Don't Wake Me Up

It's official! Sleep is crucial to our existence, and yet we are being deprived of it! Why, you may ask? Well, the answer is quite simple.  Work and school is so demanding that we stay up all night trying to finish everything we have to do before the next day.  Most people do not realize how important sleep really is. They don't realize that we spend around "1/3 of our lives" sleeping (paragraph 1).  Why would we spend so much time "completely out of it" if it didn't really matter (paragraph 1)? The reality is that sleeping does a lot more than we think it does.  When we sleep, our brain forms and consolidates "memories and it plays a central role in the formation of new neuronal connections and the pruning of old ones" (paragraph 2).  All of this is said by doctors in a fascinating article I read on sleep deprivation.

Dr. Nedergaard explains is that the brain clears out all of the "junk that has accumulated as a result of your daily thinking" (paragraph 3).  Another thing written in the article is that sleep may cause diseases or be a result of a disease.  "80 percent of working adults suffer from sleep deprivation" (paragraph 13).  This is probably because they are constantly pulling off all nighters to impress their co-workers or boss.

I have seen this first hand with my dad and oldest sister, Tatiana.  My dad is constantly up in the early morning doing business calls.  He usually falls asleep around 8 p.m. and wakes up at 4 a.m.. This caused insomnia.  Recently he had to sleep at the hospital so doctors could monitor his sleeping schedule. My sister, on the other hand, is constantly pulling all nighters now that she is a senior in college and having important internships.  It's easy to tell when she has been working because she isn't very focused on our family discussions.

It is clear that sleep deprivation causes us to completely lose it.  We lose focus and usually become cranky or, in some cases, delirious.  I have experienced this first hand.  In Turkey, my sisters and I pulled an all nighter. The next morning it looked as if we were on drugs or something.  We would go from insanely hyper to cranky to exhausted.  Therefore, sleep is very important.  It's important for medical reasons and for life.  Without sleep, we cannot properly function.  I guess there are only two questions left.  Why does school still start so early?  Why do business people and school kids have such a heavy load of work once they have left school or the office?

Ruined House, Ruined Vocabulary Book

"We left Marley alone during a thunderstorm and we came back the house was completely destroyed" (Locations 240-245).  That is so unfortunate.  Can you imagine leaving the house for a few hours and then coming home with it being completely destroyed? Luckily, I never have had to go through that.  At least not directly like that.  However, one time I left Bella alone because I had ballet.  When I came back, my vocabulary book was completely destroyed.  I had homework due the next day and I literally had to say, "Ms. Garland, my dog ate my homework."  I took the book for evidence.  She couldn't believe it! She literally took my book and showed it to all of the other 6th grade teachers.  It was kinda humiliating.  For me, that was a tragedy.  I cannot imagine coming home to my house being in ruins!

Unfortunately for Josh, that is exactly what he came home to.  That was when he and Jenny, his wife, learned that Marley was afraid of thunderstorms.  He was not much older.  He was still a puppy in many ways.  His reaction was surprisingly calm.  I would have thrown a fit and called my parents asking for their help.  Josh, on the other hand, just cleaned it up and ended up laughing about it later on.  That is when the phrase "sucks to suck" can truly be used.  The worst part is that this event is only the beginning of their troubles.  Marley has a lot more up his sleeve.  He is disobedient and is constantly embarrassing them.  He is definitely the opposite of Saint Shaun, Josh's childhood dog.  Marley is literally the perfect example of a devil dog, at least for now.

New Year, New Book

Marley and Me is a successful novel written by John Grogan that eventually became a movie.  It is about a family who starts their life off in Florida and buys a crazy dog, Marley.  Since I can relate to it perfectly, I chose this to be my second independent novel.

It's scary how alike you can be to people you don't know at at all.  That is exactly the case in this novel.  Josh is from Michigan, so is my mother.  He met his wife in Western Michigan, and weirdly enough, that is where my mom had met my dad.  Then they got married and moved to South Florida right outside of Fort Lauderdale.  Guess where I am from.  Yes, right outside the lovely city of Fort Lauderdale!  On top of that, he had the perfect dog when he was young (before Marley).  I had a perfect dog too before the dog I have now.  My perfect dog's name was Cotufa.  She was my companion and we grew up together.  Unfortunately, she died when I turned nine.  That year was when I found my Marley, and her name was Bella.

Marley was very similar to Bella when we bought her.  Marley "pounced at his shoes as though convinced they were dangerous enemies that needed to be destroyed" (Locations 231-37).  He even had a "crazy look in his eye" when they first bought him (Locations 267-72).  Just from my experience with Bella, I wish them the best.

Bad Guy Version Of G.I. Joe

The mission was not successful.  Tiger crashed his helicopter into the mountains of Medellin and lost his life.  At least people actually grieved over his passing.  The "Brits" truly cared and admired him.  They valued his courage along other things.  The colombians also looked up to Tiger.  He would be the one to make jokes, even if they were in possibly the worst situation ever.

The whole description of the unsuccessful mission reminded me of the film G.I. Joe.  It specifically reminded me of the scene in Paris where they mess up and the evil people escape.  The Joes in the movie, just like the people in the cartel, don't give up.  They plan ahead and fix the flaws in their strategies.  Anyone could admire the "Joes" or the people in the cartel for their determination and courage.  It's too bad that the cartel is actually made up of criminals.

Jorge would strongly disagree with that idea.  He expresses the idea of the godfathers being the criminals, not their security detail.  He specifically says that he is "not a criminal".  He does not "live the life the cartel bosses do" (locations 679-85).  He protects them but has nothing to do with the drugs. What Jorge does not realize is that by protecting the godfathers of the Cali Cartel, he is protecting all of the drugs that they sell.  Therefore, he truly is a criminal who will have to suffer the consequences.  EVERYONE in the Cali Cartel truly are the bad guys.  That organization is the bad guy version of G.I. Joe.

Isolation

Isolate: to be or remain alone or apart from others

This is exactly how Jorge feels.  He is completely alone and is frightened.  There are attacks everywhere.  He cannot even escape them in his sleep! On top of that, he could "never tell Lena". In his dream, "he was stalked by a man with a gun, a faceless stranger who kept getting closer.  Finally the gun was in his face, its enormous muzzle inches away." I guess all of this is what led to him "needing a time off" (Locations 641-47).

How can one truly live in mental isolation? It would drive me insane! He doesn't share his private life with his coworkers, and he can't share anything about his job with Lena.  What a burden! Additionally, he is expecting a baby and is planning a mission.  I cannot imagine the about of stress he must've been going though.  People's lives are constantly on the line! Any simple screw up could've ended one of their lives!  How can one plan to raise a child in that environment?! At least he "drew the line at trafficking" (locations 656-61).  This story, so far, has allowed me to realize how simple my life truly is.  It has also taught me to be grateful for everything I have.  Others, as shown in this novel, are not so fortunate as the rest of us.

Where the Heck Do They Get It All?!

"The shiny aluminum box van was a mobile armory filled with automatic rifles, pistols, grenades, antitank rockets, and detonators." (Locations 629-35)

"They carried enough combined firepower to kill more than 3,000 Escobar defenders." (Locations 635-41) 

Holy smokes! First of all, where the heck does one possibly find all of these weapons?! The godfathers get a hold of them like it's nothing.  They act as if buying weapons were like buying shoes.  You can buy as many as you want and without consequences.  In the normal world, this is definitely not the case! A person needs a license only to buy a single gun.  Imagine how many one person would need to get a hold of all of that! How do they do it?!

Not only is that shocking, it is also petrifying! Imagine living during that time.  If I were a regular citizen in Cali, I would be horrified to walk out the front door! Can you imagine living in a city knowing another person has all of these weapons? On top of the fact that they buy them as if they were buying shoes?!  These two sentences bewildered me.  This topic was the only thing I could think about as I carried on with the novel.  It's the only thing I can think about now!

Today people are frightened when they hear about guns and knives.  It's not normal to have a gun just lying around.  Countries around the world are going through panic attacks due to the amount of violence that is going on.  This year alone there have been many school shootings in the United States.  Obviously, the use of weapons is frowned upon by almost everyone!  I could not imagine having a car full of weaponry right in front of me. If I did have it in front of me, I would find a way to get rid of it all! I would want nothing to do with it! It gives me the hebegebes only thinking about it. How does Jorge and his British friends embrace all of it? How do they find it amazing? Their thoughts here are just wrong.  Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinions, but one thing is to have an opinion and another thing is to act on that opinion.

He Died? How Unfortunate.

Death: the end of the life of a person or organism

Grief: deep sorrow that is caused by someone's death

"He was midway between the car and his office when five men with Miles rose up in the truck bed and opened fire." (Locations 569-75)

That is how Jorge's friend's life ended. He was on the job and lost his life.  This should have troubled everyone in the cartel.  They should have grieved over their lost friend because, as shown above, death and grief belong together.  Shockingly enough, this was not the case.  They carried on with their lives.  They replaced him with Jorge and Mario, who were on their way to London when they received the call from their bosses. According to Jorge, they "weren't at all bothered by this high-level loss.  There were no expressions of sorrow."  Isn't that the opposite of what should have happened? Clearly the man was close to them.  He was a part of their "high-level" security.

This all goes to show how violent and careless cartel bosses are.  They only care about themselves and their fellow godfathers.  The people around them are easily replaceable.  It doesn't really matter if they die or not because who cares about the actual person! They only care about how good of a job that person does.  I find all of that to be inhumane!  I could not, under any circumstances, turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior.  Jorge seems to be having a difficult time turning a blind eye to the horrendous things occurring around him.  He finally begins to think to himself, "what have I gotten myself into?"

This proves everything I have already mentioned in my previous blogs.  Money can change people, so can power.  It causes people to become corrupt and only care about themselves.  Only in the end do the people realize of the huge mistakes they have made.  Unfortunately for them, it is already to late to fix everything they have done.  They must now live with the consequences.  It makes me begin to wonder if the novel will ever change.  Will things get better? Will it only be constant violence throughout the novel? How ever did he manage to overcome his fear of the godfathers in order to take them down? Seeing as to what has happened in the novel, I believe Jorge is only now beginning to see the mistake he made.  Just by what is found in the summary of the novel, it's clear that things are about to get a lot worse than what they already are.