ASSIGNMENTS:
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Cyrelle
Winter Haven, Florida USA
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REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
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The story of my life started before I was born, but the world formally recognized me on September 18, 1989. I was born in Cebu, a small but industrious island in the Philippines. My family was rich, but my actual parents were poor. We lived in the house my father grew up in. The family and neighbors loved me there and treated me like a princess, because I was my dad's daughter, and he was very popular there; everyone thought he was all too great, including himself. He named me after him. I am Cyrelle, Cyril's daughter. My parents met in college when they both took engineering, but presently, neither of them are engineers. My mom became a physical therapist, and because of that, I flew to Florida with my father in May of 1993, taking the same flight my mother took a year before us. And that's when my new life began.
My childhood was magical, I must admit. It wasn't spectacular or anything like that, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. I was pretty shy at school, but after awhile, I'd "open up" or whatever. My parents and I lived in apartments and studios. I used to put on magic shows for them, make them act them parts in my favorite fairy tales, attend tea parties, and other things. My mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said "A mermaid." She and I used to put pillow covers on our legs and pretend we were mermaids. My dad, the artist/musician, honed my artistic abilities and encouraged me to draw like him. He had long hair, my mom had a perm, and my hair was straight then. After a few years of being just us, we made some friends with other filipino families in the area. Two of these families, the Franciscos and the Mercados, stuck around with my family up until now. We've all informally adopted each other into our family trees.
From the time I formally started school until 8th grade, I attended Christian schools. Although now I can't say whether I'm a practicing Catholic or not. School was a place of embarrassment for me. 3rd grade started with no hope, because I transferred to a new school, and so I was the new girl... with glasses. I used to take Tae Kwon Do then outside of school, and that was where I learned self-motivation and control. I didn't use my powers for evil though... haha. In 4th or 5th grade, I used to get ridiculously bullied by the older kids. Social outcast status ensued. (I had friends though, don't get me wrong.) In 6th grade, my dad began an affair with a woman named Karen with blonde hair, and it tore our family apart. There were lots of interventions from aunts and uncles who lived in Florida, and my mom... she was sad and angry and all sorts of other things that weren't happy. I don't remember the exact day or year they got separated or divorced or whatever. I remember one year though, my mom and I went to a lot of parties and social gatherings to take our minds off of everything. In 8th grade, I was obsessed with Good Charlotte. They were my first concert, I think it was November 3 of whenever I was 13. I feel sort of silly about it now, but I guess it's okay. I was such a punk then. My dad's affair and my parents' divorce made me question whether love was real or not, which was a big deal to me. I was a girl who wanted nothing more than to be in love, and it mattered to me at least.
Since I was in 3rd grade, I've kept a diary. I love buying new journals, notebooks, and stationary type things. In them, you'll find strange dreams, days spent with the Mercados and the Franciscos, philosophizing, and of course, the names of all the boys that have ever caught my attention. Gosh. When I go through them now, I'm amazed how much I wrote. I must've sat down hours on end writing page after page. Pages filled with names of boys I thought were amazing. Brian, Ryan, Rafael, Joey, etc. I sound so creepy in my journals. I'm still good friends with Brian and Ryan though. So that's good.
When I graduated 8th grade, I took a test for an IB program, and whoop de doo, I was accepted. I basically signed up for more work than I could ever possibly need in my high school career. I made new friends though like Jessica and Erin. My friends and I created a Clubbing Club (not part of school) our freshman year, but it didn't get active until we were juniors and started having monthly picnics in the park. We all love Clubbing Club, and Jessica and I decide who to invite. It's not so much exclusive as it is necessary..? We aren't the cool kids, although we know we are; we are the artsy, eclectic, too weird for you kind of kids. We are pretty normal, but Clubbing Club picnics are a time to release our inner child, take promenades by the lake through a garden, blow giant bubbles, reinact Thanksgiving, and other things.
And right now. I am a senior in IB. My last year in IB art... and my concentration is PJ Harvey and her music. This last summer was the last summer in high school. I spent 2 weeks of it in driver's ed, where I thought I met and lost my soulmate. I'm over that now. Good-bye, Kyle Barker. I saw some music show at the Social with my awesome friend Morgan. I had to say good-bye to Mae and Kim who left for college. I developed a pseudo eating disorder. I smoked pot. I snuck out of my house. I hung out with my friend Jesse. I fell in love with my friend Jesse (shhh!). I discovered and listened to relaxing and cute music. I saw the movie Help! and Me You and Everyone We Know (I made Jesse watch it also, and he loves it). I read The Stranger by Albert Camus, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, part of Catch-22, and part of Scar Tissue that Anthony Kiedis biography. I was a penpal for Jessica who vacationed off the mainland. And I procrastinated on my Extended Essay.
So here I am. The last new thing I've taken upon myself was to join cross country. I am not a runner, but I am definitely improving. I am also blood type A+. I volunteer at the hospital every Sunday. I developed a liking for tea. My parents got remarried my sophomore year in October for legal reasons, and they are good friends now. I get along with them most of the time, but I still get in fights with my dad, and we refuse to speak to each other for days or weeks or months at a time. I get along better with my mom, but we fight too. I love my grandma most. I still can't drive.
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