Los Angeles Job Corps

Greetings:

In 2008, I was having trouble raising money for my upcoming trip to Japan. During that time, I was searching all around for a job.

While harvesting job applications at the local City Hall, I was surprised to have accidently picked up an informational brochure for an organization called Job Corps. To quote their website, they described themselves as “a free education and training program that helps young people learn a career, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find and keep a good job.”

It sounded too good to be true. I was extremely surprised to find out that not only was it free, but that the students actually get paid to attend.

Unfortunately, nobody warned me that the free education came at a price; namely, it was cheap and, at times, poorly executed.

You see, Job Corps is wonderful in concept. It’s just that it feels like the majority of the staff, especially those in charge, is more concerned with appearing good than actually being good at what it’s supposed to do.

For example, at one point, Job Corps decided to show that they needed to be more green. One of my classes required that all of the students should write essays on ways to show how we would reduce our carbon footprint.

In my personal experience, I was told to edit and reprint off my essay maybe three or four times. Assuming that my peers (around 40 in number) went through that same process and that each essay was two pages long, that would be at least 240 pieces of paper printed off.

I don’t think the paper, ink, and electricity used on that essay was ever counted toward our grade or schooling progress. If I remember correctly, it was forgotten for good the next week.

As well, there was an environmental appreciation day at the end of the month. It was pretty fun and I personally enjoyed the popcorn. Despite this, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that they used so many Styrofoam cups and plates and didn’t even have one recycle bin available to toss our napkins in.

To quote one movie I’ve been meaning to watch one of these days, “The appearance of law must be upheld, especially when it's being broken.” (Gangs of New York, 2002)

Mind you, I’m not meaning to sound like a whiner. I was a good student and learned quite the bit of from their tutoring. Most notably, I now know how to actually write a resume.

However, I would only suggest the program to those who are on their last leg and can take a lot of bureaucracy crap.

Sincerely,

Me

False FAFSA

Greetings:

With the next college semester coming just around the corner, I’d like to stop in and offer warning about a scam that I came across when I first tried filling out my FAFSA.

The “Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” or FAFSA, offers free money from the government to help pay for college. It’s a scholarship system that grants you a certain amount of money depending on you and your parent’s income.

The poorer you are, the more money you get.

Be warned, however, that there is a misleading website called FAFSA.com. It’s in any not affiliated with the actual FAFSA website, FAFSA.ed.gov.

FAFSA.com has you fill out an imitation FAFSA application. At the end, they attempt to charge you $80 for them to “help” find any errors within the application.

The real FAFSA is actually a lot easier to fill out than the counterfeit. The government website itself will also inform you if any problems come up.

One of the more frustrating things about FAFSA .com is the fact that they ask for your Social Security Number. Thankfully, they don’t seem to be in the business of identity theft, so if you accidently fill out the wrong application, your SSN hasn’t been compromised.

Sincerely,

Me

Healthy Bits: Part 2/2

Greetings:

Here's my workout schedule. I try to focus on a couple body parts per day. Personally, I wake up at 5:00 AM in order to do the workout without distractions.

I don't have weights, so I instead use water bottles or coffee mugs as a substitute when needed.

I also stretch 15-20 minutes before each workout.

Finally, I feel the need to give a shout out to Scooby, a body builder who has a really good website about getting healthy. He's one of the only people I could find who promoted health without pushing a bunch of expensive equipment.

And no, he has no relation to the dog.

Sincerely,

Me.

Monday: Thighs/Abs

Cardio: 20 Minutes

Thighs:

                Ski Sits

                Squats

                Lunges

Abs: Scooby’s 3-Minute Ab Workout

Tuesday

Cardio: 30-45 Minutes

Wednesday: Chest/Triceps
Cardio: None

Triceps/Chest:

                Easy Push-Ups

                Regular Push-Ups

Biceps:

                Bicep Curl

                Hammer Curl

                Overhand Grip Curl

Thursday

Cardio: 30-45 Minutes

Friday: Back/Abs

Cardio: None

Back:

                Bird-Dog

                Front Plank

                Standing Triangle Straddle Bends

Abs: Scooby’s 3-Minute Ab Workout

Saturday: Take a break

Sunday: Shoulders/Calves

Cardio: 0-20 Minutes

Shoulders:

                Presses

                Flies

                Front Raises

Calves:

                Calf Raises

                Inner Calf Raises

                Outer Calf Raises

Compost Happens

Greetings:

Due to forces beyond my control, I will be unable to blog for the rest of the month. I apologize for this in advanced.

That being said, I already have the next couple of blogs planned out:

• Humor found in the Bible
• Kirby's Epic Yarn Vs the rest of the franchise (an analysis, not a review)
• What did I do for NaNoWriMo?

Sincerely,

Me.

Irrelevant Fear

Greetings:

Halloween is just around the corner and, although it’s a week early, I’ll be writing a bit about one of my fears today.

Specifically, I fear irrelevancy. Not achieving anything in life. Not mattering 20-30 years after I’m gone.  

This has been haunting me for the past few months.

“Do I matter?” It’s something that I’ve prayed a lot lately. Thankfully, my answer came in today’s church service. I’ll share that answer with you.

The guest speaker read from the book of Jeremiah.

The Children of Israel had already been captured and taken into captivity. Jeremiah was telling them to settle down and get used to their new lives; they wouldn’t be headed back home for a long while.

Meanwhile, false prophets were preaching a feel-good message about how things would be normal and that they would all be back home soon enough.

The speaker related this to her own life story. She expected to do huge things with her life. Society promised that she would be able to do anything she wanted once college was done.

Then, life happened. She now had the full time job of being a Mom in a small Californian city.

We may want to be big but, sometimes, God humbles us and gives us a smaller task in a more mundane corner of the world. It might not seem like much to us, but still it means the world to God when we accept His will for our lives.

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

Philippians 4:11

Sincerely,

Me