Talent?

              Hello everyone, I know that I haven’t written in a while but my professor gave me a very interesting assignment that I thought I should share with you. He told my class and I that we had to write an opinion piece and bring it to class on Weds about anything that we would like. Of course I began to freak out a little not knowing what I wanted to write about and I went through a million ideas until a childhood memory came to my head. 

           When I was a little girl, I used to admire the actresses and singers that I watched on television.  I remember always wanting to grow up to be like them. I wanted to be as talented as they were. I would grab my hairbrush and put on my mothers sunglasses as I sang in front of the mirror aspiring to one day be just like them.  I had curly bouncy hair like Shirley Temple’s and I always wished I could be her. As I started to grow up, so did the entertainment industry.  I used to think that being an actress and singer was about talent. I was wrong and I learned that as I grew up.

The entertainment industry is about selling a product. It isn’t about how talented you are but about who can sell the most albums.  It has become about keeping up with the times and about being different to get the most attention. We can look at Miley Cyrus a child star who turned into someone completely different.  What does the twerking and out of control outfits mean? It makes you wonder if Miley Cyrus is just a creation of a company who wants to keep making money. It makes you wonder if the entertainment industry even cares about talent anymore?  It even makes me wonder what is talent in our society? Judging from what I see in television now, the entertainment industry has become about who stands out the most whether it is for crazy outfits or for being rebellious or posing nude. The possibilities for fame are endless and talent is no longer the only thing that can make you famous.  It makes me wonder if an ordinary girl /boy can have the chance at fame without changing who she/he is.

Trapped

Have you ever felt trapped? Have you ever felt like no matter how hard you work to make people proud and happy you just seem to always do something wrong. It almost feels like you are a butterfly trapped in a jar and you just can't seem to get out. You do everything you are told but you still disappoint. Sometimes you just want to run as fast as you can and as far as you can. What do you do when you feel trapped? You continue to try and get out and hope that one day you will be free. And that one day you will do something right.

A Friend

First off I just want to start by saying hello and I hope that you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. I am sorry that I haven't written in a while. I also want to say thank you to those of you who are listening. I hope that you are learning somethings from me. I try to write when I discover a new lesson or learned something new and it so happens that this week I learned many new things.  This world can be cruel and you have to fight to survive in it. Usually you have people in your life that are there with you to help you stand up after you have fallen. Well at least in my case, I have my family who is always there as support watching me play the game of life. They sit in the side lines cheering me on letting me know that everything is alright. But you always need someone else. Someone your age going through the same process that you are. You need a friend that you can trust. A friend that will be there with you even when it gets hard. You need someone who will listen to you and be there to hug you when you feel like giving up. Sometimes you just need a person who will come in the middle of the night with Oreo cookies to watch a movie with you just because.  Sometimes you just need a friend. You don't ask that friend for anything other than he/she give you a little bit of love and trust. All you ask is for that friend to listen to your cry of help. You don't know what a person is feeling unless you talk to them and ask them. So don't assume you know what troubles others are going through. Don't go around doing dysfunctional rescuing. I'm  going to end this piece by saying that if you do have a best friend whom you trust with all your heart cherish them because they are really hard to find.

Failure

Failure. It is a word that scares me to death. My whole life I have worked hard to achieve success. As a young child, I was always told that if I worked hard I would never fail. I am the student that gives 110% to all my work. If  I need help I will find the tutoring I need and study for hours even go days without sleep. If I have a project or an idea in mind I am the type of person that will get up in the middle of the night just to write my idea down. I never failed in anything when it came to academics. I was the student that was always on top. Being on top can sometimes get very lonely. No one realizes the sacrifices that I have to go through. It's not easy staying on the top. Everyday having to fight to prove that I am worthy enough. People judging me not taking the time to ask me Why? Why do you work so hard, what is your drive? Because failure was never an option when I was young. Failure mean't that I had done something wrong. I had to bring home those straight A's that is how my success was measured. Now, that I have grown up I realized that this drive to succeed all the time can become a challenge. Recently, I was asked what happens if you fail? And I wasn't sure what to respond because failure in my mind isn't an option. However, I was given a great answer to that question. I was told if you fail you get back up. Nothing happens if you fail other than having to try again. My eyes were opened up to the idea that failure will happen in life and when it does I need to be ready to face it without fear. I will fail but that doesn't mean that I won't succeed.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."-Thomas A. Edison

Hopeless Romantic

Do you ever just feel like you are never going to find love that you are going to end up being alone with 5 or 6 cats? Well, I don't know if you feel this way but sometimes I do. I try to tell myself that one day I will find the one, that one day I will experience true love, and that someone out there is waiting for me to love him for the rest of my life. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic I can't help but dream about love. At my age, I shouldn't be worrying about finding love but of finishing school and getting a job. I am still very young and love will eventually come but I can't help but dream. I can't help but sit on a park bench looking at the sky and sighing hoping that love comes. I know that this seems like a crazy idea but I like to think that someone will one day sweep me off my feet. Well, today I just thought that I share with you my hopeless romantic ideas with this video. Who know's maybe love is closer than I think???

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."  - Dr. Seuss.

Unconditional Love

Muneca

It was an autumn day like any other in California. Orange leaves were falling off the trees, the sun was shining brightly, and the wind was blowing softly. The school bus had just dropped me off two blocks away from my home.  It was just another after-school day in my 8 year old life. I was to walk home, eat a snack, and do my homework just like I did everyday.

As I walked down the path, I could see the white picket fence that surrounded my little blue house and my mom’s red roses peeking through the top. I could also smell dinner being made. There was a strong aroma of white rice and beans that floated through the air and hit my nose, making my stomach grumble. My nose began to lead me through the path home in a faster pace.

 As I reached the fence, to my house, a great sadness came over me. It hit me so hard that I began to shake and salty tears started to fall down my face. I couldn’t hear the welcoming barks of Princessa. The whole neighborhood stood quiet. It wasn’t until I got closer to the house that I realized this wasn’t a day like any other. I was missing the most important part of my after-school routine and that was the loud excited bark and tail wagging of my best friend Princessa as I entered the gate. It hit me, my best friend was gone, and she was never coming back. A week earlier, a car had hit Princessa and in a matter of a moment she was yanked from my life. How was I to survive without her by my side?

Princessa had been in my life since I was 5years old. I had rescued her from a shelter. I knew she would mean so much to me from the first time I laid eyes on her. Her whole body trembled in excitement as she saw me pass her cage and she gave me a stare that said, “I will always love you no matter what.” I couldn’t possibly leave her in that shelter so that day I took her home and she became my angel from above. Whenever I felt sad or mad, she would jump on my lap, lick my salty tears, and give me a little smirk that reassured me everything would be okay. I knew she loved me with all her might. I could feel it as she cuddled in my lap. I could see it in her eyes. Today, as I entered my home she was gone. She wasn’t there to reassure me or to give me a smirk that calmed me down. I finally managed to get myself together and walked up the stairs that led to my porch.

I reached for the door but before I could open it I was greeted by a surprise. There before my eyes was a little bald, white dog, with big bulging eyes staring at me confused and afraid. My first reaction was to get mad at my mother. She wanted to replace Princessa. How could she do this to Princessa and me? My mother knew that I was still in pain and that I didn’t want another dog. No other dog could replace Princessa and her love towards me. I sat down on the stairs and once again my body began to shake and I began to sob hysterically.

While I sobbed uncontrollably, the little bald dog started to make her way towards me. She sat on my lap, began to lick my tears, and wagged her tail so hard I thought it was going to fall off. I looked up at her and she gave me the same smirk that Princessa used to give me when I felt sad. I knew that Princessa and God had sent me an angel that would help me get through the pains of life. I named her Muneca, which means doll because she gave me the comfort that a doll gives a young child. Till this day, 12 years later, Muneca continues to be in my life giving me unconditional love.

“The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.”  ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912

Feeling Hungry A New Feeling

   Yesterday, I had a very stressful day in school and I learned a great lesson that I thought I should share with you.  I also came to a great realization. I was very hungry so I decided that I was going to go get a sandwich to eat. I walked to the sandwich store and ordered my food. I gave the cashier my card, like usual, and I waited for him to give it back to me and say thank you. As he gave me the card he said “I’m sorry it was declined you only have $4 so it didn’t go through.” I began to panic not knowing what had happened. This morning I had money on my card. I felt a little embarrassed too because I had no money to pay for my food. I have never felt this overwhelmed in my life and so powerless. I called my bank and they told me that I had been charged a $30 maintenance fee this afternoon and that’s why my card was at $4. I was very upset because no one ever mentioned to me that I would get charged a fee. The lady on the phone told me that it was in small prints on the contract I had signed. The lady who made my contract told me that I didn’t have to worry about fees but I shouldn’t have believed her.  I didn’t read the print carefully and therefore I was put in a very uncomfortable situation.  I want to remind every single one of you to make sure you read every part of contracts that you sign but I also want to open up your eyes to something else.

 Money is very important in this society. If you do not have money you cannot eat or afford the luxuries of life such as a nice home to live in. I began to think about those who have to live every day with the reality that they do not have enough money for food. For the first time ever, I felt hungry and I didn’t have money to solve my problem. It was the worst feeling in the world and I realized that this is something that many people go through and that I’m very lucky.  I went home got money put it in my card and just like that I have the ability to get food and not feel hungry but what about those who aren’t as lucky as I? They won’t be able to go home and get money to get food because many of them don’t have a home. We need to realize that those of us who have never felt hunger haven’t faced the pain of real life problems like poverty.