Blog #5: 5 Years Later...

So there is definitely a lot of things I want to do within the next five years.

1. Get my Bachelor's Degree- Hey, I know I am supposed to graduate in the next coming month but it hasn't happened yet, so it still makes this list. Especially since for me this a really big accomplishment that I have taken along time to achieve. Something that might seem little to others is a big deal for me.

2. Get my multi-subject credentials-Ideally, I want to be in an elementary school classroom and all public schools require me to have one of these. Usually it would take only a year or two after you get your Bachelor's degree to get this, but it's a little bit harder for me because I can not afford to not work and make money. At SDSU, they say that you really won't be able to work while getting your credentials. I'll get my credentials, but it'll take sometime.

3. Get a job with LEGO Education- My goal is primarily is to be an educator. If I am not in a classroom directly, I want to get a job with LEGO Education being an ambassador for school districts promoting educational lesson plans that use LEGO. I work at the LEGO store now in the mall right, and even thought it is a retail job, I can see the benefits of what LEGO can do for a kids mind and how it can connect to their education.

4. Travel to at least three different countries- Sadly, I haven't ever been out of the country. I have definitely had opportunities to do so, both in grade school and through the university. But money and time always get in the way. Philippines would be my top choice. It would be nice to see family I have over there that I have never met (I have a big family). Probably my next choice would be Australia. The Sydney Opera House is one of my favorite architectural creations. Having a guilty pleasure, for musical theatre and operas, it would be amazing to see a show live in such an amazing place.

5. Find a new hobby- My hobbies right now is playing my french horn and video games. It's been like that for the last 10 years basically. Don't get me wrong, I love doing both of those things, but I think it would be nice to learn how to do something new. Maybe take up surfing? Hey, I live in San Diego my entire life and have not once taken advantage of the surf game out here. Hopefully I can do that soon.

6. Try different signature foods of different places- I am a huge "foodie" and I love to try new things. I'll be honest, San Diego has a lot of variety when it comes to good food, but it is honestly a different experience trying deep dish pizza in Chicago. I want to try a freshly caught Maine Lobster in Maine, a bowl of ramen in Japan, or curry in India (boy I'm starting to get hungry).

7. Breath- My life right now goes as follows: Wake up, school, work, homework, school, band, school, work, homework, repeat. That is how it has been for the last five years and it has worn me down to wear I have become numb to it. Just once, I want to break that cycle and just be able to sit there for a day and keep my eyes closed knowing that everything can slow down for just a moment. 

Blog 3: Objective vs Subjective Writing: A Perfect Balance

Let’s get this out of the way. Being objective is to have no emotional influences, opinions, or biases in what you are writing or saying. Being subjective is, well, basically the complete opposite. Your writing is open to having opinions and one’s feelings. When writing objectively, you solely basing everything you are say on facts and you are not taking a stance on any side of an argument. It is all black and white, “this and that.” Writing subjectively, that’s where you can say whatever you want. That’s where you can tell how you feel and take a stance on a subject. This is usually where op-eds stand.

Opinion-editorials are subjective. I mean, half of the name is in the definition of subjective writing. Most of the time a subjective piece will persuade to do something. A lot of the time it is understanding the author’s viewpoint. Most of the time a subjective piece of work will also try to do or feel something, but it really comes down to if the author got you to understand what they are saying. However, a good subjective writer, will have objective evidence in their writing. Subjective writing will have actual events that happened, graphs, and other cold hard facts. A subjective writer that does not have objective facts, will have a hard time getting their point across. Readers will say, “Okay that’s nice. Why?” At that point, you might just sound like a crazy person. Using objective writing in a subjective text is essential to even allowing a reader to open up their mind and allow more people to understand you.

I would say though, there are writers out there that are really good of making subjective sound objective. It is a very powerful ability to have not just in writing, but also life. Trust me, I work in a retail store, it is part of my job to know how to do this, so that way I can sell you something you don’t need while making it sound like you do. The reason I said it is a powerful tool and not necessarily a good tool, is because of how deceiving something like that could be. Someone that knows how to use this ability can manipulate what their audience into thinking that their argument or opinions are much stronger than they actually are, creating opinions and beliefs off of false claims. It’s like what Uncle Ben says to Spiderman, “With great power, comes great responsibility,” and as a writer, it is their responsibility to use that ability to the best they can. Politicians are both the best and worst when it comes to using this power. They are the best at it because this is how they get people to vote their way and base beliefs off what they say. They are the worst at it because this how corruption and scandals begin.

When it comes to writing, there needs to be a balance between objective and subjective writing. It’s okay to write both subjectively and objectively. This very blog you are reading contains a little bit of both. There really can’t be one, without the other. If one were to not exist, then writing would just become letters on a piece of paper.

Blog #2: Suuuure, I Know What I'm Doing

According to James Paul Gee, we have all have discourses. In his work "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics Introduction," a discourse is "an identity kit with a costume on how to act and talk by taking a certain role people will recognize" (7). It likes creating a character for yourself that represents you and what you are doing. For example, most people who work in retail in restaurant services have a discourse that caters to your customers. Though these discourses are part of our identity, sometimes we get thrown into situations where we have adapt to a discourse that we are not fully grown into but have to act like we've mastered it. This would be called learning how to mushfake.

I would say there have two real instances where I had to do this and take on discourses that I was not fully comfortable with. The first instance would be around my family. I have discourse that is part of my identity with my immediate family members. But my extended family expands way farther than what I could keep up with. With that being said, I would say I am not really close with a majority of them. However, they always ask the same typical questions when I see them "like how is school going" or "what are you planning to do after you graduate." This is coming from a family that expects engineers and doctors or going into the military if you did not go to school. For me to feel like family to accept I did not have necessarily lie, but definitely had to fake it. I told them how I was planning to go into education, but I would speak very highly of my process and what my goals as a teacher was once I finished the credential program. I would even bring up random facts about the education system to seem like I knew what I was getting into. But to be honest, I didn't and I still don't. I have a little bit of experience in classrooms and it still has not fully convinced me that I am going down the right path. But I could not let my family, who i would see maybe once or twice a year, know that. All they wanted to hear was success stories and bright futures. So I had to give them what they wanted.

The second instance would be at my first job I had while I was still in high school. Right by my house there was this cool new laser tag place just opening up and was having a job fair and I thought "what cooler way to make money than working at a laser tag arena!" Getting through the interview process was the easy part because all I had to was be myself. Being on the job was the hard part. The job required knowledge on computers and programs that were completely brand new to me. The entire time, I kept thinking about what happens if something breaks down or does not work, I did not know how to fix it! Unfortunately, things eventually did start breaking down on me and I still really did not know how to fix it even though it was part of my job. It took a lot of guessing and trial and error to get things back up and running, but things eventually would start working again. I wish I could tell you how exactly I got things fixed, but to this day, I still don't know how I did not burn the place down trying to do something I did not actually know how to do. I just faked it till I made it. To be fair, a lot of people of that job were faking it. That might be why it closed down last year.

Blog #1: Six-Word Memoir

Life One Step At A Time

I'll be honest, the future scares me. I have always felt like that when you start believing you have your life planned out, your mind, the universe, or something else seems to turn you in another direction. Coming into something new you have this who plan of how it's going to turn out, but most of the time, the outcome is different. Take coming into college for example, I came in as Kinesiology major, thinking I would graduate in 4 years and go graduate school after so that way I can open up my own clinic. However, I ended realizing thats not what I wanted to do. All the stress, bad grades, and other problems that arose, I did not know what I wanted to do nor what the future had in store for me.

That's when I knew I had to change my approach at life. How was I supposed to get to the future, without taking on the present that was right in front of me. I decided to slow down and take each day as a brand new one and not knowing what was in store. I went to sleep not knowing what would happen when I would wake up, and I was okay with that, because I knew what ever I did was going to get me where I was supposed to be. I might not end up where I thought I would be but, when I get there I will know it and accept that.

Right now, I'm an Interdisciplinary Studies Major with disciplines in Music, History, and Education and working LEGO Store. Now working retail and taking classes is not where I want be my whole life, but I know it's just a stepping stone to what the future has in store for me. I  The photo posted is me in San Diego State's marching band. I take on life on the same way I treat marching band, by taking one step at a time.