so much in business is because in taking a college-self-personality-test, I discovered that I am a conventional person. A conventional person is one who likes order and lawful establishments such as tradition. This is very true. I like to work in a "safe" eviroment where you can expect exactly whatever situation were to come your way, but what Ransic was explaining is that business is full of risks. As earlier read in, The Girl's Guide to Starting your Own Business, I was open to the risks that you have to take in order to operate a buisness. Being a conventional person means that I have to escape part of that to become "the bee"(pg. 62); the "bee" is to be whatever one least expect, and do whatever it takes to get a thing done. So, in all, to really stand up on my own and "break from the pack" (pg. 62), I should become the "bee".

Title: The Girl's Guide to Starting your Own Business
Pages: 64-125 (Total: 125)

There are many steps into getting the right business for you. Before, you can actually jump to any business of your own; there is "the scary stuff": legalities, licenses, permits, financials, fundings, and contemplation of name and product to think about.

Even though I enjoy the competition that comes with business, reading about all the risks and investment-taking is starting to scare me. First of all, I do not have an official genuine product of my own to sell nor the money to start off with, or have decided on what type of legal structure I am for. I know I sound like I am panicking, but this is why I am reading this book, to help me see ahead of what I will be getting into before I actually dive in. One of the things I learned from reading this book is that risk taking is something that you have to get used to since business is like a gamble everyday, not knowing whether your customers want more or less of your product in which case, risking money. There are many steps you have to take to reach where you want to be, and nothing comes easy.

Title: The Girl's Guide to Starting your own Business
Pages: 1-63 (Total: 63)

This "how to" book, in the first 63 pages, warms the reader up to confirm if you are really interested in business with information on what business is right for you. Questions about personal work style is interrogated in order to determine if you are compatible as an entrepreneur.

I do some day would like to open a business of my own. I have always been a "seller" in my heart. I was never an official girl scout who sold cookies and sorts, but when I signed up for my first real fundraising bag of goods, this competitve side of me came out. I would feel this urge to become the best, the one who sold the most of her products, the one to succeed and become number one. I saw this business as a power giver. The money, the emulation, the satisfaction of victory is all everything you could want in a task. As, years passed on, feelings of wanting to become a business person grew in my mind and have led me to further my education on business through earning a business degreee.