My True Color and Career Research

My true color is orange, but when I checked all of the jobs that are available for that color I've noticed something. Yes, it fits the personality that I have, but any of it is not even the career that I've chosen. I'm going to school to be a Physical Therapist Assistant, and because this career doesn't fit my true color, I just did an individual research to it. While doing the research, I've learned a lot how imperative it is.

I've talked to counselor Janice Ishikawa, who is a nursing counselor but I still discussed my interest on my program even though El Camino College doesn't offer my major. She is so awesome! Because she also gave me advices on what to expect being on a medical major, on what are the positives and negatives of the program. She said that the road on being a Physical Therapist Assistant is as competitive as nursing and all other medical majors, but as long as I focus, she said nothing's impossible. Miss Ishikawa also gave me a heads up on how rigid it is to be wait listed on applying for the program at Cerritos College.

In retrospect, my sister-in-law brought me with her on a dinner with her co-workers who are a registered physical therapist herself(picture below).

Since I mentioned to my sister-in-law Maria that I have a project regarding my major and I need to interview her about it, she said it's good timing they're having a dinner together that same day! They're all awesome! They gave me advices on how I should manage my pre-requisite classes and what private schools are best to go when I'm wait listed for too long in Cerritos College. They also told me that being a PTA gives me 40 hours of work a week Mondays thru Fridays, and I have an option to work overtime on Saturdays and get paid with overtime. My sister-in-law Maria herself told me that the job's pretty light too because on one shift I only have 10 patients to perform therapy with, but still depending on the day on how busy it is. My job is to perform the therapy to patients and report progress to an RPT.

Physical Therapist Assistant program is definitely something to look forward to! From my counselor, to my sister-in-law, to her co-workers they all helped and motivated me on my journey to this career of mine that I'm interested with.

My Life Project Blog

                  As far My True Color quiz goes I got a gold color which is a career for serving people. So far my Careers to choose from were Service Representatives, Clinical Research Assistant, Medical Records Technician, and Pediatric Nurse. These chooses came because some of my characteristics are Documentation Skills, Time Management, Organization Skills and Care for others. I choose Pediatric Nurse as my chosen career because these work with my characteristics. Working as a nursing can be a challenging or even getting your license as a registered nurse is not an easy task. I need to learn and have the courage to finish all the major obstacles that may go through my path. I found out that Computer Information Systems is not for me I may know some knowledge about computers, but it's just a hobby for me because I like playing video game in my computer so if something wrong with it I know how to fix it or at least find other way to diagnostic the problem and find an answer. I met Ms. Amy Horseft is a nice counselor, she has help me organized my ed plan for the nursing program and how to transfer to other school just in case I want to get my Bachelors Degree in Nursing. Her explanation to my program is not esoteric to understand. I understand her well because she's presumptuous to her answers. After we talk about my on how to get into my goals which is to me a registered nurse. I set an appointment with my friends sister who is a registered nurse Hazel  Bueneventura  as a Public Health Nurse in Long Beach Health Center she got her Bachelor's Degree in the Philippines, but that's not enough so she needs to take class and programs on the units that's she's missing its not that easy but, she managed to over come it and pass the License Exam and became a Registered nurse. She told me that as a Public Health Nurse she earns $60,000 for a year yes that's a lot of money. Nursing can be tough but, being resilient and staying focus to your task is what you need to have in this kind of job.

MY COLOR 

            Career according to my true color test was not something I was expecting. My major is an administration of justice which deals with the law enforcement fairs, like police, FBI, CIA and other government and private job related to security. But, after taking my true color test, I was shocked to some extent after knowing that, jobs related to my major were not even near to the results which I got in my color test. As a result, of my true color test, all the career options shown for me were related to counseling. All I got in result was jobs like career counselor, family counselor, psychologist, psychiatric and etc. After getting these results I started getting worried, whether I was doing right or I was put my future and career at risk. So I decided to share this with my counselor and ask her to advice me.

          My counselor name is Amy. she is really friendly, humble and a helpful person. After discussing my issues with her, she showed me different ways some different options. She advised me that I can also go for sociology or psychology she helped me in understanding my situation. Finally, after the discussion with her, I decided to continue my major in AJ but to have a minor in psychology. I have never met any sort of counselor in my life before Amy, but the thing which I felt special about her was she was such a great listener. Yes it is her job to listen to others but she was not just listening to me she was interested in listening to me whatever we were talking was not related to my career or studies, it was something personal. While talking we went off the topic and started talking about my personal life issues but she didn't stop me. Instead, she listened to me and helped me with that too.

         The person in interviewed for my project was a retired police officer. His name was Mike. He showed a whole reality of the career I have chosen. I wanna be an FBI agent because all I think is it's cool, adventurous and very happening sort of work. But he made me realized that I have to be meticulous in this job is and how a single foible can change the whole life. He got shot in while an operation and ended up in a wheelchair for his entire life. He made me realized that how his one single mistake turned his life upside down. His happiness got eradicated, his family got affected, his career got affected and not just that but every single thing in his life or related to him got affected for good. 

My color based on the Euerka quiz was red and blue. After the computer processed the qualities I was composed of based on the questions asked, there was a never ending list of careers at my disposal.  From Animal trainer, to Counselor to Accountant. I got the option of an Accountant after I retook the test and got blue because being a Counselor or an Amial trainer didn’t quite fit me. I went on to do some more research about my field of study, but since I already knew much about the career it didn’t take long for me to fall in love all over again with Accounting. Growing up I always loved my accounting classes at school, no matter who the teacher, the subject was always my focuse. I move on to do some more research about what I need to do in order to establish a career in the field. Like what courses I needed to take to transfer and what best university to transfer to fit my best interest. This was when I knew o had to speak with my ECC counselor. I was in a rush so I didn’t get to meet with the counselor that was asigned to my class, I got one of those kinda 5 minutes on the go counselors. Her name was Liliana Luviano, she was impeccable. She went through my project with me and told me all I need to know in order to a achieve my goal. She assure me it wouldn’t be an easy road, but what road is easy to the path of success ? This meeting was most definitely worth it because without Ms.Liliana I would have not known how challenging the road ahead would be. After this meeting I went ahead and did some more research, for self-purpose reasons. I want to get more one on one information so I decided to visit my bank and talk to a Accountant. I had known this Accountant before because she was the one that helped me to open my first bank account, she was simply amazing and I just had to have her help me out again.  So I sat with her and we spoke about her job , what she liked best ? How long has it been since she’s been with the bank and does it ever get tiring . She answered these questions honestly and I respected her for that. After the interview I went on to do more research. I turned to YouTube, where there were literally hundreds of Acountants willing to share their story so I watched some, and I was Truly impressed and fascinated by the field, and that’s when I knew this career is definitely for me

True Color and Career Research

The career I chose was an Insurance Agent. So after taking the Eureka True Colors test, my true colors were Gold and Orange. Both tied with 14. Being gold means that you follow any rules given to you. Being organized is something natural for you and you also respect authority. And because you are organized, you seem to find things easier and will grow as a person. Being orange means, someone who takes risks and lacks of fear. Being orange means that you like things being more hands on rather than working on stuff that you just read and have to study for a long time. These two colors apply for me I believe because I definitely like my things organized, and if something comes with instructions then I take advantage of that because I find that easy to work with. I'm also a person to take risks and see what outcomes I get from it.

I got the chance to talk to a counselor, Ms. Herrschaft, and she helped me set up classes that would help me with this field. She told me that her cousin was part of this field and she knows that you have to put time and effort into this. There are going to obstacles getting in my way but she said that I should keep going forward no matter what. Someone rather than you're parents, using you to work hard is a great feeling. I thank her so much because I learned so much with her in such a small time. Everything she was telling me, was lucid. I understood every single bit of information she was telling me. She was honest with me, saying that nothing in life is easy, and so therefore I have to do my part and earn it. One of the best counselors I've had, and I've only talked to her once.

I also got the chance to interview, Jorge Ortega, an Insurance Sales Agent. A person who is very adept in this field. He works for the company named Primerica and his office is located in Valencia, CA. He's a very good friend of my dad, so that was one reason this job had caught my attention before. I just never got the time to sit down one on one with him and ask him serious questions about his career. So I started asking questions like, "What's does a usual day in work look like?", "What do you like the most about your job?" The one thing I learned about this interview was that, there's no clocking in and clocking out. So that means you have to work even harder. He chose this field because he wanted to spend everyday with his son and be able to work at the same time. And that's why I want to have a similar job, I want to be my own boss and not spend most my day doing the same thing but rather be doing something different everyday. Something that he said that will sick with me was, "A lot of millennials are changing the world in a good way, and I hope you get to be one of them as well." And just like Jorge, I wish one day I get to be an entrepreneur I've always wished to be.

My color for the Eureka website was green, and the career I chose was nutrition and dietetics. Nutrition and dietetics are experts in the field of nutrition and food.  They are able to create nutritional meal plans to help anyone recover or maintain good health. For instance a nutritionist will be able to help a person with high blood pressure how to use less salt on their meals. Also, they they can explain the benefits of eating better to the client, evaluate meal plans and change plans as needed, and can keep up with the latest nutritional science research. A nutritionists salary is about $55k a year with a bachelor's degree. In order to be a nutritionists and at least need their bachelors to get started. Among other requirements such as passing a competency exam, complete an internship program, earn an RN or RDN credential, and a state license. Might be a stint before being a certified nutritionist/ dietetics. A nutritionist will usually work Monday through Friday and sometimes during the weekends.

During my visit with the counselors office, I was helped with my ed plan and to make my semesters were less complicated. The counselor that helped me is an EOPS counselor, Anna Brochet, she made sure my ed plan was complete.  I learned that my classes are not as easy as I thought. I need about four more chemistry classes, two math classes, along with microbiology, and anatomy in order to transfer. If I do summer, fall, winter, and spring without any breaks I will be at El Camino for about three years in total and that is if I pass my classes the first time.  The counselor told me I had very complicated courses for my major. I liked her honesty from the start. She did not discourage me, but she did let me know that I might have some tough semesters along the way.

The person I interviewed, Laura Deleon,  has a bachelors in nutrition and dietetics and is Certified. Laura is also, very adept in her career she knows what she is doing.From the interview, I learned that it's a pretty busy life. Laura can atrophy her time because every minute is important to her. Usually she will wake up very early before going to work to get her things ready. Laura works at a hospital doing diet plans. Her coworkers will help each other figure out the perfect plan for a patient. They will have interns during the day or have meetings. The good about this job is making a difference in people's lives, you motivate people, and your job is secured. The bad things about this job is that people will ask you thousands of questions about your job and have to correct people's ideas of being healthy. Overall, it is totally worth it if you like science.

Color, list of jobs,counselor?
My color was gold. The list of jobs on the website were very interesting, and really caught my attention. They have fields in the health and fitness related fields, which really interests me and got me doing more research about the major. I made an appointment and got to meet with a counselor, and discussed my future about transferring to a Cal state or UC. We discussed the classes and the amount of time it was going to take to transfer. From that conversation with the counselor it really opened my eyes to more opportunities, and got me thinking about the classes I need in order to pursue my career. The counselor also made me feel very comfortable and was able to guide me in the right sense in less than 30 minutes. I understand where to get in formations if I ever need anything, and now I feel more comfortable going into a counselor and making an educational plan.

Person I interviewed
The person I interviewed is Shawn Kim and he is currently working at powerhouse gym in Torrance as a trainer. He finished college with a health and fitness related degree and finally made up his mind on becoming a trainer. He inspired me to get my B.S degree and then if I want to become a trainer get a certificate on the side. Being a trainer does not take a significant amount of time which is the reason why he told me to get my degree before going that route. Although he complained that the work is though and time consuming, online sources proven otherwise. The online sources prove that being a trainer is one of the easiest job and the field is expected to grow in the next couple of years.Some of the information that I received is totally different than the online sources is which why im skeptical about this field. By doing this interview I gained a lot of knowledge about the fields and understand the path that I will be perusing.

My Color

My color on Eureka was blue and gold. It was a handful of others but blue and gold were the main ones. The job that interested me most from the website was a mental health counselor. I interviewed my old high school counselor. A high school counselor was also something that I had in mind. I interviewed a counselor named Ms. Cheng. I discovered during the interview that the counselors in high school aren't just labeled counselor but Academic Counselor. They focus also on the academic progress of students in school. I asked her if she also focused on the more mental part of the job and she replied, "Absolutely." She told me that her main focus in her job is to ensure that students are on the right path academically. I knew then that my mind was drifting towards a mental health counselor because that's where I had most of my interest. Mental health is something very serious and today its just viewed as any other thing. For example, in California, suicide related deaths is the 11th leading cause of death. If that doesn't sound serious then I don't know what is. Depression being the most common, there are many other mental health issues such as Dementia, Autism, and Schizophrenia. I've experienced a period of depression myself and now that I'm out of it I feel like I can do some good and help others. But my interview with Ms. Cheng put me in a position where I could either help people of all ages or just focus on young teens. Mental institutions are serious places with people with some serious problems and the high school environment is something that I have already experienced so this leaves me in a bit of a standstill. Either way no matter which route I take I still want to be involved in helping others as a counselor. Part of the little Eureka questionnaire labeled me as someone who cares about people opinions and thoughts. I find interest in peoples lives and their struggles and any help I can give I'm all for it. I came to El Camino with these careers in mind and I guess you can say I enjoy working with people and helping others reach true happiness. I always told myself that if I could make someone's day by making them laugh that that's enough for me. But now I feel like I can more for those who are really suffering from some really messed up disorders.

True Color: Orange/Blue

After conducting research a free lance writer needs to earn a Bachelor's Degree.
While formal education isn't required, freelance writers often have a bachelor's degree in English,
journalism, or communications. These programs commonly include coursework in literature,
creative\writing, and introductory journalism.
A Freelance Writer earns an average wage of $24.70 per hour. Experience strongly influences pay for
this job. Skills that are associated with high pay for this job are Technical Writing and writing.
Overall, your money depends on your skills and networking.

What I learned from Brenda (interviewee) and counselors is that the type of personality for this job
you have to kind of be self disciplined, confident, and creative individual. Aside from that,it depends
on the depreciation of the benefits depending on what kind of writer you are.
For instance, if you are a journalist you have the opportunity to travel as well as connect with people
and network. However, the negative thing about this job is that you have to meet deadlines  
and being able to be comfortable around people, which may be relegated.Moreover, you are able to
capture emotion through the story telling, pictures etc. This makes the This makes the job more
inquisitive. You need to be able to have an eye for detail. You have to be able to understand
concept of the stories, how to write in a professional manner. In order to do that you can follow an
rudimentary education by taking the fundamentals such as journalism, a communication class, etc.
Also, you have to be able to take constructive criticism if you want to be an overall great writer.
Overall, being a writer requires a lot of self discipline.

This job is a match for me because I am self discipline, confident, and creative person.
Plus I will be taking the required classes for this career. I consider writing as a passion not a job.
Due to the fact it is my passion I am able to capture emotion and as well as understand the concept of
stories. Lastly, I am sociable and able to get the task at hand done.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

"true colors"

From the interview with my counselor I learned necessities for graduating. I was aware that you can just take
GE classes, get a degree or just a “certificate”. I see the best to do for myself would be a degree to transfer to a four
year. My counselor Ms. Sandoval informed me that UC’s don’t have any programs within my major. Which in my
opinion is another reason why I shouldn’t choose a UC. Showed me the process of all the classes I need for a
merchandising degree in fashion. Cal State Northridge and Long Beach are two of the schools the counselor
mentioned that have fashion programs available in merchandising. Also there’s a possibility of going somewhere
big like FIDM or dream even bigger and go to the London School of Fashion. To me it’s all very unrealistic since
I barely go far in school ever. School has never been one of my strong suits.

When it came to my interview with someone in the business it had its ups and downs. I’ve actually known this
business woman almost my whole life. I know that doing so well in the business meant a break in her personal life.
Barely enough time for herself. She didn’t get married till later in life and wasn’t able to have kids.
Even though recently this year she was able to foster and eventually adopt 2 kids, it could still take a toll on you.
An emotional toll. At this age not everyone knows what they want personally like marriage or children.
Even if you don’t know what you eventually want, you should still have some sort of plan involving your career
and personal life. Value yourself but also put value into your work and still find happiness is what I learned
from my interview.

My Hometown - Gardena

I have been all over the place before I moved to Gardena permanently. I was born at UCLA Harbor and as a baby I lived in Hawthorne with my mom until maybe I was 2. My mom shared an apartment with her whole family basically, her two brothers, and her mom and dad. When I was around three, my mom was stable financially and she decided to move out. She found this garage turned apartment in Gardena which was perfect for just the two of us. It was around this time that she met my Step-Dad. Now my memory is off about how long we stayed there but my mom made a big move and moved us to San Pedro. It was her first ever apartment, like an actual apartment. I went to Barton Hill Elementary school while I lived in San Pedro up until the 3rd Grade. Due to some esoteric complications, we were forced to move out of our apartment.

 I was really bummed out because my step-dad at the time officially moved in with my mom and me. Now when you're a kid you really don't understand much and most of the adult talk is inquisitive. I thought we going to be homeless! But my Mom and my Step-Dad found an affordable apartment back in Gardena. Gardena is Multi Cultural and awake, this city is not home to one ethnicity, but it is home to many. The city is not known for much. To me its a city that has so much to offer with lots of things anyone can do. I went through all the schools in Gardena. I went to 153rd Elementary School, then to Peary Middle School, and finally graduated from Gardena High School. I consider this my hometown because I've lived here the longest and I've gotten so used to the town. In my eyes this town tries to circumvent negative life choices, so it provides outlets for kids to be apart of, whether that be in school or outside of school. Sure I'd love to move out of this place and try something new, but for now this place is right at my pace.

      

                                                                                             

   

      Hometown                                                                                                                                                                                                            KARACHI CLIFTON MONUMENT                        

             
                        My hometown is Karachi. It is the biggest city in Pakistan. Karachi is the world's 3rd largest city in population, with the population of over 16 million. The port of Karachi is one of the famous ports in Asia. The city also generates 60-70% revenue of Pakistan. The 80% population of this city is of muhajirs which mean "immigrant" in Urdu, they were the people who migrated from India at the time of separation between India and Pakistan in 1947. There are many historical places in Karachi among which the most famous and important place is the tomb of the founder of Pakistan  Muhammad Ali Jinnah which is also considered as the biggest embellishment of the city. The beach of Karachi which is also known as "sea view" is also one of the most visited places in Karachi. The tourists who visit Karachi from all over Pakistan counts it rudimentary to visit these two places on their trip. 

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Muhammad Ali Jinnah 

                                                                                                                  Founder of Pakistan 

                                                                                                                

             
                      Karachi is also called the "city of the founder" because the founder of  Pakistan was born in Karachi even before the existence of Pakistan. M.A Jinnah was a lawyer, he received his law degree from London. He was also the president of a political party "All India Muslim League", and this party, later on, turned into a movement of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. M.A Jinnah is the father of a nation. His services for Pakistan are remarkable and unforgettable. His personality is an optimum for every Pakistani.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Karachi Cow Mandi                                                                                                 

               

                     The city Karachi has a lot of attractions but the most unique and exciting one for me is cow mandi. Mandi means an "open market" in Urdu. In religion Islam, we have a festival called EID in this religious festival people sacrifice animals like goats, cows, camels, and sheep in the name of God. For the sale and purchase of animals in this festival, this open market establishes. The most unique and interesting thing about this market is that this is Asia's largest animal market. The animals here are very fancy, beautiful, big and expensive the cost of one cow can be more 10,000 USD and the average cost of a cow is from 2-4 thousand USD. Whereas, the cost of one goat can be over 2 thousand USD. Animals from all over the country are brought to this market for selling. This festival can't be celebrated anywhere else as like in Karachi.

                      The overly populated city Karachi has been gone through a lot of pain, and harsh situations and incidents because of it's unstable security standards. The city has been open to the terrorist threats for more than a decade but it rises every day with new hopes and strength. 

The Talent of A "Euphoric" Personality

As much as I have been told that I can be dexterous when it comes to detailing my imagination line by line, I do not agree.. completely.  My talent is transferring my emotions and imagination towards paper with a pencil, which is known as art/sketching. I adore sketching and being able to create infinite amount of creativity within my work. To me, my talent is not really a talent but a being of its own, as if my work can be with a dissident or positive attitude or can have a zealot personality, displaying a sense of extreme dark themes and ghoulish tones it may have following its extreme alluring dark charm.

 Although I prefer not to display all my art for private reasons, I do like to share some of my simple works. My art style is depending on my mood and what i'm drawing, some pieces being extremely shaded and detailed or some being lightly sketched, either way, I still enjoy displaying extreme care and love to my art. Each work to me is a fraction of my mind, as if my brain spills out ideas and cannot contain how much creativity and possibilities my imagination can offer to me.

I love drawing characters, fantasy based beings, I make my own characters as well, and I enjoy the time I put into my art. The time it takes for me to draw is also depending on what I work on, some may take less than 10 minutes, some may take 2-3 hours, depending on the detail and what the drawing consists of.

My work is not the best to me but, I plan on improving it.. My dream career is to become a comic book artist and a story writer. I plan to create a series one day and hopefully have someone close to me that can collaborate with me and be successful with our work. I hope that I can gain skill within my talent and live my dream of being the artist I want to be.

The Martinez Family

My family. I owe so much to each of my family members: Dad, Mom, Little Brother and Sister. They make everyday so much fun. Every one of them just contributes with something.

The head of the house, my dad, I love him so much. I can call him my coach as well because ever since I started playing soccer, he has supported me. Although he would get kicked out of the fields for yelling, he was just very into the game and wanted the best from me always. Till this day he's making me improve. Not only that but he's one of the best cookers in my opinion. His cooking is so good. There has never been a time where I have denied a type of food of his. He also cracks some funny jokes and is just inane. Also all the life lessons he's taught us. "Keep following your dreams, and don't let anyone ruin them."

The second head of the house, my mom, who I also love so much. She is the reason why my siblings and I have so much good manners. Ever since we were small, she taught us to greet people, hold the door open for the people coming behind you, things like that. Also because of her, we learned to pick up after ourselves. She's just preparing us for our future, because she wants what's best for us and she always tells us, "I won't be there to hold your hand, there will be one day that you have to do everything your own." For my mom, I would do anything.

They sometimes may be annoying but I still love them as well, my little sister and brother. MY little sister is the most shyest person, before you get to know her. But at the house, it's a whole different story. She may be the loudest one when it's just us. She is currently a senior at Lawndale High School.  She always makes the house laugh, whether it's just random stuff she does or there are jokes she comes up with. That's what makes her so facetious. Now for the youngest one of them all, my brother. He's currently a freshman at Lawndale High and is ranked #2 out of his whole class. He's always studying and just likes to get things done. When he's done with his work, we play Xbox together and take competition seriously. I don't know what I would do without them. Through ups and downs, we will always collaborate.

My Family

My family is the most important thing that I have in my life. My intermediate family consist of my mom ( Laurie), my dad (Andre), my big brother(Roderick) & my little sister (Lauryn). At a young age my parents went separate ways but both continued to stay in our lives.

Something special about my mom is that she's always caring and in full support of whatever I decide to do. When I tried to play football she was very euphoric, mainly since that was my first time playing a full on contact sport other than basketball. She often calls me the maudlin of the family because I tend to make everyone laugh and keep everything sane with my humor.

Something special about my dad is how once he sets his mind to something he always completes his tasks. It might not be immediate but in time he will get to it, I inherited that trait from him. Also throughout his whole life he's been everywhere, I guess you can say he's pretty ubiquitous cause everywhere we go no matter the city nor state he knows someone.

My older brother is the musician of the family, he's talented in multiple instruments like piano, guitar, and drums. He first started off with drums then transitioned into the piano, then finally just learned guitar on his own. Now he's in Sacramento in his own band, Funk Junction.

Something special about my sister is also her talents. She's more into the theater sides of things with her being in plays since she was little. She first started off with dancing companies, then transitioned to musical theater.

My Hometown

My Hometown

I am from South Central. My neighborhood was poor lower class, hard working people. A lot of apartments, really didn’t look like a good place to live in. Let’s just say it wasn’t the picture perfect neighborhood, a lot of immigrants, and a lot of lower class gang activity. And definitely a lot of crimes, so I think that maybe, well obviously the poverty did definitely have an effect. Living on Figueroa for the past 12 years, I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff. From the prostitution, the homeless and drug addicts. These types of situations are still going on  but I have gotten used to it. Late at night you wouldn’t know whether the loud noises outside were fireworks or gunshots. I guess the upside from living on such a rough street is all the restaurants around it. I got taco trucks, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and other restaurants just around the corner. The gang violence does influence a lot of the youth. South LA has a reprehensible reputation. The homeless appearance that most people that are begging is a sham. Even at midnight people are always angry and vociferous. As bad as it is, South Central is home and I will never forget where I came from.

My Hometown

My hometown is in Hawthorne, California. I have lived here the majority of my life and attended elementary school, middle school, and high school in Hawthorne. I spend a majority of my time in this area. The only other places I have traveled to are Arizona,  Louisiana, Georgia, and Belize. Although I have traveled a little, I was a young age, so I do not remember too much of my experiences The best part to me about this area is the nice weather. I love when it is hot outside and an opportunity comes around to go to all the beaches around here. I like to relax by the water and watch the waves. Some beaches I visit have ubiquitous seashells in the sand. The texture of seaweed creeps me out, so I always try to circumvent it. My favorite food to eat is a bacon burger, so I am familiar with a lot of burger joints around town. My Optimum lunch would be a bacon burger with seasoned french fries and an infallible shake. I live on the nice, reticent side of Hawthorne. Since it is so peaceful, I like to walk my four dogs, one by one, around the blocks a couple times so we all stay fit. Even though I have been in Hawthorne all my life, I would like to travel more when I get older and experience different cultures outside of mine.

My Awesome Family

From left to right: My mom Marivic,My brother Kristoffer,My sister Khrisna,me and my brother Kristian

 Family is the most important for me in life. Without them, I don’t know where will I am be at now. This photo’s so special for me(sorry I don’t have a lot of them) because a lot of first happend in this picture. Since we’re scattered all around the United States, all of us never had the chance to have a get together till last year. I was so excited to take a vacation from work when my brother Kristian( in red jack on the right) told me that he and his family will be here in our place in Carson, California for more than a month, and we’ll be celebrating thanksgiving together. They drove a lot of miles all the way from Oak Harbor,Washington! And then another great news popped up, my sister Khrisna(in black jacket) and my mom Marivic(in jaguar dress) will be flying all the way from Honolulu, Hawaii to have a vacation here. We all went to disneyland,great wolf lodge, americana at brand of glendale, hollywood sign and LA itself of course! :) We all enjoyed this little time that we had the chance to be complete and be together after 7 years.

Everybody’s special in my family, and I’m proud that all of us have good careers because of the guidance and knowledge that our mom gave us. My sister Khrisna is a front desk officer in Aulani Disney Hotel in Hawaii, my brother Kristoffer’s a Director of Nursing, my brother Kristian is a Chief Pety Officer in the Navy, and I am currently studying to be a Physical Therapist. We all have good lives and good career. Another special thing with my family is we value the power of education and fear of God. We all had struggles but we’re thankful for all of the blessings that we have!

Family is something that we can keep forever. No matter how bad our situation is, our family is the one that we can count on all the time. Let’s all love our family, because time will come we won’t be all together all the time. But let’s all remember that no matter what, we always got each other’s back!

Family bonding in Americana at Brand in Glendale,California

My talent is I play sax tenor. I have been playing this instrument for nine years. I start learning music the beginning of 2009 when I was 10. It started out when my aunt. my mom's sister called one Sunday morning. She called to ask if we wanted to start learning how to play an instrument. When my dad asks my sibling and me, we 're sure if we wanted to go. But my dad convinces us to give it try and the rest is history. I start out with my sibling and a couple of my cousin. I remember when we first got there our teacher asked us what instrument we wanted and all of us said clarinet. We all said that because that was the only instrument we known. But when we first started learning rudimentary. After a couple of months, we start getting inane in other instruments. I first got intercede in the sax alto, but the band only had two sax's also to lend. And since I'm very tall, they said I had to get the sax tenor. I was zealot because I was the first one to get it, but because my other cousin wanted it too they gave it to him. After that, I found that one of my aunt. who is my mom cousin, play the same instrument as me. That inspired me to give it a try and now nine years later I'm still playing it.

My Hometown- Compton 

Compton, known as the city of hope is a pretty interesting city depending on the people that you know and the places you go. For instance there was a building for a very long time named Compton Fashion Center which was recently made very well known because of legendary rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The building was used in the music video for King Kunta, a single off of Kendrick's past album To Pimp A Butterfly. In all honesty I believe Kendrick is a leading reason in why the city of Compton is quite popular today.


However there are other rappers that are from Compton that put the city on the map for many people to recognize such as Dr. Dre, Eazy E, MC Ren and The Game. In my opinion I think a good idea for both the city and these legends would be to build a sort of shrine to venerate them.
Another sort of tradition in Compton is constant car shows, they can be seen nearly every weekend in random lot all over the city. One place in particular is down Long Beach Blvd. where the owners juxtapose their cars to show them off. Small things such as this is what makes Compton special in my opinion however I suppose I'm predisposed to say that since I was born here. I take pride in being from Compton a well known small city known because of some of the greatest rappers alive .