Future just around the corner. blog #12

          College is usually the first choice that a high school graduate makes to begin their future--it was mine. I thought college was better than my original plan that i came so close to beginning, which was joining the United States Marine Corps. My original plan was to join the USMC. After the three month basic training i would become an Active Marine and take college courses on base after my MOS  (Military Occupation Specialties), which is a school for Marines that would teach me my area of expertise as in to be in Infantry or Artillery (heavy Weaponry). In the Corps i wanted to be either an infantrymen, Artillerymen, or military police. I wanted to serve 8+ years and if i really enjoyed my job, i would have done my 23 years and then join LAPD and retire afterwards. And of course somewhere in between there get married. But now my plan is as follows. Attend mission college for 1 year and get my general ed out of the way. I then want to transfer to POPP (Police Orientation Preparation Program). By April of 2012, while in POPP, begin my training with the LAPD to become an LAPD reserve officer. When i reach the age of 21, with my A.A. degree in hand, i will apply for a full-time police officer with the LAPD, and eventually move my way up to ranks, while still becoming married at some point. Even though my path was diverted, i still have a future and so does everyone else. But what we make of it is all on us.

          Unlike most college students, i know what i want to do and am 100% sure of what i want to do. No other  field of work interests me, besides the military and law enforcement. My dream is to become a police officer which i will try my hardest to become. Me wanting this job is not a child hood fantasy, but a reality that i know ill become apart of. Everyone has a dream, or something they want to do in life, but they just haven't found it yet. The future will be here quicker than we all know it. Better yet, we are all living in it right now.

Busy busy busy!! Blog #10 (this post was posted last night before midnight but i forgot to label it)

Yes i know professor Duffield, i haven't posted a blog for a while. It's no ones fault to blame but my own. Lately i have been really busy. I have been getting ready for my big day tomorrow with the police department. Not only have i applied for the police department but with the sheriffs department. At first i was a little hesitant to apply to the sheriff's department, but went ahead anyways. I passed the written exam and i am moving my way up through the process. Paperwork is a little tedious, but there sure are more to come in the future thats for sure. I learned a lot just applying with both agencies. Filling out all the information with LAPD, i noticed, was nearly the same as the sheriff's department, but i never bothered to make photocopies. I should have. Now i have to contact the same people i had contacted before to put as references with LAPD, and place them again as references with the Sheriff's Department. I'm still very excited to be this far in both processes and so eager to find out who hires me first. Which ever agency hires my first, will be the one that I commit myself to. Law enforcement is really the only career field that interests me, i wouldn't want to be in any other. But, like everyone, we all start off somewhere. I am currently a server at the Sportmen's Lodge, which is a beautiful and affordable place to hold any kind of event. From wedding's to quince's, they do it all. With various ballrooms and delicious food, it's always a successful event. This weekend was really busy; numerous events made work a little difficult. Event to event, me and the work staff are constantly cleaning, serving food, and setting up for next events. As tiring as it may seem, the job environment is great. At this point, working here is reasonable, but i await to start my career path in law enforcement.

Processing Blog#8

          As a child growing up, i always remembered watching police officers drive around in a black and white(police squad car), in their midnight blue uniform--patrolling the streets of Los Angeles. How excited I would become every time I saw a police vehicle pass by my line of sight. I felt a sense of comfort, because who would cause attention while a police vehicle is strolling by? Most people demonstrate there lack of integrity behind a police officers back, but veneer there lawlessness when in presence of a police car. But most of the general public are either fearful of a squad car passing by, or despise the very fact that they have to be passing by their house. [For those of you that have not read my past posts.] I attended a Police Academy Magnet school all four years of my High school career and graduated as SGT. II/F.TO (Freshman Training Officer). Towards the end of my senior year i was leaning on becoming a United States Marine. I had taken all the tests and examines to prove my intelligence and physical ability would be acceptable prior to me attending the three month basic training with the Corps. I was temporarily disqualified because of my birthmark that is located on my tongue. They had said i needed approval from my physician . In short, I thought long and hard about this obstacle and came to think that maybe this wasn't for me. So in my last weeks of high school i signed up to attend Mission College and stay with my family. About a month ago I heard of a program offered by the LAPD named "LAPD Reserve Officer Corps". To be a candidate you must have no past felony's, a high school degree, background suitable to become an officer, excellent health, excellent physical condition and, what really caught my attention, must be 18 years of age. I immediately began the process, and took my written test about 2 months or so ago. I received in the mail, a month ago, a packet explaining my passing percentage of 85%! I literally ran outside to my neighbors in my under garments, because my mom was there, telling here that i had passed! My initial background interview is coming up very soon and I just cannot wait. The Reserve Officer Corps is offered to law abiding citizens from the ages of 18 and up.

Marathon (Blog#6)

Since the seventh grade, i was in a program named SRLA(Students Run Los Angeles). The title fits perfectly. In SRLA we literally ran the streets of Los Angeles. In between seasons, which usually started in  september and went on to the beginning/end of march,  we attended running events that started at a  measly 3 miles and slowly worked its way up the big 26.2 L.A. marathon. My first year  running the L.A. marathon was a huge accomplishment and a dangerous addiction. I loved running! I couldn't stop! I would not only attend the mandatory practices, but also run on my own. When i ran on my own, i would "run" out of the house at 5 p.m. and sometimes not comeback until 8 p.m. My mom always thought i was doing bad things, but i never did. I ran and ran and ran, until i thought i should start heading back home. I would say, on my own, i would sometimes run 12-15 miles a day plus the 3-5 mile mandatory practice runs. I felt myself become faster and faster and i would run longer and longer. I was very active in middle school. Whenever i stepped foot onto the street to prepare myself to run that marathon, i always felt like vomiting, every time! I have no idea why. I have ran 5 marathons, and completed four, but for some reason i always want to vomit. I always ended up finishing, except for my senior year marathon, but always felt sick to my stomach. Eventually i would overcome my temporary sickness and finish the marathon.  The last marathon i ran during my senior year (2011) went down as an "incomplete". If you weren't watching, but during 85% of the L.A. marathon it was pouring rain! I ran but began to slow down because my ankles tensed up and my chest seemed to cave in. i would say i walked 10-15 miles on a bad  ankle and horrible chest pain. At mile 25, with only 1.2 miles to go i quit. I just couldn't go on. The cold wet, windy rain was making me hypothermic.  I was picked up by a bus and was taken to the finish line. I was embarrassed, ashamed and very disappointed in myself. To this day i think i should have kept running, but i don't know what would have happened if i did. I'm glad i made it that far, but sadly not far enough. I was told to never quit or give up. But i let myself down. But i can say i fully completed 4 marathons and proud of it. Call me crazy for being so addictive to running, but its good for my health. I love running, what can i say?I haven't ran in  while and i know i need to. I feel gravity pulling me by these newly formed "love-handles". As i slowly regain my will to run again, i will sign up for the next marathon and finish it no matter rain or shine!

Staying up late.

(for some reason my post did not publish onto my page last night) Someone is always staying up late doing hw they could have done during the day. Look at me for instance, im up late doing hw. Everyone has there reasons, and i of course have mine. I had work, but still, that does not mean i can be excused. We all have time during the week to do our homework, but i believe it is in fact laziness. We stay up late because we had better things to do than do our hw. Staying up late is not the best thing to do. Your homework is done with a relaxed attitude and is not taken seriously. Most of your homework is probably done incorrectly and a lot of spelling grammars as well. Either way, teachers take a quick glance, and still give credit. The good teachers actually grade question by question and doesn't only check the work but also looks for the correct answer. Homework done late also doesn't allow your brain to soak in all the necessary information. Your is just saving all this information into your short term memory, rather than your long term memory. Not only do you lose important information, but also sleep. The average human being should sleep anywhere between 6-8 hours a night to get a complete nights rest. The more sleep the more alert you are the next day. Nobody likes a student who sleeps during class and snores-- its very distracting to other students and rude to the instructor. Late night homework isn't the way to go. Instead, after coming home from school, complete homework for most classes and then do what you think you have do. and then before dinner finish up the remaining hw for other classes and at night you can sleep comfortably without the heavy burden of waking up the next  morning and having to do work you could have done yesterday befroe bed.

......L-O-V-E.......

LOVE, its an easy weird to say. It's only one syllable, four letters, and isn't that hard to pronounce, or text. But what is LOVE? No one clearly knows. No  scientist  can prove what love is by a couple of lab tests and a lab sheet with data,  a graph, and numbers. We all have our own definition. We all "think" we know what it means. We think what we know we thought we think. Make sense? Is LOVE a thought? Just a word? Or more of a feeling? Can it be all three? According to "America favotite dictionary" the Miriam Websters's Collegiate Dictionary, love is:a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child> (2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers (3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests <love for his old schoolmates>b : an assurance of affection <give her my love>. Can we trust the dictionary? So many questions and so little answers. To me LOVE is a feeling. Affection? yes. Strong affection? For me, yes for others no. Now, a kind of subcategory, "True love". LOve is the feeling, but true changes the meaning slightly. True love is the kind of love someone has towards another that is based on feelings towards another person, but the feelings are actually present. No one can really know if someone loves another, only that person does. That's why love is so complex. Right when we think we know it all, we are thrown off and heading onto broader ideas of what love really is. It's confusing, amazing, and difficult to fully comprehend.People are always deceived into true love. One person may actually love that other person, but the other is just flirting around with the oppisite sex. People may love someone for there money but that doesn's mean they neccessairly love them, but there bank accounts. Theses days, from the internet, people, and T.V., i see less and less romantic love, but more of the "Money" love. People think money is what they need to stay alive. I mean yes we need it, but we don't need hundreds and thousands of dollars to live. People in lower working class make less than $60,000 and may-be single parents and still live there lives. Doesn'st matter if the person is working a low end job, it still makes them human. We all think we know what Love really is, but what we know comes from inside of us and how we feel for that special someone. isn't Love more than you thought? now you give it a thought and tell me what you think love is to you.  

My life from Jeremy Aparicio to SGT. II/F.T.O Aparicio.

I was born in East Los Angeles at White Memorial Hospital. In the beginning of my childhood, from 1-5 years old. I grew up in Ontario California in a 4 bedroom house, shortly after being moved into a apartment in North Hollywood. My parents hired a nanny named Rosa who always took care of me because my parents were always working and didn't have much time to spend with me. Rosa had been taking care of me since i can remember. Spending lots of time with Rosa made me learn lots of Spanish. In fact i predominantly spook spanish, but over the years, my spanish deteriorated. My parents held back speaking spanish to me after moving into where i currently live now in Tujunga, CA. My nanny, immediately after moving to Tujunga, was let go because my mom had lost her job and was able to take care of me. By this time i was starting kindergarten. Kindergarten were the good old days. Play, eat, and a sprinkle of learning was the life! Then 1st grade came around very quick, and i began to hate school. Homework just wasn't my niche. My parents finally decided to take me to a daycare center. The babysitters very name scared me, Lucy. At first she was a sweet Armenian woman that cooked the best food in town. I blame her for my childhood obesity. Through the elementary years, she became nastier. She yelled at me and even pulled my ears. I told my parents but they never believed me until finally my little brother sister told my parents about what Lucy had done to them. Middle school came along  and i would have to say were the worst/best years. I was picked on and made fun of because of my short size, but the bright side was i had a couple of friends that i knew because of an outside activity that i did and still continue to do. (but i will not mention). Growing up to be a middle schooler, my brother had become a Deputy for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and had inspired me. Watching my father pin the gold star onto my brother's chest over the tan uniform made me want to become a police officer. A police officer seemed more appealing to me. I always told my mom what i wanted to become in life. In the seventh grade my mom received a letter in the mail regarding magnet schools and brief descriptions of the programs LAUSD had to offer. I was set to go to my home school, Verdugo Hills High School no questions asked. My mom happened to look through it and later showed me a Police Academy Magnet school that caught my attention. There were a couple schools, the closest Academy was Monroe High School Police Academy, in North Hills. I was desperate to go. In the 8th grade i made my decision and wanted to attend James Monroe High School. Before 8th grade graduation i began to realize, what about my friends? I begged my mom over and over again to not let me go to Monroe. She told me repeatedly that the papers had been submitted and there was no going back. I was very upset. Middle School was gone in a flash, and here came high school. The first day of high school was horrible. I knew no one and was alone the whole day. It went on for weeks. I wanted to leave. In short, a girl introduced herself to me as Lilian and i began to make many friends. Next thing i knew, i had forgotten about Verdugo and realized this was the choice for me. My mom asked me later my freshman year if i wanted to go back to verdugo and I quickly replied "NO!". She smiled and i never heard her ask me that again. I attended all four years and graduated as a SGT II and F.T.O (Freshman Training Officer). I am proud of my accomplishments and want to further my education and become a police officer with the LAPD.

Getting the Grade

We all know studying isn't as fun as hanging out with friends, or watching a movie. But why do we still complain about our grade? I can remember countless times trying to weasel my way out of why my report card had a huge "F" next to a class or two. "But I do my H.W. mom! I swear!" I would say sometimes. But my famous lines, which eventually lead my parents to believe that it was me who was lying, "The teacher doesn’t like me all lie, no one can say they don't, no one is perfect. Yet, we all know what we need to do to get an "A” in a class, but many of us don’t like the very word "STUDYING". It’s like trying to force a baby to eat vegetables. A baby swings its arms around, and splatters the spoonful of slimy greenness all across the floor. We don't like it! Even though we wish we could just naturally grasp information like all the brainiacs in the world. But think about it. Brainiacs have to study too. They have to read, and write to expand their knowledge and expertise. No one is literally born with a science book in his or her hand dancing around like a cartoon character and talking like Bill Gates. We all have to work at it. Even if it’s something we like to do. But if a subject interests us then of course we will be successful in that area. Studying isn’t fun, but to get to the fun part, the part that interests a person, we need to get through the ugly parts. Nothing in this world is given to anyone on a silver platter. We have to work hard it. Getting through the hard parts is going to be hard, nobody said it wasn’t. Everyone learns at there own pace. We all grasp things differently. Not one person is the same as another, and not everyone is good at everything. People may not study because they lack of will or motivation to pick up a book and begin to learn things and break the limit line and excel in school. We don’t know who we truly are until we make ourselves it. No one puts a limit on what you can study and learner; you the student do that to yourself. Making time to study is something nobody likes to add to his or her agenda. Laziness can be another reason why students like to study. They would much rather mope around, sleep in bed, and text the night away. I wish I could say studying is fun, but I would be lying. I’m just trying to be a good person. Studying is the key to success. Pick up a textbook and read the letters, and ideas printed on the pages. Despite how tedious it is to open up a book, it will pay off in the near future. 

Today's society wants to hire employees that have college degrees. Are people without a degree higher than a high school diploma more intelligent?

We all know a college degree is what most jobs require all their applicants to show proof of when applying for a position. For instance, the requirements to join the Los Angeles Police department many years ago only required a high school diploma. Nowadays the LAPD requires  applicants to have a minimum requirement of an A.A. degree or above, preferably above to increase pay and make your way up the ranks (Police officer I, II, II, Sergeant, etc.) an easier task in the department. But should an applicant with a college degree really have more of an advantage than another person without a bachelors in criminal justice? In some respects yes and no. The proof is there, you have a bachelors in whatever it is you studied. But because you know the textbooks, ace all the tests, and study really make an advantage on your part that you will do your job? Do experiences which life puts us through give us a "degree"? If a person thinks he or she knows everything about a subject because of a degree really make them any better than a high-school educated adult? We all know tests need to be taken throughout life to place us in the right classes or right position in the work place. Should a person not be able to take a test for a job only because he or she doesn't have a degree? Example: A Marine from the United States Marine Corps has been with the military branch for 10 years, lets call him Marine 1. He joined the Marines right out of high school with no intentions of obtaining a degree. Marine 1 has gone through 4 rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan.  He has proud fully ranked his way up to a Sergeant II. A Sergeant is usually in charge of a squad, ranging between 6 and 8 Marines. They go out and do there missions as a team. So apparently this Marine has lots of experience. Now another Marine, named Marine 2, has never stepped foot onto the field, so therefore has no experience with combat. But Marine 2 went to college and has a degree as a field technician and graduated top of his class. Marine 2, because of his degree can rank up to lieutenant, which is higher than a Sergeant  II. A lieutenant has more responsibilities and leads people into the right direction where to go in and out of missions safely as in what routes would be safer to take. Marine 1, also wants to rank up but cannot because Marine 2 has taken the spot. Who would have done a better job? Most likely Marine 1 because of his knowledge of war and how it works. This can apply to any job. Just because a person has credentials, doesn't mean he may be better fit to do a job more correctly or as correctly than a person with experience.