I just got back from dinner. It’s been a long day and an even longer week. This week was seven times longer than this day to be exact. That’s how our calendar system works or whatever, but now I’m rambling. Today was my first day off in two weeks, because I have been picking up shifts at work pretty much non-stop. Don’t feel bad for me because my job is extremely easy, and I get to work on schoolwork whenever I have down time. Which is most of the time. You didn’t hear this from me though. I paid 10 dollars more than usual to fill up my tank today. I didn’t really have a lot to do today either, so I decided to go do some food deliveries to recoup some of my money. It went pretty well. I made like 60 bucks for just a couple of hours of driving around. I have a lot of experience doing that type of work so that helps a little bit too. This week we went to visit the Casa de Manana Retirement Community. It’s a very expensive place by the beach. I’d never been inside any place like it. For one it oozes history, it’s very old, about a hundred years old. I forget when exactly they said it was built. The artwork that they had hanging up on the walls was very intricate and beautiful, I wish I would have taken a picture. Personally, I felt out of place during our visit. Like I mentioned to some of the seniors, I’m from a low-income Hispanic neighborhood in Riverside. I had to really struggle to get to a school like UCSD. Not many other local kids were able to. I had a really hard time not feeling intimidated by the people that lived there. They seemed to have everything. Successful careers, beautiful minds, and they all talked about how they had traveled while they were young. They had seen the world. When I actually got the chance to talk to them, they started to seem a lot more like regular people. They shared life lessons, advice, and I felt like I was getting over the unconscious assumptions I had made.
I’m writing this entry from my home in Riverside. It’s a three-day weekend so naturally, I wanted to spend it with my family. I had an appointment yesterday with my local dentist Jagruti. I got some work done on a tooth and I also got a cleaning done. I’m excited because for my next visit she told me we’re going to be taking my bonded retainer off and after that I’ll only need a regular retainer. Ever since I had my braces taken off in highschool I’ve basically had a wire glued onto the back of my upper and lower teeth. It’s a huge pain in the butt, but all that’s going to be over soon. My favorite song for past couple months has been, “Alison” by Slowdive. They’re a little-known band from the 90’s that have risen to prominence because of how popular the shoegaze genre has become in recent years. When I discover a new favorite song, sometimes I like to google the meaning behind the lyrics. This song is about a girl. The singer speaks in the past tense because, she’s gone, and their relationship is already over, but he still remembers how he felt in the moments they shared together. LCS has been pretty exciting lately. Last Saturday, was our event at the Gary and Mary West Senior Center. We had a ton of different booths and a raffle at the end of it all. Seniors took photos, played games (sometimes entirely for raffled tickets), and even got to take home little succulent plants with them. At one point I noticed a couple seniors standing around, so I brought some chairs out for them. They got occupied pretty quickly and I promptly patted myself on the back for that one. This Wednesday we also carried out age friendliness assessments of Barrio Logan. I thought the neighborhood was pretty nice, but Chicano Park was absolutely beautiful. I even took a couple of pictures.
I was fashionably late to our first in-person meeting this week for two reasons. Waking up early is a huge challenge for me and I absolutely despise paying for parking. After trying and failing to find free parking in the area I parked next to a meter down the street at exactly 9:32 am. The following was my thought process. Oops! It’s blinking red does that mean I’ll get a parking citation or something? Hmm, I’ll just take my chances I can’t figure out how to pay at the meter anyways. After walking halfway to the senior center I catch a glimpse at the opposite side of another meter. Wait, how did I not notice you can pay by credit card on the backside?! On second thought I’ll go back and pay. 9:40 am, I finally make it down to the senior center, get to the meeting room, nervously wave back to Dr. Lewis, and take my seat. Our speaker’s talk regarding the senior center and the types of people who live there was very informative. The seniors who are lucky enough to be taken off the waitlist only have to pay a certain percentage of their income to stay. This is a great help to the seniors, many of which would likely be homeless without this program. During the tour I got a better look at the layout of the center. Overall, it was a very open, lively, and accommodating place. I was especially impressed with how they had a floor dedicated to both dental and psychiatric care. I heard our guide mention it was the only one of its kind in the country, wow! After the tour we all went to go help make to go meals. First, we had to put on our food prep uniforms. Literally, everyone got their gloves and aprons on before me. As a man, I had never worn an apron before in my life and the simple task of putting it on quickly became a challenge. Thanks to Tara I figured out it was easier to tie the straps in the front to secure my apron. I ended up handing out Valentine’s Day letters to a couple of seniors. I sat down with one lady, chatted a bit, and read her letter to her. She told me about one time in kindergarten when a boy got her a bubble gum ring for Valentine’s Day. I said aw, he had a crush. To which she replied, they all had crushes. I died laughing. I’m also happy that I was able to meet and make connections with a few of my peers. Everyone was so nice! It makes the whole experience feel a lot more personal.
My birthday was this Monday, January 17th. I turned 22, which is definitely a good thing. I am thankful that I am healthy, able to grow a little more facial hair (watch out ladies), and especially that I was able to spend this birthday with both of my parents. My birthday last year was very difficult, and went uncelebrated for the most part, because my dad was hospitalized due to covid complications at the time. Thankfully, he is much better, and I have been trying to be more grateful for what I have, because of what happened. Personally, I’ve always felt like most birthdays aren’t that special, but this year felt a bit different. First thing in the morning my mom sent me a happy birthday video on messenger. When I finally dragged myself into the kitchen for my morning coffee, my mom asked me what special food I wanted for my birthday and my dad put on a playlist of Mexican happy birthday songs. Later on in the day I got a few happy birthday texts from some close friends of mine, and I really appreciated that. I had some really good ribs and ice-cream cake for dinner too, but the people I was able to share it with are the ones who made it special. The thought of getting older can give me some anxiety. Mostly, because I tend to compare myself to others my age and think of what I should have accomplished by now. Lessons from the reading of “Happiness is a Choice You Make” are helping me change my mindset. For starters, I’ve learned that it’s better to spend time focusing on the present, doing things that make you happy, and the idea that you can be happy with your life if you are content. If you feel that you are doing enough, that you are at peace with your decisions, then that can be the basis for an inner happiness that can alleviate anxieties. I am looking forward to learning more about life lessons and health in age.
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Anthony RomeroAnthony Romero is a Public Health major with a concentration in Epidemiology with a minor in Archives
March 2022
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