Blogs

At first, I was very confused and nervous about starting a blog for English class. I honestly didn’t understand how it was going to benefit me, but once I wrote my fist blog I was hooked. My favorite part was when I would log in and read other class mates blogs. Their blogs were always very interesting and full of excitement. I had many favorite blogs I liked to visit on a weekly basis, but my all-time favorites were Luiz Leon and Rosanaid’s blogs. They always had awesome stories. I really enjoyed this class and I learned a lot.

My Quincenera

                November 12, 2005 was the greatest day of my life. I woke up sweaty and nervous, since it was the day I had been waiting for fifteen years. It was the day for my Mexican tradition party for when a young girl turns fifteen, which is known as a Quincenera. By five in the morning, I was out of bed and ready to get my hair and makeup done by a professional. The women finished doing my make up around 10:00 AM, just in time to head out for my Quincenera mass. After church we headed out to my party destination in a Hummer Limousine.

                At the party I was welcomed by many friends and relatives, which many I hadn’t seen in many years. Even my grandparents came from Mexico to enjoy a very special day in my life.  We served delicious dinner to all of the guests. Around 8:00 PM my friends and I did a waltz, which is also a tradition in Quincenreas.  What I enjoyed most about this night was having all my friends and relatives together at the same time to celebrate my fifteenth birthday party.

Also, another great highlight if the night was all the awesome gifts I received from everyone. They were all very special to me.  I remember receiving a beautiful necklace from my grandma, bracelet from my aunt, and many clothes from many other people. My best gift was the one my father had for me. My dad had a brand new car waiting for me in the garage. Definitely the best event ever!

Important People

Three Important People

 

One of the most important people in my life today has to be my mother. My mom is a very strong and wonderful woman. Her beautiful dark brown eyes and big smile are some of her great features. She is one of the most important people in my life because not only did she bring me into this world, but raised me and taught me great family values and norms. Even though we might sometimes have our ups and downs, I still love her with ALL my heart and soul. My mother is a very appreciating woman and loves to help people out when they are in need, even though some people don’t deserve her help. She is very forgiving and respectful, which makes her the greatest mother ever, and I’m thankful to have her in my life. 

Another great person in my life is my father, since he also created me and helped my mother bring me into this world makes him very important to me. My father’s shiny gorgeous blue-green eyes and rose pink cheeks are his greatest features. My father is the strongest man I have ever met, not only for his patience, but for his love and kindness. I’m very grateful to have my father in my life. My father is a very strong understanding man that would do anything in the world to make his princess’s happy, which are my mother, three sisters, my niece, and me. He is the only man in our family, which makes him the most important person. I’m very happy to call him “DAD” because he has never let us down. Ever since I could remember my father has busted his butt working very hard to raise my three sisters and me. I love my daddy very much.

Also, as greatly as important as my parents is my boyfriend. His kind heart and hazel eyes are his best features. He is important to me because he is not like any other boy I know. My boyfriend is the kindness man I know after my father. Whenever I need something he is ALWAYS there for me. He never says “NO” to me and supports me in everything I want to accomplish in life. He is a very intelligent man. He has many goals in life and works very hard on a daily basis to accomplish his goals. He is a peaceful guy that hates arguments. We have been dating for almost four years now and I only recall one big argument, in which we quickly apologized about. He is very respectful, not only to myself because I’m his girlfriend but to his mother and three sisters. He is a very kind, loving, caring, respectful, and generous man, and I’m the happiest girl in earth to call him my boyfriend.

My mother, father, and boyfriend are the three most important to me in my life today. I’m thankful to have them in my life, and would die if ever lose them.

Somis Market

Somis Market

                I have lived in Somis for 22 years. If you have ever visited Somis, you know that there is only one market. In Somis Market they sale everything a typical markets has, but what they also have is a tiny restaurant with great quality food. The beef and chicken tacos are to die for. They add some special homemade sauce, which tastes really good and they also add lettuce, cilantro, onions, and tomatoes, but I usually have them plain because I don’t like the veggies. Also, Somis Market has a variety of Mexican Dishes such as, enchiliadas, chile rellenos, posoloe, flautas, hard shell tacos, and burritos and everything comes with a side of rice and beans. During lunch time the small restaurant is always very busy, since a lot of people enjoy their dishes. Many people travel from far just to have a great quality lunch, since everything tastes homemade. If I were to ever move away from Somis, I know I would miss the market the most. Last year there were rumors that the market was going out of business, so everyone in town panicked and rushed to the market to buy their last tacos, and of course I was one of them and bought 24 tacos. Later to find out that it was just a rumor and I had enough tacos to last for about three days for my work lunch. I think everyone should drive by and at least buy their delicious tacos. Believe me you would not regret it. Somis Market has great quality Mexican food and it has been around for many years, so if they continue to stay in business is because of their great tacos. I have been going to Somis Market since I was 5 years old, and I will continue to go as long as it exists.

Fast Food Nation

                The book Fast food Nation was a great book. It stated many facts about the fast food industry that I was not aware of. The craziest fact that was stated on the book was when it talked about the meat. Now every time I pass by a fast food restaurant I feel disgusted.  I could not believe that they don’t recall the bad meat. I bet the meat produce companies don’t even dare to go eat at any of the fast food chains they distribute their meat to. Since the book explained what natural flavoring was and how the flavoring companies never tell anyone their ingredients, also has me thinking before eating anything without reading the label. 

                After reading chapter nine on the book, I ran to my parent’s room to inform them what I had just read.  It was the chapter that talked about what was in the meat, and finding out that they used to feed the cows dead cats and dogs disgusted me even more. Also, finding out that the meat contained E-coli and shit didn’t make it any better. My parents did not believe me so I insisted for them to read the book.  Now I will not dare to eat a hamburger, and I’m even thinking of becoming a vegetarian.

School (THE STRUGGLE)

My truth #5

I work as a Medical Assistant for a Podiatrist.

 

This semester I’m taking four classes, which I find it very difficult to keep up with all four. I work full time and I don’t have time to do homework or study for a test or quiz. I think I made a mistake on taking four classes but I thought I was going to handle it. What makes it really hard is that my weekends consist of only homework and I don’t have a social life. My family complains that I don’t spend quality time with them, but what they don’t understand is that I work full time Monday-Friday from 9Am-6PM and attend College Monday-Thursday from 7PM-9:50 PM. Also, I feel like I’m slacking off at work too much due to always being tired. There have been occasions in which I will go to bed at 2AM trying to finish essays for my English class. This has been a really tough semester, but I’m glad that it’s almost over. The reason why I took so many classes was because I wanted to finish school faster, and I actually thought I was capable of handling four classes. What sucks is that I don’t even have time to do laundry, watch TV, or to attend the Gym. I leave my house at 8:45 AM and don’t get home until 10:00 pm. Also, I feel like I’m lacking sleep. One of my goals this semester was to get straight A’s, but with four classes I hardly even have time to breath.

What keeps me motivated is when I think about my future. My goal is to finish school soon and continue a career in the Medical Field. I know I’m struggling now but I know that all my struggles will soon pay off. I’m planning on continuing school full time next semester. I feel like I’m over working myself, which is making me age faster, but I want to finish school soon.

5 lies and 1 truth

1)      When I was thirteen years old my family and I moved to Japan.

2)      I’m married and have ten kids.

3)      I live in Los Angeles and travel every day to Oxnard for school and work.

4)      My uncle is George Lopez.

5)      I work as a Medical Assistant for a podiatrist.

6)      I drive a 2013 Ferrari.

Favorite picture

My Baby chilling while I do my English homework (: !! aaaawwww... My favortie picture.

Same Sex Marriage

When I was younger I was disgusted and totally against same sex marriage. I couldn’t understand why a man would want to marry another man, or why a woman would want to call another woman her wife. I believed that same sex marriage would affect our society in many ways. I didn’t want it to be an example for any of the kids in my family. I just didn’t think it was okay in any way. Another reason why I was against same sex marriage was because in my culture it is not okay for a man to marry a man, or a woman to marry another woman, so I just followed the traditions and continued a chain against same sex marriage. Also, knowing that it’s against my religion and I was taught for same sex marriage to be a sin.

Now that I’m older, I honestly don’t care if people of the same sex get married. It took many years for me to understand, but I’m glad I looked at this situation from a different perspective. If people from my culture don’t agree, then that’s okay with me. Just because we are from the same culture doesn’t mean I have to follow a chain that has no sense. If the two people love each other then they should just follow their heart. In my opinion, I don’t think people become gay I think they were born gay. We can’t change the way people are, so mine as well support same sex marriage. I just imagined myself in their shoes and finally understood that maybe what they go through is not easy so instead of discriminating person we should just support them. I always thought to myself that if I ever have kids and one of them came out gay I would not know what to do, now I know that if I ever have a son/daughter and they tell me that they are gay I will support them all the way just because it’s their life and I can’t change it just because I’m their mother, and not having your mothers supports is the worst situation ever.  Do you agree or disagree?

Class Interview

About two weeks ago during our English class we got the chance to interview one of our classmates. As soon as Mrs. Crooker announced that we were going to be interviewing someone, I immediately looked at my co-worker Rosanaid and thought to myself “well this should be a piece of cake, since I already know a lot about her”. Suddenly Mrs. Crooker stated that she had picked our partners. I was devastated and nervous at the same time just of the thought of speaking to someone else about my life. She gave all of us a number and told us to meet up with someone else that had the same number. I looked around class and listened carefully to see if anyone called out my number. Shortly I was sitting at the same table as my partner. She was a very small intelligent looking girl. Her sweet look helped me with my fear of talking a stranger about my life. We began by introducing ourselves she told me her name was Veronica Aguilar, and that she was only 18 years old. She then began to tell me about her background. She started off by telling me that as a child she lived in a trailer park here in Oxnard. Her trailer park reminded her so much of Mexico and that was one of the things she loved the most about her neighborhood. Also, she loved that everyone in her neighborhood knew each other and the fact that everyone was so friendly was a plus. When Veronica was in the tenth grade her family and she moved to some apartments. She was so sad to leave her friends and nobody was friendly in her new neighborhood.

Years later she graduated from High School and began to work at a factory. Her position at the factory involved a lot of hard labor. She was working for a floral design company and she was forced to make around 100 floral designs in an eight hour shift. She then realized that she didn’t want to be stuck in that factory for the rest of her life and making eight dollars an hour was not cutting it. She then quit her job and with the support of her family began attending Oxnard College full time.

Today she is taking three courses at Oxnard College and is currently unemployed. She attends college one Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. She enjoys having the mornings off to catch up on homework. She has an older cousin that she admires, “She’s my role model,” she said. “She was the first one in the family to attend college. Today she is a teacher and has her own classroom. I want to be a teacher and one day have my own classroom as well.” She also stated to me that she’s a role model to her younger sister. “When I do homework, she does homework” she stated. Her goals are to get a higher education than her parents. She’s proud of being one of the first people in her family to go to college, since not many people from her culture that continue their education. What she likes about college the most is that it’s not as hard as some people make it seem.

FAMILY

As a child, my parents always taught me that family comes first. I always agreed with them because my family was always there for me so I promised to always be there for them.  I grew up in a family of six, which included my mother, my father, and my three sisters. We were always so happy and loving towards each other. We were a family that everyone admired for our honesty, respect, and love towards each other. I can still remember my sisters and me playing outdoors with my mother while my father was at work. We were always so happy and loyal towards each other, but that didn’t last long. On the winter of 2001 my mother’s youngest brother was involved in a car accident and died instantly on the scene. My mother was devastated. She cried herself to sleep for an entire month. Without realizing my mother soon fell into depression. She wouldn’t eat, laugh, or even bond with us anymore. I was so young at the time that I couldn’t understand why our family was slowly drifting apart. Her depression followed with anger. She was no longer that nice mother I once knew. She had slowly become a monster. My father turned to drinking to cope with the stress of knowing that our beautiful family was slowly drifting apart.

Even though many years have passed, my family is still not as close as it used to be. My two younger sisters are not loving, caring, or respectful towards my parents. Today I’m 22 years old and I finally decided to move out of my parent’s house, because all the drama and stress they were getting me involved in was not easy for me to handle. Whenever I go over to my parent’s house all I can hear is loud yelling and people arguing back and forth over nonsense. To this point I still don’t understand how such a happy family can slowly drift apart because of a traumatic situation that happens within the family. I don’t know, or seem to understand why after many years my family has not gone back to being happy and loving. Even though my family and I have gone through a lot, I still love them and I’m always there for them because that’s how my parents once brought me up. That’s how they raised me, so no matter how rude or disrespectful they might be towards me I will always love them.

My first time in the ER!

My First Trip to the Emergency Room

It was a typical sunny afternoon. I was only eight years old at the time. I was on the bus heading home from a long day of school. Next to me was Jose, a boy my mother used to care of, and sitting across from us was my older sister Alexes. Finally, after an entire hour ride on the bus we arrive at our destination. Since I wanted to be the first one off the bus, I slightly pushed Jose out of my way.

 Even though Jose was our neighbor’s son, he was always like a brother to me. Jose was seven years old, but as far as I could remember my mother would take care of him since he was a baby. Although Jose was not my parent’s son, my parents loved him as if he was part of the family. I was always jealous of Jose since I wanted to be my parent’s center of attention. Every day after school my mother always had our dinner ready. I can still remember walking inside my mother’s house and the smell of homemade chicken stew came rushing to my nose, for dessert my mother had a small Zip-lock bag full of grapes for each one of us.

 I can still remember my sister not wanting her grapes so I ate her portion plus mine, on the other hand Jose was very happy to eat his grapes. He sat down on the couch and began to eat his grapes, he only had three grapes and shortly after he fell asleep. Without thinking twice, I ran to the couch and ate his portion of grapes.

As soon as I woke up the following morning, I had a tremendous stomach ache. It was so painful I could hardly even walk. I remember my parents did not believe me and they send me off to school. That evening when I got home from school I did not eat anything. My stomach pain had just become much worse and walking had become much more difficult for me. In order for me to be able to walk I had to hold on very tightly to my stomach and I walked with a hunch. Luckily for me it was Friday and I knew I did not have to attend school the following day. The next morning I was not able to walk at all, not even a few steps. I remember climbing off my bed crying and crawling to my parent’s room for help. I had never felt something so painful and horrible in my entire life. My parents finally realized that I was lying. My father picked me up off the floor and carried me out to the truck. He had a serious look on his face and I knew he was extremely worried for me. My mother got pink rose cheeks, the ones she usually gets when she’s afraid, she immediately ran to the truck holding on to my sister’s hand and they rushed me out to the emergency room.

My ride to the Hospital was the longest one ever. I was crying and my pain would just worsen by the minute. Not only was I afraid I knew that we were all afraid of what was going on. My heartbeat was so fast that I felt as if I had just run a couple miles. I can hear my parent’s ague back and forth about what was going on with me, and my sister was hugging me very tightly in the backseat.

 Finally we arrive at the Emergency room we waiting about thirty minutes until they finally called us in. As soon as they took me inside a room I felt a little safer knowing that there were many Doctors there to help. Even though we had not seen a doctor yet, I knew my parents felt relief of being at the hospital as well. It was my first time being at a hospital, I can still remember the smell of medicine and the noises in the background of loud machines. Since the hospital was so cold inside, I had chills all over my body. After a couple minutes of waiting a man in a white coat comes in and introduces himself as Dr. Lanter. My mother didn’t even let him speak when she started telling him in Spanish what was going on with me. He then examined me and then left the room. He had left all of us in suspense we didn’t know why he left the room. He came back in a couple minutes with a nurse named Amanda she then translated for Dr. Lanter and my parent’s. She told us that Dr. Lantern had diagnosed me with an appendix rupture and I had to go into emergency surgery.

Once they were preparing everything for surgery I was very afraid. I had no clue what an appendix was or why it had ruptured. I knew my parents were worried just by the look on their face.

Amanda came back about an hour later telling us that my room was ready for surgery. I then told her if she could help into the restroom since I could not walk. She assisted me into the restroom and I sat there patiently with an even worse horrible stomach ache. My stomach then started to growl very loudly and it followed with explosive diarrhea. I thought that it was normal since I was nervous about undergoing emergency surgery. The nurse got very worried and rushed to call Dr. Lanter into the room. Dr. Lanter examined me after going to the rest room. I then noticed that my pain was slowly going away and I felt much better. After he examined my stool he realized that my appendix had not ruptured, in reality it was just grape skin that had caused a blockage in my stomach from consuming too many grapes. Shortly after my surgery got called off and I was able to go home.

I then realized that I should not be eating other people’s food without their permission and I also learned to share my food. When I got home that night I immediately called Jose and apologized for eating his grapes.

Texting

Texting has become my number one form of communication. I send roughly around 5,936 text messages per month. I find texting much more convenient than phone calls or other forms of communication. The only problem with text messaging is that some people might misunderstand what you are trying to tell them and might take the message the wrong way. For example, one day I text my boyfriend in Caps and I asked him what he was doing, followed by three exclamation points.  He automatically assumed I was mad, and immediately called me. I had not realized that the way you send a message might affect how the reader responds to it. Now I’m much more careful when sending a text message, or ill usually add and Emoji, which are smiley faces that I can paste with my Iphone so the reader can understand how I’m truly feeling.

 Even though I find text messaging convenient in many ways, it still causes many problems. A major problem that I find is caused by text messaging is that people are forgetting how to spell. They will write things like (U) instead of (YOU) in important school papers, work documents, or even on cover letters for a new possible job. That makes the person look bad, and they most likely will not succeed if they continue with their bad texting habits. Another equally important problem that is caused by text messaging is texting while driving. Texting while driving has caused many accidents throughout the world, and has caused the death of many innocent people that get killed by a person who is texting and driving. I think texting and driving is as dangerous as drunk driving. In my opinion everyone’s phone should go in the glove department when you get in your car to avoid these types of problems.

Reality Television

At this point I currently do not watch any reality shows. I don’t find them appropriate for either teenagers or adults. They show the cast members acting like fools and they expect the world to believe that everyone should act that way. The last reality show that I watched was “Jersey Shore.” Even though I wasn’t hooked on it, I never missed an episode. After a couple seasons of “Jersey Shore” I started to notice that more and more teenagers were getting influenced by the members of the Jersey Shore cast. They began to act, dress, and talk like the members of the show. Another show that I have watched was “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Although I do find this show to be very interesting, I know it’s still not appropriate for anyone to watch. After this show began more and more girls got influenced by the Kardashians fashion styles, attitudes, and lifestyles that by the end of the first season there was many girls wanting to look like Kim Kardashian that they bagan dressing, doing their hair, and make up like Kim Kardashian. I believe that reality television has significantly affected our society in many ways. It influences people to do things they normally don’t do. Not only adults get hooked on reality shows, teenagers spend a lot of time watching these types of shows. Most teenagers get influenced by reality shows on MTV such as “Teen Mom”, “16 and Pregnant”, “Rock of Love”, “Sister Wives”, and the most popular “Jersey Shore”. Even though most of these shows seem to be very interesting, they can also have a negative effect some people. These types of reality  shows show the cast members drinking, smoking, and having sexual relationships leading teens to believe that they should also be doing all those types of things in order to be cool. Although I know that most teens will see this behavior and probably won’t get influenced in that behavior, I do believe that these teens see the members and allow them to change the way they see themselves. Leading some teenagers to believe that by acting inappropriately they will be much cooler and gain popularity at their schools. I do find some reality shows to be entertaining but I try very hard to avoid watching reality Television. In my opinion, reality television is influencing people in many ways. It seems that the cast members on all these shows are the role models for the next generation. I believe that if teenage girls see other teens getting money and fame for getting pregnant as a teen, those girls will also be influenced to get pregnant at a young age. All of the networks that show these types of shows on television should be more cautious about what they teach tomorrow’s generation. The networks that show reality shows on television are showing tomorrow’s generation negative values and morals that will eventually lead to greater problems. If you constantly watch these types of reality shows, or allow your kids to watch reality television do not get surprised when your young teenage daughter gets home with a big surprise, or when you find out that your teenage son has been caught smoking or drinking alcohol.

Fast Food

             Since my mother would always cook, it was rare if my parents would ever take my sister and me to any fast food restaurants. I can still remember my first time at Jack in the Box; I was about twelve years old and I ordered a Jumbo Jack. After my first bite of that big delicious hamburger, I knew it was love at first sight. From that day on my parents would take us to Jack in the Box every other Sunday or for special occasions only. When I was about 16 years old I got my first job as a cashier at a grocery store. I had more freedom and money to go out and eat with friends. That’s when I first got introduced to McDonalds. Their food was delicious and convenient in time, price, and quality. A whole year straight I ate McDonalds almost every day. I knew almost every McDonalds worker in town. I can remember ordering two double cheeseburgers, a side order of chicken selects with fries, and a drink. Can you imagine a 16 year old eating all that food? I’m 22 years old today and can’t even finish two cheeseburgers. That was the reason why I had gained about 20 pounds in less than two years. At that time I didn’t realize how fat I had become, yet no one bothered to let me know. When I was about 19 years old I realized how fat I was and stopped eating fast food every day and just had it occasionally. I also began to work out and lost about 15 pounds.

           Even though I know fast food is very unhealthy, I still continue to consume fast food at least three times per week. During my lunch break at work I try to make homemade food the night before to avoid eating out, yet I find it very difficult at times. Since I don’t always have time to pack a lunch, sometimes I’m forced to stop at the nearest drive thru. Another problem that I have is that I live far from my job and school, which makes it very difficult to eat healthy in between work and school. Eating out has become a habit. There are times that I will not eat fast food for weeks straight because it just does not look appealing anymore. Sometimes I will not eat until after school so I can get home to leftover of my mother’s cooking. Eating homemade food has become much more delicious than the nasty taste of greasy fast food. Being a full time employee and student has increased my eating out habits. I’m hardly ever home which causes me to eat out more often. Even though I’m tired of fast food, I still consume fast food on the weekends because it’s just so addicting. Fast food has strongly become part of life. I sometimes wish that I was born in the era where fast food didn’t exist, since fast food is the leading cause of obesity and many other health problems. I wish I could just stop eating fast food, yet I don’t stop because it’s everywhere. 

Past, Present, and Future

                Even though many years have passed, I can still remember my childhood like if it was yesterday. When I was a couple months old we went to live in a small ranch in Somis. In that small ranch is where all my past childhood memories are. I never had neighbors or any kids to play with that were my age. I can only remember having my older sister to play with. Later my two younger sisters were born. I attended a small School a few minutes away from my home from Kindergarten all the way to 8^th grade. After graduating from 8^th grade, I attended Camarillo High School. By the time I was done with high school, I had got a job at Fed Ex where I worked for almost two years. I then quit my job at Fed Ex after realizing that I didn’t have a successful future working in a warehouse. I knew then that in order to have a better future I had to return to school. I had always hated school and wanted a fast career, so I then began attending Medical Career Services to become a Medical Assistant.

                Today I am 22 years old and I still live in that small ranch in Somis with my family. I have a wonderful boyfriend that I appreciate for always being there for me. Also, I am working full time as Medical Assistant for a Podiatrist. Even though I love working as a Medical Assistant, I have returned to college for an even better future. It is my second semester as a full time student at Oxnard College. Sometimes it gets very difficult for me since my job does not work with my school schedule, yet I don’t let my job interfere with my goals. To this point, every morning I wake up very proud of myself for all that I have accomplished and for never giving up or settling for less.

                Although I have many plans for my future, I am still indecisive on which career to pursue. I know that I want to continue working in the medical field but I’m still not sure if to either become a Registered Nurse or Radiology Tech. In my future I can see myself happily married with three kids and a great career. All I want is for my kids to have everything I didn’t have as a child due to financial issues. I know life is not perfect and maybe everything will not happen like I plan, but for now I will continue to fight with life’s obstacles and I will never give up on my dreams.