Problem Child

Growing up in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood, I attended my local grade school from kindergarten up to sixth grade. Being Mexican, my family is very Catholic, which meant that I was brought up with many of the Catholic teachings. I had always been very respectful towards others and treated others as I wanted them to treat me. Then I hit a phase starting in sixth grade that I am not very proud of going through. Many of my friends had started talking back and not doing work--they became careless and worry free of school. I fell under peer pressure and soon developed the same attitude towards school. I had become a pain for my teachers.

They were disappointed and stunned at my attitude because I had always been a great student. I had stopped doing my homework and caring less about school. But for some odd reason, I was still performing well in my classes even though I was not paying attention. I did not notice this until some time after I had become a problem child. This problem child phase continued through my sixth grade and into my seventh grade. It was not until seventh grade that I realized that this path was not the write one for me. During seventh grade, my Spanish teacher had a talk with me and pointed out how I was throwing away my life because I wanted to be "cool." God had given me this amazing gift and I did not care for it.

It was not until after that talk that I realized that I had great potential to be someone and make my parents proud of the sacrifices that they have done for me. This change in attitude lead me to get into one of the best high schools in Chicago and get into my first choice college.

I AM A Beast

Success. What can be better than success? What can be better than to know that you reached a goal honorably, without cheating? To be able to say that you "beasted" something? Now knowing how that feels, I can share my experience of how I BEASTED something.

Math has always been my strong area. I have never had trouble with it because it usually "clicks." There is one exception though. LOGS--the inverses of exponentials! Because they take so long and also have great potential to be tedious and extensive, I am not very fond of them. On my last quiz, I meant to study because it was all logs and natural logs. But since I was rushing to leave school to go to work, I did not grab my notebook with my notes on logs. I had forgotten about my quiz until the period right before I had to take it. In my mind I thought to myself, "Oh well, this will just be a real test of my knowledge of logs. I can do it though!" It was quiz time, not even quiz time but more of test time. I began my slaughter on the "quest." I thought I was going to be one of the last ones to finish the quest but I was the first one to finish. This worried me a little because I wasn't sure if it meant that I missed something or forgot some steps. But I was still confident in myself.

The next day I got my quest back. As the teacher was passing out the quests, I anxiously waited to see my quest and how I had performed. I was the last one to receive the quest. The teacher handed me my quest upside down, which meant that I had to flip it over to see my grade. I HAD BEASTED IT SCORING A PERFECT 32/32. At that moment, I got a great sensation that I had performed excellently using pure skill and knowledge.

helpful or ruinous?

Endless. Infinite. Limitless. What do these words have in common? I will tell you--Technology. Technology has been evolving and becoming more and more advanced everyday. As time goes by, the technology is increasingly making humans lazier. I am not saying that it only makes humans lazy; it does not. It also has very good qualities and is a great help to our society. But if one takes time to analyze how technology has impacted humanity, it is evident that technology does make our life much easier--making one do less work, become lazy, and slowly becoming dependent on technology to survive.

Going back, way back, technology dates back to ancient civilizations. Technology back then would help the Egyptians build the pyramids or help the Romans build such great works as the Coliseum. Over time its evolved to the point it is at today. Some technologies such as the basic cellphone, which came out ten years ago, was very useful technology that helped man-- almost a necessity. But the cellphone has now evolved to a point were it can not only let to people talk via a call, but now let people instant message, take video, take pictures, etc. The need to have instant communication is a direct result of the evolution of technology. Having to take pictures and video is not a necessity and does not really help man at all. It is mearly a luxury. This is not only evident with cell phones but also in vehicles.

In todays modern society, car companies are stuffing vehicles with constant technologies that are not really needed. Take for instance, luxury cars like Mercedes, Porsche and BMW. In the luxury models, the vehicles are stuffed with tremendous amounts of technology that are not really needed. For example, does one really need a vehicle that will massage you while you drive? Or voice activated commands inside the vehicle to change the radio station? Not to say that these technologies are bad, but they do make one lazy. Not to say that I do not too fall for these modern luxuries, but realizing how they impact our way in a negative way is a step towards fixing the problem. Technology, alongside the fastfood restaurants, is one of the reasons that our nation is very obese. I am not trying to bash technology, I am simply pointing out how it helps humanity to much.

Head on Collision

"Y volver volver a tus brazos otra vez" were almost the last words of my life. Driving down I-55 on a cold, icy night, I lost control of my pick up truck as I was exiting on the ramp. As I was approaching my destination, blasting Vicente Fernandez, I got off on the ramp. The ramp was one of those 270 degree ramps where you almost have to go in a complete circle to get onto the street. There were no light posts on the ramp, it was completely dark. The only light source was that of the dim stars and my head lights. There were steep slopes on both sides of the ramp. At the bottom, the grass was full of snow. I slowly rounded the curve make to sure I would not slip on the ice and go off-roding. Once I came near the top of the ramp, I sped up. Thinking the road would be salted down, I performed a lane change as if it had never rained ice and was just a normal dry day. As I began to move over, I moved to a lane that was covered with ice. I lost control of the vehicle. It spun out on me beginning in the back. I turned the steering wheel in all kinds of directions attempting to gain control of the vehicle. I slipped across three lanes with no control of the truck. Heading towards the wall of concrete, which separated the two different directions of traffic, I luckily gained control of the truck right before I smashed into it. Now looking back on that night, I am grateful that there were not any other vehicles on the road while I lost control of the truck; there could have been a car wreck, which would not have been good at all.



(the content of this story is fictional)

College

College Applications. Those two words bring chills down many peoples' backs. For me, they are just another couple of words. But for many, it causes them to scramble around and sign up for last minute activities to put on their college applications to look good. What is wrong with just showing who you really are? Since when does one have to change who they are to go to college? Why isn't being yourself good enough anymore? When I see this, it saddens me to a point that I become disappointed with some people. They take part in activities for the wrong reasons. They take part in activities with their mind and not heart. They tutor young children because it will look good on their college application not because they want to. Not to say that all who tutor do it for this reason, but there are people out there who very well do it for this exact reason. Those who do it for the wrong reasons will not get the feeling that one gets when they have actually helped someone because they actually wanted to. They will never get the feeling that one gets when they help someone with their heart and sincerity. Showing who you really can be much more impressive and amazing. Why apply to a school were one has to lie about who one really is and then get in and struggle throughout college? Why not apply to a school that one is fit for one? Who knows? Maybe parents force their children to do good so that they can brag about how their children went to yale, harvard, or any other "prestigious" school. Being yourself is a much more powerful effect than lying about who you "are."