The End!

I finally finished Confessions of a Shopaholic and it had a romantic, heart-warming ending. Last week’s reading ended in the beginning of her TV debate against Luke Brandon. Rebecca stepped on stage prepared for the worst, sweaty and nervous, but the debate turned out to be much different than she expected. She pulled out some intelligent-sounding facts and strong opinions and surprisingly Luke Brandon agreed with her. He put down the company that he was supposed to be supporting…on national television! The TV station liked Rebecca’s performance so much that they told her that they would have her come on the show once in awhile to answer peoples’ call-ins about their financial troubles. She delightedly accepted the offer and the cherry on top of the sundae was when Luke Brandon asked her to go out to dinner that evening for a “business meeting”. While at the TV studio she recognized her bank manager and they had a civilized talk about how she was going to straighten out her financial problems. They set up a meeting and Becky started to realize that she needed to face her troubles rather than run from them. After arriving back at her flat she went through a pile of letters, that would have scared her to death just a couple of days ago, and she got ready for her evening with Luke. She tried to dress very sharply and in a “businessy” sort of manner, but when she got to the restaurant she realized that it was more of a romantic feasting spot and she spotted Luke dressed in a more casual but dressy suit. They had a wonderful dinner and fabulous night. Luke showed an attraction to Becky when he put his hand on hers at the table and their attractions towards each other quickly spiraled into a whirlpool after they had a romantic kiss and got a hotel room together. We will just leave it at that…Becky had a new found lover and she finally took steps towards fixing her financial problems by using her money from the article and TV appearance to pay off her debts. This was a really great book!

Life takes a turn for the better

In this week's reading, life for Becky has finally made a turn for the better. She told her parents that she was being stalked by a man named Derek Smeath, but she didn't tell them that he was her bank manager. This helped her to disconnect from her hectic life and relax for a bit. The following morning she was talking with her dad over coffee and he mentioned that a big company had recently done really well and many people were profiting greatly from their stock in the company. Their neighbors had asked Becky the last time they had seen her if it would be smart to take their money out of that stock and she had advised them to do so. Sh fealt really bad about this terrible advise because they could have made $20,000! After looking through some paperwork though, she realized that this company was actually scamming people, so she called up the Daily World newspaper and said she had a great story to write. She was told to have it done by the next day and she did just that. Her article was published and she was excited that her life was finally going in the right direction. Just when things felt like they couldn't get any better, she got a call from the Morning Coffee studios asking if she would appear on their show. She gadly accepted and couldn't wait to be on tv. While sitting in the hair and make up chair of the Morning Coffee studios, she is told that rather than just talking about her article they decided to add a little twist to the show by having a heated debate instead. They infrom her that she will be debating against a representative from the big company that she slammed in her article. And guess who that person is...Luke Brandon. Becky gets really nervous as her enjoyable morning on tv has just turned into a nervous mess.

Will Things Ever Get Better?

So, Becky Bloomwood is finally going on a date with one of Britain’s richest bachelors and she is totally pumped. The date has a pleasant start as they step into a taxi and head towards what Becky suspects is a very posh restaurant. But…it turns out that they are going to Pizza Express for dinner. He offers to take her somewhere nicer, but in an attempt to seem kind and appreciative, she chooses Pizza Express instead. They share a bottle of champagne and have a nice discussion as they wait for their food. The only problem is that in an effort to appeal to Tarquin, Becky lies about herself and what she likes. She claims to love Wagner’s music and horseback riding and hate shopping. All of which are completely untrue. As they are discussing, Becky creates a fabulous story about how her dead aunt created a foundation for violinists in Mozambique. Tarquin finds this very interesting and quickly pulls out his check book to write a 5,000 pound check for the organization. He writes it out to Rebecca Bloomwood because Becky claims that she doesn’t know who to write donations out to. He hands over the check, but Becky can’t get herself to grab the check. This is the rectangular piece of paper that could clear away all her debt and she can’t get herself to grasp the paper! He simply burns it in the table candle and they continue their discussion. Later in the evening, he gets up to go to the bathroom and leaves his checkbook on the table. Becky starts leafing through it and to her surprise looks up to find Tarquin staring at her. She is very embarrassed and the date quickly ends. She gets home and talks to Suze about the date. Tarquin had already called Suze and told her that it just wasn’t going to work because he didn’t think Becky was interested in him. He said this to cover up the harsh truth and let the situation down easily. Becky feels terrible about what she has done and in an effort to cure her pain she of course…goes shopping. After loading her arms up with department store goods, she goes to the cash register to find that none of her credit cards work because they have all been cancelled due to the fact that she hasn’t paid her bills. She is very disturbed so she goes to her parents’ house to find some peace and quiet.

10th Blog Posting

Becky Bloomwood’s life is not going well, but luckily she gets a fresh start the next day as she goes to her job. While trying to proofread a boring stack of papers, she is gladly interrupted by a coworker who wants her to go to a personal finance fair. She is lenient at first, but the mention of a free champagne luncheon intrigues her. While scanning the sheet of information, she notices that Brandon Communications, Luck Brandon’s company, is hosting the fair. She decides to be a mature person and just proudly face him, if she encounters him at all. That Friday, she arrives at the personal finance fair, in a happy, “TGIF” mood. Given her bad luck, she of course is spotted by Luke Brandon who walks over in an attempt to start a conversation. Becky quickly ends their talk and walks away with the excuse that she needs to interview people for the magazine. In an attempt to escape Luke Brandon, she walks up to two, friendly-looking people and addresses herself, saying that she is interviewing people for her magazine. Becky is horrified to realize that the two people she is conversing with are the people from her bank that continually contact her about her overdue bills. She is embarrassed because she has made so many excuses as to why she hasn’t paid her bills on time. They eventually recognize her and she quickly leaves the fair after an awkward and humiliating encounter. Becky arrives home to find Suze, her roommate, reading a magazine with a list of Britain’s top 100 richest bachelors. Becky takes a look at the article and finds Luke Brandon on the list, but she is soured by his picture. She also finds Tarquin Cleath-Stuart on the list, Suze’s cousin. Tarquin has always had an attraction to Becky, but she has never really liked him much, though this list quickly changes her thoughts. He had asked her out to dinner a couple nights ago and she had hesitantly said yes. She had been dreading the dinner, but after seeing that his net value is 25 million pounds, her view is quite different. She dreams of marrying him and having lots of money. She is now thoroughly looking forward to going on a date with one of Britain’s richest bachelors.

Annotated Bibliography

Should the United States send birth control programs overseas in order to help correct overpopulation?

Xenia, Jillian. "Overpopulation". TakingITGlobal. 7 Dec. 2008 .
This article is written by a 17 year old Canadian student named Jillian Xenia. She talks about the causes of overpopulation in our world. The resources in our world are not evenly distributed and this leads to malnutrition and poverty in certain third world countries. The women in these third world countries don’t make enough money to pay for birth control, so they continue to have babies. A vicious circle is created because overpopulation leads to poverty and poverty leads to overpopulation. Female illiteracy is another issue because if more women in third world countries were educated, they could make better decisions for their family in knowing that they shouldn’t have more children than exceed their family’s resources. Religion also plays a deep role in overpopulation because many belief systems tell females that using birth control or having an abortion makes you a sinner. She ends the article by stating that what it all comes down to is inequality. If we all work together and educate each other we will have a much stronger world.

Bedard, Paul. "Third World Birth Control Tops Gore's". WestLake Solutions, Inc. 7 Dec. 2008 .
This article is about the views of Al Gore and how he has found a connection between overpopulation and pollution. He believes that over-seas birth control programs can help the overpopulation issue, which would then assist the pollution issue. He states that there are three solutions to overpopulation. First, he said that cutting child mortality rates will encourage families in developing countries not to have so many children. Second, making birth control information more easily available and culturally acceptable will help. Third, empowering women both socially and politically will allow them to participate in childbearing decisions. The article ends with a quote from Al Gore, “‘I can’t imagine that we would allow this [global warming] to happen.’” This article illuminates my topic by describing a significant effect of birth control programs in third world countries and how this doesn’t only affect overpopulation, but how it may also effect global warming.

Life takes a turn for the worse

Just when life is finally good for Becky Bloomwood, things take a turn for the worse. Becky had just been hired for a job as a sales associate at a clothing store and she was looking forward to some extra cash and great clothes discounts. On the first day of her job she spots a fabulous pair of zebra print jeans on the sale rack, but in an attempt to save money she doesn’t quickly grab them off the shelf…though she has her eyes on them all day. Later that day she is working in the fitting room and she spots a woman walk in with the jeans. In an attempt to get the jeans, she tells the woman that there is a three item limit and while the woman is in the dressing room, she hides the jeans and then pretends to lose them. The woman then spots them crammed under the counter and Becky is fired from her job for not following the rules of the store. Just to make things worse, Becky has an awkward encounter with an old neighbor on her way home. In an attempt to dull the pain, she goes shopping and spends a great deal of money. The next day she decides that her new plan of action is to become a futures broker. The following morning she goes to an interview which starts off on a good note, but things become very bad when she is asked to speak Finnish, which was what she claimed on her resume. In desperation, she runs out of the meeting. While on her way home she runs into Luke Brandon, a man she knows through work that she has a bit of a crush on. He asks her to help him go shopping for a new luggage case and she gladly agrees. They have a great time at the department store and then they go out for lunch. While at lunch, Luke tells Becky that the suitcase is for his girlfriend. This unexpected information startles Becky and she walks out on him. Becky is in a very unstable mental state and her life is not going well. Hopefully things will get better soon!