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Parent's education
When my dad was in school, he was not the best student. However, he did graduate high school and later when to college. He went to school for electricity and air conditioning, and went back to school again for firefighting, but by the time he graduated, He was told he was too old to become a firefighter. My mom on the other hand couldn't finish high school on time or even go to college, because as the oldest child she had to help take care of the younger ones. -
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Love Letters
While my parents were dating, my mother lived in the Philippines and my dad in Texas. Back then phone calls were to expensive for either of them to afford, and social media was not a thing. So they communicated the only way they really could through letters. Each letter would take a few weeks, if not months to reach each other, so a lot of patients had to come into play -
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The Importance of Education
Since the moment I came into this world, my parents put a big emphasis on educations. Me being the only child, you can only imagine how much more they wanted me to be successful. Ideally they wanted me to excel in every class and put school before everything. They didn't even want me dating until after I graduated college, which is very Filipino of them. -
Childhood reading
When I was a small child, about 2-4, my favorite toy was books. I could sit down and flip through pages for hours being completely content. My favorite book was The Giving Tree, which I read, or would have my parents read, over and over again. My parents never had to force me to read, I was just always drawn to books. -
My Father, The Writer
My dad found his passion with writing after 9/11 had occurred. The tragedy sparked an anger in him that he need to let out and shared with the public. He began writing for the Janesville Gazette and other local papers about mainly politics. He wanted to get his opinion/his truth out there to influence others to make a change. -
1st Grade Poet
In elementary school, for Veterans day, my first grade teacher thought it was fitting to write poems about our veterans and have them submitted. My father is a veteran so I really tried my best to make it something my dad, uncles, grandparents, etc. would be proud of. It ended up being an impressive poem for a 1st grader, and my dad LOVED it! It even got put at some museum for a while! -
First Library Card
As a kid, I loved reading. Books weren't something my parents could afford to continuously buy just for me to read once and never touch again. Especially because I could go through books real quick. So They took me down to the library downtown, and let me get my own card. I swear I could browse the isles for hours. -
The 4th Grade Spelling Bee
In 4th grade I won my class contest to go into the city wide spelling bee. Keep in mind that I have always been a shy and quiet child and having to spell out words in front of people and a huge ass camera knowing my whole class was watching terrified me. Well, short story is I was the first one out for spelling "garage" wrong. I ended up going back to school crying. People this day still give me shit about it. All I can say is that I am permanently scarred from that moment. -
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Computers
For the past, I'd say 10 years, we've always had a computer at home. When I was younger I loved to go on and play all sorts of games or watch different videos and tv shows. As I got older I primarily used my laptop for school purposes, looking up reviews, online shopping, and watching youtube videos. I watch anything from makeup tutorials to comedy skits on talkshows. -
Church Solo
Going to church was always part of my life. I was always a shy kid, so when my pastor asked for me to sing a solo in front of the whole church I wanted to cry and run away, but of course my parents made me, knowing damn well how terrified I'd be. My dad had to go up there and hold my hand, and if that weren't bad enough, right when I had finished the song, my pastor yelled "ONE MORE TIME!" I was literally dying inside. -
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Letters from Home
Traveling to the Philippines has given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing people. Back during my trip in 2012, I made two amazing friends, who until this day, I still consider my best friends. R.R and Necol are their names. Throughout these past 4 years, we have been writing letters back and forth to each other. We also keep in touch through Facebook, but letters are so much more meaningful. -
The Time I Felt Illiterate
As a Filipino, I travel to the Philippines every so often with my family. For the most part, I can understand a lot of Tagalog, the native language, but I can't speak a lot. On top of that, I don't have the accent so I just sound like a white girl! Feeling illiterate in one language that I hardly know in the Philippines is one thing, but the hundreds of other completely different dialects in the Philippines made me feel 100 times more illiterate. -
Babysitting Games
When I was about 14/15 I babysat my moms friend's children. The kids were around the ages of 5-9 at the time, so they would constantly want to play games like house or school. At the time I was considering being a teacher so I would make up different lessons and homework assignments for them to do! It was fun for all of us, and their mom really appreciated the fact that her kids had fun while learning. -
MLA Format
I have always enjoyed writing on my own time and putting my full creativity into it. I don't mind writing for school when I get to choose what I can write about and how I want to write it. What does bother me is having to do my work in MLA format. Writing should be about creativity and forcing structure onto to that really limits your creativity. -
What I read today
These days I still enjoy reading, whether its an actual book, social media posts, magazines, etc. Books I have read and loved have been Bright Side, Gus, The Fault in Our Stars, and Looking for Alaska. I also do a lot of research about different products I want to try, or different reviews on these products. -
Daily Literacy
Literacy is part of everyone's day to day life. At my home my mom and I do a lot of social media browsing, where as my dad is more of a newspaper type of guy. We write things out like grocery lists, or bills we have to pay this month, etc. From time to time, My dad and I will actually engage ourselves in a book. Or a lot of times my parents will read their bible. -
Why I enjoy reading
There are lots of reasons why I love to read. For one, I believe it makes you wiser, especially reading about true events from today or history. I also find myself getting lost in books in a way where everything going on around me is completely blocked off. Overall, reading is just a really fun way to get distracted and get an escape from reality. -
Work Literacy
I work in a memory care unit where I get to care for the elderly who have Alzheimer's. My job involves a lot of reading and writing. Anytime I have any type of concerns about a resident, I have to write it up and report it! Or if we get a new resident, it is our job to read all about their care plan since each resident has different care requirements. -
Favorite Book Genres
I love all sorts of books but my all time favorite has to be romance! Im a sucker for a good love story even if it doesn't end how I would like it to! The best ones are the stories that can make me cry. I also really enjoy books about true events or someone's autobiography. Mysteries and horror books are also really fun to read! -
Future Author
I have always had this dream where I get to publish my own book. Whether it be fiction, non-fiction, a biography or autobiography, or poetry, the idea of it is just super amazing. I would love to write about different cultures or a story about romance or some sort of creepy sci-fi! Hopefully in the future I will have something spark my creativity giving me awesome book ideas!
