Sunday, August 29, 2010

Coming of Age DRAFT

"Kevin! It's traffic, hurry up!" were the first words I heard from my mom, as I woke up on a Tuesday morning. As a got up slowly, yawning, I walked to my closet to get ready. After putting on my clothes and my shoes, I look at myself for the last time in my closet mirror. I thought to myself, "something’s going to change today."

Making my way downstairs, I rushed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Pouring milk and Corn Pops into a bowl, my mom yells at me saying, “Hmm, you better hurry up. It’s traffic!” I quickly ate my breakfast, grabbed my driver’s manual and made my way to the car. It took us about 15 minuets to get to St. Joseph School in Waipahu. My mom parked in the front of the school to pick up three of my friends. We were going to the mall after I was done taking my permit test. After we picked them up, we were headed to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Sitting anxiously in the car, I asked my friends “Help me study, I feel like I’m going to fail!” They asked me questions from the manual. The first question went something like this “you are going into a curve too quickly, you should?” I answer the question quickly, “ ease off the gas, and speed up when you regain traction.” The whole conversation from St. Joseph to the DMV were all driving questions. We were nearly 5 minuets away from the DMV and I began to panic, thinking that I was going to fail.

As we made our way into the DMV, I saw a lot of people who were my age. I took a registration card, filled it out and nervously brought to the front desk. The lady looks at me with a genuine smile and says “Hello, are you here to take your permit test?” I smile back and nod my head yes. She asked both of my parents to sign a card and gave me it after. She then told me to bring the card to the cashier to pay two dollars for the written test. I stood in line for the cashier for about 3 minuets. Standing in line for that long made my nerves go away, but made me feel impatient. After I paid, the lady then told me to stand in line by the blue tape. I quietly thought to myself, “ this is such a really long process just to take a permit test.” At last, this was the last line I stood in before I took my permit test. I gave the lady the receipt to prove that I paid for the test. She smiled and gave me a pencil, answer sheet, and a test. My nerves suddenly came back as a walked to my seat.

I sat down, took a deep breath and began my test. I carefully read the first question and in an instant I circled my answer. I did the same thing for every question. By question five I began to wonder, “ why did I think this test was so hard? It’s EASY!” Before I knew it, I finished my test. I happily walked to the front desk to turn in my test, when I accidently overheard the guy talking to the lady at the front desk saying he failed. Hearing that conversation made me feel paranoid. I began to doubt all my answers on my paper and went back to my seat to check. After carefully checking my answers, I confidently turned in my test to the lady. She then pulled out her grading card, and marked my paper a lot of times. Once she was finished correcting my paper, she looks at me with a nice sweet smile and says “You Passed with only two wrong!” My reaction made people around me stare, because I was screaming and jumping. After I calmed myself down, I walked to the camera station to take my picture for my new permit.

From when that camera flashed to take my picture, I felt like a new person. Driving is something that only grown ups can do and that's exactly what it did, it made me feel like a grown up. I was no longer child; I was becoming a young adult. Receiving my permit made me realize that I have new sets of responsibilities to follow as a person and as a driver.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Pro-Con Formative Assessment ;

Topic "Homeless"

Link to Article:
http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Hawaii-legislators-seek-feedback-from-the-homeless/Qh1bvUtPy0ixlc3mRxTqdA.cspx

Summary: State representatives want to help the growing homeless population out, who live across the street from Aala Park. They are trying to come up with solutions and are hoping that the homeless themselves can come up with solutions also. The homeless who live there feel mistreated by other people. A solution that came up was to create "safe zones" where homeless can stay without being harassed. In addition, they are trying to make one of the 100 unit buildings in Chinatown, a housing area for those with drug problems and mental illnesses.

Proposition: I agree with the representatives that we should have safe zones for the homeless because they are away from where tourists may be and it would make the place look a little bit cleaner. In addition, they would also have a place to live without being harassed by people passing by. Besides safe zones, the housing idea in Chinatown sounds like a great way to help those with mental illnesses and drug problems.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Coming of Age; Finding Myself.

Thinking about the past and all the things I have gone through, I can see that I have indeed "come of age." Coming of age to me means to take responsibility of your own actions, feel more independent and to have more confidence in yourself.

For me, my "coming of age" experience began when I started high school. Coming from a private school, I knew public school would be a challenge for me. I was used to a small campus, with only 46 students in each grade. In private school, no matter what grade you were, we would get along. I could name everyone from kindergarten to eighth grade, I was that close with everyone. As the first day of high school began, I could see everybody chatting and laughing with their friends. I felt almost like a loner. I was so used to everybody knowing me. I had to gain confidence in myself and make new friends. I had to change my personality from shy to affable and vivacious. Doing this, made me make new friends. As freshman year flew by, other things started changing about me besides my personality. I started to dress and talk different. I went from slippers to shoes, jeans to shorts and short hair to long hair. I even went from shirts with awful kiddy designs on them to ones with nice designs that match my age. In addition I even started listening to more hip-hop and alternative music rather than r&b music.

As the beginning of sophomore year began, I yet to come across another “coming of age” experience. Couple days before school began, I went to the DMV to take my permit test. I finished the test in exactly 10 minuets. As I turned in my test, the lady slowly corrects the test in front of me. Once she was finished she looks at me with a nice sweet smile and says “ You passed! “ I was so happy, from there I felt like a new person. It made me feel like a grown up and that I have new responsibilities to follow. I knew from there, I was not a kid anymore, I was starting to become a young adult.

Coming of age can happen at anytime. We all mature at our own pace. I still have many challenging years ahead of me, and many new things to learn and accomplish. My ambition in life is to see me for who I truly am, I cannot do that until I fully “come of age.”

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