Last Blog...Or is it? Hmmm....

         For me, blogging was something new for me. I knew that whatever I was going to write online was going to be read in public so I was kind of shy about it. I really didn’t want to put my thoughts in the blog because I had this fear that I was going to be judged by what I was thinking or what I wrote down. But as I continued doing these blog assignments, I started to feel a bit comfortable and wasn’t scared about what I wrote down that much like before. I kind of enjoyed it, but blogging for the English assignments wasn’t that much fun; it felt like you had to write in your blog by force, but besides that, it was a really nice experience. Maybe I will keep on blogging in the future. I really enjoyed reading other people’s blogs because they each had different stories to tell and had their own way of expressing themselves through writing and seeing a few pictures of their life as well. I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure having you guys in my class. You guys made it really fun for me (especially Donald) and I hope to have classes with you guys again soon. I know that each one of you will be successful in life and that you will be doing great things in the future. I’ll miss you guys. Oh, and Mrs. Croker, thank you for helping me through in this class. I don’t know if I improved in my writing skills that much, but I just wanted to say that it was a privilege to be in your class and learn many things about fast food. Maybe I’ll get a class with you sooner or later, okay?

Surprise Trip

         My eyes were glued to the cars passing by as my family and I were going to this road trip. Not knowing where we were going (my sisters and I), the trip seemed to take way too long and the day of that trip was hot, so we were getting really impatient. As I kept watching the cars, my eyes suddenly spotted a highway sign that said “Anaheim” in some amount of miles. I thought my eyes were playing tricks and then thought, Nah, that can’t be possible. This trip is probably going to some hotel for my mom in order for her to be in some meeting of Pre-America. Yeah, that must be it. With this in mind, I was able to convince myself and forget what I first thought or what I first suspected. But after a few hours, my parents suddenly went to the left in the Anaheim entrance. My heart was beating fast. When I saw my sisters’ faces, I knew that they were thinking the same thing but we didn’t dare believe it.
Next thing that I saw quickly was Disney Land. My forehead was pressed on the glass window, watching as we passed by the themed park slowly. Why are we here? I thought. I was confused on what was going on in those few minutes as we arrived to some hotel. When we got inside of the hotel rooms and settled down, my parents gathered all three of us to tell us the big news or surprise.
“Tomorrow morning, we will be going to Disney Land,” my dad announced. My eyes started to water and my sisters gasped to this exciting news. In all these years, my family and I have never been to Disney Land, not once. I always dreamt of going to Disney Land when I was little, but because we didn’t have enough money, that dream seemed impossible and I thought I was never going to be in there…ever. With the announcement that my dad made, it was the best surprise we ever had and I was crying my eyes out the whole time (I was 15 years old when that happened).
The next day, we were outside waiting eagerly in line. Once we got inside, our adventure in Disney Land began. We went to several rollercoaster-like rides and went to this place where we got the chance to drive in these little cars individually, which was at first scary for me because it was my first time driving in these small cars, but I had fun. Before we got close to the castle there, a parade was starting so we went on the side and sat down to see it. It had almost all the Disney characters that I loved and for me, it was so magical as I watched them perform. Man, it was really amazing. When the parade was over, we went in more rides. I enjoyed going to the Indiana Jones Ride, The House of Horrors and the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride.
There were other shows that we saw at night that were really amazing as well that I really don’t have the words to describe them but that they were amazing and magical. It was better than I imagined when I was little and I felt like I was a little child again. When we left at midnight, I believe, we were all sad that the day was over and that the next day we were going home. Though it was just one time, it was really an amazing experience. As we went our way home, there was one thing that stayed in my mind the whole time that has made me believe it again which was this: dreams do come true.    

Important People

           Man, three important people in my life, huh? Well, like some people have said in their blogs, it’s hard to pick out people who have been an influence or have touched our lives in different ways. Having said this, I think the people who have played an important role in my life would be my mom, my dad, and my friend, Octavio.

            Most of the people who know my mom would say that I look just like her with our round faces and “Asian”-shaped like eyes as people would say sometimes. The only difference is that she has dark colored skin whereas my skin color is a bit lighter than hers. She’s short, has straight, shoulder-length, black hair where right now there are a few white hairs that are starting to appear here and there but aren’t that noticeable, and she’s a bit chubby. She’s very easy to talk to and she’s likeable to anybody. She has this great smile that will make you crack a smile even when you’re facing through a hard time. She’s really a good cook when it comes to my favorite foods which are practically everything and somehow she’s a good listener whenever I have something that is troubling me. She also likes to dance a lot, which is her favorite hobby when she has time. She has her days when she’s really irritated or really angry to a point where my family tries to be careful on what to say to her, but overall, she’s amazing. She’s important to me because she’s the one who was always there for me when I was in my lowest point and also, she was the one who has helped me become the person who I can be. Though I don’t say much to her about how deeply grateful I am for all her sacrifices and love that she has made and given to me and my sisters, I’m really grateful to God that He has given me an amazing mom who is a great example and shows great courage when facing through challenging times.

            My dad and I are pretty much alike when it comes to personality. He’s not that social, doesn’t like to talk much, and loves music that involves with piano (relaxing music). He’s taller than me only for a few inches and his skin color is much lighter than mine. He has thin, puffy hair if he doesn’t cut it too short, has light-brown colored eyes, has some barely visible wrinkles on his forehead whenever he raises his eyebrows and has a bit of a pointy nose. If he started to have fun, he would laugh and it is the only time where he opens up to other people. He’s fun to be around him. He likes to read and he likes to learn new things. He’s the neat freak in our house and he’s a type of carpenter when he came up with making stuff up with wood. He’s very respectful to my mom and everybody else and rarely gets mad at anybody. The only time he gets mad is if we ever screamed or say something mean or rude to my mom. He’s important to me because he would always give me advice when I didn’t know what to do or when I’m stressing out. He’s a kind of teacher to me that connects stories that he’s read to life so I would be able to understand. Somehow, he is able to connect with me because he knows what I’m going through with the experience that he had when he was young when other people can’t understand me. He’s been there in my highest and the lowest and I’m grateful for having a father like him.

            Octavio, in a sense, is like the other me, only about a 10 year difference and that he’s a guy and is into science. He’s about my size, only an inch taller, has brown eyes, very short prickly hair, and dark skin and he’s like a stick. He’s into martial arts and is into some anime shows as well. He’s serious almost all the time, but when we joke around with him, he’s really funny and is a bit childish for his age. He’s important to me because he has helped me go through things that I wouldn’t do on my own, such as learning how to drive or how to be an independent adult sometimes. He also helps me how to have fun when I was too tense. He’s been there for me and he’s the greatest guy I ever known.

Review

       Reading is one of my favorite hobbies that I like to do whenever I have time left to spare from all my homework assignments or chores around the house. Though it may sound a bit strange, I enjoy being in the library to look for interesting books to read and, if they are really good books, I would check them out and then read them at home. One of the books that I came across with a few months ago was called I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, a historical fiction type genre. That type of genre rarely gets my attention because it gets boring in my opinion, but this story captured my attention because it mashed well with the author’s small bits of fiction in the 1600s time period, the characters were great and believable, and the story was original in my own opinion.
I liked the way the author put in Rembrandt’s paintings in the story because it gives out a few clues that would help the reader understand what’s going on with the artist’s life and the main character in the story. At first, I didn’t know why the author included some of his famous paintings in the story, but as the story progressed, it later made sense because it not only revealed some dark secrets of the artist’s life, but it also showed how he was feeling inside of him (in the story, not in real life). Also, the setting of this story felt believable even though I didn’t know much about the life in Amsterdam in the 1600s. The 2nd plague (I think) that was introduced in the near climax of the story made me see the harsh life that these people might have gone through which was really a tragic time for these people. The social lifestyle that they had during this time period was also the key point on giving this story some flavor into it because it gave some complex issues that these characters had to face through like, for example, the main character falls in love with a gentleman that is from a higher social rank whereas the main girl is at the way bottom and though they love each other, their social status becomes an obstacle for their families in the story.
As I read this story, the author described the characters so well that I could almost picture them in my mind and made me feel like they were real people. They all had unique characteristics that fitted and suited well for each character and because it was told by the observation of the main character, they were sometimes complicated to figure out on what they are thinking or how they will react certain situations. There were times in the story where I thought some characters were a certain type of person in the beginning, but at the end they turn out to be a different person. The characters really surprised me when they made a twist throughout the story.  
For me, it was original in a sense because the main character was using some technical terms that are normally used to described art that she later applied them into her life which was really different and interesting at the same time. Though there are points in the story where you have the classic love triangle and dramas, the description of an artist’s life is something that people, including myself, have never read before and is something that’s worth knowing about. For example, in the book, it described how harsh  life was for main character’s family because of the harsh “art competitions” that they were facing through and the artist’s family depended on the money that the artist earned from his sale of art.
My review for this book might not have been the best because I simply cannot write the right words to describe how I feel about this book but to say that this is indeed the greatest book I have ever read. I would recommend people to read this book, mostly for girls. I don’t know if guys would like this book, but if you’re a guy who likes to read whatever literature you could find, I would invite you to read this book if you want to. It’s really awesome.

Fast Food Nation

I really never had any interest on reading these types of books such as Fast Food Nation about real life issues because it’s boring for my taste. When I saw the size of the book, I thought that I wasn’t going to like it all. But once I read the first chapter of Fast Food Nation, I was really amazed how much information the author had provided in the chapter for the readers. There was humor in a sense and Schlosser has indeed brought out the issues on the table for us very nicely about the fast food problem that we are facing. There were a few negative things about fast foods that I already knew at the time, but this big picture that the author described in every chapter of this book has really shocked me completely, made me feel queasy at times, and made me wonder or think more about what’s going on in the world with fast food marketing. It really has made me view things differently and has affected me with my decision making for now and for the future. I think not eating meat will be a bit easy for me because I don’t eat meat much like I used to when I was a little kid, but ground beef is probably going to be a great challenge for me because it’s the only favorite meat that I like, which is the worst meat that anyone could eat of as Schlosser said, but I can probably manage. Now, I don’t go to restaurants as much like before anymore, with the exception for pizza restaurants. I’m trying as hard as I can to live in a healthy life style so that in the future, I would be healthy and fit so that I can live longer to enjoy life.  The issues that made me think of in this book was about how workers were treated in these fast food companies and about what these people are putting in the food. It really has made me feel disgust for these companies. I think this book has made an impact in me and I would recommend people to read this book so that they can make wise decisions for their life.    

Truth Revealed...How I'm Doing This Semester?

       Well, to start off, the truth for blog #10 was 4) I love to read a lot. Many might think I might be lying, but it’s true. Since I don’t have much time, I didn’t have the chance to read books that I like, which is a bummer for me, but, oh well. C’est la vie, as my French teacher, Mrs. Matthews always said to us in high school.
This semester has been a bit challenging for me than the last one because I had a lot of free time last year and I didn’t know what to do with it, so I got bored easily and didn’t use my brain much with the exception to my history and Geology class. This semester, in contrast, I really had my brain working in these classes. There were some points in my Semester Journey where my head was nearly going to explode sometimes, but for some reason, I’m kind of glad that I’m going through this. So far, I like my classes in general. I have awesome teachers this semester (in my art class though, my art teacher talks a bit weird and soft that I can’t understand him at times, but he’s a lot of help whenever I have trouble with my art projects). This semester, I’ve taken a Physical Education class called Escrima and though it’s a bit tough for me because of my condition, it’s interesting and fun and got to learn some defense moves that could help me in the future. I’m still not fast or good at it yet, but I know I’ll get there.
What bugs me is that I don’t have time to draw or read whenever I want. The challenges that I have may be that I have so many activities that I have to go to that it doesn’t give me enough time to do some of my homework assignments sometimes, but I think the workload is good enough for me. Each class I learn something new which is pretty awesome. I don’t know if I’m improving in my English class, but I know that it will help me with my other future classes that I will take. My art skills are probably improving slowly and with all that I’m learning in that class, I’m trying to apply these skills for my little story that I’m trying to create.
Well, I guess I stay motivated by thinking what type of future I want to create or fulfill. I really want to make my parents, my family, myself and God to be proud of me in a way. I really want to have a good life and I want to be able to help other people and my parents one day if they need it. I want to be prepared when that time comes so I can be of service to anyone. That’s what keeps me going.

True or False? Hmmm...

Can you guys figure out the truth?

1) I have one brother and two sisters
2) My quinceanera dress was the color blue
3) I like heavy metal music
4) I love to read a lot
5) I love onions
6) I don't like the song called "I Won't Give Up"

My Art Pieces

Well, I was kind of debating whether to put some of my art or not, but I did it anyways. So here are some of my art that I've done in the past and recently. The first two pictures that I posted are some of my old high school projects I've done which were really fun.

Keith Haring Project in High School

Vincent Van G. Style Project: Self Portrait

This one is one of my favorite paintings that I've done last year. I'm not that good with water colors yet, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

"Boy Fishing" ©2012 TshadowAL

"Akira Sunset" ©2013 TshadowAL

"Full Moon Night" ©2013 TshadowAL

As much as I "enjoy" painting or drawing still lives and real life drawings, what I like better is drawing Anime characters. Ever since I was a little girl, I was really into the show called Pokemon and I was really fascinated with these made believe creatures. I started making my own Pokemon characters but later on it wore out of me and stopped drawing those and watching this show. Later on, I liked one other show that was called Inu-Yasha. Because of this show, I drew the characters that were in the show and then a couple of years later, I started to make my own characters and started to make a story out of them in a comic style or "manga". My characters have somewhat similar style of the show that I loved (which is an old style) but they are completely different and has a different story line. There's a lot of things happening in the story but I won't go into details about it. If you guys want to know more, you can ask me later on about it.


Well, that's all I have that I wanted to show you guys, so please tell me what you think of my art pieces in the blog. I would appreciate it greatly. Have a nice day and enjoy!

Change

           When I was a little girl, I thought my parents knew everything and that they weren’t afraid of anything. It seemed that way because whenever I had problems with simple arithmetic problems in math, they would help me through it and help me understand how to do it so I would be able to do it on my own. Also, whenever I spotted a big, ugly, gigantic spider that was on the top corner of my room, I would shout with horror for help and my parents were always there to save the day. In that time, they looked like awesome heroes that were invincible who had no weaknesses.

            As I grew up, I still thought that way until I started to observe them for the first time. I had viewed them always as happy people, but with a bit of observation, I saw sadness a few times in their lives and it was a bit new to me. How could they be sad, I wondered for a bit but being still a child, I would forget and let it slide past me. But as I grew older, I was more aware than I was before. I came to realize that they, too, had fears, moments of sadness and depressions like I did. Whenever I struggled in my classes and needed help, my parents, whom I once thought that they knew everything, couldn’t help me at all because they didn’t know English or how to solve Algebraic problems and because they saw their own limits, they were so hard on themselves and felt helpless around me.

The heroes that I once saw as a little girl had slowly faded away, but this surprisingly has not made me feel disappointed at all. I’m glad that they are not perfect as I once imagined because if they were perfect, I would have thought that I was ridiculous or stupid. Seeing them have weaknesses but are trying to become better is what makes them real people who are facing through challenges like everybody else. Knowing this, I can relate to them and could ask help when I’m facing through trials of my own. Though they are limited in certain things, they have helped me in other ways like helped me become a good person, motivate me to shoot for the best and have good values. Though they are imperfect, they are still my heroes to this day after knowing what they have been through in their lives and what they have done for me and my other sisters. I love them just the way they are.      

Family

            When I think about family, the picture that comes to my mind is of my family. My family contains a mother, a father and three sisters. Though they don’t fall in the ideal “perfect happy family” living in a perfect life, it makes them unique. With their imperfections as well as mine and with our different personalities, it makes our lives happy and fills it with many great memories and adventures even during rough times.

            Whenever I was stressed out about something or if my day was going bad, my family was always there helping me out even though there were times where I didn’t want their help at all. They would try to convince me to take a break or forget what had happened that day and later on take me to places such as the beach or in the park for a walk or play soccer. Knowing myself, I would probably not want to join them for a while, but slowly but surely I would tag along and at the very end of the day, I would have fun and would have completely forgotten what I was worried about in that day. We would also have family conversations during dinner where we each expressed our feelings, our worries and what we’ve been through that day which has helped me also.

            Looking back, I have become the person that I am right now because of them. For me, I believe that being in a family is important because it is the foundation or the key on becoming whatever person you want to be. It’s also where we get our values or our beliefs that shapes our personality so we have to be careful sometimes with our actions or what we say to each other in our families. Having been born with wonderful parents and being raised in a great family, I have become a very good person with great values that people have given their trust to me as well as my family which is a great honor. Without the help and guidance of my family, I don’t know where I would have ended up and what kind of person I would have become.

            To summarize it, my family is like a sanctuary and a team that is filled with love and service. When trials and hardship strikes in the world, the only place of comfort that I could rely on and go to is my family. When we work together as a team, nothing could beat us down because we help each other and we have each other’s back. I’m blessed for being a part of it and because we have a short time of living on earth, I want to cherish each moment that I have with my family.        

Interview

            I was a bit nervous about doing this interview with some student a few weeks ago in the class. I’ve never interviewed anyone before from what I remember and so I was freaking out inside of me because this was an assignment we had to do. Though I felt that way, I shot my hand up, sticking four little fingers out, and looked for my partner who had the same number as me. Scanning at the back of the classroom, a girl who sat in the last row at the corner of the table looked at me directly. Assuming that she was the one person, I packed my things and went to the end of the row. When I sat down next to her, she was quiet and had her arms crossed on the table and had her head slightly on her arms. At first, I believed that the interview was going to be awkward the whole way, but after the little conference, it was quite the opposite.

          The person that I had the chance to interview was Liliana Quintero which later on during the interview, I discovered that she and I graduated from the same school last year in Hueneme High School which was pretty neat to know. She’s 18 years old and she is the youngest out of four in her family (two brothers and a sister). She’s currently a full-time student at Oxnard College on Mondays through Thursdays and on the weekends she works at a Pollo Loco restaurant. She spends time with her family on Sundays

          What motivates her to go to college is that she wants to get a career and study Psychology to have a good life for herself and for her future family. Her motto or philosophy for succeeding in school is that “You’re the only person that can stop yourself from succeeding.

            Her role model in her life is her sister because she was the first person in her family to graduate from college and became a teacher after that. With her example, this inspired Liliana (Lili) to earn a good education and become a better person. When I asked her if she was a role model to anyone, she put some thought to it and answered that she was a role model for her cousin. She explained to me that her cousin is smart in school but she often slacks of so she, Lili, would talk to her from time to time and tried to be a good example for her to get a higher education.

          What she likes about college is that it has a lot of services or resources that really help out for her like the library and the vending machines that have school supplies. What she wants improvement in Oxnard College is that the cafeteria should be open often.

            After talking to her, I came to know that she cares for her parents and wants to make them proud. She wants to study hard enough so when earns the degree, she wants this to be a gift to her parents for all the sacrifices that they have given her. She’s very funny and is a kind of person where anyone can get along very well.

           

The Day I Jumped the Zip Line

It was almost pitch black when I first woke up that Friday morning. For a moment, I didn’t recognize where I was, assuming at first that I was in a different room in the house. It was completely quiet and still, only but the faint sound of a singing cricket outside. I was able to see faintly with my sleepy eyes silhouettes of bunk beds that were against the walls. Then it struck me: I was in Girls Camp in Camp Whittier almost for a week. Slowly and steadily, the light of the morning sun started creeping in through the windows. It’s finally here, I thought excitingly. Friday- day of activities. The day we get to do whatever we want, I thought, smiling at this. But then another fact came to my mind: it was also rock climbing day and everyone had to participate in it. I was disappointed with this because I really didn’t do much but pull the rope for other people who wanted to do it. No matter. I’m not going to let this ruin my day, I thought.
This was my fourth year going to this camp. Though in the past three years it was set in the same campgrounds, it was filled with many memories and built strong friendships there. Never would have I imagined in all my years of living that my fourth year, that specific Friday day would end up to be the most impacting event that I ever experienced.
All the girls in camp and some adults went to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. The room was filled with noise of chatter, laughter, and singing all around. The room was warm and welcoming. I watched a large queue of people waiting for their turn to get food. The chef, named Phabio, was there smiling as he watched everyone eat his masterpiece. He was dressed in his usual white chef attire and had on his white chef’s hat on his head.
As we were eating, Sister Barlow, who was a large woman that had brown, wavy hair, who always had a smile on her face and was the one woman who made this camp possible for us, stood up with a speaker and announced, “Okay, girls, I just wanted to make a quick reminder that those who are morning rock climbers must go to the area as soon as you’re done. You will receive some information from the instructor before you start the activity. Make sure you stay in your group. And as for you, afternoon climbers, after you’re finished, you may go to the activities that we have prepared for you. Remember to have a buddy…” Yes, I know the drills, I thought and gave out a sigh as I ate  the warm, delicious pancakes covered with strawberries and honey on top. I checked my schedule and saw that they placed me in the afternoon for that activity. I smiled and could not wait to go to these activities.
When my group and I were finished and cleaned up our mess, they started buddy-ing up with each other. As for me, I went with my sister, Jacky, who was also an afternoon climber. She had long, dark brown hair and was short at the time. She and I had similar eyes and almost the same nose but what made her different was our two age difference (I was around fifteen at the time) and the color of our skin, she having a darker skin and I paler which made some of our friends think that we weren’t sisters at all.
We went on a nature walk, played volleyball, made some round pins in the Arts and Crafts building, and met some of her new buddies that she made. Activity after activity, time passed by like water and soon enough it became the afternoon. As Jacky and I were walking slowly to the rock climbing area, she began to ask me, “Tayde, are you going to jump the zip line this year?”
I stopped walking and asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Just wondering,” she answered.
Is she having amnesia or something? I thought. She knows what a scardy cat I was, yet she was still asking. Wondering and feeling a bit uneasy, I replied, “I don’t know.” Raising my eyebrow, I asked her the same question.
As soon as I finished the sentence, her eyes sparkled and exclaimed, “Yeah! I’m totally going to do it!” I smiled as I watched her jumping with excitement. She then spoke abruptly, “ You should do it, too!”
“What?” I laughed in disbelief.
“Come on, please?” she pleaded.
The more she pleaded, the more I felt nervous about the thought. Sure, I’ve seen other people do it and looked like they were having fun and were having a good time, which sounded a bit tempting, but-
“I don’t know, Jacky. Well, I’ve always wanted to try it out, honestly,” I began slowly, feeling quite surprised by my confession, “ but- well, you know, I’m a coward.”
“Just try it out! It’s going to be awesome!” After this conversation ended, we began to walk to our destination once again.
Do I really want to rock climb all the way up and jump the zip line, or am I just going to pull the rope like I’ve always done in the past three years? Many questions started to flood in my mind all at once, not knowing what to do. As we were getting nearer and nearer to the area, my legs felt like it was getting heavier every step I was making. I was feeling a bit queasy and though I have never thrown up in my life, the sensation was horrible.
Then I saw it: the outdoor rock climbing building. Never in the past three years have I had the slightest hint of curiosity to stop and observe this monstrous thing. It was about the size of the Administration Building in Oxnard College, but only more taller. The wood was thick, yet very old looking. Even with a small, gentle breeze that passed by shook this giant building. With this, my mind started to play horrible scenarios of many possible accidents, most of them lethal, that could happen.
All the afternoon girl climbers were present and while we listened to the instructor about safety and on what we had to do, my head was throbbing hard for not coming up with a decision. When he finished, we started to gear up which were only the hard, yellow helmets and the black harnesses. We had to tighten a bit the harness around our waste and legs. It was uncomfortable for a while but then I got used to it.
Geez, I don’t have to do this! I can always do it next year. Yeah, that sounds good, I thought. With this, it convinced me and so I want straight toward the people pulling the rope. It was easy and it was worry free. We were doing this about an hour or so; as I was concentrating doing my part of the job with this group, a girl in the back of me asked me suddenly, “Hey, isn’t that your sister up there?”
My head shot up to see what she was talking about, and sure enough it was her already connected to the zip line. She looked down, smiled and later waved at me. I waved back, feeling so small inside. Everyone cheered as she was getting ready to jump, including myself as soon as our climber finished her way up. A few minutes later, she threw herself out to the air, looking as if she were about to fly to the clear blue sky, which really took my breath away. She zipped down with fast speed and as she got close to the tree, she slowed down and then zipped back and forward at the end. When the Brothers got her down the zip line, she looked like a champion having won the greatest medal. Man, how much I wanted to be in her shoes, feeling incredible. Shaking away the thought, I tried to concentrate on what I was doing,  but as I watched others jumping that zip line, I was getting restless. Seeing them having all the fun made me have this great desire to do it.
That’s it, I thought finally. If you think that you’ll do it next year, you’ll just chicken out. It’s now or never, I concluded. So, with a bit courage, I went to the other side of the building to finally climb up and go to that zip line. The reason I went to the other side was because I heard the instructor said that it was easier than the one in front, which was the actual rock climbing. The one I was going to climb looked like a ladder, but they were just steeled stakes that were stuck in the side of the big, hard wood. When a few of my friends saw me, they went up to me and gave me high-fives and gave me the “You-can-do-it” speech. There was a line in front of me so I had to wait, patiently. With all the waiting, I was getting anxious… and excited at the same time. This was the first time where no one had to push me into stuff and I felt quite proud of that. As the line got shorter every ten to twenty minutes, my heart was racing and felt out of breath with all
the nervousness.
The moment had arrived. I stepped forward and the instructor clipped something to my harness in order for the people, my team, to pull me up. I went towards the steeled stakes and shouted, “Climbing!”
“Climb on!” my team responded, which meant that they were ready.
“On belay,” I later said.
“On belay,” they repeated, and so I commenced to climb. As I climbed, my group pulled the rope at the same time which gave me a little boost. The harness felt weird when it was pulled by the rope, but I will not go into details on how it felt like. Trust me.
It felt easy in the beginning and wondered why I was getting worked up all this time, but then somewhere below half was where and when it became challenging. I really wasn’t well conditioned for these things, for one thing. Second, my legs were big and felt that all the weight of my body was there, unable to climb much.
Don’t look down, Tayde. Don’t you dare look down! I kept on climbing. My heart was pounding like a thousand miles per minute and my legs felt shaky and wobbly like jello. Beads of sweat were running down my forehead to my neck; my lips were chapped
and clenched my teeth tightly. When I went further than half, I began regretting for doing this and said to myself things like “You’re an idiot” or “You’re crazy; you shouldn’t be doing this”, etc.
When I looked up, I saw this big log that was shooting out horizontally from the building. I planned to sit on it and rest for a while. As I got closer to the log, I saw that I was going to have trouble going up the log and the only way to get on was by slightly pulling yourself and jump on it. I started to do so, but I didn’t know how to do it. I got the concept, but couldn’t do it; it felt wrong each time I tried in different ways. While I tried to grab hold on the log, I must have been not careful that time because my foot slipped from the stake and started to fall for a second. I yelped when I felt I was falling, but luckily my team was watching over me so I was hanging there and got myself to grab hold to the stakes and soon enough I had my feet on them as well.
I was glad that they had my back, but even with their help, I no longer felt safe no matter how well “protected” I was. I was shaking all over when I heard one of the girls shouted, “Don’t get scared! You’re almost there! Don’t turn back!”
The instructor chimed in, “ Pull yourself up harder to the log, okay, hon.?”
I put my forehead against the wood, bit my lower lip and wanted to cry badly, feeling extremely discourage. How could I be so stupid, thinking that I was actually going to make it, I thought, blaming myself for doing this. I really wanted to give up, but a part of me wanted to finish this up.
“Climbing,” I finally shouted.
“Climb on,” they answered.
“On belay!”
“On belay!” I climbed up until I was at the log again. I did as my instructor said and finally I was on the log.
“Off belay!” I said, meaning that I was safe and was going to rest for a bit. They went to the side, making the rope at a ninety degree level so they wouldn’t risk me falling down.
While I was catching my breath, I closed my eyes and felt the soft breeze caressing my face. It’s a very warm and nice day, I realized. I saw some birds dancing in the air and leaves moving with the wind. I could almost see the whole camp from up there: green trees all around, the meadow in the middle of the campground, the little pool area next to the meadow on the right, the flagpole area on the left side where we gather ourselves at night around the campfire and hear devotionals from the Brothers and Sisters, the Arts and Craft building, and many hills filled with green. It felt peaceful. Though I wanted to stay there a bit longer, I knew there were other girls wanting to get up so I stood up and shouted, “On belay!” and said all the phrases like in the beginning.
When I looked up, I was only a couple feet away from the top. My heart leaped with joy and hope. I climbed and stopped and repeated this a few times when finally, and miraculously, I pulled myself with all my strength and had a helping hand from an older instructor that was up there. I was finally at the top! Up there, two other girls that I didn’t know well were waiting their turn. The old instructor, whom we called Brother (I didn’t know his last name), clipped me to another rope that prevented me from falling down to the sides.
  One of the girls jumped down the zip line and felt the building wobbling side to side. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all. The second girl went next and while she went zipping to the line, another girl just arrived on top with me and the Brother. Now looking at the zip line, my fear grew ten times worse than when I was climbing. I grabbed the edge of the wood hard and my heart was pounding harder than before. The Brother, a skinny tall man with some wrinkles on his face that had on a red plaid shirt, a pale-ish yellow woven cowboy’s hat, beige shorts, and some brown army boots, I believe, smiled at me and asked, kindheartedly, “Are you ready?” I shook my head slowly and he laughed softly. “Just let yourself go. That’s all you have to do.”
Easy for you to say, I thought. He then clipped my harness to the zip line. I looked down and saw hundreds of girls looking at me and cheering for me even the girls, which were practically most of them, who didn’t know me. My throat felt dry and my heart was racing again. From there to the ground, it looked like it was hundreds of miles away from below. I thought I was going to die young. I squeezed my eyes shut and said out loud, “I can’t do this! I can’t jump!”
“If you don’t want to jump, you could just sit down and let yourself go. It’s almost the same but I guess it won’t feel that bad,” the old man said. Thinking that it was a good idea, I did so, but the fear was still there.
As I panicked, I remembered something very important that I learned that year’s camp. That year, the theme was based on a scripture from the Old Testament, which was “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord, thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest”(found in Joshua 1:9). All that week we were learning how to have courage whenever we faced difficult situations or when we were facing trials. I was touched by each devotional that I attended that week, but never have I thought that this applied to my daily life. I felt quite embarrassed that moment because that meant that I didn’t take it seriously.
Although I felt a mix of emotions during that time, I felt comforted with this scripture. I prayed inside my head, asking God to give me courage enough to “jump” the zip line. When I finished, I grabbed the cord tightly with both hands, closed my eyes shut, and breathed out. This is it. This is the great finale you’ve worked and waited for, I thought.
Slowly, I let myself slip down and soon enough, after I was only down by two to three feet in the air, my shin hit something hard that I cried out in pain. Everything went by me too fast. Ignoring the pain, I felt the adrenaline all over my body as I zipped in the air. It did feel like flying and was the most amazing thing I have ever felt as the air was going through my hair. When I got close to the tree on the other side, I touched the leaves barely and the cord attached to me slowed down.  I was going back and forward a few times until finally, I stayed in the middle hanging in the air. Some Brothers came with a ladder and unclipped the rope from my harness. As I climbed down the ladder to the grassy meadow, my sister and a couple of her friends rushed towards me. Jacky, still amazed of what I did, said, “ You actually did it!” I smiled, feeling shaky inside and outside as well. Though I injured my shin along the way, I was in triumph.
  Through this event, it showed me not only that I was brave enough to take this challenge but it has taught me a type of a life lesson, taking it in deep reflection. One cannot be a coward forever in life. Staying as a coward would just steal away all the opportunities that one can gain and experience. It’s like having a dream that one wants to fulfill but does nothing for it because of the fears that holds one back. Just like rock climbing, one has to take risks in life in order to reach the main goal at the top. It’s not going to be easy in this journey, but once one goes through the “zip line”, or the reward that one has earned, one will say at the end, “Hey, it was all worth it.”

       Whenever I take the time to observe on what’s going on around me, I would see most of the time people texting waiting for the bus, texting in the library, in school areas (sometimes during class sessions), at the parks, and…well, everywhere. I guess texting has become a new part of communication almost to the whole world. It helps us get information from others when there’s an event coming up or know what’s going on with the person you’re texting. It also gives us the chance to send sweet messages to others in order to make someone feel better and just make their day better.
It’s cool to be able to text whenever we want, but can there be certain limits to it? There are times where texting can be annoying and disrespectful. It also can track you off on what’s going on around you. Has there been a time where you and your friend have been texting for days and when you finally get to be with that person, you don’t seem to know what to say and stay quiet almost the whole time? That’s just a bit sad. At one point, I did witness one time where two kids I knew for a long time were texting each other in the car without even looking or talking to each other on the way to Los Angeles. Sometimes I believe texting is taking away the communication that we have for each other and rob us some of our precious time if it is used incorrectly. If it were used correctly, there wouldn’t be that much communication problems or social problems with each other.
Like I said before, I’m very neutral and cool with texting if it is used correctly, in other words, used for good things. In my opinion, texting for me, personally, has been a blessing because without it, I don’t think I would have had strong bonds with my family and friends. With those little messages of advice or those comforting messages that they send me, it helps me feel better and know that someone cares on what’s happening to me. And that’s great.

Reality Shows

         I really don’t watch much of the reality shows that they pass anymore since my family and I no longer have cable in our house. In the past, though, there were some shows that really caught my attention as well as my family such as police chasing the bad guys who were doing something stupid, when they shouldn’t; stories on how ordinary people, like ourselves, without any knowledge of survival skills, survive when they were stuck in the middle of nowhere (deserts, mountains, etc.) in horrible weather conditions and lack of food, and crime investigations. These were my favorite types of shows at the time and watched it as a family together. But somewhere in my mind, something snapped which made me all paranoid when I was about 14 years old. From then on, I avoided watching them as much as possible. There were times when I did try to watch these kinds of shows, but I couldn’t watch it from the beginning to the end. When I felt that I was panicking or feeling sick, I would get up and leave the room. It still happens today sometimes.
One thing I can say is that I neither like or dislike reality shows because they can either be good in one way and bad for the other. What’s good about reality shows, I think, is that they teach us something. They let us see what’s happening out there that we don’t normally see. Seeing all the experiences that these people went through give us some lessons so that we can prevent that from happening in our lives and for others and how to become better people. They give out a bit of hope to the people, but it’s rare to see it in    these shows. What’s bad about these shows is that they kind of influence people to do crazy stuff that the people in the shows do. For example, if little kids were viewing these kinds of shows that contain drama or violence, most likely they would imitate what they see, not knowing that they are doing something wrong. They might just grow up being violent and end up being like the people in the reality shows. Another example is that people will see this as something normal when it’s not. Is life all about drama, about violence, or about immorality? If these things were considered pure reality, I wouldn’t want to be in that world. In some way, it does harm our society.
So I guess to answer the blog entry, I do avoid it, but it’s also good to be informed in a way to know what we’re facing and to be careful also. Though I may not watch it, I know that those things are out there, or maybe closer around the neighborhood. For me, reality is what you make of it if you want to have a prosperous life or a miserable life.Watch reality shows if you want, but for me personally, nothing in some reality shows are considered real.

Fast Food

        From all the fast food restaurants, Carls Jr. and Toppers Pizza were the only ones that I could remember going frequently with my family from all my childhood memories. I could never forget the black rugged floor with all these weird, different colored designs on it, the red seats, the crazily spotted tables, and the pictures that the owner of Carls Jr. hung up on the walls (from the same artist, I believe). We would go to the restaurant almost every Sundays as a family. My parents and my older sister would order hamburgers, like usual, whereas me and my two little sisters ordered  different types of meals. I would order 6-9 chicken stars, a large French fries, and a large drink of Coca-Cola. My parents weren’t that strict at that time with my eating habits so I was happy. And what I also remember about that place was that my aunt worked in that same restaurant so she gave us some discounts whenever we had the chance to order with her. Whenever she had breaks, she would come to us and chat about what had happened during that week. Viewing back, I believe that that place reflected the union of my family. But Carls Jr. could never compare with Topper’s delicious pizza. Oh my, back then, I thought I was in heaven each time I took a bite of the hot, cheesy, and scrumptious pizza. If one knew us personally, one would know that every time we went there was because we were having a special occasion such as birthdays or any accomplishments we had in our school. In that place, I had many favorite memories and where I thought, innocently, that everything was alright.
Today, in the present, we’re more cautious on how much we are eating than back then. I don’t rely on fast food restaurants as much as I did before. We go to Carls Jr. only when we have nothing prepared to eat in our house, but as for Toppers, we have kept the tradition all these years which I think is pretty neat. Since my little sisters and I grew out of being picky with food, we’ve started to get to know different restaurants that we’ve never been before such as Panda Express, other Mexican restaurants, and other varieties of fast food places. I’m glad that we added more to our list of favorite restaurants because we’re beginning to know different cultures and tastes that are becoming part of us. To be honest, I’m not sure how this plays a big part in my life right now, but it has given me happiness when I share these moments with my family. It gives us these small opportunities for us to talk to each other, to know what’s bothering us, and to laugh since practically we almost don’t see much of each other in the house. We all have our busy schedules, but those are the moments that I really cherish and make me feel special. So whenever you guys are eating with your family in some type of restaurant, talk to each other. Don’t be busy texting in your phones or in those new gadgets that you guys have because you really don’t know what you’re missing out. Who knows? They may just make your day brighter when you need it.

Getting to Know Me

 Hi, everyone! Just to start off, my name is Tayde Luevano (which is pronounced as “ty-dĕ” or “ty-thĕ”, in case you guys were wondering) and I was born and raised in Oxnard practically my whole life. I live in a wonderful family of 6. I’m the second oldest of my family and I have three sisters, no brothers. I went to Marina West Elementary School when I was 6 years old and during this time I didn’t know how to speak nor read English. To be honest, I never enjoyed kindergarten to 2^nd grade at all because those were the years of continuous tears when people were making fun of me. I didn’t have friends until 3^rd or 4^th grade.  I spent my time with two of my best friends named Martin and William. With us three musketeers, our imagination during recess time became magical and full of adventures. Happiness really didn’t last long by the end of that year. William moved away probably after Thanksgiving, then a few months later, my padrino, whom I was very close to, passed away. These were my first tragic events that really impacted me deeply in my young life. I fell in depression and stopped eating for a while. I was losing a lot of weight and I was getting really weak that my parents were getting very worried for me. To cut it short, I recovered slowly thanks to my God and my family and went on with life. In 5^th or 6^th grade, I entered in the Cesear Chavez Art Competition and won 1^st place in my elementary school and later won 3^rd place in the whole school district.  In 7^th grade, I went to Haydock Intermediate Junior High School and it was here where I met and made weird, funny, and crazy friends. I started talking more than in my previous school but was rarely outgoing. It was there also where I was first introduced with Anime. My whole group of friends were Anime nerds and were also gifted artists. I became an Anime artist myself also, but really wasn’t as good as them, even though they said that I was great. Then, I went to Hueneme High School. Most of my friends in junior high went to Oxnard High, but I met other great people that became my greatest friends and were people who have helped me along the way as well as my family during challenging times. I graduated from high school with honors in June 2012, and took my first Fall semester in Oxnard College.

            Right now, I’m attending Oxnard College as you can see. This is my 2^nd semester and I’m not much of an awesome writer. This is honestly my first blog I ever had so I’m kind of excited yet a bit nervous because other people will be reading what I’m writing, but I’m sure I’ll do okay. I like to draw a lot, especially Anime, of course. I like to imagine and create stories in my head and I would like to write it down in paper but apparently I haven’t done it or finished any of it. My problem I guess is that I can’t make these stories flow well or it is not well organized. I daydream most of the time which is a bad habit if I’m in class. I still live with my parents and I don’t have a job yet.

            My goals are to become a better writer and increase my vocabulary to become an author one day or become an animator and work with Disney or any other animation groups that exist out there. I really don’t know if they pay well, honestly, but I think that’s what I’ll enjoy later on. I want to get good grades, no, the best grades if possible, receive my associate degree, and hope to transfer to a university to finish my studies. I have other plans, but for now, these are some things I want to complete.  I’m looking forward to this semester and I hope we get to know each other better in this course.

 

 

P.S. If I feel like it, I might show some of my art work or drawings in this blog, and if I do, I want to know what you guys think about it, okay?