Last Post

My life as a blogger was very interesting. This was my first time blogging and sharing my experiences with my classmates. It was a great experience but unfortunately I will not be continuing posting more blogs. I know this must be upsetting to most of my followers but I have to move on with my classes. The reason to me quitting blogging is because it’s I’m not going to have topics to talk about. In my personal opinion I think that everyone’s blog were very interesting and they were really great.  My few last words to my classmates are that all you guys do great on your finals and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years. Have a great future and hope to see many of you soon.

Great Time

The last time I had a great time was back when I was in eighth grade. I had sign up for our grad nite over at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The sky was cloudy and I can remember the long line of anxious students waiting to buy their tickets. Many of them were students I had never seen before and I felt like I was going to be a lonely person through the entire trip. The day had finally arrived and I was waiting on the line for bus 25. While waiting I encounter and old classmate of mine and started talking to her. The funny thing was how we started talking; she said to me “you’re Steven and I say ‘yes’ after that I said to her ‘you are Nora right and she looked at me weird and said NO my name is Juana’.” We stepped into the huge white coach bus and ran to the back seats. There we started to talk about how we were doing. On our way there, we were taking many pictures and telling jokes so the trip there was really fun. When we got to the park we ran to X2, my friend was one of the first ones to ride that roller coaster. I was afraid so I just waited for her in the bottom and after a long time of waiting for her I called her and left to another ride. At that time she was attending Rio Vista Middle School and I was attending Rio Del Valle Middle School. We became friends and spent the whole night together. Today she is my best friend and I would not change her for anything. For our senior year we went back to Six Flags Magic Mountain for grad nite and we were just remembering all the good times we had back in eighth grade.

Review

            La Palapa Juice Bar is one of the greatest places in the country to get a torta. It’s specialized in torta making since its one of the few things they offer besides shrimp cocktails, ceviche tostadas and liquados. They offer a wide variety of meats from pork to asada to make your torta. The wait may be a little long depending on the amount of tortas that are being order but at the end it is worth it! The restaurant is located in El Rio next to Lupitas Bakery since they have the same owner. La Palapa is quite small from the inside so not many people fit inside. Even though it is small, the place gives out a good vibe to the customer. It has sort of like a beach theme, with all the palms it has and also because the menu has a picture of an ocean shore. The place is always clean; the workers clean the tables constantly every time a costumer leaves the restaurants. The service is also not an issue since customers sometimes communicate with the workers. The liquados seem to be really healthy since they are made from fresh fruit. They are really good, full of great taste and flavors. Their horchata is handmade giving it that fresh taste as well. Parking is sometimes an issue. During the weekends the parking lot gets crowed since there are other stores that attract many other customers. The prices are great. It is not that expensive since the torta is a little as 4 dollars and 80 something cents. There is another torta place near it but it does not taste as good as La Palapa. Come along and taste the greatness that the Palapa has to offer to their customers and you’re going to start talking about La Palapa too.

Fast Food Nation

                Overall, I think that Fast Food Nation was a great book. There was a lot of information that I didn't know and that I’m happy to be inform of. Things will definitely change from now on in my diet. My diet is going to consist of less meat and more vegetables because I do not want to contribute to the growth of animal killing. I also want to be healthy so I can have a nice long life. The part that affected me the most about this book was when the author takes us into the meat packaging system. In my personal opinion, animals should not be killed the way they are being killed.

            This book has made me think about how the fast food industry is making its way all around the world. It is becoming an international thing and it must be stopped. It is not only affecting our health, but it is also affecting our agriculture. The world is going to start becoming obese like people here in America. Another good point that the author made was that more children are eating American fast food and many are starting to dress like us as well. This made me think because future generations are going to start becoming Americans and at the end cultures are going to start dying. 

College Life

The truth was #5: I've been living in Oxnard mostly all my life.

This has is my first semester attending college and so far I like it. Not having any staff around all the time is something that I am enjoying the most. I can leave campus whenever I want and no one is going to call my house for missing classes.  My schedule is great and very flexible because I have time do work in between and after classes. Waking up at eight on Mondays and Wednesdays is fun but not as exciting as waking up at nine on Tuesday s and Thursday s since I get more sleep compared to when I was in high school; I had to wake up at seven in the morning. Even though some classes are challenging at this moment I can’t complain since I have friends to help me get by when I start to feel pressured. Study groups are something some of my friends I met and I are doing in order to help each other succeed in our more challenging classes.

Compared to high school, college is a little more fun. Since I got to pick my schedule I get to leave campus early and hang out with friends after school. Many of my friends went to Ventura College so sometimes it gets pretty lonely around here. The only thing I do not like is that many professor s won’t accept late work and so we have to stay on top of things at all times. There is no one to remind you when assignments are do so we have to be checking our syllabus every day. This was a little challenging for me because I was not used to checking when things were due since my high school teachers would always tell us a day or two before the assignment was due. As time passes by, I’m adapting myself to a new system of education and starting to like it; makes me feel more responsible.

True/False

Blog: Week Ten

1) I spend most of my time in the computer.

2) I like sea food.

3) I love doing homework.

4) High School was boring for me.

5) I’ve been living in Oxnard mostly all my life.

6) Most of my friends are acquaintances.

Family

To many people in the world, family makes up a big part of their life, but to some family isn’t as important. Family is not very important to many them because they don’t understand the positive impact that family can leave behind in one’s life. Many see friends and think that they are always going to be around whenever their family isn’t. The truth is that when one needs friends the most, they vanish as if they had become ghosts or something. With family comes happiness because they are always there helping you with your problems, making life much easier. The presence of having a family is the best feeling in the world. One knows that we have someone to talk to when we are having harsh times and we never feel alone. Some families are really close and they always seem to have a great time with one another. They always have barbeques in their backyard or have parties whenever they are celebrating something. Family helps you relax from stress; forgetting about what is due tomorrow and enjoy life to the fullest for those few hours you spend with them. Family members can be considered your friends because some of them understand what you are going through and make you feel better with excellent advice. Many great moments are lived with family. Everything from having vacations to embarrassing moments. Family vacations are the best. Everyone gets together and tell stories from their childhood to present things they are living. Some of the stories that are told can make you embarrassed because sometimes they will mention things like what happened when you brought your first girlfriend or boyfriend home and they start making fun of you just to have a great time.

Even though many don’t have a big family like other people do, you can still have a great time with them. Being around them is something that should make one happy because there are people out there who wish to have a family like many of us do. Some may be the only child but and might have cousins who live around them. Family is something that cannot be replace because they will always have a special place in your heart. Even if you try to forget about them for a while it is impossible to do so because little things that happen to you when you’re not with them remind you of them.

My Event: Six Flags

Six Flags

            Another year of school was over and summer had finally arrived. All I heard were laughs and screams of excited young children who no longer have to go to school over the summer. Being one of them, I was given a surprise of a life time by my parents making my summer the best one yet. They decided to take the whole family to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the very first time. My sister was as shock as I was when she heard the news. Her mouth was wide open with a huge smile on her face, showing all her white teeth. The days were hot and my excitement made the days an eternity. I remember being nine years old and when you’re that age it is very hard to stop thinking about things that make you excited.

            The day had finally come; I was up and ready to go at nine o’clock in the morning. Everyone was still getting ready, and I was the only one in the car. Leaving the house felt great; everything seemed to be great. The sound of the car and the ticking of our portable clock were getting me really anxious. I wanted my dad to drive faster because many thoughts were running through my head.  Thoughts like “what if we don’t find a parking spot any more, or what if they don’t let us in because the park got full.” We finally got there and we entered the park. I had never seen so many people in one same place before. People were laughing and seemed to be having such a great time with their families. I, myself was having a great time with my family taking pictures of ourselves in every corner with my camera. Even though we had not started riding the rides, we were having an awesome time. The roller coasters were massive, reaching the clouds, what I believed to be the beginning of outer space.

As we continued to walk through the park, I saw a gift shop that had a batman cape. Since we were standing right across from the shop, I decided to go ahead and take a closer look at the cape. The cape was completely black and had a yellow batman logo on it. I wanted to buy the cape but I had no money on me. I went back to where we were standing to ask my parents for money but my whole family was gone. There was no sign of them, my eyes were moving back and forth as fast as they could, looking to see if I could see them from a distance. “MOM!!!!, “DAD!!!!” I screamed but there was no response. The crowd all of a sudden got bigger and I was getting pushed from one side to another side. The world became very loud to me; all I heard was a lot of people talking all at once. Many people were just staring at me, adding more terror to my scariness.

Frantically crying, I continued walking through the park when I came across one of the workers. He was a tall skinny young man who had brown hair and dark brown eyes. As he approached me, he said to me, “Do you need any help? You seem lost.” I didn’t respond to him and as he got closer to me, I moved away. My parents had told me not to talk to strangers so I turned around and took off. Running as fast as I could through the crowd wasn’t an easy thing to do. My camera moved from left to right making my arm feel really uncomfortable. When I turned around, I saw the worker right behind me, as if he were following me. Never in my life had I been this scare! My nervousness was making me sweat and that sweat became cold, feeling no heat at all. I tried to lose him but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t do it, but then I saw myself jumping fences and running through the plants. Thirsty, lost, and tired weren’t the least of my worries. With all the panic I was going through, I had lost my camera. The only relief that I had was that the worker was no longer after me.

Many things kept running through my mind, things like, “Why did this happen to me? Why? Am I ever going to see my parents again? Will I become a foster child?” So many questions but there seemed to be no answers. Not knowing what to do, I moved along the park, walking next to people with children my age to make it seem like they were my family. Seeing kids my age with their parents made me feel like crying. This stressful moment made me go against what my parents had told me; not to talk to strangers, so I was about to ask someone for their phone when a realized something horrifying. I had never gotten the chance to memorize my dad’s phone number.

I walked the whole park by myself. Not paying attention to where I was going or my surroundings, I continued the search for my parents. I walked and walked through the entire park for about two hours and nothing seemed to be going right. Remembering that my sister had a bright orange shirt was the only hope of finding my family again. As soon as I remembered this I saw a girl that looked like my sister. “Could that be, could that really be her looking for me?” I said to myself. Happiness filled my whole body that I didn’t know how to react. I ran as fast as I could to her and when I got to her it turned to be someone else. I give up. There was no point of trying to look for them in this huge place and out of nowhere I felt someone touch my shoulder. My body became cold, thinking the worker had found me and was taking me to the police department or wherever they took lost children. Turning slowly, I had the surprise of my life. My dad had finally found me. His face seemed really worried but had a lot of joy, as if he were looking at something that’s worth a lot.  As I smiled and cried he said “Boy! I’m glad to see you.” I felt the same way but all our memories were gone because I never found the lost camera.   This day made me realize that my parents are the most important part of my life. They complete me and make what I am today. I have a feeling that without them I wouldn’t be anything and I wouldn’t be doing what I am today.

Interview

This week I got the chance to interview Marissa Wardlow. I enjoyed interviewing her because we had many things in common, for example, our age and the year we graduated high school. Marissa graduated high school in 2012 and this is her first year attending college. She is a nice funny girl who likes to hang out with friends and have a great time, now that she’s still young. While getting to know her, I realized that she has a lot of potential and is going to be very successful in her future.  She is really smart and knows what she has to do in order to become an X-Ray technician. Marissa sees a bright future ahead of her, making a good amount of money and living in a nice home. She enjoys her mother’s cooking, “My favorite meal is my mom’s chicken and broccoli casserole,” she said. Her motivation to continue her education is her younger brother because she wants to see him thrive so he can be living a nice life. One of the thing I really like while interviewing her was when she said “If I’m not happy, I’ll take myself out of the situation” because it shows she doesn’t like drama and lives a nice happy life. I am sure your friendliness and humor will take you really far in life Marissa.

Texting

Texting, everyone does it no matter whether we’re at school, work, driving, eating, or hanging out with friends. It is a dangerous way of communication among friends and family. I remember the first time I got my phone, I would not stop texting. I would be sitting down in class and I would text my friend who sat next to me. There was a point in time where I wouldn’t talk to my friends anymore; I just texted them. Now that I have become an older person, I see things different now. I don’t want to be sitting down next to a person and read their thought with no emotion or live in a world where everyone communicates through half spelled words. To many, this is an addiction harming not only themselves but society as well. Many people text while driving and they don’t think of the consequences. Major car accidents are seen throughout the country and the cause for many of them is texting. People are dying every day and some are getting permanent brain damage. Personally I don’t text and drive. I am scared that I might get into a car accident and harming an innocent person. One of my friends text and drives and even though I have told her to stop, she continues to do it.

Reality Television

                Our society is changing day by day. Every minute that passes by, something new can happen without us knowing about it. Reality shows is a way of people in our society to learn about such things. Everything from new fashion styles to the way of speaking. I enjoy watching reality shows because I find them interesting and funny sometimes. Anything can happen when you’re watching a reality show, which in my opinion makes them great and exciting to watch.  Drama can come out of nowhere which sometimes leads to physical fighting; making people in the show really aggressive. A favorite show of mine was The Jersey Shore. Everyone seemed to get along really well like a huge family but then all of a sudden a simple comment became an argument splitting the house in half. They’re actions are immature; they do not think of the consequences and just do whatever is on their mind. They go out to clubs and party like there’s no tomorrow. Most of them drink until they can no longer stand and find a new person to make out with and take home every time they’re at the clubs. Reality shows are not like an ordinary story or movie since they don’t follow a plot. No climax, no resolution, making it hard for the viewer to predict what will happen next.

                Reality shows are not good for our society, especially for the teenage generation.  They try to imitate everything that the people in the show do. If a person in a reality show is really popular, then teenagers copy their style just to be cool. They talk, act, dress and sometimes even do their hair the way the person in the show does theirs. This is destroying the future leaders of our country in a way. They are not able to express themselves the way they should or want since they sometimes feel like they’re going to be laughed at by their peers.  Another show that is destroying today’s generation is Sixteen and Pregnant also know as Teen Mom. This show is getting more teenage girls pregnant because many want to come out in the show to become famous. Do you really believe this is the best way to become famous? I’d say the answer to this question is NO. Once the season is over no one will remember you, just like everyone forgets about the people that come out in the show called The Real World. They are famous when their show is being aired but once the season is over no one remembers them. A new season begins and new people come into the show, making viewers forget about the old cast. Watching these shows is a guilty pleasure for me because in reality, I don’t have to be watching them. I can be doing something productive like getting ahead in my homework and turning everything in on time. I am not going to get any knowledge from these shows at all. They’re just there to entertain the viewer and make the producers and the channel richer.

Fast Food

Today’s world is full of fast food restaurants. Mostly in every corner you turn you might just find one. Growing up around fast food restaurants makes it hard for one to make the right decision when it comes to your own personal health. As I was growing up, I remember going out to Burger King, McDonalds, Jack in the Box, In n Out and many other places. I enjoyed eating at these restaurants because I would go with all my friends, just to hang out with each other. My favorite restaurant was and still is Burger King. If I were to choose the restaurant, I would pick this place all the time. Every time I’m there I get the number six – The Tender Crisp Chicken Sandwich – I just think it’s the best burger out there. Fast food was also part of my family’s life because we all go out to eat whenever we had the chance. Fast food can be taken as a treat to me in a way because my parents would buy it for me when I was younger just to make me happy. I’m glad I didn’t become addicted to it nor had any problems maintaining myself away from it. When were at a young age, many of us think fast food restaurants are the best thing out there. Personally, I thought there wasn’t anything better than fast food.

            Today, I’m not going to lie; I still enjoy going out just to eat something from a fast food restaurant. I enjoy tasting the same taste I did five years ago because it hasn’t changed since the restaurant opened. Even though I don’t rely on fast food, I still go out to eat with my family and sometimes my friends. My family and I don’t go out as much as we did back when I was ten. We try to eat at home mostly every day except Sundays. Every Sunday, my family and I go out for breakfast; it has become like a family thing in a way because we have been doing it for as long as I can remember. It brings the family together in one place, making us bond and enjoy our Sunday mornings. When I’m with my friends, we all sometimes get together and go to dinner or lunch. We have been doing this lately since we don’t see each other as much as we did in high school. Most of us have started college and some will be off to the University they got accepted to. This is going to stop soon though, so fast food will not be in my life for more than one day per week. There are many healthy options for people and hopefully in my future I’ll be making the right decisions in order for me to be a strong old person. I know it’s going to be tough because as we age, the human population is getting bigger and more fast food restaurants are probably going to be open.

Past, Present, and Future

My past has been a big part of my present. All those good moments and emotions I have shared with friends and family have made me what I am today. Meeting my friends is something I don’t regret because we’ve all stayed in the same track and it has been a good one. Aside from my friends, I enjoyed growing up with an older sister; it has been really fun. We both had the same friends as we were growing; so we enjoyed playing dodge ball, basketball, soccer, and baseball together. I remember going on school field trips and have such a great time with all my classmates. I had a happy past, full of love and happiness and I am grateful for that. Being young is the best part of my past. Everything seems easy so you enjoy life to the fullest. No worries, no obligations, just you, nothing else. Looking back to my past makes me wish that I can go back in time to not worry about my problems.

Today, my life is being challenged with something different, something that I wasn’t use to and barely getting use to as I move on. That something is adulthood. I am no longer that child that would run to his parents whenever he had a problem. Today I’m trying to be more independent and make my parents proud as I move on with my life. I’m attending Oxnard College for the first time and I really like it. I’m getting to meet new people, which is awesome because this way I can have more friends. Once again I am starting to have more homework, but I don’t mind, I am use to it since I’ve been going to school for almost thirteen years now. The thing that makes me happy today is still having contact with my high school friends. I guess it can be true that once we graduate we don’t see each other as much as we did in high school because we are all doing our own little things; getting ready for our future.

The future feels far away from me at this moment but at the same time it feels so close. When I think about it, my future can be tomorrow or five to ten years from now. Many of us think of the future as a long term goal, and I did to, but not long ago I realized that my future can be tomorrow as well. Anything can happen tomorrow and can change my life completely for either the good or the worst. I see my future bright, working on a good job and making a good amount of money to pay for my needs. I see myself living in a nice house and having a nice car. Before that though, I see myself transferring to a university and probably graduating with my masters. It’s a long time from now before I retire, but when that day comes I want to work with youth and try to get them in the right track in order for them to have a good future. I want to see them thrive and have a good life style.