Reality Television

     With today's modern technology it is fairly easy for the younger generations to become easily unamused. What used to amuse a teen 10 years ago will grab their attention for about 10 seconds in today's time. Television shows have had to become more suspenseful, more unique and most of all more interesting in order to become successful. Nowadays, the most common T.V show is a reality show. These show's allegedly contain no scripts and are all "real" events. These type of shows seem to be very popular in the younger generations, mostly teens. However, I will admit that, being a teen myself,  I have watched my fair share of reality shows. Maybe it's because they contain legitimate scenarios or maybe it's just because what you see on a reality show seems to be more relatable to our everyday lives but somehow I always find myself drawn to these shows. To be honest they are quite interesting and maybe for some it might just be a way of comparison to their own lives to be able to say saying, "well at least my life isn't that dramatic." Unfortunately, reality shows have a way of getting in your head and as much as you might say that you think some of the people on the shows are disgusting or simply uneducated you just can't help getting home in time to watch that new episode of your favorite, most current reality show.

  As much as I would love to say that I hate reality shows, I don't. I guess you could say I'm a neutral party. However, I do believe that those types of shows are very harmful to our society. There might be some people that think that maybe if they act as crazy or as wild as the people on reality shows maybe they will get their own reality show. Furthermore, what if a young child watched a reality show with obscene content and thought of those actions as something to consider to be normal. Those are some examples in which I would consider these shows to be very harmful to our society. Now, I won't say that I am completely against reality shows but for the most part they are all garbage. Reality shows are good for entertainment purposes not for a way to base your life upon. I might even say that a reality show is more dangerous than any other type of show because with a reality show you are dealing with real life events that anybody can perform. This of course, encourages not only dangerous behavior but also inappropriate behavior. However, taking into consideration that a lot of reality shows are staged now, some acts might just be unobtainable but nevertheless possible. Even though reality shows might be one of the few things that can keep a teen entertained for more than 20 minutes it doesn't mean that it is the only source of entertainment and eventually as we begin to mature we also begin to lose interest.

Fast Food

      Living in California means living a fast paced life. Which is why most people don't have the time to have a well thought out meal. However, I was lucky enough to grow up in a large family where somebody is always available to, "take care of the kids." When I was a child both my mother and father had full time jobs and because of that we, my sisters and I, were babysat by our grandfather. My grandfather took care of all the children in our family while our parents went off to work so to keep us entertained he would take us all to McDonald's. All six of us would share the 20 piece meal of chicken nuggets and I, being only a child, treated it as if it was a delicacy. However, this was not always the case. When we got rowdy, we would not get our 20 piece meal. In a way, it was more of a treat for behaving throughout the day. When we were not being babysat, we never indulged much in fast food. My mother, even though she had a full time job, would always go out of her way to make something for us to eat, even if she wouldn't be home to eat it with us. Occasionally she would just simply not have the time to make dinner so we would go out to Grandfather's Pizza in San Diego, where we lived at the time. Complete with an arcade, it was a haven for young children like myself. As I got older so did my sister and when she got her license nothing was out of reach. We went everywhere! I guess you could say we overindulged a little. Why wouldn't we? It was cheap, fast, and best of all we didn't have to rely on our parents for it.
      Now that I am older, I realize how unhealthy fast food actually is. Everybody always said that fast food made you drowsy but I never actually realized this until all I ever felt was exhaustion. I try not to rely on it as much even though it would be easier to buy a slice of pizza than grill a chicken breast. I won't lie, I do eat fast food but now when I do, it's in moderation. For example, when a friend has a birthday we'll all go out to eat or a family birthday party or when I am running late for work and simply don't have the time to make a lunch. Those are some occasions when I will eat junk/ fast food. However, when I let myself slip I feel very sluggish and on occasion I'l even get a stomach ache but eventually I just get used to it. Juggling school and work is very time consuming so sometimes I just don't have the time to think out a meal and just eat the most convenient thing at my disposal. Since my mom has decided that my sisters and I are old enough to make our own meals, she never cooks for us. As you would imagine, this is a very inconvenient thing for the new college student. Fast food, I believe, is a very easy trench to fall into when you are not being cautious and fortunately I am trying very hard to not fall in like most people that are in my position. 

Past, Present, and Future

  Born on October 31st, 1994, I spent most of my childhood known as the, "halloween baby." My older sister spent her early childhood tormenting me into thinking that I was an omen because I was born on Halloween and being only 4, at the time, I believed every single word she fed me. We grew up in Santa Barbara but at my tender age of 7 we moved to San Diego, which is where I consider my hometown to be. Eventually, we moved to Oxnard but by that time my childhood was long gone and I no longer cared for dolls or recess. I was, as most would call it, a normal teenage girl, until our family suffered a great lost. Later that year my aunt and uncle passed away and it damaged my family more than anybody was willing to admit. They had two daughters who were both underage so my dad offered to be their guardian. However, only one was related to our family by blood so the court ruled that one would stay with us and the other with her biological aunt in Santa Barbara. As time went on I felt ok but the coldness I felt towards people said otherwise. After that I had a lot of trouble concentrating at school and never really cared for what others were doing. 

  Currently I am a full time, first year student at Oxnard College majoring in Liberal Arts. College is a huge transition from high school because in high school, well, you don't really do much and the little that is done you are guided through step by step. However, in college you are responsible for your own work and nobody really guides you through it like they did in high school. So, now that I am in college I am beginning to realize how hard it is to actually be a student. Now I understand why people with degrees are paid so much more than people without. It's because they worked very hard to be where they are. I also work full time at a retail store in camarillo where I have earned a lot of responsibility in just one year. Having both responsibility as a student and an employee, I have had to learn to manage my time very carefully. Which as most of you know is very exhausting work. When I'm not working I am either at school or doing schoolwork. The little free time I have I try to spend with my family. Whether we are off on a fun family trip or just sitting at home watching a movie, I try to spend as much time with them as possible. Due to the fact, that I am maturing I have realized that my family is very important to me and that I don't have as much time with them as I thought I did.

  With time I intend to move out of my parent's home and move out to live in Los Angeles. Partially because I don't want to be one of those kids that never moves out and only stays to party but mostly I want to move out because I need to push myself to make a life outside of home and eventually go off to University. As of right now I am undecided on whether i will stay close to home by going to UC Berkeley or if I will take a chance and aspire to go to Penn State. However, as someone once told me, "it doesn't hurt to apply to both." Who knows, maybe a rejection letter will send me off to my right path.  In the far, distant future i really want to have the opportunity to have my own published book. A sort of tell all on my life because my family has been through a lot, which is not mentioned here, and we have come out of it so much stronger that I really feel like it can help a lot of young teens, that are struggling with their lives, try just a little harder to keep going and know that no matter how many obstacles are thrown in your path, time can really be a savior.