Rookie Driver: Only 11 Years Old

Rookie Driver: Only 11 Years Old

            Even though I had difficulties in my life, the most memorable event was when I was in my first car accident.

I have an uncle from my mother’s side of the family that lived in the outside area of Oxnard. It was a big house that was surrounded by fields. My mother had a Chevrolet Silverado, with a really nice maroon color and leather interior. When I was big enough to reach over the steering wheel, I would insist to my mother to let me drive the truck. So when I was about eleven or twelve, she decided to show me how to use the truck. She said “I will show you but only when we go to you uncles house out in the fields.” Soon, the day came to show me how to use the accelerator and brake pedals. I was super excited when I was seeing that I was passing by the trees at about twenty miles per hour. After, I would feel super comfortable to drive around the fields.

During the week, like every other morning, I would get ready to go to school. I would shower every morning and choose what I was going to wear color coordinated and most of the time, when I could get away with it I would enjoy to wear shorts. My mother and I were the only ones who would wake up really early to get ready. My dad would be the parent who would take me to school. Since I can remember, he has never liked to wake up early and wait for my sisters and me to get ready. So once we get ready, we

wake him up and we would be the ones to wait. After he would get ready, then he would take us to school.

This particular morning, my mother was styling her hair and putting on her makeup. Just enough make up to make it look natural. She sent me to wake up my father.

While my mother and I were getting ready, I must have tried to wake him up for about half an hour. My mother was already running late, so she wanted my father to help get the cars out of the porch. Basically, we had the house and the cars would get parked on the right side of the house. The porch was long and narrow so one car would be parked in the back of the other. Since my father did not get up when my mother was ready to leave, I offered my mother to move my father’s white Ford truck. She agreed, so I smoothly backed up the truck twisting the steering wheel to the left. Then, my mother backed out the Chevy. When I turned in to park the truck again, that is when the most unfortunate thing happened to me at my young age. My first car crash! I remember everything in slow motion, how I turned into the porch very narrow, and on half-ways the car hit the corner of the house. I immediately got frightened, yet; I still kept going. I heard an unpleasant noise, as I kept on moving the car, the paint was being scraped off. When the end of the truck was inside, I got off immediately to see the damage that I had done to my father’s truck. The door handle from the back door of the drivers’ side had broken off. My mother just told me to get in the truck so that she could take me to school.

While at school, I was sad and very nervous. I knew for a fact that my father always took care of his car and that it was a for sure thing that I was going to be in big trouble. My teacher, Mr. Walnick, received a telephone call. He then informed me that my father was in the front office waiting for me. So, I walked, slowly but surely down the

hall. I saw my dad for the first time right after the incident and asked “Porque yegaste por mi? /Why are you picking me up?” and he responded “Porque tu Mom me dijo que

estavas asustada porque chokaste mi carro/ Because you mom told me that you were scared because you crashed the truck.”  So I asked “Estas enojado?/Are you mad?” and he replied “No, por eso vengo por ti para que no estes asustada/No, that is why I am here to pick you up so that you will not be frightened.” I made a huge sigh of relief. He then took me to get a happy meal from McDonalds. There at the restaurant, he explained to me that even though I tried to help out I still needed to practice to be a great and safe driver.

This was my significant event because I ruined my father’s truck, yet; he understood the fact that I was trying to help. In addition, he did not get mad at me. I grew closer to my dad and have had a great communication with him. During my young years I thought I was never going to be able to drive a car without troubles. But when I was sixteen I received my drivers permit. Six months after receiving the permit, I immediately went to get my license. Basically, when I was approximately seventeen I had my license and was driving forth and back from my house to school. Now I can even drive a stick shift car, which is difficult to drive for most people. Transportation is very important in

our society. It has become a need to commute to school or to our jobs. At the end I am very glad, that crashing my father’s car did not scar me for life.

Hello!

Growing up in a Christian home has made Ruth Arreola a happy, talkative, friendly and motivated person. She enjoys attending church daily and participating in activities that she enjoys and they relate to her religion. Her father is a Minister, Leader at their church. He preaches to an audience of approximately 400 Hispanics. Ruth is a singer at the church (and only at the church). She shared that church is a place where the whole family gets, and they all enjoy each others company. Ruth has a brother, Davis, who is the oldest and next, would be her sister, Sophia, they are both married, and Ruth is the youngest. Ruth considers her sister, Sophia, who is five years older, her “Role Model.” Sophia basically raised her. Ruth has always gone to her for advice when ever she needs it.

Every morning, Ruth sets her priorities for the day, choosing from school, church and family. She attends Oxnard College, and will be completing the culinary program, and would like to be a chef and/or be a pastry chef. In addition to that, when ever she is not at school, she is at church enjoying the company of many other believers. At the end of the day, she goes home to her family, parents, and then rest, so that she is able to continue her routine as usual.

At Oxnard College she has gotten help from the counselors. Guided by them, she will be able to complete her goal. She mentioned she really appreciates the help that she has received because without it she would be lost. Classes for her at OC are very comfortable, and she knows that she can get attention from the instructor for a simple question without a problem. The only thing she does not like is the fact that the important offices are closed early. According to her it is very inconvenient. For Ruth, has a few short term goals. She sees herself graduating on her major and having kids when she is twenty three years old. In ten years from now, she would want to be financially stable and have her on Café and Pastry Shop. After all, she would like to make her Grandparents and parents proud, having a successful descendant yet still continuing to believe in their religion.

Too Busy for TV

IT’S TEE SHIRT TIME!

Yes! I have watched the reality show, Jersey Shore. Honestly, I think this show is ridiculously point less. The characters on the show are a bunch of females and males that drink alcohol and go out to the clubs. It is a show about young people’s life. How they can work out and chill at their house. Then, wait for the evening get all nice and clean and then take off to a club. When they arrive, they have some drinks get into a fight or two, meet some guys or girls. Eventually, take them home and have fun and pleasure. After, they call for a taxi for who ever they took home so that the person can leave right away. That is basically the whole show. Yet people, including me, sit about half an hour to an hour watching this show. Not only that, we the audience, have made these people famous and rich. Or there are novelas! When I was younger I would watch about three or four hours of novelas. Now that I remember they were all about love, hate, and drama. My mother, sister and I would sit in the living room to watch all three novelas, and then when my dad would arrive he would tell us to change the channel because there was no point on watching those shows. Now I realize he was right. I do not believe I retained any valuable information from the novelas. Or maybe one, to not trust your friends with your boyfriend! hahaha It is unfortunate that people waist their time watching shows that do not teach valuable information that can be used as a reference for the future. Yet, there are shows that expand your mind such as the history channel or discovery channel.

 Fortunately, I do not have the time to have a favorite reality show that I can say I follow non-stop. I have a job that requires my evening hours, from five to eleven pm. That was my schedule for about three years, my availability was open seven days a week, and most of the time I was schedule during the night shift. So with that being said, I did not have time to watch television. Now, I have another day time job and I do have my evenings open but I still do not have a favorite reality show. I have been really busy trying to handle two different jobs and two classes. So even if I do have time to watch television, I make a smarter decision and use my time wisely and I spend my time working on my homework, or even better, resting.

OMG! LOL

I really enjoy texting better than having a conversation over the phone. In my opinion, texting gives you the ability to multitask. For example, you can hold a whole conversation texting back and forth with one person, and text with a different person and the subject is totally different. I have to say you must be careful and pay attention to who you are sending the text to because you might accidently text the wrong information to the person you do not want to tell. But, since texting has been so popular it has its significant consequences. You must know when it is fine to text because texting can be so dangerous or fatal believe it or not! We now run risk of receiving a ticket when you are on the road and you are texting. Before I would think that driving and texting I word was nothing to be concerned about but it really is WRONG to do! I am guilty of my argument. I have text while driving and I have experienced that the simplest text can bring you to a scenario that is not so fun. When I am driving at night there is usually not many cars around, and I receive a text and when I turn to see it next thing I notice there is a car next to me. Then I think about it and I put my phone away because the thoughts on my mind are so strong. What if instead of a car it is a pedestrian crossing? What if I run a red light? What if all the cars stop and I do not step on the breaks and I rear end the car in front of me? The temptation is always there but I try my best to ignore calls or text while I am driving. I know I will prevent a fatal accident by my thoughtful decision and hopefully everyone can understand and follow my thoughts.

Unfortunate Addiction!

Unfortunately I was exposed to all the big chain fast food restaurants when I was younger. As I remember we would only have dinner at our house about two or three times a week. I would consume “Happy Meals” from McDonalds, which included cheese burgers and fries, and if I behaved I would get an Ice Cream Cone or an Apple Pie for dessert. If we got tired of McDonalds then we would be at Taco Bell eating Soft Tacos or Chalupas with “Ground Beef” and Nachos, and of course I can not forget soda! There were restrictions when I drank soda but only at the house. Other than that I would always drink it. But, I can say that one of my favorite fast food restaurant visits would be at Toppers Pizza. I would enjoy eating pizza, maybe two or three slices of pizza would give me a full stomach. My parents would give me salad to try but that did not go well. I would cry because of the healthy veggies that they would try to feed me. Another restaurant would be Home Town Buffet, the visits there would be approximately three hours, we would start by eating pizza slices, macaroni, chicken. Then, I would go get a plate with jello and fruit, and lastly I would get a brownie with warm chocolate fudge and then I would make myself a strawberry Sunday to top it off.

During high school my biology instructor showed us a video, which showed how the McDonalds chains treat the animals that they use to make the food. They showed that they feed corn to the cows because it is the cheapest way to maintain them so that they can grow (meat wise). Not to mention, for the chicken, they use excessive steroids so that they can maximize the “Fresh White Meat” and the poor chicken can not even walk. They mention that in one meat patty you may be eating multiple cows’ meat. To me that sounds disgusting. Ever since then I have tried to avoid eating at fast food restaurants, but then again in this society it is very difficult to maintain a healthy, fat free diet. Especially now that I have a full schedule, I am aware that eating a healthy breakfast is the key to help out the eating habits through out the day. Also I have noticed that the consumption of water help a lot. Now, for my best interest I have tried to stop drinking soda and I am still alive. Since I have always been in the heavy side, now I am realizing how to manage a better diet. In addition, I have been trying to make time to go to the park and get some exercise in my daily schedule which fortunately has given me great results. In reality, I strongly believe that I am always going to be exposed to eating from fast food restaurant, which I am not happy about. But now I know I can limit myself to how many times I consume fast food. Lastly, in addition on fast food being bad for your health, it is slowly but surely adding up on to your expenses and at the end of the month you see you wasted so much money on unhealthy food. At least I did and that was an eye opener for me, which helps with your decisions on to how many times you decide to stop by a drive through to eat.