Band Recording - Rampage

LETTER TO MYSELF

Dear grade 12 Micah,

            Hi. As you read this you’ll be going back two years, to see how much we have changed. Without a doubt I’m certain we may disagree on goals and you will probably laugh as you read some of the facts about myself that I have written in the paragraphs below.
           

            Currently, the school year has just begun I am still in that transition from summer. It’s only been the second week of school and I am already tired. I’m guessing you still don’t like school just like me since this is my third year here and I am still not a fan of going to school. It’s not all bad all my teachers this semester are great. Mr. Williams has been my band teacher since grade 8 which is cool. Señora Van Gaans my spanish teacher is really nice and understands teenagers pretty well. Mr Strewik who teaches science is cool too so I do like science, it also helps that Janelle, Naiomi, and Avani are all in my class. Mr. Lucus is my math teacher and he is really good at explaining math. I have English next semester which is my favourite subject. Did you end up taking AP English class? That is my current plan for grade 12, since I am really passionate about the subject. Even though I say I dislike school now, who knows maybe you’ll be sad about graduating.

            One of the main reasons why I like my classes this year is because I have at least 2 friends in each of my classes, which is comforting. Fortunately I have friends who influence me for the better. I think it’s because I know they all work hard, which gives me the motivation to get 4.0 like them. We call each other the stairs squad, because we sit on the stairs by the hub. If you are still sitting there with the same people props to you my friend. We are all so close mainly, because of band as 90% of us play an instrument so we talk about music a lot. I’d say each and everyone’s name but that would take me forever. I also really miss my friend Emma who doesn’t go to Sullivan anymore. Outside of school I have other friends from church. They are my family and even if we don’t go to the same school and don’t see much of each other on the week days, I’m sure as you read this you'll be messaging them about how I wrote about them in this grade 10 letter. Yes, you’ll face palm when you hear this name but we call each other the “Skype Squad”. I love them, because we can tell each other anything or nothing. My best friend in the entire world is Roianne. She will probably be at our grad with Shem, Keithleen and Vanessa too. Roianne is like my rock, I can rant to her about anything, she is like a little sister to me. We scarily have a lot of things in common, but we are also so different, it makes the friendship interesting. Honestly I don’t do anything too crazy with my friends, we usually watch scary movies, jam out with a guitar and eat junk food. I think I can safely say I chose a good amount of people to spend time with.
   

           

            Did you know that as you read these goals you will only have 3 more years to pursue them, which is actually a really short amount of time. I mean we did go from me typing this letter out to you reading this in present day. Anyway, I only have 3 main goals. 1. Have a part time job somewhere in the summer, 2 being able to drive as a class 5 and 3.Studying dentistry at ideally UBC. Also, I really hope you read this letter with your 4.0 plaque during graduation. As hard as it was to think of what I’d be doing in 5 years, now I have to fast forward to 10 years. Who knows where I will be. Hopefully I am done school or finishing up, I’d also liked to be moved out on my own or maybe even with a friend. Hopefully I will have achieved at least one of those goals by 25. At the same time, you could’ve set totally different goals at this point, either way I hope we achieve them.

           

           

            As for what I do outside of my education on the weekends and after school, I don’t do much. My typical weekday after school is to do homework, practice guitar and go on social media. I am usually in my room for the rest of my day and I go for a run outside or on my treadmill too depending on the weather. My weekends are always full, especially this time of month because of the amount of songs I have to learn for the JAM concert. I come home do half my homework on Friday then go to youth and on Saturday it is the same but I go to worship practice instead. I am not complaining though, because I love playing guitar. Once a month I also have to prepare Sunday lessons for the kids I teach at church. When I am not busy, I call Keithleen and ask her to go penny boarding around the neighbour hood or we go to the park and just talk about random subjects. My weekends aren’t the most interesting, but I genuinely love being that busy every week.

            In between those busy weekends I make time to play tennis with my dad as well, as tennis is my favourite sport. Being the teenager I am, I do binge watch TV shows a lot and stay up until 3am. I’d hope that you have a better sleeping schedule by this point. The shows I watch are The Flash, The 100, and The Walking Dead. The worst part is that they all film in Vancouver and I still haven’t met them yet. I highly doubt it, but maybe you’ve already met them! When I am not typing on this laptop I am editing videos for church and other projects. My ideal job would be editing videos all day, but I don’t think there is a realistic job for that. As for my music taste, it varies on the mood I am in. Some bands I am really into right now are Switchfoot, Starfield, Paramore, Fall out Boy and a lot more. I’ve started to listen to Milky Chance, because of my friends. All together, I don’t have the most interesting life, but it’s simple just like myself.
           
As for the goals for this year, all I want is to get a 4.0 honour roll and get my L by
July. Also possibly get a part time job somewhere. In addition, my health goals, are just to keep myself physically and emotionally healthy through out the year. Eat healthier, continue my running and devotional times so that I am not overly stressed out all the time. The P.E. blog I did last year really helped with my healthy goals.
           
            My family described in one word is loud. I am really lucky to have such a stable family, and sometimes I fuss about little things that they do that makes me angry before I realize we have a simple life compared to others. Ate Stef and Kuya Josh are both still in SFU and my dad and mom have both changed their positions at work. My dad works with a company linked with Translink and my mom works at Costco at the front end. We try to spend a night together for prayer even with everyone’s busy schedule. Ate Dianne is doing her own thing, but she is usually at the house every Sunday. I love going to ate Dianne’s house because it’s huge and there are so many rooms. Sleeping over there is so peaceful. There isn’t a lot to say about the family, we mainly fight about little things like driving and taking each other’s clothes just like any typical family.
                                     
           

            One of the questions for this letter to you is “what kind of person are you?” This question is something that was hard to answer, because I am only 15 and I don’t want to label myself as anyone yet. Personality wise I would call myself hard working, because even though I am not the best at school work, the main reason I get the grades I get are because I have to work hard to achieve them. Apparently as I asked my friends to describe me, they said I was selfless. They said that they noticed little things about me like how I don’t like when the people I care about are upset. Apparently they noticed that change makes me nervous. Which I can agree on being true, so if you are nervous about going into University next year, don’t worry Micah you will be fine. Most people’s first impression of me was quiet, mainly, because I am really awkward and say weird things to new people so I tend to keep my mouth shut. However, once I am close with someone I freely speak and actually talk a lot.
           
            In reference to what kind of person I am, some things that make me happy are knowing I have accomplished something new like when I first learned guitar or rode a penny board gives me one of the greatest feelings ever. There is also something about just being with my friends whether or not we are doing something their presence genuinely makes me happy. Going to worship concerts are the only things that can make me ball of happiness. I guess it is because I am so connected to my faith plus the amazing music all ties my emotions together.

           
            One the opposite emotion I do get mad and sad sometimes just like everyone in this world. Especially when I am doing homework and can’t figure it out, that makes me upset at myself, but when I look back at all the times Ive gotten upset over school work I just laugh because it was never really a huge deal. When I am mad it is usually because plans don’t work out, the stress of school makes me lash out on people and sometimes I just have bad days where there is no explanation. Being upset isn’t fun but we all have to go through that emotion, I mean most of us were born crying. As I get older I realize that I need to think about the bigger picture before I start over reacting and acting on my emotions.

            Well, it has been a pleasure writing to you, I am already excited to see this in 2 years. Like I have said before I hope as you read this you will have matured, set your goals and are still as happy as you are to this day. Have fun and if you are confused about what university and picking a job to go into just remember Jeremiah 29:11.

                                                            Sincerely, 10th grade Micah

    

Timeline of my life

https://prezi.com/rpwnn09cjefz/timeline-of-my-life/

Personal Vocabulary

Micah Bernal                                      Personal Discovery Vocab                                           Sept 22, 2015

Skills - a developed or acquired talent or ability.
I think one of my skills is playing guitar, because I don’t even remember learning how to play. All I did was go on YouTube and search guitar tutorials to learn certain songs and chords, also kuya Josh helped along the way as well, and now 2 years later I am playing for my church. Also, other people say I have skills in editing videos. I’ve only started this year, yet I have already made 3 videos for certain projects outside of school, it was a skill I never expected to have.

Interests – involvement with or participation in something.
Some of my interests I am not necessarily the best at, for example playing tennis. I really like the sport, but not in any professional way, it is just an activity I find fun and interesting. Writing is a huge interest I have, even though I am not the best and have met so many writer my age that are a lot more talented with words than myself, I still love it. I like English class, because all we do is write and it’s something I don’t find a burden like some kids do. I genuinely enjoy it.

Aptitudes - a natural ability, something that someone is able to do without extensive learning involved.
 It was hard to think of aptitudes I had, because everything I can I do well at, I had to work on a lot or a little bit. I think I have a natural ability in music, because if I didn’t I don’t think I would be in band to this day. Whether it is listening, playing, or writing music just comes to me naturally, like I don’t have to think. Also, a very random aptitude of mine is penny boarding. You’d be surprised as to how many people can’t do this. It was weird, because I got my penny board with no clue how to ride one, yet when I first tried it out, I just did it. No practice or anything it felt like I had been riding all my life. Also same goes for biking, nobody taught me how I fell a few times and somehow just started riding my bike.

Values - a standard or quality considered worthwhile or desirable/ beliefs of a personal or social group I which they have an emotional involvement.
As a Christian I have a lot of personal values that certain people need to have. Some values like honesty is a big one. Being independent and not relying on others all the time, being kind don’t bring other people down just to bring yourself up. Another aspect that is important in life is staying true to who you are. Even if I get teased about being Christian with all those judgmental stereotypes I think being proud of my faith is a huge value in people need to have.

Attitudes - a complex mental state involving beliefs, feelings and values affect how one acts a certain way.
Going back to my values I think being a Christian really affects my attitude. People say Christians are judgemental, but I think that because I am Christian it is harder for me to judge others, because I know the only being that has the power to judge anyone is God. I’d like to think that I am not selfish, I like giving back to certain causes and I want to try being a missionary, and go to other less fortunate countries and give back.