Personal Narrative: Catalina Island, California

California has always held a special place in my heart for many different reasons. I was born and raised in this state and although there has been many drawbacks to being Californian, it has always been a place of comfort for me. California has played a huge role when it comes to the person I am today and why I have such an open mind, love for different cultures, and my willingness to work hard for the so called “California Dream.”

Every summer I look forward to sitting on a large, warm cabana under the Texas sun. My feet buried in the sand as I welcome the lukewarm waves against my legs. Being a beach bum in South Padre Island, Texas is a great way to bring on the summer. This island isn’t short of attractions, from the beautiful ocean, to tasty restaurants, to fireworks over the ocean you will never get bored on your vacation! Last summer I was joined by a few of my closest friends. We made so many memories as we all went parasailing for the first time. Our relationship grew stronger as we were able to share a new experience together. Spending a few weeks in South Padre Island with family and close friends is a great way to make memories that will last a lifetime.

I grew in a very small Northern California town. I am an only child and I was mainly raised by my mom who worked full time as a waitress. These are only two sentences about me, however I think they paint a picture about the way I look at the world. When you think small town you think sheltered, and you would be right. When you think Northern California you think liberal, you would again be right. When you think only child of a single parent you think independent but close to her mom, you would once agin be correct. Perhaps you didn’t guess all those things from the first two sentences, but I am here to tell you that many people can. I tend to read like an open book. I’m easily guessable.

My father finally spoke up and said abruptly, we are moving to California. I said what!. That answer moving to California, was almost equal to my uncle telling me "Your Sister Jackie is dead." I knew that my girlfriend, my anchor on earth was disappearing from my life. And now she was gone, 35 days after I lost my sister. My earth angle, I dreamed of being my wife was gone. I felt like I was having a nightmare and couldn't wake up, how could all this be happening to me. Despair sit like a stone in my stomach, like concrete boots dragging me toward what felt like my inevitable end. "I'm not going to make it. "I was in a state of melancholy depression.Laced with a fatal sense of my own wretchedness. I was fourteen years old and felt like I was

The United States has always been “home” to me because I feel that I am a bit of the quintessential American story. I was born to immigrants hoping for a better opportunity than what was offered from their third world home country. I was raised and went to school here, which blended many of my parent’s home culture and the new American culture. As I have matured, I have noticed how much my life has been influenced by society’s opportunities and issues. The American character is the crossroads of opportunity, struggle, and hopefulness because the it is not only a reflection of the founding father’s ideas, but also a reflection of minorities who have interjected their experiences that shaped my American journey.

Entering Cal State Channel Islands was a momentous victory when it came to my acceptance. As a matter of fact, I sense I was going to improve my writing skills and be out with the old traditional habits taught to me in high school. My writing experience was identical to a metaphoric quote, “kill two birds with one stone.” The stone symbolize when I abolished the five sentence per paragraph policy. The two birds represented writing techniques and understanding how to express myself onto a paper. Unfortunately, the only English classes I have ever taken in my higher education were English 102 and English 103. Consequently, from what I can recall, I was intellectually and writing constantly about my opinions based on certain topics. When it came

“I’m sorry Mommy, I promise I won’t do it again. Please forgive me.” this was all I could say. I had no excuse for my actions.

Maui, Hawaii, is a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it’s an amazing vacation spot. Most families come to Maui for its island zipline, snorkeling with the sea turtles and riding horses through the island. A lot of people get married on Maui and stay there for there for their honeymoon.

I had arrived for a two-week stay at the transit barracks of Camp Pendleton in California. We would stay here temporarily until we flew to our overseas base destination. They had told us that we were not allowed to leave the base prior to our flight. They probably believed that some of the newer soldiers might get themselves into trouble in Oceanside, or head for home with cold feet rather than leaving the United States for the next year.

“Shawn have you ever heard of Hawaii?”, my father asked while we sat down for dinner. At that moment I already knew what was about to happen. My parents had been “joking around” recently about moving but I could tell that the jokes were progressively getting more and more serious, and this scared me. “No” I replied trying to avoid the subject. “Well it’s an amazing place, and your dad just scored a job transfer there and me and him are pretty set on it now.” I was distraught, I didn’t even want to think about leaving all of my friends and family that lived in texas.

Outside the window it is storming and raining . I can hear the storm outside it grows louder as I try to sleep,but also I kind of enjoy the sounds that nature is giving me.Suddenly I jerk myself awake and find that I am sweating and on the floor. I say outloud, “I wish i were somewhere nicer like Hawaii ”.

How is everyone doing and did anything change? Hawaii has very warm consistent weather, but I miss our home cooked meals and the different types of weather. Especially the springtime when the whole family would sit under the cherry blossom tree and gaze at the beautiful pink leaves as they would fall. 10 years ago, when I first arrived for my marriage, I thought the pay would be wonderful because there were so many rumors around the neighborhood and everyone was talking about it. I was excited that life would be like paradise and that is why I thought it would be completely fine to sign the contract that I didn’t even understand, to work here, but we were completely wrong.

Last week, Jimmy made an appointment with me and we planned to board the cruise ship to Coney Island on Saturday evening. When I finished my intensive work in the store, I went back home in a hurry and replaced the long pleated skirt into that evening gown. Then, I checked my pocket watch, I found it was time to leave. I went out of the house in a rush to make sure arrived there on time.

To my surprise I won the contest, the contest everyone was talking about. It included a trip to a mysterious island, Turtle Island. No one knew what was so special about the island because the winners of the contest in the past were required to sign a contract to guarantee they wouldn’t tell anyone about what made the island so special. No one really knew anything about the island other than the fact that they wanted to find out what was on it. The letter I received the day before told me to meet at a pier about 2 hours away from my house. When I got to the pier the other 9 contestants were getting into the boat. About 30 minutes into the boat ride another contestant pointed out 3 huge and round rocks with trees, grass, buildings, water parks,

Our family went to Hawaii one year and something pretty embarrassing happened. At dinner one night my parents said we would be traveling to Hawaii but I must have misheard them because I thought they were talking about a ski lodge that has a similar name. I panicked because I hate skiing. I packed all long sleeves and ski gear. When we came out of the airplane all I saw was water and sand. I thought they were talking about a ski lesson but they were talking about a surf lesson. Whenever we came out of the hotel I saw that my parents were dressed in swimsuits while I was wearing ski gear. That trip was so embarrassing everyone kept staring at me awkwardly.