Holiday Spirit.

            The first writer, Amel Saleh wrote exactly how I feel about the holiday season. Saleh first sentence states, “The holiday season is driven entirely by materialism.” which is a statement that I completely agree with. Holidays are a time for families to spend time with one another, to celebrate and appreciate the good fortune they have. As of lately, I’ve noticed that during this season people place more emphasis on showing off the presents they received, having the biggest turkey, competition between who has the more extravagant Christmas lights on the block; it’s gotten out of control. It seems as though the expectations of what the holidays should be has drastically changed from when I was a kid to the children now. I was taught that holidays were to be all about family and appreciation rather than who has the better possessions and belongings.

            Family was always the most important part of the holidays. Having a big family meant that the amount of presents each of my siblings and I got were exiguous.  My mother would always tell us, “Don’t expect much this Christmas, instead appreciate that you even got anything and that you are surrounded by people who love you.” She always said that after one of the younger kids had a crying fit over a toy she denied them of having, so her tone wasn’t exactly the most patient when she said this. However, when Christmas day arrived none of my siblings and I cared about the amount of presents we received. What was important to us was watching the cheesy Christmas shows with our parents, having teamed snowball fights (the teams were usually always Team Mom and Dad vs. all the kids), and then warming ourselves with a home cooked family dinner. The time spent with my family is what I remember and cherish most rather than what present I got and I believe that’s the way the holidays should be spent. 

Transitioning.

The transition from attending a university to a community college has been a drastic change. Attending a university felt like an unrealistic dream with all the parties, the hectic sleep schedule, and the easy-going classes; it was everything I imagined for college life. However, all dreams do come to an end and that university dream was eradicated after I finished my first year and moved to California. Applying for a community college was highly discouraging to me after having the university experience, but I did it anyway because I still wanted to continue my college education regardless of if it was a university or not.

                Oxnard College was difficult for me to get into. Being an “Out of State Resident” meant that the tuition was much more expensive than if I was a “California Resident”. There was a whole list of conditions that I had to meet to become a resident, including waiting a year (and a day) before I applied, paying California Taxes, and even providing the school proof of when I moved here (i.e. Plane ticket, bank account resident change). A whole year (and a day) went by until I came back to Oxnard College to apply, but the Admissions Office was being rather difficult. I jumped through all the hoops that the Admissions Office threw at me before I could finally call myself an “OC student”.  Following the excruciating process of becoming an “official resident” came my first semester, which happens to be this Fall 2014 semester.

                My first semester at Oxnard College has gone rather smoothly. My transition from university to community college, surprisingly, hasn’t been awful. In fact, I feel as though I enjoy attending a community college better than a university. At Oxnard College, I focus more on my schoolwork because I don’t have the college party life distractions that I did at the University of Dallas. I’ll admit that the workload and teachers at Oxnard College are far less demanding than at a university, which is good because my sleep schedule is much more manageable now, but bad because I’m one of those nerds that like to be kept busy with school work. Although I don’t plan on staying at Oxnard College, attending this college has definitely been a good decision that I’ve made; especially for my future.

                Doing well in my future, becoming successful, and proving everybody wrong is what keeps me motivated. Of course everybody wants to do well in life and live happily, but to me it means more than that. My family couldn’t financially support my decision to pursue a college education therefore making them pessimistic towards my dream. It is my drive to prove, not only to myself, but to my family that finishing school and being successful is something that I can do.

Reality Television.

                Television is a part of our everyday lives. According to the New York Daily News, “Americans spend 34 hours a week watching TV”. That’s about five hours of television a day for the average American making it one of America’s biggest past times.  There are a variety of genres of television that they may indulge in, one of the most popular genres being reality TV. From FOX’s “American Idol” to MTV’s “My Super Sweet 16” reality TV can be found on any channel.  Since reality television is a significant part of our everyday society, it is difficult to be biased towards it; most people either love reality tv or not.

                I am one of those people that do not and have not watched tv in years. However, for this blog entry I did watch an episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”  and an episode of a show called “Amish Mafia” to better understand what is considered to be reality tv. What I saw was completely ridiculous, I couldn’t even stand to watch the whole episode of either show. These shows were the furthest thing from reality and I hardly found any entertainment in either of them. Both of these “reality” shows were completely scripted and it was quite unbelievable how overdramatic the people on the shows got over something that can be considered so small in real life. In fact, I actually got a bit angry and had a slight revulsion that these shows are as popular as they are. Instead of being productive, people are spending their time watching these people pretend to live their overly dramatic fake lives. If all “reality shows” are like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and this “Amish Mafia” show then I believe that it is harming our society. It’s not like these reality shows are setting a good example for anyone and I highly doubt people are gaining any knowledge from the shows that could benefit our society.

                I try to avoid television and I can honestly say that I don’t keep up with the Kardashians or any kind of reality show. My personal opinion about television is that it is a waste of time. Five hours a day on television is excessive; there is so much a person can do during that time besides sitting around watching this “reality” tv. There are many people that may find these shows entertaining and can’t go a day without watching it, which is fine.  However, I would rather go out and live life instead of watching people pretend to.

Citation:

HINCKLEY, DAVID. "Americans Spend 34 Hours a Week Watching TV, According to Nielsen Numbers." NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.

Change.

Change is a constant part in our society. Without change, people would not be able to create and develop not only themselves, but the world we live in. Whether it is our opinions, beliefs, or our perspective of how we view certain topics, we do change. The change that occurred with me came gradually. That change was my perspective on having my own children.
When I was little I had always wanted to have kids, I was an only child at age 4 until my first brother, Christopher was born. I was so excited; I would always look after him, want to feed him, carry him, and even want to change his diapers. Then my parents had another baby boy named Matthew, I was happy, I thought it would be like having two babies of my own to take care of. After Matthew, my parents had another baby boy, named Luke. There were problems with this brother. My mom and Luke were hospitalized after he was born; I was only eight so the doctors didn’t want to tell me exactly what was wrong with them. I may not have known what exactly was wrong, but I was old enough to know that there was some kind of problem with the pregnancy. Luke and my mom came home healthy after a few weeks and my mom let me take care of Luke more than my other two brothers. After Luke, I finally got a little sister, Emily and I was overjoyed. By this kid I was a professional at making bottles and changing diapers, I could even watch after the other kids too. My parents had another boy, Xavier. I was twelve years old; excited to have another brother, but I was also getting tired of watching and taking care of another baby. I thought that Xavier was the last sibling I was going to have, but it turns out my mom was going to have one more. She had another girl, which we named Bridget. I was fifteen years old and I felt like I was too old to be taking care of a baby.
Unfortunately for me, I was fifteen taking care of a new baby. My mom at this time was a single parent with three jobs so I was left to care for the kids and newborn. Having to bring the new baby with me to go grocery shopping was always embarrassing, especially in a small Texas town. People would constantly give me looks. Quite often people would tell me how beautiful what they thought was my daughter, but they would always say it with a hint of accusation or disappointment. After they walked away I made promises to myself to not have my own kids, I hated being judged like that. I did feel like a mother though; making dinner for the kids, making sure they did homework as I warmed bottles, it was tiring.
 I had always wanted kids when I was younger, but over the years of growing up I wanted none. My family and friends completely understand why I don’t want kids. I saw how my mom struggled with the pregnancies. I got firsthand experience with newborns, toddlers, preteens, and now teenagers. I don’t want to put myself through that experience when I begin to start my own life. I’m still young; I could always change my mind when I get married. However, I have my heart set on not having my own kids. No matter what happens though I already feel like I’ll always have to look out for my siblings like my own mother would.

Thanks Mom!

Fast food was never a major component in my childhood. My mother was extremely strict on our diets as kids meaning that she always had a home cooked meal on the table and did all of the grocery shopping to limit how much junk food we had in our pantry. My diet consisted of the right amount of protein and starch, fruit, and lots of vegetables. My mom never bought anything that she thought had too much sugar, especially not any kind of junk food.  I do recall this one moment when my dad did the grocery shopping. He let my siblings and I pick out the treats we wanted, but because we never ate junk food we had no clue what to get; so my dad bought everything that caught our eyes. We left the store with sodas, cookies, chips, and bags of candy. He even let us eat some of what we picked out on the car ride home. I remember thinking that it was the best day ever and how we should do the grocery shopping all the time. When we got home, we proudly showed my mother what we picked out and she was absolutely furious at my dad. So furious that my mom took all the food and donated it to the homeless shelter the next day. I remember crying and thinking that my mom was so mean because all the other kid’s moms would let them eat junk food and buy them happy meals. I constantly thought about how I couldn’t wait until I was out of the house and able to choose my own diet.

It wasn’t until I was living on dorms that I finally had the freedom to choose what I ate. College was the first time I ever tried an In-n-Out burger or McDonald’s chicken nuggets. My friends from the university had their rooms full of junk food that they would occasionally share with me and across the street from the school was a gas station that all the college kids would buy food from. For that first semester living in dorms, junk and fast food is all I ate. I started to develop a rash because of my new diet and usually after eating from In-n-Out or McDonalds I would puke out everything. I continued to eat the unhealthy foods regardless of how my body was reacting to it because I had such easy access to it and I thought it was incredibly delicious. I didn’t care that how eating junk food was affecting my body, I was addicted to it. When I went back home during Christmas break, my mom noticed my rash and my slight weight gain. She questioned me on my diet until I finally had to tell her that all I was eating was junk food. She didn’t get mad at me, but she did make sure that for my stay at home I was not allowed junk food. My body was not satisfied with the home cooked meals; I wanted and craved junk food. After a hard month of home cooked food and no fast food, I went back to the university for my second semester with no rash and a promise to limit my junk food intake.

            It’s safe to say that I don’t rely on fast food. After my experience in college with junk and fast food, I try my best to stay clear of it especially from In-n-Out and McDonalds. Every once in a while I will have that sugar/salt craving and indulge in it, but I do still have a slight break out or get an upset stomach after eating it. Now that I’m older, I don’t think my mom is some horrible creature for not letting us eat junk food. I’ve grown to be quite thankful for her being on top of my diet and making me live a healthy lifestyle. 

Essay 1- Polo Job Interview

Polo Job Interview

I feel strange as I look around and see unfamiliar faces looking and doing the same as I am. There’s about four or five of us all having a common goal, to get the job. Some of the people there look nervous for the interview, but I don’t feel nervous. In fact, I feel extremely calm. This isn’t my first interview; it’s actually my 187^th job interview. It does seem like a lot of interviews, but coming from a small town in Texas with little job opportunities, nobody really wanted to hire a 16 year old with no job experience. That was 3 years ago; I’ve had 7 jobs since then. Now that I’ve moved to California, I’ve applied at all the places I could possibly think of. I’m bound to get a job somewhere, which is why I’m standing inside Polo Ralph Lauren for my first interview.

“Hello everybody, you guys are here for the interview? Let’s go into the back”, says a young perky blonde haired man. He leads us through the store into the backroom which is full of colorful clothing. Clothes are everywhere, neatly folded on shelves, on racks, even hung up on rods along the wall and ceiling.  The perky blonde guy leads us into what appears to be the office. It’s full of chairs, just enough for all of us to sit on. The perky blonde sits down and says, “Hello everybody, my name is Dave and I will be in charge of this interview today”. We all say hi and introduce ourselves. Dave begins the interview with telling us a little about the company and about himself. I look at my peers, many of them still look nervous. Dave begins to ask his questions now. He directly asks a dark haired guy from the group a simple question, “Why did you apply at this store?” The guy begins to answer the question, fumbling over his words; everyone can tell how nervous he is. Dave cuts him off and tries to calm him; he instead asks another girl from the group the same question. The girl answers the question as if she had rehearsed it before going in, it was well answered. Dave seems impressed and writes down something in his notes. A slight panic sets in as I witness the questioning of my fellow applicants. In order for me to stand out and be “memorable” in my interview, I realize I must make an unforgettable first impression. This is when I see Dave look at me and I know he’s about to question me. Dave smiles and says, “Ms. Christine, I couldn’t help but notice that you were the only one that submitted a resume, now I see that you’ve had many jobs before, none of which seem to be a retail job.” I look at Dave wondering what he’s about to ask me feeling slightly nervous, he continues to ask, “What can you bring from your previous jobs to this job?” I feel relieved; this is a question I can answer with ease. I look at Dave, smile and say, “Well Dave, I have had many jobs before and though they may not have been retail jobs, I did gain much experience with customer service and I believe that if you can handle customers in the food industry, you can deal with any kind of customer.” Dave looks at me and I can feel the eyes of the others from the group look at me as well. I start to second guess my answer until Dave breaks the ice and starts to laugh saying, “Yes, that’s true I can see why you say that.” He writes something down in his notes and continues on with his questions. We go through several rounds of questions, some of the group answer with ease and others not so much. Dave concludes the interview and tells us that some of us will be called back for a follow up interview.

I get in my car and begin to head home. The minute I reach my house, I get a phone call from an unknown “805” number. I normally don’t answer unknown numbers, but I decide to take this one. I answer the call, “Hello, this is Christine”. The person on the other line says, “Hi Christine, its Dave from Ralph Lauren. I wanted to congratulate you on getting a second interview. Please come back tomorrow around 3 o’clock for your second and final interview.” I thank Dave and hang up. I figured I would do alright on this first interview, but now it’s the second one that I’m nervous about. The next day I head over to the store, this time it’s just two of us for the interview, me and the girl that rehearsed everything from the group interview. I feel especially nervous. This girl is going to do great on the interview, there’s no way I stand a chance. We wait for Dave to come out, but instead another guy comes out. He was tall, had gray hair and was definitely older. He introduces himself as Rusty, the general manager of the store. He takes us to the office again, this time only three chairs, one for the each of us. Rusty congratulates us on the second interview and tells us that only one person will be getting the job. This is nerve wracking. The other girl and I look at each other as competition now. Rusty begins his questions, this time making them more personal instead of general as Dave had made them. He begins with me, saying “I noticed from your application that you’re not from the area, you moved here from Texas correct?” I answer and tell him that I only moved in not even a week ago. He nods his head and then asks, “Now what do you believe the most important thing about a company is?” This is easy, I think to myself. I then answer, “Well I believe the most important part about any company is the customer. Without the customer no company will thrive and so the most important thing to do is make the customer happy.” Rusty seems okay with my answer until he says, “Well here at Ralph Lauren we strive to preserve the cleanliness of a store, preparation is key and here we do strive to maintain our store to therefore make the customer happy.” He asks the other girl a similar question and she gives an answer that Rusty seems to approve of. My hope for the coveted position is slowly diminishing; Rusty seemed to like the other girl more. Rusty concludes the interview. “Thank you”, he says, “if you happen to hear back from us then you got the job. If not, then I am sorry but you were just not what we will need for this company.” He says this looking directly at me. I left knowing I didn’t get the job. I decided to explore the Camarillo area before heading home. I stop at a Starbucks and as I’m going in to get a drink I get a call, this time from the same unknown “805” number as yesterday. I answer quickly, “Hi it’s Christine”. “Hello Christine, it’s Rusty. I wanted to congratulate you on getting the job here at Polo Ralph Lauren.” I’m shocked. I stammer and say, “Um, yeah, sure I’ll take the job, thank you so much! When do you want me to start?” Rusty tells me when to come in and to bring documents so that I can sign paperwork. I thank him again and hang up still feeling shocked, I actually got the job.

What I learned about this experienced is that I should have balanced the confidence in myself. I thought that having a lot of job experience would get me any kind of job without trying, but after the interview I had with Rusty I realize that not everything can be easily obtained. During the course of the interviewing process, I was given insight of being able to realize that overconfidence may not be the key, but rather to take a step back and see all the possibilities of what could happen. 

Marriage.

            In the “America Now” book the idea presented in chapter two was all about marriage. I believe the idea of marriage is alive and strong in America, but I also believe that the idea of marriage and actually being married itself are two completely different stories. I’m a girl and let’s face it, girls often think about marriage, but particularly one component when it comes to marriage: the wedding.

            When I say that weddings are a particular component to a marriage, I don’t mean that it is the only component. Marriage is a big deal, it’s a lifelong commitment between two individuals, of course there are going to be more components than just the wedding part. However, the wedding is what makes people go gung ho, especially in today’s society. We have television shows dedicated to weddings, to wedding dresses, even to the wedding cakes. Constantly we see woman posting on their social networking sites their engagement rings, their wedding invitations, this huge wedding that takes place. Everyone’s trying to showcase what they have; people spend thousands, sometimes even millions of dollars on weddings. For example, take Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Chris Humphrey. Their wedding cost approximately $20 million; the ring she got was $2 million by itself, the wedding cake for the ceremony was $20,000, the dresses she wore cost from about $135,000 to $150,000. It was aired on television and millions of people watched it, talked about it, even hyped it up calling it the “Fairytale Wedding”, and for what? A marriage that only lasted 72 days. Now I’m not saying that weddings are awful, it should be a celebration and woman should be proud to even have the ceremony. I just feel as though society has lost sight of what’s really important in a marriage.

            As I stated before, marriage is a lifelong commitment between two individuals. It’s a bond recognized by law, a union of two becoming one, in some religions it’s even considered as a sacrament. Which is why I don’t believe that it should be taken lightly or treated as a though it’s something to get a lot of “likes” on Facebook or Instagram. When I read the Rivera essay about “temporary marriages”, I weighed out the pros and cons.

I thought that a temporary marriage was a good idea because the fact that a marriage can be a lifelong bond is a lot of pressure that comes with many questions: What if you are unsure about the person you’re with now? What happens if things don’t work out the way you thought it would? What if marriage isn’t everything you thought it would be?  With a temporary marriage you wouldn’t have to break off the marriage by getting a divorce.  It’s like a test run or a contract, if after the two years or after the married time is over and you‘re still happy with that person, then renew your marriage license. If you aren’t happy and you absolutely cannot stand that other person, at least you aren’t stuck with them for the rest of your life and you don’t have to pay an outrageous amount for a divorce. The downside to a temporary marriage, in my opinion, is that the marriage loses some of its sacredness. It loses the meaning of a “lifelong bond” and becomes “a bond we’ll have until this contract is over”. Either way, marriage can be a controversial topic and it may or may not be for everybody. Which is why in conclusion, I think that a temporary marriage is a much better alternative than getting a divorce.

Sources:  http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-style/news/how-much-did-kim-kardashians-three-wedding-dresses-cost-2011228

http://www.mtv.com/news/1673495/kim-kardashian-kris-humphries-money/