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Day of Birth
I was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, to my mother, father, and my older brother, who was born five years prior. -
Coco
As an anniversary gift to my mother, my father purchased a bulldog puppy from a puppy farm, who we named "Coco". She had a lovable, motherly personality, and was always well behaved (due to the extensive - and I mean EXTENSIVE - training she received from my mother) up until she died mid-2014. -
My Younger Brother is Born!
"Do you want a little brother or a little sister?" I remember my mom asking.
"I want a little brother!" I replied.
"Ok. Then you have to ask God for one." So, every night, before I went to sleep, I'd ask God to send me a little brother, which he did, bringing my little brother into the world seventeen days after my fourth birthday. -
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Elementary School
A year after my brother was born, we moved from our two bedroom condo into our new (current) house, and I entered elementary school, which was only a short distance away, and at which I spent the next seven years of my life. -
Nico and Nana
Around mid-2006, my aunt, who owned a large dog like us, decided to take our dog from us, since Coco always kept her dog in line. It was easier for her to have our dog train her dog instead of my aunt training her own dog. After a year of this, feeling bad for us, my aunt purchased two Maltese dogs from their original owners, a brother and sister, named Nico and Nana, who have become two of our greatest companions. -
My first trip abroad - The Philippines
In 2009, my father convinced my mother that we needed to go to the Philippines to meet our grandmother - there was no telling when she would die.
Shortly after school ended for that year, we packed up and headed over to the Philippines with the rest of my father's family. We spent a month there, mostly doing touristy stuff and visiting relatives. It was one of the most fun trips I've ever been on, partly because I was surrounded by my best friends - my brothers and my cousins. -
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Homeschool
After one year at a "normal" junior high school (which I left out since that year was largely uneventful), my mother decided that we should try out homeschooling. My younger brother and I were getting older, and she wanted us to be able to travel the world while we were still young and all of us were still together as a family (i.e., not off to college). And for those two years, we spent homeschooling, we did travel, from Australia, to Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. -
Australia
For the duration of our trip (my father was there for business, while my mother, brother and I toured around), we spent our days wandering around Sydney, visiting all of the sites. On weekends, we took the ferry to Bondi and the other beaches. The last few days of our journey, we went north to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled for a few hours at Green Island.
Australia is definitely one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to. I wish we could have stayed longer than two weeks! -
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Middle College
Originally, I had a tremendous amount of doubt that I'd be accepted to go to Middle College. Yet, we went through the whole procedure anyway, going to the presentation, taking the tests, and going to my interview, my mom pushing me the whole way.
MC has been one of the best decisions my mother's ever made for me. It's been an awesome 2 1/2 years, and I thank God for letting me be a part of such a wonderful program and for sending my mom to push me into taking the road less traveled! -
Singapore
The week before school started that fall, my family took a trip to Singapore, again for my father's business. Like all of my other trips, I wish I could have stayed longer in Singapore - there is so much that we didn't do.
However, it wasn't uneventful - like in Sydney, we spent most of the week wandering around the city-island, and on our last day, we went to Santosa for a beach day. -
Canada
For winter break, my family and I took a road trip to Vancouver. It was wonderful to have a "white Christmas" for once - although we had to drive out of Vancouver to find snow. I remember, on the drive back down, we pulled over, off of the freeway to have a snowball fight. -
Graduation
On June 4th, I will graduate from Middle College!! After that, I will continue on at community college for two years, and then transfer to UCLA or USC.
