Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Last Blog.

The first time I started my blog I forgot about the first two weeks of assignments and after having the extended time to do them really made me realize that there were weekly assignments and I’m glad that we had more time to do them or else I would have never known about those assignments. After getting the hang of blogging I enjoyed sharing my opinion on my blogs and reading what other people thought about what I wrote; I don’t think that I’ll continue my blog mainly because I know I’ll just forget about it. I enjoyed reading other blogs and I want to thank everyone that read my blogs and left their comments.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

TED Lectures

From Mark Bittman’s lecture I learned how meat in our diets is really unnecessary and that by cutting down on raising livestock we will cut down on all the methane gases that are in the atmosphere. The main message was to cut down on meat and eat more plants because that’s what really has all the nutrition we need. After watching this video I think I actually will cut down on the meat consumption more and try to eat more healthy things like vegetables.

Ann Cooper’s lecture was very impressive because she had a lot of facts about what our country spends the most on; for example, I didn’t know that only $500 was spent on food for children while $110 billion was spent on keeping prisoners in prison, and $200 billion was spent on diet-related illness. It also surprised me how buying a 5dollar coffee was more than feeding a child for a week. I learned a lot of facts from this lecture and now I know how important it is to make a difference in children’s life by giving them classes on healthy food, because if we don’t then the next generations are the ones that are going to suffer for eating too many unhealthy foods.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

3 Important people to me

One important person to me is my mom; my mom has always been there for me when I need someone to talk to and she is always supporting me in my school work even more now that I’m in college. My mom is easy to talk to and I always get along with my mom, when I get in trouble it’s much easier to talk to my mom instead of my dad because she’s not as strict as my dad. My dad is also important to me but my mom has always been there for me.
Another important person to me is my sister Samantha. My sister and I are close and we are always together when we go somewhere we shop together. Samantha and I always have together, we usually laugh at each other and at everything. When I’m not feeling well or when I’m mad my sister always cheers me up and I feel better. I like that my sister and I are always there for each other and as she is there for me I am there for her; we have each other’s back most of the time.
A final person that’s important to me is my brother Robert. Robert and I are also close mainly because we are only a year and a half apart so we went to school together. He’s important to me because he’s my big brother and in school he was protective of me when we were younger. He also bought me little toys when we younger because I kept crying to him and he would eventually give in; he’s also been a role model for. Robert is the one that started to play an instrument and I did the same when I was in high school and I also started to learn how to play the drums.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

My thoughts on FFN

After reading Fast Food Nation it has really affected me; now I think twice about eating fast food and whenever I eat meat I always make sure that it has been cooked all the way and sometimes I don’t even want to eat meat because I think about the slaughterhouses and what they do to cattle. I don’t think I’ll stop eating meat but I’ll just have the thoughts about all the bacteria and diseases in the back of my mind whenever I’m going to eat meat or chicken.
I’ll make changes in my life because of this like cutting back on fast food and making sure that I just don’t eat anything because you don’t know where it’s been.
This book has raised some issues in my life; I wonder if what I eat is fully cooked and if it’s healthy and I just won’t ever shake the thoughts of what goes on in the slaughterhouses.

Monday, November 1, 2010

College Experience

Truth: I have 3 siblings

At first this semester was easy but now school for me has been a little bit stressful because of the work load from all of my classes, but overall I like that this semester is almost over. The challenges I face are simply just turning in my homework on time and passing my mid-terms. The class that I’m mostly worried about is my math class because some of the chapters are really hard and my teacher teaches at a fast pace; and if I was too miss one class I’m missing a whole section because we do one section per day and then have random quizzes on a section we covered. The ultimate pay off when this semester ends is that I’ll be a little bit closer to getting a degree in Computer Science. I stay motivated by telling myself that this will all pay off in the end.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Can you guess the right one?

1) I can play the guitar

2) I have my own car

3) I was attacked by a dog before

4) I broke my arm before

5) I have 3 siblings

6) I don’t wear glasses

Monday, October 11, 2010

Marijuana Laws

After reading the CQ Researcher article about marijuana, I think that it should be legalized now because about 605 million Americans have been arrested for just having it on them, they had it for their personal use. I never knew how expensive it was to arrest someone with marijuana, but it costs approximately $10, 400 per arrest, and since there are so many people being arrested it’s now like $7.6 billion spent on arresting someone..

Even though marijuana isn’t a safe drug; I don’t think any drugs are, it would beneficial to put a tax on it because there are so many people that have this drug, and I think that by taxing marijuana that will greatly help our economy right now.
The only think I fear from marijuana being legal is that it’ll be everywhere; if it’s passed than anyone that’s able to but an ounce is going to get some and they’re going to be smoking it everywhere. Another would be the effects it gives you; I think it has the same side effects as alcohol. Some people might do something stupid while they’re on it and will probably end up in jail for abusing use of the drug
Legalizing it will have it’s downfalls but I think that overall it will be a benefit to our economy.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Essay #1 Joining Band

As I walked through the doors of the band room in Channel Islands High School, my ears were filled with noises. I can hear drums being pounded, I can see people practicing on their instruments, and I can hear them talking to each other about all the new people that kept showing up. As I stood there in the doorway I thought to myself; “What am I getting myself into?”
It wasn’t the first day of school it about the middle of the second week into the new year, but I had just gotten my schedule changed and I have never been inside the band room before. I looked around hoping to find the teacher but I can only see faces starring at me as if I was some sort of monster. I kept walking through the room hoping to find my older brother Robert who told me to join band in the first place. I couldn’t find him anywhere, I was starting to panic but as I turned around I saw him. He was behind me the whole time. I asked him if he knew where the teacher was he said; “Yeah when he comes in I’ll introduce you to him, for right now just sit down and wait for him.” After my brother said that he went into the locker room and started talking with the people that were in there. I took a seat and started analyzing the room.
There were many trophies on shelves that went all around the room, and there was a shelf for all the band photos with all the members on picture day, and as I was looking around I could still feel everyone starring at me. I felt insecure and unable to look back at them for fear that they might do something. Then I heard the bell ring and soon what seemed like a hundred students swarmed into the room to take a seat, and now there was a hundred faces starring at me. My heart was pounding so fast that it felt like my heart was going to pop right out of my chest, and I felt so sick that I just wanted to throw-up right there and then. Then my older brother came out of the locker room and introduced me to everyone. All the faces starred at me with a different expression and said; “Hi” and welcomed me into their band family. That relieved my symptoms a lot because I have gained their acceptance into the group, and now all I had to do was wait for the teacher.
The tardy bell rang and shortly after that Mr. Loreto Teruel came walking in with a stack of papers. He gestured hello to everyone and started talking about what the schedule of the day was, and then he said; “Welcome to your second week of school and it looks like we have a few new students in the class.” Before thought I was the only newbie so I felt sort of happy that I wasn’t the only one, after he asked me who I was he got to the O’s on the roll and called my brother first then me and asked if we were brother and sister. Then he started telling me about how my brother was a great trumpet player and hoped that I was a great musician just like him.
After hearing that I started to sink inside because I haven’t even played an instrument before and here I am expected to be as great and probably better than my brother. Shortly after roll was the new people were given a syllabus and the returning band members were asked if they have returned their instruments and uniforms for the new year. Then after that Mr. Teruel talked to each new person in his office to see what they’re and if they’re really interested in being in band or if they were just put here on accident. As people were being called in I sat patiently in my seat. My brother and some of his friends sat near me and started to talk about nonsense and the new year.
One of them introduced himself to me; “Hi my name is Abe, what’s yours.” I said “Hi I’m Sarah.” You’re Robert’s little sister right?” “Yeah” “Cool, well welcome to band” “Thanks” I think you’re going to like band it’s really fun, because we get to go to a lot of places.” “Like where?” “We go to Pismo Beach which is the BIG marching competition in November.” Is it hard to march and play at the same time?” I asked. Abe said; “It is when you first try because you have to build endurance and stamina to not get tired really fast, but once you learn it’ll be a piece of cake.” Abe and I continued to talk but we were cut short because I was called into Teruel’s office.
His office was small, but it had a lot of music posters on the wall. His desk had folders with various music pieces on them and a clutter of papers was starting to build on one side. Teruel had tools for fixing the instruments and they were thrown around, but most of them were put away in his tool box that was sticking out behind his desk. “Take a seat Sarah.” I sat across from him and heart was racing, I didn’t know what to say and I hoped that he wouldn’t make me try to play an instrument in front of everyone else.
“So Sarah what brings you to band?” Teruel said. I replied nervously; “Well my brother is the one that told me how fun band would be so I decided to give it a shot.” “Do you have any past experience on playing an instrument?” “No” I actually did know how to play the piano a little but was too nervous to say so.”O.k. do you have any instrument in mind that you want to play?” I said; “Not really” “Well do you want something that you can get the hang of quickly?” I replied”Yes” almost unsure. “O.k. then I think a Saxophone may be right for you, let me bring one from the locker room to show what it looks like.” Teruel left and I was left alone to wonder what a Saxophone was.
He came back a few minutes later with a huge rectangular case that looked like a sarcophagus. Teruel opened the case and pulled out the body of the sax. It was a huge gold J-shape with a lot of buttons all over it. There was a neck piece that you attach to the body, then the mouth piece, and then the reed. After assembling the sax I tried holding it and found out that it’s really heavy. I tried positioning my fingers on the right keys and used the neck strap to hold it better. It felt a lot lighter with the neck strap and it was actually comfortable, then Teruel asked me if this was something I was willing to try to play. I replied yes, and then Teruel told me that he was going to place me in the Beginning Band class so I can learn to read and play music.
After Teruel checked out an instrument to me I sat down with my brother and told me the news. Robert said; “There’s going to be other people from this class that will also be in that class too, so you’ll be able to know some people.”
The following week I was in the other class with some people that I recognized from the other class, there I met Eduardo, Sergio, and Kevin. Eduardo helped me a lot with the instrument and also hit on me most of the time.
Joining band has been very significant to me because after learning the basics and playing for a few months, I discovered a talent that I didn’t even know I had. I also met a lot of very talented and cool people that I will never forget, but most of all I can play in front of other people and not get nervous. I also gained a lot of confidence and found a hobby that I’ll be doing for a long time.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Texting

Texting is so much better than calling because you can get say what you have to say so much faster than calling the other person and waiting for them to answer the phone, and with all the advances that cell phones have made; there are many shortcuts to write certain words. You can also access your Facebook or Myspace from your phone without having to use a computer, phones have practically become computers because there is so many things that you can do on them especially with a smart phone which has a lot of apps for different things. What I love most about texting is that you can reply to it right away unlike calling, you don’t have to wait for the other person to call you back.
Texting has also posed a threat on the road because people drive and text at the same time and because of that accidents are more likely to happen. Texting should be put on hold when you’re driving because some drivers stare at their phones for a while and don’t even pay attention to the road. Even with all the commercials of what texting does when you’re driving people still do it and that’s what scares me the most because people don’t pay attention and they cause accidents.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Data Base Assignment

From the CQ article I found one section that interested me and that was the one about people preferring sitcoms over Reality TV shows. I thought that in this day and age people tend to watch more reality shows than sitcoms. In the article it says that 52% of Americans prefer sitcoms and only 29% voted for reality TV. Those percentages actually shocked me a little because I thought that now everything was about reality TV, but I guess I was wrong.
From the article I learned that now Americans don’t want to see all the drama on TV, they would rather see comedic sitcoms, and I personally would rather watch Two and Half Men over Jersey Shore. I’m glad that things are changing because now hopefully they would remove all those trashy reality shows where they do nothing but party.


Haggerty, Maryann. "Reality TV." CQ Researcher 20.29 (2010): 677-700. CQ Researcher. Web. 6 Sept. 2010. .

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Reality TV

I watch a lot of reality shows, just because it’s sometimes funny to see what people do when they’re on TV. The latest show I’ve been watching has been Jersey Shore and its’ kind of retarded to see them just arguing at each other and going out every night to clubs. Another show I watch sometimes is Wipeout and that show is really funny because all the contestants’ wipeout at some point and it’s funny how they fall. Really TV is something that I hate sometimes because when there’s nothing else on I end up watching those kinds of shows or I just turn off the TV and do something else.
I think that some reality shows are harmful to our society if people reenact what they see on TV; but other shows like Intervention show you what happens when you’re addicted to a drug and I think that those types of shows can actually teach you something about being addicted.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Fast Food

Fast food wasn’t a big part of my childhood, my parents believed in homemade meals over fast food. When we were out sometimes, my mom would buy my brother and me a happy meal from McDonalds and that was the most fast food we got when we were little. Fast food was more of a treat then a regular thing, I remember once when I got a Student of the Month award my mom bought me a happy meal from McDonalds.
My fast food habits now have changed, I seem to eat fast food more than I did when I was younger. I still prefer homemade meals but I just like to change it up once in a while. Now I eat more Carl’s Jr. I don’t like McDonalds anymore because I realized how unhealthy it was. I don’t rely on fast food to survive, my mom is an excellent cook and I love everything she makes but I just get tired of staying home and eating, I like to go out and eat sometimes.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

When I was younger I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted to be, but I wasn’t really sure of what truly interested me. I remember always thinking that I was going to be a lawyer or a teacher, but I just liked to pretend to be those things. I remember teaching my cousins and siblings math as if I was their actual teacher and it was pretty fun because, I actually assigned them homework and gave them detentions sometimes.
As I started to get older, I started thinking that I really didn’t want to pursue a career as a teacher or lawyer; I just didn’t want to have to go to school for so long to achieve it. When I was in high school I started to get more involved into music and computers, when I started my freshman year I joined the marching band and I learned how to play the tenor sax, and from then on I was interested in pursuing a career in music. As my senior year was starting to get closer and closer, I changed my career goals again and started to think about computers even more. Today in the present day, I have finally come to the decision that I want a career in computer science to become a Computer Programmer. I just think that computers fit me better than music because, I already have experience in working on computers and fixing some problems that come up. I would have loved to advance my skills in music, but it would take years to become a master of the sax, and I really don’t want to take that long, I’ll just keep music as a hobby for now. So now I’m in college trying to get all of my basic and all of the computer classes I can get here at Oxnard College, so then when I transfer to a university I can really focus on getting my bachelor’s degree. At OC I’m also planning on getting my AS degree before I leave so then I can have a better chance at getting a job in my field, and so then I can secure one before I move into a university.
In my future I see myself, already done with school and hopefully working as a Computer Programmer with a big company like Sony or something. I see myself in a great position where I can support myself and where I’m happy with what I’m doing.