In 5th grade my parents gave me my very first phone as a Christmas gift. Yes, I know. I was very young.  Being only ten years old and in the 5th grade owning my own phone, I felt like the coolest kid in my class. Now that I look back at t, I think it was a horrible idea in away because kids should not have a phone that young. But my parents spoiled me. Hopefully they don't do the same with my baby sister who is 3 years old and cries when we don't give her her tablet. Yes, she is three years old and owns a tablet. In a way it was both good and bad to have a phone. Good because when I'd get lost at the grocery store, I could just call or text my parents to ask where they were instead of running through the whole store panicking, thinking I won't see my parents again. Bad because that tiny device that seemed to bring so much joy and entertainment to me would keep me isolated in a corner when I'd be at family events. Which resulted in my parents taking it up and I'm glad they did that. In David Brooks' article Intimacy for The Avoidant, he says according to a British study, we check our phones on average 221 times a day, which I think it's very true. People get so sucked into their phones that they feel like they need to be checking it at all times even if there's nothing new online. I can't be a hypocrite and say "electronics are bad; we should use them less" etc. because of course I use my phone as well, just know when and where is the right time to be on your phone.

Nowadays we use our phones for everything. To check the weather, the latest celebrity gossip, checking up on family, catching up with friends, etc. But is being on your phone really more important than spending time with family or friends? A while back I went out to eat at Olive Garden with my family. Twenty minutes after we were seated, I look to my left and spotted a couple along with their daughter. All three of them were on their phones, not saying a word to each other. So much for family time, huh? The one thing my parents always told me, is to never be on my phone when I have company unless it's important and it bothers me so much when I'm out with someone and they're on their phone while I'm talking to them. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. My boyfriend has a habit of doing that and it makes me want to want to take the phone from him and throw it out the window. Another thing that bothers me is when I'm at the movies and someone decides to take their phone with the brightness as high as possible and not even paying attention to the movie, just like what Mr. Still talked about on his blog. What's the point in going to the movies if you're just going to be on your phone? Stay home.

On snapchat, many people love recording themselves while driving or they test while they're driving which is dangerous. I've seen videos of people trying to be cool, recording themselves singing on snapchat and end up hitting a curb. Seriously? Put the phone down. I had a friend who passed away a year ago in a car accident. He wasn't the one driving, he was on the passenger's side. The guy who was driving, who in my opinion did not care for anyone else's lives was on his phone while driving. I understand that some people who use their phones while they're driving are being "careful" or at least they think they are, but a quick glance at their phone could cost them or another person's drive. With all being said, know when and where is the right time to use your phone. 

My First Job

When I turned 16 I made a promise to myself that I'd get a job and stop depending on my parents for money. I wanted to work at the mall but unfortunately, most of the stores at my local mall required for employees to be 17 and over. As much as I refused to work in fast food, it ended up being my only option. I had a friend who worked at Chick Fil A and she kept begging me to work with her because she said it would be easy and fun so I thought "hey, why not?" My older sister's first job was also Chick Fil A and she told me the same thing so I gave it a try and submitted the application. A day after submitting, I got a call from the owner telling me that I had gotten an interview. I went to the interview expecting to get told "we'll give you a call" but ended up being hired right on the spot. I felt so proud of myself for getting a job while going to school. I got my first job in November 2014. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I really wanted to make my own money and buy my own things. Working at a fast food restaurant taught me a lot. The position I started was working on head-set meaning I was the one taking orders at drive thru while making the drinks. It sounds easy, but oh man, it was so hard for me. I had to learn how to take orders while making drinks and/or desserts. My whole life I was known for having a really bad temper so working in fast food was very challenging for me because some restaurants were really rude. I was very shy which wasn't any good for me because me being new and barely knowing anything, I had to ask one of my coworkers for help which I hated because I wanted to learn it all on my own. (Yes, I was very stubborn). On top of that, they only trained me to do head-set! They didn't teach me how to work the register or bag the food so I said to myself "fine then. I'll learn on my own" and I did. 

Most of my coworkers were my age so it wasn't hard to get along with them but there was a bit of drama. I avoided the drama as much as I could. When I started working I set 3 rules for myself which were

1) Do NOT date a coworker'

2) Do NOT add your managers or coworkers on social media

3) Don't let customers bring out the bad in you.

Unfortunately, I broke the first 2 rules. Lesson learned. 

The first rule, I'd rather not talk about. Just know it ended in bad terms and I went crazy on this guy because I am not the one to play with. Adding my managers on social media such as twitter and snapchat was a really bad idea because there would be times where I'd call in, and then later that day they'd be checking on my snapchat to see what I did when I was supposed to be working. Getting this job really taught me to be responsible with my money and time. It taught me to limit myself when it came to spending because yes, it felt so good buying my own things but it hurt my bank account every time I spent my money. It taught me to manage my time meaning knowing what time to leave my house to get to work on time. Another thing I learned about working at Chick Fil A is that people were really fake. People would only be nice and friendly with me because they thought I'd "hook them up" with free food. I'm sorry but just because Chick Fil A provided excellent customer service and talked to us nicer than our families ever did, didn't mean we would give you free food. I stopped working March 2016 because I wanted to focus more on school. Overall Working there was really fun and I wouldn’t mind working there again. 

    Some people might say words are just words. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." To others, words are powerful and have a significant value to them even if it's the simplest words. When you're young, you just say things out of the blue, not knowing what you're saying, what it means, or saying things just because you feel like saying it. As you get older, you begin to notice how powerful can be. When my older sister and I were younger, about 11 and 8, we used to share a room. Of course we got under each other's skin once in a while, but we never really got into big arguments like this one particular night. We were about to go to bed and I honestly can't remember what we were arguing about, I just remember it was getting pretty intense. Anyways, we were yelling at each other and at one point she yelled "I wish mom had a boy instead of having you." Ouch. I didn't know I didn't have to be physically hit to cry, but apparently not. Of course she didn't mean it. We were little but it still hurt me. It was the first time I had ever experienced getting told something so mean. I cried. She realized she messed up right away and started feeling bad. Which is good, because that was really mean. Therefore, be careful with what you say. Words can hurt. Words may not do anything to you, but they can affect another person. 

    I'm pretty sure everyone loves music. Artists create music to send out messages through their lyrics. An artist whose music made an impact on me is P!NK. One of my top favorite songs by her is F***** Perfect. This song sends out a very powerful message to young girls, such as myself. In the song, P!NK sings " Pretty pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel like you're less than perfect. Pretty, pretty please if you ever, ever feel like you're nothing, you are perfect to me.... You're so mean when you talk about yourself, you are wrong. Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead."I've always been really insecure on everything about me. This song taught me to love myself and accept on my every flaw. I'm still working on that.

    Honestly, I never planned on attending college. I find that pretty funny since I want to become a teacher. Attending college or even the word college never really crossed my mind until I met my boyfriend. It wasn't until he told me about his dreams and goals that made me realize I didn't not want to do anything with my life after high school. I'm not sure if it's because I'm totally in love with the boy, or he just has a way with motivating words, but listening to him talk about what he wants to do motivated me to keep going to school. His words of advice throughout the whole time we've been dating have made a huge impact on me. He always motivates me, especially now that we are in college. I know, it's usually the parents who give this kind of advice but not in this case.

   

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog. My name is Stacy Sanchez. I am 18 years old but with the height of an 11-year-old and sadly, I'm stuck with this height for the rest of my life. Thanks, mom! I was born and raised by both parents in Houston, TX along with my two sisters, Amy (21) and Juliette (3). I graduated from Sam Houston High School where most of us had it pretty easy, and by easy I mean we didn't have to worry about doing work because we hardly ever had any assigned to us. Which wasn't really easy because now I'm in college barely learning about pre algebra when i should have learned it in high school. So word of advice, if you ever have that one class where all you do is "chill", change it. I'm majoring in education because I want to be the kind of teacher I never had. I want to help students get good grades and help them reach their goals. Part of me wants to be an elementary teacher because I love kids, and another part of me wants to be a high school history teacher because that's my best subject and I love it! I haven't decided yet but for now, I'm just getting my basics out of the way. I listen to almost all kinds of music. Rap, Hip-Hop, R&b, Country, Spanish, Rock, etc. I enjoy dancing Spanish music as much as I enjoy listening to it. But that's not the only I like to dance, I also enjoy dancing Hip-Hop. I've been dancing since I was 8. I was never in a dance team, it was just something I'd do on my free time. I used to dance at a stuio near my house. Every time I was feeling down or bothered, I'd go to the studio to take classes and suddenly I'd forget about my problems. But unfortunately, I stopped going to the studio after I got my first job at Chik-Fil-A. Which by the way, I had so much fun working there. I don't play any sports. I wish I did, but I am a total klutz when it comes to playing sports. I'm the kind of girl who will scream if I saw a ball coming towards me. I'm the first in my family to go away for college. It's not easy being away from them, but I know it'll all be worth it in the end and I can't wait to make them proud of me.