My brother and I work together at the local grocery store. He just started a year ago, and he just turned 17. He agrees with me on several things about this grocery store, including the fact that the the few employees who come to work high more often than not are a little strange. One girl comes to work so stoned that she moves like a snail, taking more than five minutes to ring up one customer at the register. Her drug problem is very obvious, so obvious in fact, that I have had customers come up and ask me if she was on something because she was acting strange.

The strangest thing she's been doing, though, is not taking too long and making her addiction noticeable to everyone and their grandmother. The strangest thing she's been doing is hitting on my brother. She just turned 21 years old, and she repeatedly asked him to come to the bar with her to celebrate. How many times did he have to tell her he was only seventeen before she understood that it meant he was underage?

Not only that, I have heard her saying things to other employees. Things like, "He's so cute, I just want to grab his face and kiss him." or "Tell him to meet me in the back room and we can make out."

I'm sorry. This is work, not play time. And you will not be playing with anyone, much less my 17 year old brother.

The age thing bothers me. She's 21, four years older than him. Typically, guys mature much later than girls, so a woman who is four years older is often at a significantly different place in her life. Not only that, she just broke up with her boyfriend, so this is likely a rebound thing, which means it's on a whim, and I don't want my brother to be getting involved in something so silly as that. And this "boyfriend" she just broke up with isn't even really a boy. He was a thirty year old man. How could she possibly want to go from dating a 30 year old man to a 17 year old boy? She couldn't possibly be looking for the same sort of relationship, because a 17 high school senior does not have the means to offer what a 30 year old working man can.

I never realized I have the protective older sister gene inside me, but every time I see this girl, I feel as though my claws are coming out and I have the urge to destroy her.

I don't want her, her drug habit or her "kissing" desire, if that's all there may be there, to influence my brother in anyway. I know he deserves better than that.

Maybe I'm being a bit unreasonable here. I don't know. I just want what's best for my younger brother. It's what an older sister is supposed to do. And I'm not going to let anyone or anything less than the best get close enough for him to bother with. So, if I'm crazy, then, oh well.

As some of you may know, I am currently an English and Secondary Education major. My ultimate goal is to become a high school English teacher.

I have always had a love of books. My mom worked to get me to start reading before I was even in kindergarten, and I could read a few short children's books on my own at that point. As I worked my way through school, I had a few teachers who nutured that love of books. The librarian would let me check out books from a section with a higher reading level, even though she generally looked down upon this. My second grade teacher read us a few chapters from various books each day, to calm us down after recess. My fourth grade class had BookIt!, with which you could get free pizza from pizza hut just for reading a certain amount of books in a set period of time. In middle school, I was able to take a class solely devoted to reading and found myself working with books, thinking about them and analyzing them, in ways I never had attempted before. Through high school, I read the classics and a few up-and-coming novels that really got me thinking about the world and how it works. Books have always guided me, and I've found that comforting.

It's been the same way with writing. As evident with this blog, I love to write just for the heck of it. I don't ever need to be a published author making money, as long as I have somewhere I can express myself with words.

When it came time for college, I had to settle down and decide what direction I wanted my life to take. It was almost effortless. I knew I wanted a job where I could share my passion with others, where I could possibly inspire another to find a love with books similar to mine. Teaching offered this. Hence, I went forth down the educational track.

Now, though, as I sit in college classes reading Beowulf, Native American creation literature and adolescent lit, like Twilight and Speak, I wonder if this career path is going to be as rewarding as I hoped. I see others pursuing degrees in Engineering, in Medicine, in Law, in Criminal Justice, all careers that will offer a direct impact on the outside world.

With English, there's not much room for an impact. Literary canon hasn't changed for years, aside from a few modern works being incorporated in with curriculum. Reading books isn't going to make daily life easier for the average American, as engineering would. I'm not going to be saving a life, as a doctor might. I'm not making the streets any less full of crime.

I'm beginning to wonder why, if I have always wanted to impact someone or something's life, did I not choose a career where this impact would be certain.

Because making a teenager love books in an age when information is available in just minutes via television, video and the internet is going to be a difficult task.

I don't think I will ever change majors or switch my plans. I'm just going to have to work that much harder at the task I've set myself to and hope that I fulfill my original intentions.

And still, after all this thought on the subject, I know I will be happiest spending my days reading and writing, and I suppose that is the most important thing. If I, myself, am not happy, I can't expect to do much good for others anyway, regardless of any degree I may have obtained, so I'll just keep going with my instinct here.

You could buy me the most expensive perfume on the planet, and while I would probably appreciate both the thought you put into the gift and the scent of the perfume itself, I don't think it would ever become my favorite fragrance. So many things smell sweeter than perfume, like the smell of just-cut roses, the aroma of a baking cake, the fresh air after a summer rain, and the scent of the pages of a brand new, hardcover book.

Still, none of these smell quite as remarkable as my favorite: the smell of clean hair.

I may sound like a weirdo, someone who you need to keep away from small children or something, but I really don't think it's as weird as some people assume. In fact, I think it's kind of comforting, and it's important to get the most out of the small pleasures in life. It's refreshing, especially when you're walking outside and you feel as though your walking in a cloud of car exhaust and litter.

Clean, shampoo-smelling hair also gives me a burst of confidence I might not have had otherwise. I know that if I spin my head quickly, who ever may be behind me will catch a wiff, and I know they won't get a nose full of greasy hair or body odor. Bye-bye self-consciousness. Hello Garnier Nutrisse fruit infused scent.

I especially like when my boyfriend's hair smells clean like this. It's a nice reminder that the movies don't always get it right, that boys and men care about hygiene just as much as we women do. It proves we are more alike than we may think.  And because I can smell the scent of shampoo lingering in his hair, I feel good because I know that I am who gets this close with him.

Shampoo-scented hair just makes me smile.

So. Next time you're feeling bad about yourself, or you're worried for whatever reason, stop and smell the roses, the grass, the air, and your hair. You'll be glad you did.

Are there any scents you find particularly comforting? Any scents that give you a boost to get you through the day?