Gabe's Interview

What was your first job?

“I worked at Great America in Santa Clara, y’know the theme park? Like a marine world, sorta like something like that.”

What did you want to be when you grew up as a kid?

“When I was little I always wanted to be a police officer. I even studied to be a police officer so when I went into the military- I went into the military right outta high school, I got married right outta high school- and I went in there with the intentions to becoming a police officer when I got out. Once I got out I went back to college and I got my associates degree. I went to the police academy and from there I got a job here in Yuba City (that’s why I moved from San Jose to Yuba City) and I did that for about six months and then realized police work was not for me and so from there I went to work at Thunder Valley Casino and from there I went to here and I’ve been here ever since.”

How long have you been here?

“I’ve been here- let’s see, I think this is my 11th year here. 11th or 12th, I think 11th. So it’s been a little bit.”

What have been your weirdest experiences at MCAA?

“It took me some time when I first started working here to get used to kids wearing ears and tails, wasn’t used to that. That was an interesting adjustment. Coming from the Bay Area you just don’t see that very often in public schools. That’s kinda the weirdest thing for me to get used to, just a different atmosphere to get used to but I love working here otherwise I wouldn’t still be working here. I love the fact that the kids want to come here and the kids are different. They can express themselves here and not really fear judgement and rejection as you would normal schools. Is there some? Obviously, we’re still a school we’re still human we’re still people here so it’s not perfect right? But more so than any other places. I like it it’s comfortable I like working here the kids like coming here it makes it a good place to work for me so that’s why I’m still here.”

Does your golf cart have a name?

“(Laughs) Actually that’s funny, no, someone told me just a couple weeks ago that I need to name it and so I should probably think of something but no I haven’t named it yet. Maybe people could give me some ideas or something. It’s new we just got it last year.”

Is the rumor about you chasing a goose off campus true?

“(Laughs) A goose off campus? No, I’ve never chased a goose off campus with the golf cart that’s a funny one I haven’t heard that one before. The only thing I’ve ever done with my golf cart is, let’s see, we’ve had some stray dogs come on campus so I’ve had to kinda do that. We had some possums some years back over in the front but no I’ve never chased a goose off campus. That’s pretty funny though. I wonder where that one started.”

When did you first start developing your Dodgers obsession?

“I don’t know, probably about eight or nine. Most of my family’s all A’s and Giant’s fans because we’re from San Jose, Bay Area, so everybody was always rooting for them and about that time I was kinda like ‘why’s everybody rooting for the same teams? Let’s find something different’ and so I found something different and that’s who I stuck with. And it’s just gone from there obviously. Everybody here normally that doesn’t know me think that I am this mean get-everybody-in-trouble person but anybody that gets to know me and has known me for a little while know that yes that is a part of my job but that is not who I am. They always go in my office and see my Marine Corps stuff in there and they’re like ‘oh my gosh he was in the Marines’ but no I am not that. I have three daughters so they softened me up through the years that’s for sure. All with different personalities.”

Do you have any pets?

“Pets? I do. Let’s see right now we have four dogs at my house, two who are mine. One’s my daughters and the others is my father in laws. So we technically have four, two are mine. Little long haired chihuahua which has been with us forever we’ve had her about twelve years now and I have a husky that I’ve had for five years now and that’s my companion. She pretty much follows me around and does everything. She goes running with me in the morning. She always wants to go everywhere with me. We used to have rabbits but rabbits don’t last too long so we don’t have those anymore.”

Favorite and least favorite subject in high school?

“Let’s see. So I’m going to be honest, my twelth and kindergarten years I didn’t care very much for school so I would say most subjects were subjects I didn’t care for. But if I had to pick the one that I didn’t like it would probably be math. The one I liked the most would have been English and that was more for teachers I had then subject matter. Not until I got out of high school and went into the military and started going back to college that I realized that I should probably learn that stuff (laughs) I should probably know how to do that. Especially too because the first year of college was almost- I don’t want to say a waste- but it was me basically catching up on classes that I should’ve taken in high school and I had to be able to take them so my courses could start counting towards my degree. I wasted a lot of time. So I was pretty adamant with my daughters about staying on track, they definitely weren’t like me through those years. It kinda stinks I definitely don’t suggest kids to be like me that’s for sure.”