Home Sweet Home

After a busy week filled with homework, exams, projects, surfing, and work: why not go back home and sleep in your real bed, right? My thoughts exactly. I am one of the unfortunate ones who hasn't brought a car to college so shoutout to Katie for the ride, twas' appreciated so I could see my beautiful hometown.

Los Gatos (my hometown)

Now lets get down to business. I currently live in Santa Barbara, last week it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit and because of this weather I tend to wear flip-flops (I have an awesome flip-flop tan I'm quite proud of), I wear shorts and t-shirts along with the occasional tank top. So after leaving paradise, I was quite disappointed the Bay Area welcomed me home to rain and stepping in a big puddle when I got out of the car after a 5 hour car ride. Gross. Point is after a few months at SBCC its seemed I've become accustomed to the weather and forgot the rest of the world has seasons. This leading me to the realization I take the weather here along with many others for granted and don't appreciate it enough... expect some pretty campus pictures this week to prove my point.


However!!

1.) While I was home with the influence of my nurse Mother I got my flu shot! Getting the flu shot is very important especially as a college student because you don't want to miss any class, so you don't end up behind on work. However, this was especially a big deal for me since I didn't get the flu shot last year because I have a fear of needles and ended up being sick for like 3 months straight, no joke. For those of you who didn't know me pre-blog you wouldn't know this, but if you know me you know I hate 3 things: needles, seeing blood, and snakes. So for all the doubters here's a picture as evidence that I overcome my fear of needles and got the shot, now I'm all good and ready to tackle the rest of the school year (10/10 recommend you get the shot)

Didn't get a spider-man band aid:/

2.) In addition to improving my odds of good health I had a very healthy Nutella crepe with my middle school math teacher, Mr. Cal. After planning my trip home, I immediately messaged Mr. Cal asking if he wanted to meet for some food. He's one of the teachers who teaches you more than just math. It's hard to find a teacher who really cares about their students and gets involved with the school to better understand student lives. For that reason ever since 7th grade I've been staying in touch with Mr. Cal and seeing whats'up. He's definitely been one of my favorite teachers throughout my schooling and always manages to share some of his wisdom with me making me more than happy to meet up with him and chow down at a local cafe.

Mr.Cal and I post destroying some Sweet Peas crepes

3.) Lastly, I clocked in on that host grind to get my money up. The restaurant I worked at in high school doesn't have many hosts, so whenever I return home, I plan on picking up some hours and making some money. So I did exactly that. 3 shifts later, 2 hours of overtime, and 1 free dinner, I'm quite a happy employee. I must admit it's really cool that the restaurant allows me to work when I return home, so shoutout to Willow Street  if any of you find yourselves hungry in the South Bay.

Willow Streets chicken tequila fettuccine
with chocolate milk and chocolate cake... 

Some words of wisdom I think worth mentioning while on the topic: The more you do something the better you get. This is an idea I completely believe in and have found successful not only in the workplace but on the soccer field and academically as well. At Willow Street when they first hired me, I hated the job and considered quitting after 3 weeks (don't tell them that), but stuck with it in hopes to be able to save for my senior trip to Waikiki, but that's beside the point. After hating the job because I wasn't good at it, I stuck with it and picked up more shifts and got better every time I worked. Through practice, repetition, mistakes, and most importantly learning from my mistakes I quickly found myself to be the strongest host and simultaneously started to enjoy working.

Some motivation for the week: If you want to be good at something, do it.
Also how can you hate your job when you get this after a
8 hour shift:

I'm feeling pretty good after this weekend as it served as a great vacation allowing me to recharge my batteries and connect with my roots. I hope everyone's getting ready for the week and remember if you want something: go get it, simple as that.
Vaquero up baby! Stay tuned I've got some exciting blogs coming up!

John