3rd draft

     My name is Carlo Cedrix De Castro and I'm an 18 year old full-Filipino freshman currently attending CSU Sacramento. My current major is Kinesiology with hopes of becoming a P.E. teacher / coach on the side. I don't have a favorite book since I don't really read for fun anymore, but my favorite movies are "Back to the Future", "Rocky", and "21 Jump Street". I have a lot of experience with technology, but none relating to blogging; I never just did use the internet for that kind of thing. The word that would best describe my feelings towards writing would be indifferent; it would really have to depends on what I'm writing about. Usually anything sparks my interests, but there's still a lot that I don't know(combined this portion with the previous paragraph).
     What motivates me to be successful in college is the fear of failure: I don't want to experience it any more than I should or else I will end up on the streets. I think about it everyday: if I fail, where would i be the next day? What would I do with my life? Would it be embarrassing? Things like that stay to my thoughts. This also is part of the fact of why I'm in college. I'm here to get my degree and teaching credentials and just work as a teacher.
    I grew up in a stereotypical Asian household: parents didn't support me doing sports, I was on a leash at home, and academics were emphasized. Heavily. It was so emphasized that my dad would buy encyclopedias just to have them around the house and force their kids to look at it for at least one hour a day. This would start a chain of events that impacted my way of writing/perception of the world, most notable the reading/writing tools introduced to me as a child, the readings of Harry Potter books, AVID, and TEEAC.
    After reading that one encyclopedia many times, my dad decided to buy a whole new reading/writing material called "Hooked on Phonics". What it is is basically a learning tool/ educational card game all in one that teaches you the fundamentals of the English language and how to use it properly. From compound words to using punctuation, to even Homonyms, this tool taught me a lot, and has shaped my early childhood knowledge by turning me into one of those gifted students. By the time I entered the 1st grade, I was so far ahead that they forced me into the 2nd grade.
     Fast-foward a couple years later, my school opens its own library and I'm able to check out books. One of the 1st books I remember reading was the Harry Potter series. I remember being so intrigued by the plot and character development of the main protagonists Harry, Ron and Hermione that I would continue reading the book series for the remaining years of my grade school days, sometimes even re-reading the installments for fun. I felt as if this greatly helped my reading/writing ability because I was getting used to reading 600+ page books and seeing a more sophisticated writing style has helped me develop my own.
     In middle school, I joined a program called AVID, which is basically a college preparatory class designed to help advance you to the next level of learning. Here I learned about different writing strategies and readings such as Cornell notes and annotating; it became easier for me to understand texts that I could not before. Another thing about this program was that it introduced me to a lot of different people from different backgrounds which helped me to not be so ignorant. One of those people that influenced me a lot was my 8th grade teacher, Ms. Christopher, who acted like another big sister to me and still gives me advice from time to time whenever I visit her.  AVID has changed my perception of the world because it has shown me what life can be without a proper future plan and the tools needed.
     In high school, I tried to find my own writing style for papers, but it wasn't until my sophomore year where I learned about one that would help me greatly throughout not only my school but my entire life. This writing style, known as TEEAC, served as a guideline to how all my writings would be. I basically give analysis on every piece of evidence I provide and how it would be important to the topic I'm writing about. This writing style has helped me numerous times in writing assignments and even all my college entrance statements, and I'm grateful to have been exposed and developed this style.
     Reading and writing is one of those things that are lifelong; no matter where you go, at what time, who you are with, or even what language, reading and writing will always be there. It has no barrier/line of separation. At that moment in college, reading and writing will serve as a big role for me. If I cannot read and write well, then I will surely fail and then I'm back to the thoughts of: if I fail, where would i be the next day? What would i do with my life? Would it be embarrassing? I'm not at my prime yet though. I still have a lot to learn and polish up; my reading and writing skills aren't perfected yet.
     As for reading and writing after school and in my future life, those skills will become even more important than they were in college, because now you are in the real world. There are lots of important things to read and if you don't respond well enough, you might get in a lot of trouble(i.e. fine print on a contract). I feel that after college, you should polish those skills every now and then so that you still stay fresh. There's a saying that's old but I feel that applies well in this case: "If you don't use it, you lose it." In my future career as a P.E teacher/ sports coach on the side, I hope to use my reading /writing skills to effectively communicate to my team on what they should be doing in game, the strategies to win, and how to do each drill in practice to maximize efficiency.