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.