Change of heart

      When I was in Jr. High I hated PE. I hated having to change quickly into work out clothes. I hated getting sweaty and then having to go to the rest of my classes feeling all grungy. What hated the most was the days when we would have to run a timed mile. At the time I could never run a full mile without stopping and my time for it was between eleven and thirteen minutes when I would try.

     Later when I got to high school I tried out for volleyball thinking it would be fun and easier then taking a P.E generic P.E class. Man was I wrong! The Oxnard High school volleyball program trains harder then anyone other program I know of. We would run at least a mile every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and that was when we weren't in trouble for anything. For example if one person didn't have there shirt tucked in that would count as one extra mile for everyone to do. If someone was late to study hall in the morning it would be two sprints for every minute they were late and a mile for every person that was late. With over 45 students in program the miles and sprints racked up quickly. Through my volleyball training became stronger and faster. I cut my mile time from about twelve minutes to about seven and a half. I did all of the running because I loved playing the sport and being a part of the team, but I still didn't enjoy running.

     One of the best things about not being in high school is not having to take a P.E class and never really having to run for anyone again. So when my friend RL told me about a run club that his girlfriend was starting and asked me to join my natural response was “No thanks.” He bugged me about it for a while and I finally gave in. Little by little more and more people have joined and we met regularly to run at the beaches around Oxnard and Ventura. Now I can finally say that I enjoy running. Maybe it is because I don't have to do it and I actually choosing to do it. Another reason I enjoy it now is because I am getting a chance to meet new people at every meeting and make new friends. At fist no thought this club was going to make it too long, but it has been going one now for about eight months and we have already done our first official 5k together, and are registering for a 5k mud run at the end of the month. Over all I'm really glad that RL convinced me to join.  

Mi Familia

      Growing up I have always been a little jealous of my two best friends Nikki and Emily, because they have these big, loud, fun families. Both of my parents were born in Mexico and moved to the U.S before my siblings and I were born, so my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and all of my cousins live in Mexico. Nikki and Emily would always tell me about their exciting family-filled holiday parties, and in comparison mine seemed dull.  My Family holidays usually consist of just my immediate family, and every year is basically the same. My eldest sister, Araceli, always insists on making the dessert which never turn out right. My older sister, Karla, never makes plans to make anything but always end up making potato salad. My dad and older brother, Enrique, sit around watching T.V and complaining about us taking too long. My mom usually makes the main dish but someone upsets her and she cancels the holiday and goes to her room, then comes back later to finish. Usually I end up doing everything including making back up desserts because no one is going to eat Aracelis’.  When it is finally time to have dinner, we all sit and start with friendly conversation but someone usually starts to pick on one person. Eventually everyone starts picking on each other and someone ends up crying. Realistically, I suppose if there we more people it would be even more chaotic then it already is.
As you can tell my family is pretty quirky.  We are all also very different. My mom is super hard working and when she is home she just likes to relax. My dad is Mr. Fix it, he loves to be in the garage or back yard working on projects. Araceli is the smartest one, but is also super bossy and controlling. Karla is more quiet and tries to keep the peace, although she can be extremely vengeful if you get on her bad side. Enrique is the ultimate jokester. Everything to him is fun and laughter, I think he keeps the family light hearted when he is around. I am the most independent of my siblings. I like to just have fun and not take life as seriously as they do, but at the same time I have a plan for my life.
All in all as much as I do wish I had a larger family per haps if I did id miss having the intimacy of the one I have now.  Looking at it now, I wouldn’t change my family for anything in the world. Although I do wish I could see y family in Mexico more.

Walk the Line

         Most people live their lives one day at a time, focusing on their present, not really planning to change. When I was young I heard people say many many times that time flies.They said “once you reach a certain age time just goes by faster and faster.” Back then I didn't understand how the rate of time could get faster as you grew. I thought, “That will never happen to me because I knew that it was impossible.” Another thing I often heard adults say was how so-and-so was now a “different person” Again, that sounded unreal, how could a person become someone else? I didn't realize then that everything that we live through can change us, our thoughts, our opinions, our wants, and inevitably ourselves. An event that changed me was my graduation from Oxnard High School in June 2009.

            My interest in school decreased when I started Jr. High. School no longer had that fun, friendly atmosphere that it previously had. All of a sudden, the “smart” kids and the “average” kids were divided and given different schedules. In my mind, it didn't really matter, because none of these classes would really affect my classes in high school, so I didn't try to be one of the “smart” kids. High school was more of the same. My parents couldn't afford to send me straight to a university and my brother and sister before me hadn't graduated high school, so all I had to do was graduate and I'd already surpass their accomplishments. I never saw graduating high school as something that would be difficult. All you had to do was pass the minimum required classes by doing decent on the tests, and you'd get your credits. It was all extremely easy and that made me feel like I didn't have to be at school all of the time. The only things that kept me from ditching school every day were volleyball, ASB, and my friends.

            It seemed like my graduating class as a whole was particularly tightly knit. Everyone knew each other and  got along for the most part, because of this our school events were especially memorable. Our sports program was one of the best in every category in our school district, so attending the games was always full of excitement. Being a part of ASB, I can proudly say that we put on loud, spirited rallies and beautiful dances. All of that was fun and easy to attend while my parents paid for it all. By the time I got a job, I had to start to pay for my own tickets, dresses, pictures, and so on. It made me begin to weigh the worth of all of these things.

            When it came time for graduation, the expenses started to rack up and it made me wonder whether I should really walk the line if I didn't have to. For three days they had us practice our graduation ceremony, which you would think would make everyone excited, but really it did the opposite. Before each practice,  Principal Edwards would talk for 30 minutes or so, mostly warning everyone to be on good behavior and reminding us all of what we are not allowed to do. We were assigned seats and couldn't sit with our usual cliques and we had to wait for every single person's name be called. The whole thing was torturous to say the least. Why would anyone want to go through the ceremony after that? After so many years of taking the easy way out in school, by this time I was used to having that option. Not walking the line would be as easy as just not showing up.

            The days began to get closer and closer to the ceremony date and I was convinced I was not going to show up. I didn't understand why more people weren't coming to my conclusion until I realized that my friends were genuinely excited about it. They were all busy looking for outfits, sending invitations, and making plans with family for after the graduation. Still, that only tempted me. I wasn't fully convinced to attend until my sister, Karla, sat down and told me how much she wished she had graduated not only for herself but for my parents. Frantically, I called family to invite them and went out to find a dress. On the day of, I woke up early, showered, took hours to perfectly apply make-up and curl my hair. One of my best friends, Shoshannah, offered to pick me up on her way to the school, so we went together. Driving up to the school all dressed up, I was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing and just hoped I wouldn't regret my decision. All of those feelings disappeared once I saw the massive crowd of students wearing their cardinal and gold caps and gowns, talking and laughing excitedly, hugging and taking pictures. I found my close friends and did the same. We all filled the gym to listen to one last speech but this time instead of long and boring it was fun and inspiring. We all walked together to find the stands bursting with people holding flowers and balloons, cheering for us.

            The ceremony began, Principal Edwards spoke confident and thunderously, students spoke full of emotion, and the officials spoke proudly, they called every student up one by one and a roar from the stands came after every name. I looked into the stands and recognized many faces, then looked around at the students seated on the field with me and saw the faces of people I had grown up with, at that point I knew that this graduation was changing everything for us all as friends, students, and individuals. This graduation wasn't only a ceremony about fulfilling all your required credits, but a celebration for finishing one chapter in our lives and moving on to the next. I couldn't tell you what everyone was wearing, or specific things people said, but I can tell you how I felt, which was proud to be a part of such a great class of students, sad that my friendship with some of my peers might be altered, and happy to celebrate the time I had spent making mistakes and learning with this group of people.

            Two years have passed in the blink of an eye and looking back now, I recognize where I went wrong. I should have taken classes that challenged me, rather than trying to get it all over with. Then, maybe they would have kept my attention longer and I might have cared more. In the time that has passed I have come to understand what I used to overhear adults say about time and change. Life happens and as we live day by day we change without planning to for better or worse.

Ttly ;)

     Texting has taken over peoples' lives! I understand that it is addicting, but some people have taken it too far. I send about 1500 messages a month, and I think that it a lot. There are some people that text twice or even three times as much as that! My best friend is one of those people, and truthfully it gets pretty annoying when I'm trying to have a conversation with her and all I hear is her typing away.

     It can definitely be convenient when you either need to say something quick or need time to think of what to say. Sometimes when I get texted about something I don't want to talk about it gives me time to figure out the situation. Although, as easy as it can be to get hooked into the texting fad there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. If your sitting at lunch with a friend and you've sent more texts then you've said words, you've gone to the dark side!

Reality sets in

        Television has become a big part of most peoples' everyday lives. However, television isn't nor has ever been too important to me. As a child I only remember watching TV when a Disney movie, Jurassic Park, or Saturday morning cartoon were on. Now I only watch TV when I really have nothing better to do or am having a super lazy day.

      TV has taken an interesting turn in the past years. Cartoons in the 90s where cute and funny. Now cartoon are vulgar and I don't think they have good esthetics. Most TV shows are basically the same sex centered stories except with different settings. And the worst shows in my opinion are reality TV shows.

There are so many reality TV shows on all of the time that I think they have taken over the air time. There are dating shows, dozens of cooking/baking competitions, The Real House Wives so such and such, Jersey Shore, and my least favorite: Keeping up with the Kardashians. The thing that bothers me the most about reality TV is when the shows are fallowing people make complete idiots of themselves and they get rewarded with money and fame for putting their over dramatized lives out for everyone to see. The Kardashians annoy me because they are on TV all of the time, and their show is basically them pouting about stupid things most of the time.

      I don't mean any offense to anyone who enjoys these reality shows, but when I try to think a reason why people may be so obsessed with these shows, the only thing I can come up with is that everyone is too lazy to go out and live their own lives, this is the closest to excitement they get. I would like there to be more TV shows that actually have a good and meaningful story line, till then I'd rather curl up with a good book.  

Would you like fries with that?

     I never thought that my family's eating habits were bad when I was younger. Looking back now, they weren't as bad as some other peoples' but I can acknowledge now that they weren't great. Growing up in a traditional Mexican family there was never a lack of tasty home made food. My mom is an amazing cook to say the least. Usually the weekend was when we would eat out. During soccer season my parents would take me and my siblings to jack in the box after almost every game because it was right by Fremont Jr. High were the AYSO games were held. It served as either a celebration for a win or a pick me up after a loss. Then, every Sunday we would go out to lunch or order pizza so my mom would have a brake from cooking. Either way I didn't put much thought into what I would eat back then.

     Since then a lot has changed in my family. My mom hardly ever cooks anymore because my siblings and I are all grown up and all have different schedules. So our eating habits have gotten worse. I know that fast food is really bad for you, but it is so convenient. I go to school full time and work part time, so I am pretty busy usually. I like to sleep in as much as I can, so if I were to make my own lunch I'd have to wake up earlier and I don't want to do that. Also, because I was used to my mom cooking I never learned to look in the pantry and be able to make something out of what is there, there always seems to be something missing. I think another reason I and a lot of other people eat fast food a lot is because everyone always seems to be in a rush and they don't have time to make a meal let alone worry about it being healthy or not.

     My eating habits are something I would definitely like to change. I want to change not only because I want to be healthier but because my wallet needs to be fuller. Eating out is really expensive when you add it all up! I know that is will be hard because I am going to have to take time out to prepare food at home, and mostly because eating out has become such a social thing. If you want to hang out with friends there really isn't much to do in Oxnard so we often go out to eat together. When I have kids I don't want them to eat fast food anywhere close to as much as the average person does. I want to be able to cook for them and raise them to know what is good for you, what isn't, and why.  

Past, Present, Future

    In general, I consider myself to have a very poor memory of my childhood. Usually, recalling things from my past can be quite difficult let alone writing about it. I was Born in Ventura and have lived in Oxnard all of my life.  The first thing I can ever remember wanting to be when I grow up was a Paleontologist in kindergarten because I was obsessed with the Jurassic Park movies. Since then it has changed multiple times. Most of my elementary school was competed at Christa McAuliffe School and I am happy to be able to say that many of my best friends today I met there.  During this time in my life I began playing Soccer for AYSO and spent most of my time at the after school program with my friends. Later, I attended Fremont Jr. High which went by faster than anything I can remember. What I remember most about Jr. High is listening to a lot music and really connecting with the lyrics and rhythms in songs.  I fell in love with volleyball when I began playing for Oxnard High School during my freshmen year. High  School was a roller coaster of good and bad, and in all honesty I did not attend as much as I should have.  
    Currently, I spend most of my time at work. I have been working for Best Buy since I was 17. The rest of my time I am spending at school, this semester I am taking twelve units at Oxnard College. In my free time I enjoy taking my dogs to the dog park next to the college, meeting up with my run club, and going to the beach. I am also taking a lot of time planning out my next steps in my education. I am majoring in Art Management and am planning to transfer next fall hopefully to Cal State Fullerton. 
    I change my mind so often that its really hard to imagine the future. As of right now I predict to being attending Cal State Fullerton one year from now and graduating with a Bachelors in Art Management two years after that. From there I would like to relocate to San Diego and work for the San Diego Zoo as a Curator or something similar. Eventually, I would like to travel to Ireland and possibly move there either for a couple of years or for good. And of course like everyone I hope to one day meet someone special, fall in love, get married, and start a family. Its all sounds so serious and scary, so I'm glad all of that wont be for a long time.