I Miss You

It was back in 10th grade when I met Eric Soto. I never imagined that he would become such a special person in my life. I spent some of the funnest times of my life with him. But most of all he was there for me through my struggles. He was the one I would call when I needed to just talk, when I was crying and just needed someone to put a smile on my face, he was there.

I always called him, Pony. He was my Pony!!
It sucks that hes not with me anymore. He has been in Santa Rita for almost a year. The crime that hes being convicted for is actually really serious and makes me so sad to think that he would do something like that. When I found out that he had been arrested all I could do was cry. I couldnt believe that my Pony was gone.

I've always told myself that he didnt do it. I strongly believe in my heart that hes innocent. Its hard to imagine someone that means so much to you, locked up like an animal.

When I went the first time to see him, I couldnt help myself and I started to cry. I hate that hes in there. I write to him and keep in touch with him that way, but I wish we could go back to the good ol' days.

I have so much to thank him for:

"Thank you Eric for being such a true friend and for always keeping me up when I was feeling so down. You'll always be in heart. I love you like a brother and I hope to see you soon. And thank you for bringing Andres into my life. As much as we have fought, hes the reason that I stayed in school and quit all my bad habits. I wish you could have been there with me when I'm crossing that stage on Tuesday."

I MISS YOU & I LOVE YOU

A little bit about ME

So as you know my name is Jackie Perez. My real name is actually Jacqueline but I dont like nobody calling my that except for my patna Marco. So I'm a senior at Life Academy, been here for all my four years of highschool and I guess its been fun.

I come from a Mexican background. My parents came from Mexico when my mom was pregnant with me. I have two older sisters which I love with all my heart. Gloria, the oldest (22), shes all about her music and her band. She's the bassist of a heavy metal band, SAGACITY. Myrna (21), shes my road dog. Me and her, we down for eachother whenever. She's always been like my best friend and shes always been there for me no matter how wrong I am.Then theres my little bro, Franky. Hes 14 and hella funny. I try as much as I can to take care of him and teach as best I can, but then again I'm not the best daughter myself. I just hope that her doesnt make the same mistaked that I have made and he makes all proud.

My parents are the best parents in the world. Growing up we had our differences, I always wanted to act older than my age and didnt want to follow their rules. Thats just me, I'm stuborn. But when I got kicked out the house we all had a rude awakening. I really needed my parents and I realized that I'm not ready to take on life on my own and they obviously missed me. They couldnt believe that I had actually left. Now that i moved back in we get along great and things are good.

I'm a really laid back, open minded person. I dont really get along with girls, I dont know why, but thats me. Most of my friends were guys but now I'm always with my boyfriend.

Just a Thought

So my graduation is in about a week (June 10) and I'm having mixed emotions!

Of course Im happy....everyone knows that my senior year has been the worst year of my life. I've been through way too much in such a short amount of time. From loosing a baby to getting kicked out of my house. My attitude just went down the drain, but I have worked so hard to make it to were I am now. My parents have already gave up on me and dont really expect me to graduate but I cant wait to be up on that stange and say "I told you so!"

Im scared...my life has no sense of direction at this point. I still dont know what I want to do. I dont know if i should go to community college or if I should work, where I'm i gonna work?, what am I gonna do?

Im stressed out...I feel like my life is stuck on PAUSE. I know what I want in life but I dont know how to go about it. All of this takes a toll on me because I dont know what to do. I look at my friends and they all have a plan for their future and I dont.

Im sad...its sad to think that I'm not going to be with my friends anymore. The people that I have spent so much time with. The ones that have been with me through thick and thin! They all going to college and doing something good for themselves.

Most of all I feel kinda LONELY........

Fruitvale

All my life I have visited Fruitvale. It's a big part of my community. Over the last couple of years they have done some of years the city has done a lot of remodeling to make it look nicer. Like the plaza for the bart. It looks alot better now with the fountain and the shops.

Even though I didnt actually do interviews there I imagine that it would be alot easier because the people around there are more like us and they feel more comfortable to talk to us. You coauld even say that we would feel more comfortable asking tham for an interview.

Fruitvale is a very diverse place, you see all different kinds of people because it has alot of different things around that area. You have the bart, Bank of America, WaMu, mexican food, chinese food, clothes shops, market, etc.

I actually do like going there because its one of the nicer places here in Oakland. Its a nice highlight of my community.

Chinatown

I had driven by Chinatown before but I had never actually walked around there and seen what they have. My sister works at City Center so I drive by there really often to go pick her up or drop her off so it was interesting to see what I was missing.

I had no idea that there was actually an Asian Cultural Center. It was really nice, it had a fountain in the middle a small shops around and up stair with an escalator. I had never before heard that there was a library in there either. It was cool to look around.

It was actually really dirty around there. There was a garbage can that had garbage falling out of it and had bags all around it. It was actually kinda gross. There was also a lot of graffitti around there, kinda reminded me of East Oakland.

Chinatown seems like a really busy place. All you see it a bunch of Asians walking around all the time, coming in and out of the stores. It was actually kinda crowded too. So many people are there.

Lakeshore & The Oakland Rose Garden

On Monday we went to Lakeshore, just a short walk from Lake Merritt. I had been to Lakeshore before so it wasn't new to me. In a way it reminded me of East Oakland more than any other place that we have visited. There were all different kinds of people and of all different ages. The stores were also very familiar. There was even a Footlocker. It was actually really clean too. There wasnt a lot of garbage laying around and there were so many trees.

When we were walking around we walked towards the theater and I saw that right by the freeway there was like a little plaza. It was really nice, it had really tall palm trees and smaller trees with lots of shade. It even had a small fountain in the middle with benches. It looked like nothing you would find in East Oakland. Even around the sidewalks you would see alot of trees planted to make it look nicer.

After Lakeshore we walked a couple blocks and we went to the Oakland Rose Garden. On our way there we saw a house with really cool sculpture made of rocks. They were all inside the fence that was also made of rocks. We actually met the artist and got to talk to him there. He had a cactus made of rocks and some really big tall flowers.

The best part of the trip was the rose garden. It was really nice. I had been to a rose garden before, I think that it was the one in Berkely but this one was much nicer. There were so many roses and a pool in the middle. It also had a fountain that ran down a hill with stairs at each side but it was under construction. It was nice to walk around a see all the different types of roses. The one that I liked the most was a rose that was kinda yellow but it had specks of red. I had never before in my life seen a rose like that.