5 Lies and 1 truth

1)      I have six children.

2)      I have been swimming in the ocean on the shores of Japan.

3)      I used to be a dancer.

4)      My husband is ten years older than me.

5)      I was adopted.

6)      I have a baby corn snake.

Favorite movie and song

Here is a link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w5s6V8rQH4

hopefully it works, I have never done this before.

Lyrics provided by http://www.kovideo.net/

Source

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

 Played in the movie mannequin

-Artist: Starship

-peak Billboard position # 1 for 2 weeks in 1987

-Words and Music by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond

Lookin' in your eyes I see a paradise

This world that I've found is too good to be true

Standin' here beside ya want so much to give you

This love in my heart that I'm feelin' for you

Let 'em say we're crazy I don't care about that

Put your hand in my hand baby don't ever look back

Let the world around us just fall apart

Baby we can make it if we're heart-to-heart

And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us nothing's gonna stop us now whoa no

I'm so glad I found you I'm not gonna lose you

Whatever it takes I will stay here with you

Take you to the good times see you through the bad times

Whatever it takes is what I'm gonna do

Let 'em say we're crazy what do they know?

Put your arms around me baby don't ever let go

Let the world around us just fall apart

Baby we can make it if we're heart-to-heart

And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us nothing's gonna stop us ooh

All that I need is you

All that I ever need

All that I want to do

Is hold you forever forever and ever

And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us nothing's gonna stop us

Build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of lovers

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us nothing's gonna stop us

Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop us Now (Mannequin) LYRICS

I have a friend named Rose. She is in her thirties and is married with two children. One of her children is mentally disabled. She has been married for fourteen years. When I met Rose I thought “this family is white trash” and never planned to associate myself or my family with them. Rose is not a very clean person and I on the other hand have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) with cleanliness. Rose did not celebrate her children’s birthdays with parties and their clothes were always worn and never fit. Rose did however have a nice car, and her husband drove a new Shelby mustang.  When I moved here I did not have many friends and still don’t, but she was kind to me and welcomed me into the neighborhood. Over time I got to know Rose and realized that she had a terrible marriage. Her husband cheated, he mistreated the children and treated her terribly as well. This made it even harder for me to be her friend. You see I am a very outgoing, assertive type person and looked at her as being weak. As I came to know Rose I learned she had a terrible childhood. Rose was abused sexually and physically and mentally growing up. She grew up in a home with very little money and little involvement from her parents. I slowly realized this life was all she really knew. Abuse was normal to her and because she did not have nice things as a child, she didn’t think her kids should either. Rose had a large family and had two brothers that were mentally disabled and they were never given any special care, so she did not know her son would need that extra care. As time went on I found that Rose had a HUGE heart and was willing to do just about anything for anyone, (which was part the problem) and was a great person. I was able to teach her to be stronger although she is still with her husband, she has made a huge improvement in her ability to speak up when she feels something is not right. Rose has taught me more than she could ever know. I judged her before I gave her a chance and she turned out to the BEST friend I have ever had in my entire life. She is so positive and always sees things in a good way. That is something that took me almost thirty years to accomplish. I looked at her as weak when in reality she has always been strong, sure we still parent differently and I would have left her husband years ago; but Rose taught me that even though life can really suck and it is not fair, you can still see the world as a good place and still trust people. She also taught me one of the most important things in life, not to judge someone before you give them a chance. Had I went with my initial thoughts I would have never met the greatest friend I’ve ever known.

Interview of a classmate

Interview of a classmate

The person I interviewed was Paola Barajas. Paola is 19 years old and this is her second semester at Oxnard College. Paola was born in Los Angeles California. She is the oldest of three children and has a younger sister and brother. Paola went to Oxnard high school, and attends Oxnard College because she lives just across the street with her parents. Paola is an adventurous, understand and determined young lady. She goes to college full time and works part time at Wienerschnitzel. Paola’s role model is her father. Paola is enjoying the freedom that she gets from attending college. She likes to be the one to decide when and if she goes to class.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/17134182408366080644

My first essay

The day I finally decided to leave my abusive husband.

        

    March 10^th 2001 was a normal day for me. It was around 9am and I was on my way home from work and was planning on doing some cleaning before I went to pick the kids up from daycare. It was a warm and sunny day and I had spent the earlier part of my morning at work and was just ready to get home. When I pulled into the driveway everything seemed normal so I opened the garage and parked my van inside. I had just bought a van, it was an older van and nothing special but to me it was like heaven. I had three kids under the age of five and a van was exactly what I had needed. The week before I had a new stereo put in the van and I was very excited about that because I love music and my kids and I love to sing in the car.

      I went into the house and sat my purse and keys on the kitchen counter and began doing dishes. I turned the radio on as I usually do when I am cleaning the house and got to work, on days of overdue cleaning. Within about ten minutes the radio shut off, I went to inspect and realized my power was out. I tried the phone and it was out too. I went into the garage to smoke a cigarette; I smoked in the garage because I never smoked in the house and had recently moved into this new house to get away from my abusive husband. I tried to avoid hanging around outside of the house because we lived in a small town about 90,000 people and everyone talked so I knew my chances of him finding me were more likely if I smoked outside.

    While in the garage I heard the side door knob turning, it was locked and found it odd that someone was messing with my garage door in the middle of the day. I stayed quiet and hid on the side of my van away from the door. I did not try to get in the house because the door leading into the house was right next to the door leading out of the garage and I was afraid whoever was at that door  would open it as I went by it. Within about two minutes the door was opened and it was my husband, he smelled the smoke and knew I was in the garage so yelled for me to come out of hiding and I did. I never tried to run from him because he was 5’9 pure muscle and the star running back from our high school (where we met) and a state track champion. I knew I could never outrun him and it would have probably been worse for me if I had tried.  He walked up to me and said he loved me, I said “I don’t care I do not love you anymore you need to leave” and that was it for him. He grabbed me by my hair and began to drag me across the garage up the two stairs and into my house.

      He knew where he was going which only lead me to believe he had been in my house before most likely while I was at work. He drug me down the long hallway past all three bedrooms and into the kitchen where he proceeded to tell me he had cut all the power and phone lines to my house so I could not call for help and if I screamed nobody would hear me anyways. He continued with his ramblings of how much he loved me and that he had told me before that I could never leave him alive and that he would kill me first. He then asked me why I wouldn’t just stay with him so we could be a family. I explained that I was not in love with him anymore and that the years of abuse had finally taken its toll on me. He started talking about my new van which was totally off the subject and at that point I knew he was on something.

   

           Throughout our relationship he had sold crack and I had long suspected he used but now was seeing it was true. He went on about how he heard that I had a new stereo put in my van and that I probably would listen to my country music in it and he would not be able to listen to his music. I told him he would never ride in my van so it didn’t matter and he slapped me as hard as he could across the right side of my face, breaking all the blood vessels in my right eye and even some in my left eye. He then proceeded to drag me back down the long hallway by my hair and to my bedroom. He threw me on the bed and accused me of sleeping with other men in that bed when he said it should have been him. He then began to attempt to rape me.

       Normally I wouldn’t cry because I had too much pride to give him that satisfaction but I was in so much pain I could not hold back the tears. He started to pull my shirt off and I asked him why if he loved me so much would he treat me this way and want to cause me so much pain? He responded by saying that he did love me and that he wanted to make love to me. I told him when I am crying and saying no that it is rape, not making love and for some strange reason he actually stopped. He got up just sat at the end of my bed listening to me sob.  Usually when something like this would happen, I would yell at him saying he was crazy and that I did not love him, even sometimes saying there was someone else even though there never really was. I was just trying to upset him and he would beat me, then apologize and run out the door knowing the cops would soon be on their way. This time was different I could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t just going to leave he had bigger plans. I had to stay calm and think my way out of this. I tried to reason with him. I explained how for years he had been cheating on me and abusing me and stalking me and when

you really love someone that is not how you treat them. I told him I was hurt by the fact that he 

could do that to someone who was the mother of his children and how I never had a fighting chance 

based on his strength.

         He thought about it for a minute then he looked up at me and said then why don’t you have someone beat my ass. I said you don’t understand it is different when the person you loved and married and had children with puts their hands on you, it is nothing like having a stranger do it. He looked up again and said okay then you hit me and show me what it feels like. At this point I knew that there was no reasoning with someone like him but I had to get out of this situation before he ended up killing me. I said to him I won’t do it because you will just hit me back, so how can I be sure you won’t hit me? He didn’t respond so I said, I could tie your hands up first so that I know you can’t hit me back and he nodded and said okay that is a good idea. I had another set of keys to my van on my dresser and I knew if I could just keep him tied up long enough I could get out of the house before him.

      I had him sit in a chair as far away from the door as possible and used a neck tie to tie his hands behind his back. He sat compliant the entire time, I then said I really have to use the bathroom and I walked towards the bathroom grabbing my keys on the way. He was facing away from the bathroom so he did not see me leave the room, however I am sure he heard the door to the garage slam shut behind me. I ran to the garage door and opened it manually because my power lines were cut and jumped in the van as quickly as possible. As I was backing out of the garage he came running into the garage after me. I drove off as quickly as possible and began driving to a friend’s house to call the police. When I got to my friend’s house they saw my face all swollen and the blood vessels broken in my eyes so they took me to the hospital, the cops met us there. The doctors were amazed at how much damage had been done from just one open hand hit to the face. They insisted on doing a CAT scan to check for brain damage. While I was at the hospital the cops were at my house trying to see if he was still there. He was gone by the time they got there and they issued a warrant for his arrest. He already had 6 warrants pending for prior abuse; the cops had been unsuccessful at catching him for years. He would run from them, hop fences and by the time they got the dogs or helicopters to the area he was nowhere to be found. I knew they would not catch him this time either.

     The CAT scan showed that there was no brain damage and I was told I could go. I was too afraid to go home and I certainly was not planning on taking my kids there. I had been with this man for over five years and I knew he would be back and most likely soon. He was not afraid of the cops because he knew he could outrun them even if they were an arm’s reach away which he had proven numerous times before. I also knew that he probably had my keys to the house and the van because they were in the kitchen and I had taken a spare set to get away. I was told that it could take a few days to get the power and phone back on in my house because he had actually cut the wires not just unhooked them. I knew that I had to go home to pack stuff for myself and for my kids so that we could stay somewhere for a few days. I asked a friend of mine to go with me and bring her boyfriend. Her boyfriend looked like a biker and had a long beard; he was about 6’2 and 350 pounds so I figured he might scare my husband away if he had decided to come back.

          When we got to my house it was thrashed, my husband had gone through the place just throwing everything around. My friend and her boyfriend stayed for about thirty minutes but they had started arguing so I just told them I would be fine and they went home. Within minutes my husband was back, he was crying and telling me that he was sorry and he left earlier and went to a marriage counselor to try to get help and said he had a receipt to prove it. He asked me to go with him to another appointment he had set up for the both of us that same day at 4:30pm and it was 4:00pm already. I knew I had to use my brain again to outsmart him and more importantly I had to deliver him to the police because it would never end otherwise.

       Trying to talk him into turning himself in was out of the questions so I came up with another plan. Luckily for me my husband was not real smart and I don’t mean that in a rude way, he really was below average in the intelligence area.  I told him that I didn’t believe he went to a marriage counselor and asked for the proof. He pulled two cards out of his pocket along with a receipt for $30 for a therapy session. One of the cards was a business card for the therapist he saw and the other was an appointment card for our session that he scheduled for that day. He kept saying he loved me and that we could save our marriage, that he had talked to this guy and there was hope for us. He kept saying I know that you still love me.  I said to him, I don’t know if it will help but I will go and then I told him to get in the van and we drove to the address on the business card. We parked the van and went into the lobby to check in and sat down waiting for our names to be called. Those ten minutes felt like hours. The woman behind the desk said the therapist was ready to see us and we both stood up, I turned to my husband and said I want to talk to him alone first. I was praying he would not catch on to my plan. He nodded and said that’s fine. I walked down the hall to the man’s office, thinking at any moment my husband would realize what I was doing and come up behind me.

        I went into the office and shut the door. The man introduced himself and asked me to have a seat. I looked at him in disbelief and told him to call 911. He seemed confused, so I asked him if he had met with my husband earlier and asked if my husband had explained that day’s events to him and he said yes. I was furious, I said what kind of person listens to a man explain how he beat his wife and then encourages him to bring her in for a therapy session. I walked to his desk grabbed the phone and said do I push 9 to get an outside line? He looked at me in disbelief and just nodded his head. I then dialed 911. I explained who I was and where I was and that my husband was in the lobby. Within three minutes I heard helicopters and my husband running down the hall past the office I was in while the cops were yelling his name and telling him to stop.

         I waited in the office for a few minutes afraid to come out right away and proceeded to yell at the therapist. I told him that my husband had beat me, held me hostage and had told him all of that and instead of calling the police he had the audacity to schedule us an appointment. I then went on to explain that my husband had numerous warrants for the abuse. He apologized and I left his office to speak with the police officers. My husband was still running and they had dogs and helicopters on him, I sat with the police until I received the confirmation that he had finally been caught. The dogs had chased him into the Sacramento River and he cannot swim so he surrendered. The next few months were filled with court hearings and meetings with the district attorney’s office and finally his sentencing. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for the assault, cutting of the wires and holding me hostage and the judge issued a ten year stay away order so that he could not come around me or my children. In court he kept turning to me and saying I love you and that he was sorry.  I asked my job to relocate me to southern California where I knew no one and moved here to start over. I am now happily married to a good man, for years I never thought they existed and I am finally really happy. It took me almost 6 years to leave my ex-husband but after that day even though it was only one of the numerous times he had abused me and not even the worst. I somehow had the courage to leave for good.

People and texting today…

People and texting today…
I have decided to write about texting and driving. Almost everybody does it or has done it at some point even if they are ashamed to admit it. I do not think that people really understand the consequences of such a simple everyday thing. When we hear our phone go off there is this urgency for most people to read what was sent to them or answer it, after all it could be an emergency right?  However if you answer that call or text, you might be the one in the emergency. How important is your life? How important is the life of the family in the car in front of you? Maybe there is a newborn in that minivan in front of you or a pregnant woman. Is that text so important that their lives don’t really matter? It is a fact that texting while driving kills. If you don’t believe it then ask the people who can’t talk to their kids or loved ones any longer because someone had to answer that text. What is so important that it can’t wait until you get to your destination? The answer is simple, nothing is that important and if you think it is then pull your car over, be responsible and respond to the text with your car in park. Don’t do it while driving it is just NOT worth it.