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.