10. I attempted to write a book around the age of 12, and even got to chapter 10. It was along the lines of a Goosebumps novel since I was heavily obsessed with R.L. Stine. Unfortunately, the computer that I started the book on was given away (!!!) and I decided not to begin it again. Short stories from then on.
9. I've had a plethora of weird celebrity crushes starting at the age of 9. This included Sisqo, Al Pacino, Jason Kidd, Jackie Wilson, Robert DeNiro, Nas, John Stamos, Chris Webber, Nelly, Blair Underwood, Haywood Nelson of What's Happening!, Haini Wolfgramm of the music group The Jets, etc. And the BIGGEST crush of them all? Sylvester Stallone. As you can see, there is no rhythm nor rhyme to this selection. Let the judgment commence.
8. The first rap song that I memorized is "Tha Block is Hot." I even printed the lyrics to make sure I knew every word and ab-lib.
7. I have seen a ghost before. Before you jump to call me cray cray, my sister and I both saw the ghost at the same time. And the house that we saw it in was said to have other "encounters" before. We never spent the night there again.
6. Because I used to help my mom in the kitchen a lot, I always thought I could cook. So when everyone was sleep in the house, I would get up in the middle of the night and grab my mom's Betty Crocker Cookbook.
Needless to say, I failed miserably. I pulled Millie into helping me one time, and we had to hide a pot we burnt in trying to make creme brulee. I did have one success! French onion stew. Couldn't go wrong with cutting up onions and a few bullion cubes.
5. I was a late bloomer whereas both my sisters developed at early ages. Both of them had hit C-cups before entering middle school, and I on the other hand remained flat as a wall. I would cry about it too. Not like small little "wah wah wah, I want boobies" cries, but "OH WOE IS ME! THE WORLD SHALL END-ETH IF THY BREASTS DO NOT GROW-ETH!!!" cries. Then the next thing you know, BAM! by eighth grade year. Then high school. Then college. Smooth sailing from there on out.
4. My first job was at a library where I had a number of obsessed patrons. One patron, a middle age white man, asked to take a picture of me sitting behind my desk at work. I wanted to say no but I agreed. Security caught the man taking the picture, asked him to show that he deleted it on his camera, and escorted him out the building. The next week, he brought in the picture he took- printed and in a frame. I was terrified. Scared to tell my parents, I hid the picture for a long time in our hall closet. After some months, I took the picture out, tore it into pieces, and smashed the frame. I left the library to go to Bridge, but even in the summer months I spent at home struggling to look for jobs, I never applied to work at the library again.
3. My first "boyfriend" was at the age of 13. His name was Chris, and my first encounter with him was watching him and my cousin ride by house (on bikes of course) with Chris cussing my cousin out. Mind you, Chris was only about 5'2, 5'3 at the time, and my cousin was some inches taller than him. On top of that, my cousin was like a neighborhood bully. So the fact that this boy was aggressive and denigrating someone older and physically larger than him, intrigued me. We met that day, we became a "couple" that day. My dad didn't like him, and I'm being nice using the phrase "didn't like." He eventually told me that Chris' name had been brought up in the barbershop as one of the many boys who'd been robbing people in the neighborhood, as well as did some breaking and entering. It all made sense, especially after Chris told me his "job in a junkyard" was a cover-up for him selling weed. I came to my senses and told him I didn't want to talk to him anymore. In response, he threatened to kill me and any other family member that tried to stop him. Good ol' Chris. Such a kidder!
2. Okay, this fact may disgust some readers. I've always had a high pain tolerance. I don't want to say that I'm a "fiend for pain" because that makes me sound like some kind of freak. 0_o I was just one of the kids who liked the feel of putting chip bag clips on their skin, on binder clips on their fingertips (I know. I know...) One of my worst habits, however, was to....umm...stick sewing needles under the skin on my fingers. On the palm side. I don't know why I used to do it, but it was more or less because I was bored and it didn't hurt me. So back in 6th grade, I decided to not only stick the needle under my skin, but use a threaded needle. By the end of second period, I threaded what looked like a small, stitched circle in the center of tip of my thumb. I freaked my classmates out, and of course, my teacher. Next thing you know, I get home from school, and my parents told me that my teacher contacted them during recess. HER story was that I cut my thumb open and sewed myself back together. (Really?) They asked was there any truth to her story, and I just told them about the needle incident myself. My loving father and mother, having already accepted the fact that their daughter was a weirdo, already knew about me playing with the sewing needles and quickly disregarded the whole thing. They also knew that although I wanted to be a doctor at that age, but wasn't dumb enough to cut myself open. Shoutout to Ms. Kallis for the memory.
1. At the age of 11, I first began tutoring at a tutor program at my church. At the time, adults were the only tutors, but I asked the program director if I could volunteer. I loved working with the elementary-aged students, and would bring in bags of candy from the penny candy store to reward them for their work. My favorite person to tutor was a special-ed student who was a couple of years older than me. I can't remember her name, but I remember her face, and the joy she had when I congratulated her on getting something right. Having remembered that feeling, and now having a nephew who's a special-ed student, I decided to apply to a tutoring program in Ann Arbor to work with special-ed students, and in addition, applied to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Fingers crossed that they accept my applications!
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