Interview with a student

I recently had the opportunity to interview Oscar Preciado during English class, and got to know a little more about him. Oscar was born and grew up in the beautiful city of Jalisco in Mexico. He came to the United States at the age of fifteen and attended Chanel Islands High School. Now 26 years old he attends Oxnard College. He is motivated to succeed in college for a better future. Oscar works full time Monday through Friday and attends two evening classes. Oscar’s motto towards succeeding in college is simple “Hard work.” Within a five year span he sees himself graduating from Cal State University of Channel Islands. Oscar likes the environment at Oxnard College and is surprised at how well he has done academically. He currently stands strong with a total of 52 units.

Family

Family is a very strong word. It can also have different meanings to a variety of different people. To some family might represent their close friends who they have personally chosen, either because their family might not be anywhere near them, or simply because they don’t have much a family to begin with. In my belief, culture affects a lot of what people think of as their family nowadays. In my culture, as with many others, spending time with the family is crucial. However, I see many people forgetting about their culture and don’t seem to care much about spending time with their family. In some rare cases I’ve seen cultures that don’t even seem to acknowledge the fact that they have a family. It is my opinion that family keeps people sane with the feeling of being able to connect with others that can relate and accept you for who you truly are without judging you. That being said, I see many people my age without any type of family to turn to with their problems, and I notice it frustrates them. This might lead them to create their own family based on trusted friends. I do not blame them. However, many of these young people, (but not all), who only have their friends to turn to, go on to commit crimes as a result of misguided anger. Nevertheless, I believe everyone needs a type of family to be there for them, and ultimately keep them strong.    

My First Full Time Job

I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was a beautiful Saturday morning during the month of June in 2009. As I lay in bed half asleep, I received a call from an un familiar phone number. Still feeling somewhat sleepy, I answered the call with a groggy voice. To my surprise, I was greeted by the sweet voice of a lady at the other end of the line. After confirming my identity she offered me a full time job at Harbor Freight Tools, starting the following week on Monday. Almost instantly I awoke to my five senses, and accepted the position. After hanging up I laid in bed fully awake from the call, and I remember thinking to myself, “what a great way to start my Saturday morning”.

            I had been waiting for that call for quite some time, and after receiving it, I was stoked. I was only 18 years old, and at the time had only worked at a few part time jobs in retail; however, that month of June I began working at my first full time job. I was ready to make the transition to a full time job. I felt like I finally had a real job, and more importantly I was on my way to becoming a man.

            Monday came around and I was expected to be at work at 6:00 a.m. for my training. I made sure I was extra early for my first day on the job. As I walked into the noisy, box filled warehouse, my watch read 5:50 a.m. and was quickly greeted by the lady whom I had spoken with on the phone. As we walked through the cold warehouse, she led the way. All I could think about was how closely the warehouse resembled Home Depot with its long, four story high, orange aisles. As we reached the corner of the warehouse she began to explain my job duties. I was responsible for only one aisle in the huge warehouse. I would walk down my aisle and paste a label on any box ordered from my aisle. Then, I would take that same box or boxes to the shipping dock, and repeat the process all day long. My job duties seemed easy enough, and they seemed like something I would grow to like fairly quickly.

            Soon I became accustomed to my daily schedule. I would work during the day , and attend a few classes during the evening. At this point in time everything seemed great. However, as the weeks passed by, my job suddenly required me to work a lot of mandatory overtime; consequently, I was forced to drop my evening classes. I completely stopped going to school. A couple of days after I had dropped my classes, I was called up to the main office by the company manager. He wanted to speak with me in private.

            As I walked into the cold and poorly lit office, the noise of the warehouse gradually began to fade away behind me as the door was swung shut. The manager then greeted me with a firm hand shake. He then took a seat in his large leather chair. As he sat behind his wooden desk, his eyes looked deep into mine. He then began to speak and firmly said, “there’s been some changes around the warehouse, and next week you will begin working the night shift”. I couldn’t believe what I had heard. After leaving his office I felt frustrated, since I had no control over his decision. I was going to have to switch shifts if I wanted to keep my job.

            As the months rolled by one after the other, I began to question whether my job was worth putting my education on hold. On one hand I enjoyed having the extra money I had, since I didn’t have many bills to pay; however, on the other hand I knew my education was worth more than the extra money I had to myself. After taking some time to think about the situation deeply, it became clear to me. I simply had no future working there. I was working at a dead end job, earning a little over minimum wage, with no control over my working schedule. It was then when I realized if I didn’t invest in my education, I would be stuck working at similar jobs for the rest of my life. I was sure that I didn’t want for my future, I wanted to have control over my working schedule, and I needed to do something about it. I had to go back to college and finish my education while I still had the opportunity.

            Finally after working at Harbor Freight Tools for a full year, the month of June came around again, and I had made a decision. It was half ways through the month as I walked through the warehouse with casual clothes on.  I made my way to the manager’s office. When I reached the manager’s office I was sure about what I was going to do. I walked in, took a seat in front of the manager and simply told him “I quit”. I told him I had my own reasons, and my priorities had shifted. I thanked him for the opportunity given to me to work at the warehouse, and he thanked me for my time. As I walked out of the warehouse for the last time that day, I was happy with the decision I had made. I was ready to pursue my education once again and nothing could get in my way. Furthermore, I was in control of setting my own schedule once again and wouldn’t let anything get in the way of my education again. The very next semester I signed up for school again, and started attending college part time. My first full time job served as an experience to help me realize what I really wanted to do with my life, and that was pursue an education, and transfer to a California State University with the intentions of majoring in agricultural engineering.           

texting

   Texting is a very common form of communication. It can be very handy, especially when you cannot reach someone by simply calling them. However, I myself don’t enjoy texting as much as others do. I would much rather call someone or speak to them in person if possible. I feel that a lot of the actual meaning and expression of a message gets lost through texting. Emotion cannot really be read because you cannot hear the tone of the person’s voice or see their face expressions. Although I notice many people prefer to text rather than call or talk to someone face to face, I try to avoid texting unless it’s the only way to reach someone.

   In recent years texting has become a problem for people who cannot stop texting while they are driving. This has led to many deaths, especially in most recent years. Unfortunately even though people are aware of the risk they are taking while driving and texting, I still see  many people doing it.   

reality television

There isn’t much I can say about reality television shows. The reason I say that is because I do not really like to watch reality shows. In my opinion they are boring. I don’t find any type of entertainment out of these reality television shows. I believe if you want “reality”, you should go out and experience it, instead of spending hours glued to the television watching some choreographed television show. There is too much drama and not enough reality in reality television shows nowadays, but it seems like that’s what everyone wants to see.

In a sense it seems like reality television shows are becoming a part of American culture just like fast food. It seems that everywhere I go people are talking about the latest or upcoming episode of the newest reality television show. I think reality television has a great effect mainly on the younger generation of teenagers. I see many young teenagers trying to imitate many of the characters on “Jersey Shore”. Having said that, I think reality television shows can have a negative influence on society, especially on younger teenagers. On the other hand, these reality television shows may also have a positive effect on society. For example, by exposing many of the consequences of teen pregnancies, (as seen on teen mom) people can gain a more profound sense of knowledge, and try to avoid the mistakes made by other people on these reality television shows. It all depends on how you perceive what you are watching, and how you project that onto society.