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Bedtime Reading
I made my dad read me alphabet books every night before bed. I was only interested in the pictures, but I learned a lot of nouns and verbs through them, too. -
Best reader and speller in Kindergarten class
When my teacher told my parents this during a conference, I was proud of myself. My classmates would always ask me to help spell and pronounce words so much that I would get frustrated with the constant annoyance, but continue to help them, smiling. -
Harry Potter Phenomenon
I was really excited about the movie, but my mom wouldn't let me watch it until I read the book(s). I fell in love with the way books could take me away to a different place, and have loved reading since. -
Fan fiction & short story writing
Part of my past I don't really talk about (being a preteen is weird). I wrote around 10 fan fictions and 20 short stories. Some of them were commissioned by my friends, and highly praised. I published on a collective fan fiction/short story website. I would sometimes stay up until 5am writing, and I really did enjoy using my words to transport my audience. -
Switch to HTML
From the fan fiction website, I started getting into HTML programming, creating Xanga and MySpace themes for friends and family. I eventually moved on to website design. I learned how to read, write, and interpret lines of code, making really cool pieces that I still have saved. -
High School English
AP Composition nearly killed my love for English. 4 essays a week for 9 months made me exhausted. It was through this, however, that I learned I could take on any writing assignment to come. I was a better writer, but I was emotionally scarred. This is also when I decided to go in to Biology in college instead of English, possibly because of how terrible my AP teacher was. -
College!
Getting to have so many amazing English teachers and having such positive experiences in the field has made me such a better student, a better writer, and a better reader. I've hit academic success milestones I wouldn't have dreamed of, and I think that my college experience has pushed me to work harder and improve my overall literacy. -
Multilingual
I speak Tagalog (Filipino) at home, and I started taking Spanish in college. Having 2 Latin influenced languages has messed me up when it comes to quickly translating in my head. I'm exposing myself to Spanish language more through TV and music, so it isn't as hard to differentiate now.
