Orlando Galan Blog #10 Discourse Community

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone had an amazing weekend, but now it is time for school lol. So I don’t know if it’s just me, but this discourse community research paper seems to be a bit complicated due to its technicalities and so at the moment I don’t know exactly what to write about. Although, I do have an idea that I feel would be fun to pursuit.

At first I was thinking about maybe doing a research paper on the discourse community of a career that I am considering to pursuit. I was thinking maybe border patrol? Military? Police officer? But then I remembered that in class that a police officer can be very broad and would have to do more research in order to find a true discourse community.

So now I am thinking about things or small communities that I am interested in. At first I was thinking the gym (Which I am HIGHLY lagging lol). Maybe if I do start going, to focus on how gym enthusiasts like to stay fit and live a healthy lifestyle. But then I am not too involved where I can actually make a research paper from that discourse community.

Then I realized that the discourse community I am growing to be really interested in and willing to pursuit further more in the future is the car scene or community. Since I was little, I have always had a passion for cars and their potential for customization and the thrill that I can bring somebody by just driving it. It’s called motorsports. Car enthusiasts have been around since forever. And of course there are different types of cars, modification styles and performance routes one can take, depending on one’s taste. But at the end, a car enthusiast is a car enthusiast and everyone is just aiming to accomplish a goal for their ride.

I have a 2009 Honda civic SI (Sport Injected). Nothing fancy, but PLENTY of potential in these cars as an enthusiast would know. I wanted something economical but with plenty of options and potential. Something that can fit into my college kid budget. Something that can be extremely reliable, great on gas, cheap and easy repairs, comfortable and practical, and something that can give me a chassis to work on and have many options. So this civic SI came to mind. The car out of the factory is more of an autocross or track type of car, as it is well balanced and the power delivery is coming from a I4, 16 valve, K20z3 high revving engine. Actually, the k-series or specifically the k20 engine, was voted as one of the best top 10 overall engine manufacturing in the last 20 years! That’s pretty high up there considering many cars were made in the last 20 years. But I want to clarify that top 10 definitely doesn’t mean the fastest engines built. It simply means that engineering and what it offers is generally outstanding. To have a little 2-liter engine be there against Chevy LS engines and BMW M-series motors is definitely satisfying. So I have this Honda, but I haven’t really done much to it because like I said I am a college kid with no time or financial satisfaction to start dumping thousands in the car. All I have done is put some cosmetic modifications such as factory full underbody spoiler kit, some Mugen visors, other minor JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) parts, coilover suspension and sticky street performance nitto tires. Nothing major,but hopefully in the future I will be able to have nicer and lighter wheels, suspension upgrades, and maybe some cosmetic adjustments. I want to make it quick and fun around the turns. Like I said this car has a lot of potential. The civic is probably the car that offers the most factory and aftermarket modification options out there as it is very common and popular, and parts are in demand. Another car that has similar popularity and demand is a mustang. Yall get the point. Anyway, enough with my car lol back to discourse community.

So after talking about that, maybe I can focus my discourse community around Honda enthusiast, or autocross / track enthusiast, or maybe the general car enthusiast as I rather do that, simply because it is funner to talk about different vehicle options and the way the enthusiasm all relates in order to create a discourse community. This is actually pretty exciting to talk about so hopefully this will be the topic I will write my discourse community research paper on. Kinda sucks writing a long a$$ paper on something you are definitely not interested in lol. Good luck everyone!

Orlando Galan Blog #8

Hello and good morning everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend. It’s time to read and submit some blogs lol. I want to start with Mirabelli: Learning to Strive, simply because it catches my attention a lot more since I can somewhat relate. Also because the introduction I thought was very interesting, specially cause a lot of us college students fall into that category.

The beginning mentions criticism “If you find your job [as a waitress] so despicable, then go get an education and get a REAL job” which actually triggers me to be defensive because most college students like to have jobs as a waiter/waitress or maybe some type of job where tips are accepted.

“You are whining about something that you can fix. Stop being such a weakling, go out and learn something, anything, and go make a real contribution to society.... Wait, Iet me guess: you do not have any marketable skills, or useful knowledge, so you do what any bumbling fool can do, wait on tables. This is your own fault”

To some people especially college students, the reason why they are waiters or waitresses is because they are going to school and need a source of income which can cover most of life’s expenses a little better. Of course, everyone has different life situations. You cannot criticize and judge people by their job title especially in workforces like these. Go out and learn something? What makes somebody think that being a waiter won’t allow them to learn something? For all you know, the person taking your order and serving you coffee is studying to be a doctor.  Make a real contribution to society? Obviously, there has to be people to take your order and serve you your food and drinks. Somebody has to do it. And like I said the person who is your waiter and is studying to be a doctor might even be contributing to society by perhaps healing and treating your family members in the future. No marketable skills? Yeah no s#!t. Everyone has to start somewhere. You cannot expect people to have any skill out of nowhere. People learn things. There are stages in life where one can improve him or herself. Sacrifice and hard work must be delivered. But like I said earlier, people have different life situations where they are born into wealth or around a skill where they did not have to try hard or work hard to achieve their goal.

Sorry guys! The reason why I get so defensive about this is because I myself am a valet driver, similar to a waiter in a sense that the way you deliver work and provide service will determine how good of a day at work can be. I am a college student who comes from a low income family. First generation college student too. I have to work my way up in order to have an opportunity to fall into a good career. I have to go through various stages of school and perhaps internships and interview in order to land where I want. There is a lot of hard work and dedication that must be done. However, I also have to have a job that allows good financial stability to live. Being a valet driver has been an outstanding job for me as a college student because it has allowed me to learn a lot of work related skill, go to school and receive an associate’s degree and currently allowing me to pursue my bachelor’s degree. So if someone came up to me and told me to get an education and a real job and to do something where I can contribute to society, I would feel pretty offended simply because someone to say such a thing does not have any idea of who I am and what I am doing. Then again someone to come up with such criticism would also look ignorant because they are judging people without knowing them. Even if people who work in such industries are mature or middle aged or even working as a career, people shouldn’t judge. These jobs must be done by somebody. Some people prefer jobs like this because it’s not too hard, could be fun and sometimes make a lot of money depending on where. Sometimes waiters can even make more money as management, and do less. Sometimes those jobs even have benefits that support them and their families.

I just want to conclude by saying that don’t let anyone take you down with their criticism. Everyone has their way of doing things and they are doing them for a reason. Never judge a book by its cover. As long as you strive for your goals and you are happy, then that’s all that matters. Not what other people say.

Orlando Galan Blog #6

Good morning everyone! Ahh sorry I am doing this late! But at least I am doing it. I have had a hectic week but at I finally found some time to so my identity kit. It is the beginning of October already. Meaning the semester is only coming closer to an end and the stress of doing great in order to achieve a successful graduation is only increasing. Anyway, let me give you a little story to better give you an idea of my identity.

The most important parts of my life started towards the end of high school. I was the average high school kit. I went to school most of the time, did my hw, did well on assignments and made sure that I did at least the minimum to get by in order to graduate. Actually, I did the very least it required to graduate because like most of the time, I just wanted to go out and skateboard with my friends. At the time, I have had about 5 years of skateboarding. I loved it, it was my passion and it was a hobby that cleared my mind and gave me nothing but happiness. High school was ending and I thought to myself, I need to do something about my future and pursue an education. At this point in my life, I wasn’t too sure exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I had to go to school regardless. However, since I was a kid in elementary school, I knew I always wanted to attend SDSU but obviously didn’t know for what or how. At the time I just knew it was a cool school.

I ended up going to Southwestern College, a very popular community college where I live. I knew that I was there in order to achieve an associate’s degree. After completing some general education, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to become a communication major. I felt that those studies fit me best. Now I asked myself, what do you want to do for a career? What are you going to use your communication degree for? I always wanted to travel and see new countries and cities. I also wanted to do new things that will teach me valuable lessons and prepare me for the world put there. I then came to the conclusion that I want a government job. Perhaps the military, border patrol, CHP, police officer or something along those lines. After 4 long years in Southwestern college, I was able to achieve my associates degree in communication and was also awaiting a letter from SDSU that was to state whether I was going to be accepted or not. This was a big deal to me because I always wanted to attend SDSU and did not want to go anywhere else. I didn’t even apply to different schools! Like everyone usually does for back up. Turns out that I have been denied due to being an impacted major. I was devastated and at the time, did not know what to do with my life. I decided to take my Southwestern college councilors advice and submit an appeal. I gave SDSU an appeal with legitimate reasons as why I should be accepted and have the opportunity to complete my education there. A month later around 3 in the morning, I got an acceptance letter and I was stoked! I woke up my family to break them the good news.

Now I am proud to say that I am a senior at SDSU meaning I am close to graduation, from the school that I work so hard for to attend! After graduation, my primary consideration for a career would be the military as a commissioned officer, but not too sure about which branch just yet. Leaning towards Navy or Marines, but I will go wherever I am offered the job that I want, communications officer.

To conclude, all my hard work, stress, depression, challenges and any struggles that I have faced has been worth it so far. I will keep working at it in order to achieve the success that I have been striving for!