There was something interesting that I observed the other day. I wholeheartedly attended a police academy graduation this past Monday. Both Corporal Alvarez and Sergeant Medina of Biola Campus Safety had graduated from Level 3 Modular Training and about 8 of us from CS decided to attend the ceremony. The graduation itself was quick and civil, only lasting an hour long with no delays or anything within the time frame.
The time came for the pinning of the badges. As they were reading out each of the officers names they stated what careers that each of them were involved in before the academy. To my surprise most of the careers I heard read out were investment bankers, marketers, stock brokers, and other business related jobs. This came off quite a shock to me because I picture such jobs like these as being luxurious. One could live quite a comfortable life and not have to worry about personal finances. It made me wonder if these men and women were trying to seek something else in life, or if they found their previous careers to be rather unfulfilling for some odd reason. Regardless, it led me to have more respect for these men and women. To go into law enforcement, to risk their lives in order to make this city a better place is something you don't see quite often in people. What a way to be selfless.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
People in General
I think the study of people is rather fascinating. That's why I chose to be a Sociology major here at Biola, and because of that I've been able to dive in further to understand how a world of people can function in society, yet be so dysfunctional due to many reasons. A lot of the time I am a spectator. I like watching situations fold between two nations, ethnic groups, people, couples, friends, the list goes on. Do I benefit from this? Perhaps. Maybe by observing what happens to people somehow I realize it can apply to my life. Perhaps a lesson can be learned, or maybe things could be handled better. Whatever the situation may be it is a stepping stone in the right direction, or so it may seem. Over my 21 years of existence I feel like I've been able to understand people better and better as time goes on. Yet, it doesn't seem to be enough. There will always be misunderstandings, which leads to a downhill struggle amongst men. Misunderstandings can even lead to as big of thing as WAR. It's crazy but true. Anyways, enough of the broad spectrum.
Just recently, and even right now, I've been thinking about how many people I've seen come and go out of my life, some being for better or for worse in both areas. I can honestly say that three years ago before moving to Los Angeles I would not have seen the group of people that I have in my life right now back then, but then again who would. Every year there always seems to be change I've realized. Friendships fail, contact is lost when people move away, but is that really the way things should be? I've always wondered if change in the people surrounding you in your life is really a good thing in general? There will always be circumstances where changes like these are for the best i.e. those who serve as a bad influence, abusive, or even life threatening. But besides that should change really happen. I remember this past summer I had a falling out with a close friend, or used to be one at some point. Things were slowly heading downhill between us. I had realized that the friendship was not worth holding onto, and for them they just didn't seem to understand my perspective on things. They drew first blood in the whole ordeal by cutting off complete contact with me, but in reality I had wanted it to happen that way. It wasn't because I had wanted to say it was their fault for flipping out, but mainly it was to insure that things had come to an end definitely, which they did. Do I have any remorse for what I did? Actually I don't. Does that make me a cold heartless person? I think not. If anything I feel so much better after the whole situation. I feel like a big burden was taken off my shoulder leading me to feel like a totally different person, and I'm sure they feel the same way too. There was a friendship that was bringing me down that had to be eliminated with minimal damage. Simple as that. In the end we both came out as better people and now more than even I feel quite satisfied with those who surround me now. Therefore because of this situation changes in the people in your life can be a blessing, it just depends on what you're willing to sacrifice in the end.
Just recently, and even right now, I've been thinking about how many people I've seen come and go out of my life, some being for better or for worse in both areas. I can honestly say that three years ago before moving to Los Angeles I would not have seen the group of people that I have in my life right now back then, but then again who would. Every year there always seems to be change I've realized. Friendships fail, contact is lost when people move away, but is that really the way things should be? I've always wondered if change in the people surrounding you in your life is really a good thing in general? There will always be circumstances where changes like these are for the best i.e. those who serve as a bad influence, abusive, or even life threatening. But besides that should change really happen. I remember this past summer I had a falling out with a close friend, or used to be one at some point. Things were slowly heading downhill between us. I had realized that the friendship was not worth holding onto, and for them they just didn't seem to understand my perspective on things. They drew first blood in the whole ordeal by cutting off complete contact with me, but in reality I had wanted it to happen that way. It wasn't because I had wanted to say it was their fault for flipping out, but mainly it was to insure that things had come to an end definitely, which they did. Do I have any remorse for what I did? Actually I don't. Does that make me a cold heartless person? I think not. If anything I feel so much better after the whole situation. I feel like a big burden was taken off my shoulder leading me to feel like a totally different person, and I'm sure they feel the same way too. There was a friendship that was bringing me down that had to be eliminated with minimal damage. Simple as that. In the end we both came out as better people and now more than even I feel quite satisfied with those who surround me now. Therefore because of this situation changes in the people in your life can be a blessing, it just depends on what you're willing to sacrifice in the end.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Tripping Over Wires
Well I've realized it's been quite a while since I've actually been here to update this blog. My bad. But now that I'm finally her I can post another casual update. So it's been almost 5 weeks now into the summer and time has really gone by quite fast, but at the same time this summer has been the most unpleasant of all summer I've ever experienced.
For the past 5 weeks I've been living in a small town in the Central Valley of California called Visalia. The reason why I'm living here of all places is because my parents are here in the California for the summer because they have to report to all their churches that support them in their ministry. On top of that, somebody from one of my parents supporting churches let us look after their house for the whole summer while they were going to be gone until September. This housing arrangement here in Visalia was a huge answer to prayer for my parents and it somewhat was an answer to prayer for me as well. I figured that if I lived here I could get a job easily and work over the summer to build up finances and so forth. Plus the town was in a good location because it was halfway between the Bay Area and LA, which meant I could go to both places conveniently. Those were my previous thoughts before coming here.
Well like I said before this summer has been quite unpleasant for the most part. One of the real major frustrations I've had since I arrived here in Visalia is not having a job. For the past month or so I have been going around the whole area applying at different locations at places that were hiring employees. Well, I followed up on a lot of job applications but doing that didn't seem to help my chances at all in landing a job. The job market right now throughout the country is terrible at the moment. I've talked to some of my friends in other locations recently and they're experienceing the same problems at the moment as well. Anyways it's been kind of a huge hardship because this summer I was hoping to land a job so I could have something to do and earn a little money, but so far it hasn't worked out like I had planned.
Another major difficulty that I've had this summer is that I've been sick on the side as well. Last semester I had been somewhat ill because my chronic illness was making a comeback on me. It was hard over the last two months of the semester because there were times where I felt pretty sick and in bad shape. Thankfully I've been able to see a specialist this summer and he's been somewhat able to help me with my recovery process. However I'm still not 100% well yet, but I'm looking to get better over the summer and hopefully be well enough when school comes.
Lastly it's been kind of lonely being with nobody I really know except for my parents. The weekend before last I went down to LA for a friends party where I got to see some of my friends again. It was nice because I really missed a lot of them. It was hard leaving there ofcourse but I managed to do it nonetheless.
So it's pretty much safe to say that I've been kind of a little depressed about the way this summer has been going to far and things not working out like I had originally hoped. However through all of the hardships I've faced so far I've realized that perhaps God has put me here for reason. If you would asked me last week how I like this town I'm in I would have probably said with exclaimation "I HATE IT!!" and then would have thrown something against the wall. However over the weekend I think God put a message in my heart and made me understand the reason why I am here in this town. I believe now that the purpose of this summer is to gain complete health again. For the past 8 years I've been living with Chrones Disease and it's been a major problem for me this past year. This summer by God's grace I've been able to see a doctor within the area who is very optimistic that I will fully recover if I go through a certain treatment. With the chance of this happening I can't complain about being here. Infact I think I'm in the best of all places. Though there are times where it seems like life couldn't possibly get any worse (like I had originally thought before), I've come to realize now through these experiences sometimes God has a message that he's trying to state. So I thank God for brining me here for that reason. Another answer to prayer also came into effect last week as I joined the college group of the church that I have been attending in the area. I've been able to meet some very beautiful people and so my lonely experience of being here is turning around to become unlonely. I'm very happy for this.
So yeah, I'm not sure how the rest of my summer is going to turn out. I'm still going to be hunting for jobs, but if I don't get one I'll consider it God's will that I don't get one. But for now I'll be looking to him for guidance for here on out. That's a good life lesson for that matter.
For the past 5 weeks I've been living in a small town in the Central Valley of California called Visalia. The reason why I'm living here of all places is because my parents are here in the California for the summer because they have to report to all their churches that support them in their ministry. On top of that, somebody from one of my parents supporting churches let us look after their house for the whole summer while they were going to be gone until September. This housing arrangement here in Visalia was a huge answer to prayer for my parents and it somewhat was an answer to prayer for me as well. I figured that if I lived here I could get a job easily and work over the summer to build up finances and so forth. Plus the town was in a good location because it was halfway between the Bay Area and LA, which meant I could go to both places conveniently. Those were my previous thoughts before coming here.
Well like I said before this summer has been quite unpleasant for the most part. One of the real major frustrations I've had since I arrived here in Visalia is not having a job. For the past month or so I have been going around the whole area applying at different locations at places that were hiring employees. Well, I followed up on a lot of job applications but doing that didn't seem to help my chances at all in landing a job. The job market right now throughout the country is terrible at the moment. I've talked to some of my friends in other locations recently and they're experienceing the same problems at the moment as well. Anyways it's been kind of a huge hardship because this summer I was hoping to land a job so I could have something to do and earn a little money, but so far it hasn't worked out like I had planned.
Another major difficulty that I've had this summer is that I've been sick on the side as well. Last semester I had been somewhat ill because my chronic illness was making a comeback on me. It was hard over the last two months of the semester because there were times where I felt pretty sick and in bad shape. Thankfully I've been able to see a specialist this summer and he's been somewhat able to help me with my recovery process. However I'm still not 100% well yet, but I'm looking to get better over the summer and hopefully be well enough when school comes.
Lastly it's been kind of lonely being with nobody I really know except for my parents. The weekend before last I went down to LA for a friends party where I got to see some of my friends again. It was nice because I really missed a lot of them. It was hard leaving there ofcourse but I managed to do it nonetheless.
So it's pretty much safe to say that I've been kind of a little depressed about the way this summer has been going to far and things not working out like I had originally hoped. However through all of the hardships I've faced so far I've realized that perhaps God has put me here for reason. If you would asked me last week how I like this town I'm in I would have probably said with exclaimation "I HATE IT!!" and then would have thrown something against the wall. However over the weekend I think God put a message in my heart and made me understand the reason why I am here in this town. I believe now that the purpose of this summer is to gain complete health again. For the past 8 years I've been living with Chrones Disease and it's been a major problem for me this past year. This summer by God's grace I've been able to see a doctor within the area who is very optimistic that I will fully recover if I go through a certain treatment. With the chance of this happening I can't complain about being here. Infact I think I'm in the best of all places. Though there are times where it seems like life couldn't possibly get any worse (like I had originally thought before), I've come to realize now through these experiences sometimes God has a message that he's trying to state. So I thank God for brining me here for that reason. Another answer to prayer also came into effect last week as I joined the college group of the church that I have been attending in the area. I've been able to meet some very beautiful people and so my lonely experience of being here is turning around to become unlonely. I'm very happy for this.
So yeah, I'm not sure how the rest of my summer is going to turn out. I'm still going to be hunting for jobs, but if I don't get one I'll consider it God's will that I don't get one. But for now I'll be looking to him for guidance for here on out. That's a good life lesson for that matter.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
A Grave Injustice
So I found out something pretty disturbing today. My philosophy teacher Greg Ten Elshof on Tuesday told everybody in the class that we could check to see what grade we were getting for the semester in the class by emailing a certain person about it. So I did just that right after class on Tuesday and this past evening the person wrote back and told me that I was getting a 57% in the class. A 57%!!!! This made me so angry because I was not informed at all earlier this semester that I was getting such a bad grade. What makes the situation even worse was that Ten Elshof had us do writing assignments for most of the classes this semester and the whole class and I did not get a single writing assignment back the whole semester. Apparently from the feedback I got from my grade I found out that the writing assignments were what costed me the most. Did I know this? NO, because I never got a single writing assignment back. This is a grave injustice. What makes things even worse is that the semester is about to end next week, and I have a final on Tuesday and that puts even more pressure on me to do well on it. If I fail this class I am going to be so miserable, and if I should fail I'm going to fight long and hard to appeal this class for being poorly managed. I'm dead serious.
Anyways, as you can imagine I'm not feeling so happy right now. This is just what I need right now right before the semester is about to end. I finally declare that I hate general ed. They always life a living hell for you and for what..to make somebody more well rounded. I do not believe in becoming well rounded.
Anyways, as you can imagine I'm not feeling so happy right now. This is just what I need right now right before the semester is about to end. I finally declare that I hate general ed. They always life a living hell for you and for what..to make somebody more well rounded. I do not believe in becoming well rounded.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
The Feeling of Being at a Dead End
I'm really frustrated right now, but then again that is what is in these entries usually. I'm frustrated right now at my ongoing health problems that I'm currently facing right now. This semester I've truly experienced what it is like to have health problems while being in college. It's not convenient I'll tell you that. I'm trying to get through a tough semester of work while my illness on the side keeps nagging me from doing things with 100% effort.
Earlier this semester I had to go to the hospital because of some pain that I was having in my abdomin. The doctors though at first I had appendicitis, which would have been pretty serious if I actually did have it. It turned out I had an infection in my intestinal area, which was related to my chronic illness I've had for the past 8 years. They treated me at the hospital and I thought that they had completely taken care of the situation, but a a few weeks ago the same pain came back. I finally decided to go see a specialist about my problem. He gave me a prescription for medication and to go get some tests done, but frankly I don't have the time to do any of those different things. It's really hard to take care of things like this without any family relatives around.
I wish somebody from my family was here to help me get through this situation. It's hard to take care of this by myself.
Earlier this semester I had to go to the hospital because of some pain that I was having in my abdomin. The doctors though at first I had appendicitis, which would have been pretty serious if I actually did have it. It turned out I had an infection in my intestinal area, which was related to my chronic illness I've had for the past 8 years. They treated me at the hospital and I thought that they had completely taken care of the situation, but a a few weeks ago the same pain came back. I finally decided to go see a specialist about my problem. He gave me a prescription for medication and to go get some tests done, but frankly I don't have the time to do any of those different things. It's really hard to take care of things like this without any family relatives around.
I wish somebody from my family was here to help me get through this situation. It's hard to take care of this by myself.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Answer to Prayer
So it was about a week ago that my parents had called me to inform me that somebody from a church that supports them has donated their car for me to use for this summer and after. As you can imagine I was really happy to hear this news. God is so good all the time. The car is a Honda Civic 94 DX hatchback, which is great news because I really wanted a hatchback in the first place. My room mate has one currently and I love driving it around because it's got a great feel to it and it also can fit a lot of cargo in the back if I have a lot of stuff to transport, which I definitely will this summer when I move up to Visalia. So yes this is a huge answer to prayer. Now I just have to think about how I'm going to get the car down to LA before the semester is over since it's still up in the Bay Area currently.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Unhappy
So I think I've pretty much been through one of the worst weeks of my life academically. I had three midterm exams this past week and I'm pretty sure I did badly on all of them. On Tuesday I had a 8 page midterm paper due for one of my sociology classes, and as you could imagine i stayed up the whole night to do it. I thought I did such a nice job and then after I turned it in I looked on the syllabus I realized I didn't meet all the guidelines for the midterm, so now I'm not sure how well I'm going to do after realizing that. On Wednesday I had two exams, one for Theology and one for Juvenile Delinquency. The Theology test was much harder than the previous test I took in the class, so I'm thinking I didn't too well on this one. For Juvenile Delinquency it's a much different story. I studied for it somewhat thinking that the test wasn't going to be that tough because I had the same professor last year for a different class and the midterm wasn't that tough as I recalled. I was screwed because the test was probably the most difficult test I've ever taken in my life, not to mention that the layout of the test was pretty stupid and convoluted. So I'm pretty much certain that I failed that test because I didn't know half the questions at all. I talked to some of my classmates about it and they told me that they were pretty sure they failed the test as well. I hope that the majority of the class fails the midterm just so that it shows how hard and dumb the test was.
On a different story, I got my philosophy midterm back finally after taking it two weeks ago. The teacher gave me a D on the exam. I was totally appalled because me and my room mate (who got a C- on it) studied very hard for that exam and I also felt that I answered the question very correctly as well.
Basically after this past week I feel like I'm trapped in a big black hole in all my courses. This semester was going so well and now I feel like I'm a total failure. I don't know what to do.
On a different story, I got my philosophy midterm back finally after taking it two weeks ago. The teacher gave me a D on the exam. I was totally appalled because me and my room mate (who got a C- on it) studied very hard for that exam and I also felt that I answered the question very correctly as well.
Basically after this past week I feel like I'm trapped in a big black hole in all my courses. This semester was going so well and now I feel like I'm a total failure. I don't know what to do.
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