Title of Story 1 |
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My Transformed Goal during My School Years My goals during my school were lost and renewed many times. Those permutations were not intended; however, I had to change directions at different times because of my situation. From the later half of elementary school to the beginning of high school, I was absorbed in music, especially playing the piano, which I'd been studying since I was four years old. I'd wanted to become a piano teacher, so my plan was to enter a music academy after finishing high school. Tuition costs in a music academy and music courses in the junior high and high school were surprisingly expensive. Therefore, I took piano lessons from a professional teacher, who taught only students preparing for the entrance exam to the music academies. I studied piano and music theory for many years, instead of taking expensive music courses in school. In addition, I spent three years in junior high school playing the alto saxophone in a school band and put emphasis on subjects such as Japanese and English language arts as they were required in the entrance exam to a music academy. After graduating from junior high school, I chose a middle-level public high school so I could concentrate on practicing the piano. Yet my grades at the junior high school were always in the top three. Then at the end of junior high school, I was offered a part-time job by an editorial agency that was editing a music magazine. My writing had caught the editors' attention, and the magazine was interested in hiring me. So I worked for the agency for a year tabulating readers surveys, rewriting contributions, assisting in photographic locations, and doing editorial tasks as needed. This was the first time for me to earn my own money. When I entered high school, I had to abandon my dream of becoming a piano teacher because my parents got divorced. As my father took our property and then disappeared, my mother and I had barely enough money to live. We were on welfare, and my mother had to work night and day to pay my older brother's private university tuition. As I was watching her undergoing such hardships every day, I couldn't continue taking piano lessons from a sense of guilt, much less go to a music academy. I stopped playing the piano or any other musical instrument for a long time. Until graduating from high school, I spent days being bored as I had lost my goal. In addition, I took a job at a restaurant to pay my school fees. I now had little interest in studying. However, I kept good relationships with the editors I'd previously worked for. They recommended I work for the agency again instead of being a waitress, but, I declined their offer because I needed to make a lot of money, and restaurant work paid more. They understood my situation, yet advised me, "Don't wast your ability." Those words became embedded in my heart. After high school, I entered a beauty college. Entry into the beauty college was recommended by my mother who had run her own beauty salon until she got divorced. Since I hadn't had any dreams for my future, I decided to become a hairstylist for my mother. However, I couldn't stand the college. It was a "dumping ground" for students who hadn't passed the entrance exam to high school. They were often rowdy in classes and I didn't have anything in common with them. Even though the classes were interesting, I couldn't endure my classmates. One summer vacation, I went on a motorcycle trip to a huge island in the northernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. I camped all over the island. I faced and overcame a lot of difficulties there. I learned about people's kindnesses and my own strengths and weaknesses. Spending time in nature, I weighed my future possibilities over and over and finally I realized that I couldn't achieve anything I was not interested in. That is to say, I would strive hard to reach the goal that I desired but not waste my time doing something I couldn't stand. Even though I'd already started working for a beauty salon as an intern after college, I apologized to my mother and quit without getting my license. Subsequently, I asked the editorial agency for a full-time job. Unfortunately, they didn't have any vacant positions at that time, but they hired me part-time and introduced me to an editorial section that edited a well-known motorcycle magazine in a big publishing house because I knew a lot about motorcycles. From that moment, the editorial section turned into a career for me. I learned editorial skills from my senior workers and expert editors on the spot. I was willing to do any tasks, even heavy physical work, and tried a lot of different realms such as interviewing, graphic design, proof reading, modification to black copy, and so on. Occasionally, I quietly sobbed in the rest room at my work-place for the criticism or insult about my lack of education that was hurled at me; however, I didn't quit the job because of my experience of giving up becoming a hairstylist. The proverb, "Sitting on a rock three years will bring enlightenment" kept me on the straight and narrow for three years. After three years, I'd established myself as a free-lance journalist and graphic designer. As I loved creating books, I believed this would be my life work. Then I came to the U.S.! Coming to the U.S., I lost not only my life work but also my ability to communicate and express myself through language. As a result, I began studying English at a language school just to survive in my daily life. About ten months after, around the turn of my class level from beginning to intermediate at the language school, I decided to transfer to ESL at Irvine Valley College so that I could study English more economically as a resident. The atmosphere at the college was totally different from the language school's. Students' bright faces were full of life and hope. Moreover, I discovered that I would be able to find a new goal here beyond studying English to survive if I kept pushing myself hard. At present, I'm in my fourth semester at IVC. Even though I haven't decided on a major yet, I've found my new goal, attaining a college degree. Furthermore, I expect to find my life work once again here. March 02, 2005 "Writing Assignment" |
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