My top 3 =]

The three most important people in my life....

            First off, of course my mother. She is about 5'2, very skinny, with long, thin, highlighted light brown hair. She is very loud and energetic. She can always be the life of the party. She is a single mother of four kids. She works all day and sometimes all week juss so she can make some money for us to spend. She's always worrying about us, and making sure she is able to provide us with everything we need to succeed in life. She is always putting my siblings and I before her. She is always there when you need her, and she can be very caring at times. Without my mother's help and support, I would not  be the person I am today. I wouldn't know how I would be where I am today without her. My mom is one of the only people I can really count on in my life. I know that when I need her most, she won't walk out on me. Overall, the main reason as to why my mother is important in my life is because she raised me and has been there for me my whole life.

            The second important person in my life, (in no particular order) is my grandpa on my mother's side. He was always there to pick me up from elementary school when I was young. He was always there to take care of me when my mom was at work. He would always buy me something from the liquor store and give me money for the ice cream man. He would make sure I was always as happy as I can be. He looked out for me all the time when my brothers would try and pick on me. I would go crying to him, and then he would grab a broom and chase my brothers around the house trying to find them. They would always hide from my grandpa, he wouldn't hit them with the broom, but they were scared of him when I told on them. I was his favorite grandkid. =) He was more of a father figure to me. I loved him with all of my heart, and he loved me too. R.I.P Grandpa. <3

             Now, the last important person in my life(in no particular order) is not a family member, but my best friend, Sidney Walker. She has always, and I mean always been there for me when I was just bored and wanted to do something, or when I needed someone to talk to. She was always there when my other "so-called" friends walked out on me. She has been there through the thick and thin, the good and bad, and the ups and downs. She is the one person I can always talk to, and just sit on the phone and talk about nothing. I can always have a good time just hanging out with her even if were just watching T.V., play any kind of board games, or just sitting there doing nothing. I care about her more than basically any of my friends, only because I know I can count on her whenever I need anything. I know that me and her will always be friends, even in the long future.

My Thoughts on FFN=]

Before reading Fast Food Nation, I thought that it was just going to be about every fast food company and how successful they’ve become. I never thought that it would get into gruesome details about how the food that we eat is prepared so badly. I’m glad that we read this book; it opened my eyes to a lot of the stuff that I eat. It makes me think about the animals and how they were treated, which makes me upset. Just like the trees in the rainforest, or the oil we have, people who work in slaughter houses feel as though there are so many cows, that they are able to do anything to them and not have to worry about the end result.

This book affected me in many ways. Not only by changing my diet, but also thinking about the animals that are being horribly treated and basically sacrificed for our nasty eating habits. I think that I am going to try and really cut down on a lot of fast food and eat more healthily. I still cannot believe that the cows and pigs that we consume, consumed dead animals and feces themselves. It disgusts me to such and extent to where every time I eat fast food, I think about eating dead, rotten, nasty animals and their poop. I think that these fast food industries should just stop worrying about the quantity, and start worrying about the quality. If all they care about is the quantity and not quality, their food is going to cause all of their customers to get horribly sick and may even cause death, and then they won’t have anybody to sell their food to, so in reality, they’ll end up losing money.

The college experience...

My truth from last week was that I barely turned 18!!! Your guys’ guesses were very amusing! I loved reading them! Thanks for playing! =]

My semester started off very easy, like how most school years start. I soon realized that the college work load was going to be much harder than what I was used to. I also realized that my study habits were not as good as they should be. I’m having a much harder time on some certain tests that I’ve taken. A lot of my work is beginning to catch up with me, from studying, cleaning up, homework, and more studying, it just wears me out. I know that other people have a much harder time than I do so I’m going to stop complaining, because things can be much harder for me.

Other than all of the work, my first semester in college is going great, although the whole “friends” situation is different, for example: I don’t know almost everyone in my classes, which is kind of a bummer, but the whole experience overall is a good one. I’ve met some new people, who are very nice, but I think that that’s all they’re going to be. College is more of a solo act, you don’t have all of your friends anymore to walk to class with, and so it can be kind of lonely sometimes.

For the most part, I love the schedule of college, how you get to pick your classes and the times in which you want to go to school. The first two days of the week, I only have one class in the day, and Tuesday and Thursday I have two classes, and I have Fridays off. Because I have a lot of work during the day, I love the fact that I always have a 3-day weekend! =]

I stay motivated by my dreams. I want to become a vet very much, and I want to move up to UC Davis in 2 years, and I know that I have a lot of classes that I need to take before I can make it there. What also keeps me going is my mom. She’s worked so hard for my siblings and I to make something of ourselves in this world, so most of all, I do not want to let her down.

I Bet You Can't Figure it Out =]

Take your Best Shot =]

1.) I've broken my bones

2.) I have my own car

3.) I'm almost 18

4.) I've been snowboarding

5.) I've had more than 4 dogs at one time

6.) I don't have my own room

My Friends and my Best Friendss ♥

Friends...A lot of people have them, and some only have real friends. Going into High School, I never really thought of myself as having true best friends. I only thought that I would end up with just a lot of friends that would come and go in and out of my life. I never really thought that there was truly anyone I could trust. While experiencing my first two years of high school, I had yet to find that one true friend. I've come across alot of friends that have made my high school fun and memorable, but not many of them have stuck around after high school was over. Even though I can't really call alot of my friends my best friends, they still mean alot to me and my life would not be the same without them. At the moment, I can't say I have thousands of friends, but I have enough to make me happy, and I am grateful that every one of my friends are in my life. I don't know what I would do without them.

                                                  

                                                          Best Friends



Sidney and I @ Sadiez =]



Buddy Pictures

 

Now starting my junior year, I came across one girl, Sidney Walker,...who changed my thoughts on true best friends. Not only was she only a year younger than me, but she was also a freshman. Despite our grade difference, she soon became one of my best friends and still is till this day. Sidney and I are like inseperable, we're always hanging out and on the phone. This girl can get pretty boring at times, but she is always there for me when I needed to talk to her. I can call Sidney my true best friend. But before she came along, I had met this other girl, Maritssa Contreras, my freshman year during basketball season, and we were just teammates at first, and I never really thought about her being my best friend. As time went by, Maritssa and I have become closer than before. We are always going places, going out to eat just because we're hungry for toppers pizza. =]  I remember when she told me that she didn't belive in best friends because they always stab you in the back one way or another. So ever since then, I have been calling her my bestie. I still don't think that maritssa believes in best friends, so I will continue to call her my bestie until she changes her mind. At one point, it was always like I would only be able to hang out with either Sidney or Maritssa, but never at the same time because they really didn't talk to each other, or know each other as a matter of fact. I would constantly talk to each of them, trying to get one of them to talk to the other. Next thing you know, I am able to hang out with both of them at the same time, which is perfect with me.



Senior Sunset:)



My Bestie and I at Disneyland!!! =]





Marijuana Laws

To answer the question:"Should marijuana laws be relaxed?", I say No, because the possession and intent to sell rate is already high enough as it is now, and if the laws are relaxed, the numbers will shoot through the roof. So many people now have become addicted to smoking marijuana, and selling it to make a quick buck, but what we don't see is the future of this addiction. The more people that use and sell it, the more it gets around and is exposed to the future generation. If it continues to be like how things are now, the future might as well be labeled as addicted to marijuana.

Due to the fact that Armentano and Dupont both made some very good points, I agree with both of them. Now what I'm not doing is agreeing with both sides 100%. When Armentano stated that it costs about $10, 400 per arrest, estimating now to about $7.6 billion, I think that officers should relax on those who have possession, over those with intent to sell. I also agreed with the fact that basically no substance is harmless, even the ones that are legal and are supposed to be helping us.

On the other hand, Dupont made some good points for his position aswell. Marijuana is definitely a dangerous drug all around the world. I think that it is amaing how only about .7 percent of the total population of prisoners of 1.2 million people, were serving time for possession hen it is clear that so many more people are in possession of this drug. I think that it is very interesting that although many people know the risks of smoking marijuana such as: "Burning marijuana smoke contains higher amounts of some cancer-causing chemical than tobacco smoke, reduces memory,increases the risk of schizophrenia, generates paranoia, anxiety and panic attacks and brething troubles."

I wonder, after reading these risks, if they would still continue to smoke, and if they do, then is the feeling of being high really worth the risks to them? If you ask me, I would stay away from that stuff completely, but to each it's own, and it's their life to live, that's why God gave me my life to live and make my own decisions.

My familyy

Family to most exceeds the blood relations. A lot of kids say that their best friends are their brothers or sisters. To me, family can be those people who you love and care about most. Family means everything to me. They are the ones that you can always count on when things go wrong. My mom reminds my siblings and I of that every chance she gets. She always tells us that my brother and I can focus mainly on our friends, but she will always tell us that when something goes wrong and were in trouble, it is always her who is there to fix it. She always asks us where our friends will be when things go bad, but we never answer because we know that it is a rhetorical question.

 When my brothers, my sister and I were younger, we used to be pretty close. We hung outside in front of our house and played baseball, dodgeball, and football together. Whenever my brothers hung out with their friends, they would let me come along sometimes. Whenever I needed some help with a project that I was doing at the time, they would do what they can to help me finish. If there were some things that were too big for me to handle, they would take over for me.

Comparing how my siblings and I are now, things have changed drastically over time. What once was is not anymore. Since my oldest brother moved out to LA, I have barely been speaking to him since.  He moved out over 4 years ago, and I have practically only seen him about 20 or so times. Whenever he comes down to visit, he only stays for the weekend and then he’s out leaving again. He usually comes down on long holidays, and the most he’s stayed was about a week. Looking at how things are now, it kind of makes me think about how we are going to be in the next 5 or so years.

My family is not as close as others, or as close as we should be, but we know that when we need each other, we’ll always be there to help. Although we can treat each other pretty bad sometimes, we eventually get over it and move on because we don’t want to waste time being upset at each other.  Whenever we get the chance to all be together as a family, it’s one of the best times I can have.

Essay #1



Oldest brother: Kevin



Do you feel as though you take things for granted? I know I do because one day I was minding my own business, not a worry in the world. My mom was a single parent of four: my two older brothers, my little sister and myself. I was about 12 or 13 and my mom wanted me to start washing the dishes and cleaning up the house before she got home. I didn’t like to clean, but she always nagged me about being the oldest girl, and that I had to start doing the chores. We argued about that at least twice a week, she would always complain about the dishes, the trash, and just everything that was messy.

One day, I decided to go grocery shopping because we had no juice or snacks. It was about 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening, and because I couldn’t drive, I had to walk, but it wasn’t far so I didn’t mind walking. The store was only two to three blocks away. Before I left for the store, I walked across the street and asked if my friend if she would walk with me to the store because it was beginning to get dark outside.

 While we’re there standing in line, I felt my phone buzzing inside my pocket. I pulled it out and I saw that I had missed a call from my mom. I called her back wondering maybe she just needed me to pick her up something. She picked up asking immediately “Where are you?” “I’m waiting in line to pay for my stuff, why?” She told me to get home as soon as possible because she had something to tell me. Everything she told me was in such calm yet had no-feeling kind of voice, so I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know if I was in trouble, or if something very big happened.

 

Other brother: Thomas

I then felt rushed to get home just thinking what was so important. So now I’m became a bit jittery just waiting for the cashier to ring me up so I could pay. Once I’ve paid, my friend and I grabbed the bags and rushed home. Basically running through the green lights, we get to our neighborhood about 3 minutes later. Once we turn onto our block, I got even more jittery with wonder, so we walked even faster. We finally got to her house and she handed me all of the bags so I can get home. I opened the doors so fast that I fumbled my keys in the process. I didn’t even bother taking the bags into the kitchen. I just dropped them by the front door. Once I got into my house, I immediately walked into the hallway, making my way to the end of the hall which is where my mom’s room is located.

So I got to my mom’s room and I ask her what was wrong. She pauses for a second before saying anything, and then she just tells me that my grandpa had passed away. I just stood there in her room motionless, staring at her with a blank stare. I was in shock; I didn’t feel as though I were breathing. I finally was able to ask her which grandpa it was, because that was the first thought that popped into my mind. She replied that it was my grandpa on my dad’s side. I didn’t know what to say, what to believe. So many thoughts were running through my mind. I had so many questions, yet so many of them unanswered.

I walked to my room, so quiet and in disbelief. I close my door behind me and I don’t even make sure that I make it to the bed. I immediately sit down on my floor for approximately 10 minutes not thinking about anything at all. My mind was blank all throughout that time. I sat there not knowing what to do. He was gone and there was nothing I could do. All of a sudden, I began to cry. I found myself crying continuously, and I didn’t like to cry, so I just forced myself to stop. I didn’t want to think about it because I knew if I continued to think about it, I would cry some more. I then turned on the T.V. to get my mind off of the situation because I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. I felt kind of bad when I didn’t cry because it made me feel like I didn’t care or anything.

A couple of days later, we went to the service and then the funeral after. While I was at the service, I began crying again, so I tried stopping but this time, I couldn’t. I saw him lying there, so still. I couldn’t handle it. I walked outside to get some air. Seeing all of the flowers and how beautiful the sky looked. I thought to myself, “How could it be so beautiful and easy out here, while it’s so sad and bad in there.” The hardest part wasn’t until later at the funeral when they lowered his coffin down into the ground. I felt like just shouting out “No!” so that they would stop from lowering him down, but I knew that it needed to be done. He was going to a better place and I knew that I had to let him go.

After the funeral, we headed on over to my aunt’s house to have the reception. I was hungry but I just couldn’t eat. All I could think about was my grandpa, there in the cold ground all alone. It just broke my heart knowing that he’s by himself.

The whole situation taught me a very important lesson though. I learned that life is too short for small, useless drama. Anything can happen, and we shouldn’t take anything for granted, the whole situation with my grandpa for example. If I would’ve known that what happened was going to happen, then I would have taken the time we spent together much more seriously and I would have appreciated it that much more. We take everything for granted. We think that everything we have will always be there, and that we have all of the time in the world, but that’s not how life works. We have to make the best of the time that we have here on this earth because we can be gone the next day. I now realize that everything that I once thought to be a big deal doesn’t look so big anymore.

Peresnting.........Giovanna Isabel Cuevas!!!!!! =]

*not her feet =]

              My interview was conducted with the wonderful Giovanna Isabel Cuevas. This very nice girl is 20 years old, Mexican, not too tall but not too short either, and a graduate of Hueneme High School with the class of 2008. She was born in Ventura, but raised in Oxnard. She has a boyfriend of 3 years; they met the beginning of her senior year. She drives, but not too often for her own reasons. She doesn't really understand why, but when ever she DOES drive, she likes to drive without shoes on! Now my first thought was like "Whoa Girl, Why?" Lol.She is the eldest of 4 kids; she has a younger sister and two younger brothers. One brother is 11 years old and the other is 4 years old. Her parents split up when she was little, so she doesn't have alot of memories of them together. When she was 14 years old, she moved out with her 13 year old sister to live with her dad. Her mom re-married, and her two brothers live with her mom. She thinks that the guy that her mom married is nice and open.

               After graduating high school, she didn't want to just work, she wanted to major in Pyschology. Presently, she attends college and works at a good paying job at Lil' Caesars. She works from morning to late afternoons, and from Tuesday to Thursday, she attends schools in the afternoons and nights. She is going to college and working at the same time. She wants to be a role model for her younger brothers. Her 11 year old brother thinks that it's cool to go to college and work. With all of the time she spends at school and work, she still finds time to spend with her family. On the weekends, she spends time with her dad and sister, and when she can, she takes her brothers out to eat and hang out.To Giovanna, her dad is her role model. He had to give up alot for her and her sister. He had to transition from a part time dad to a full time dad. She looks at her mom as a semi-role model. Giovanna's motto is "It's all on ou whether you fail or succeed." She says that her culture does not play a big role in influencing her to go to school. Her family is her main influence with her decision making.

                  Altough it took awhile, Giovanna was finally able to describe herself in three words which are: hard-working, open, and very messy. Lol. In ten years, she sees herself with a successful career, what ever it may be. She hopes to have a kid at 30 years old, and her boyfriend wants to join the marines. She's kind of nervous about him going because she doesn't know what she'll do if he had to re-locate because she knows that she can't just pick up her school and move.

                  After my interview with Giovanna, I learned alot about her and where she comes from. She is a good, hard-working person. From school, work, and her boyfriend, she still manages time to be with her family. I learned that she is big on family and morals. She is a very driven person, and I am lucky to have gotten to know her.

Txting iz awwwsumm!!! x] or Is it?

Texting.... We all do it, whether we need to or not. Good or bad, we still do it. Personally, I love to text, but I also would rather talk on the phone; if you are the right person. =] I really don't text a lot of people, only important friends. Sometimes I text so much, my hand begins to hurt and cramp up lol. I think that when you're texting, you don't have to really engage in the conversation because the person on the other end can't really know how you're truly feeling. I mean you can use exclamation marks and etc... But say for example you are feeling sad but don't want the other person to know, you can put a smiley face and that person would never have a clue.

Texting makes it possible for you to talk to multiple people, either through texting only multiple people, or texting one person and speaking to someone in person, etc... Texting is a nice ting to have, but all in all, I prefer to fully engage in one conversation with someone than text 24/7 with everyone. Sometimes, I look at texting like talking to someone, then pushing them aside until they respond, which I think can be rude if you look at it a certain way.

Texting people are what basically every High School and now Jr. High School students are worried about. While they’re in class, kids worry about checking their phones to see if their friends wrote back. Not I must admit that I am guilty for checking my phone during class so I know first hand what I’m talking about, but it shouldn’t be like that. Texting is and has been the addiction of many and it is one that we will not break anytime soon no matter what.

Reality TV shows

Before a couple of months ago, I believed that reality TV was real. I later found out that these real people had scripts at times to make everything more interesting (more drama). I used to think that reality TV was so crazy because of how people acted. They would act like cavemen, arguing and fighting over pointless things, but then I realized that they just depicted the image of a real person and added way more drama than in real life. Although I know that most reality TV shows have scripts, I still enjoy watching it. I will admit that I actually keep up with the hit reality TV show “Jersey Shore.” I just find the drama amusing and how even the closest friends can still fight over stupid things. I don’t fully understand how I enjoy it so much, but I just do. The Jersey Shore is not the only reality TV show that I watch, I also watch Real World, but only when I just happen to be on the channel and it comes on.

I think that it’s pretty lame how most of the people who come on these shows are just for the publicity and to be known for their drama. They only want to be known for the wrong reasons. They’ll go as far as acting like crazy and psychotic just to be famous, and it’s not like them acting like that will guarantee them a famous title so it all could just be for nothing. I would not be acting so crazy because I would care about my family seeing it and what they would think. I actually kind of feel bad for some of the reality stars because they are and always will be known as that person all for the wrong reasons.

I do feel like they’re just a guilty pleasure, but I feel that way about TV in general. Usually, I’ll only avoid watching the lame reality shows, but basically I avoid most of them because I only keep up with the ones mentioned above. I remember when everybody loved watching “The Hills,” but I didn’t find it all that interesting. It was like the same situation every week, so I never really tried keeping up with it. Pretty much all of the reality shows on TV are indeed harmful to society because they influence everybody who watches it. It can also be a help to show us how not to act in society although we should already know how to do that. All of the drinking, fighting, “hooking up” with people at the clubs and bars just because they’re cute, they’re sending the wrong message to our younger generations. I speak for myself and you all may do the same, but I know right from wrong, and I know that I will not be affected by it. For our younger generations though, they don’t necessarily know right from wrong yet and because they are at such an impressionable age, we as their elders need to show them that, that is not how you should act just because you see it on TV.

My Fast Food History

Ban Xeo

From when I was a little girl, my mom would always cook home cooked meals. She would always cook mainly fish, rice and vegetables. She would only cook breakfast on Sunday mornings. On school days, we would basically make cereal for ourselves, and she would give us lunch money. The only time we had fast food was when my mom would be too busy to cook that night. She would make this one special dish that was my favorite dish of all (Ban Xeo). It’s sort of like a Vietnamese quesadilla, except it doesn’t involve cheese. It is a corn meal texture, crepe like outer core, and it is filled with pieces of pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts. You eat it with like a fish/chili sauce and I used to be so excited when I would see her preparing it.

 

I used to be afraid of eating fish and rice because of an incident that happened. One night, I was eating fish and I didn’t take out all of the fish bones, so I ended up swallowing a big fish bone. I guess I swallowed it horizontally so it ended up being stuck in my throat and it hurt every time I swallowed. So I was scared but my mom and dad knew what to do. I see my dad walking over to me with a big ball of rice, he told me to swallow it without chewing it, and I was thinking to myself “ How am I supposed to swallow this big thing?”, but then I tried and the next thing I know, the fish bone is gone. I was so amazed but now I still am hesitant to eat fish.

I can look back and see when we began to eat fast food almost daily. It was when my dad first left. Once he left, my mom was left to raise me, my sister, and two brothers by herself, so she was tired a lot. My brothers and I would mostly just go to McDonalds or Del Taco because it was close to my house. From then on, I would eat fast for a couple of days out of the week. One I was in Jr. High, I would most likely get fast food after school, that is until I saw this documentary about fast food and the bad things that go into the food. I can say I was pretty naïve because I would say “How can something that tastes so good be so bad.”

Now that I’m basically on my own, I’ve been eating fast food like the first week of college, but now I’m trying to eat a lot healthier. My friend would always nag me and say that it’s not good and she would always say that I’m getting fat, even though I’m not! :( I’m tired of her nagging me all the time so I’m trying to eat healthier foods now. Instead of going to fast food restaurants, I would just go to Subway and buy a foot long. Although I’m trying to eat healthy at Subway, I still prefer my mom’s cooking because I am beginning to miss a home cooked meal.

My Past, Present, & Future

Ever since I was a little kid, I loved animals. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a dog in my house. Growing up, I realized two things: one, I was a pretty good student in school, and two, I loved animals, mainly cats and dogs. When I was small, I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer just like every other kid of my age. I was about 6 when I first moved to Oxnard, and about 13 or 14 when I saved my first animal. At the time, I already owned a dog, but one day I saw a cat wandering around, so I took her in. She ended up being pregnant and soon had a litter of 7 kittens, one sadly didn’t make it, but the other 6 were fine. That was when I knew that I was going to change careers and want to become a vet. The main reason why i wanted to become a veterinarian was because I loved being around animals.

This is Rickii pregnant <3

Today, I still look back on that day when I saved that cat. There’s not a day that goes by that makes me regret what I did. I am doing what I can to get me that much closer to my goal. I recently saved another animal. He was a dog, whom I named Lucky. I was walking my girl dog, and he just came and followed us home, so I’ve kept him ever since. I just recently lost my girl dog; Rickii, after being together for 6 years. Lucky had gotten pregnant, and she couldn’t take it anymore. I had just been with her, and I left for about 45 minutes, then I got a phone call saying that she died. My heart sank. I rushed home, hoping it wasn’t true, but there she was. I sat next to her for hours, just hoping that she would come back, but it never happened. I feel so guilty for not being near her when she needed me most. She was always there when i came home, and when she ran away those couple of times, she always came back. So from then on, I didn’t want another owner to go through what I went through, so now I am more determined than ever to become a veterinarian.

This is Lucky :)

Now that I’m in college, everything is coming and going by so fast. I know that I need to really be focused now. I am going to try and transfer to UC Davis in 2 years. Once I finish at UC Davis. I will be entering into a veterinary program also at UC Davis. I’m excited for going all the way up to UC Davis, but also nervous. I just hope that my roommate(s) is/are normal. I might end up just having my friend be my roomate because I' m not too fond of having to look for strangers to be the people I'll be living with. Overall, I hope that my whole college experience is a great one. All I need now is to get a job.

tina.tran339@gmail.com