I played Soccer for 3 yrs., from the age of 6, 7, and 8. 

 

 

Although I enjoyed Soccer for quite a while, it wasn’t really something I wanted to commit to, I wanted to do more one-on-one activities like running.

After my 3 yrs. of soccer, I joined cheerleading at the age of 9. I was always picked on as a child, maybe it was my appearance, and maybe it was because I was different. I wasn’t like the other girls. When they wanted to play Barbie’s, house, or share their interest in boys, I wanted to play dinosaurs, video games, or hot wheels. I enjoyed playing with animals more and drawing. I used to love making mud pies, and catching bugs and feeding them to ants or spiders.

If you have ever seen the cartoon ‘Pepper Ann”, well I looked like her, frizzy, curly hair, always in a ponytail, and huge glasses. Although I was picked on frequently through my early years in school, I was always quiet, shy, analyzing, observing, and/or daydreaming.  I have always been by myself, even though I initially grew up with 2 older sisters at the time.

-

After 1 yr of cheerleading, I took some painting classes later on in the near future, which I loved. I have always been drawing since I was small at the age of 3. But painting, wow…I really, really, enjoyed that. I believe I was about 10 or 11 at the time.

 

-

A few years passed and things changed, my parents separated and me & mom kept moving from apartment to apartment, and then back to grandma’s house, where we initially started. Throughout Middle School, I was still constantly being ignored, isolated, and picked on here & there.  I did gain weight due to excessive eating, no exercise, & child development. I became uglier in so many ways, I felt as if no one wanted to hang out with me cause of my appearance, and boys didn’t like me either. So many girls in my classes looked so much prettier at the time and they always had boys chasing them or already had boyfriends to claim.

I just wanted someone to like me besides my parents, but that wasn’t going to happen for a long while.

-

When my mom & I moved back into my grandma’s house I started going to the local middle school there, and I actually new faces from kindergarten and some from my elementary school years. So I felt a little more comfortable, but I was still an outcast, my self-esteem had been shot down for so long, I didn’t want to do anything anymore, no sports, no extracurricular activities, just be solo and or hangout.

-

After middle school it was time for High School, I started making new friends, meeting new people, and became more outgoing, I started going to parties, gigs, and busing it to places around Southern California for events. I gained some self-esteem kudos because guys started noticing me, I started to feel wanted. I made more girlfriends, and more guy friends. I wasn’t a nerdy little girl with big glasses, huge 

frizzy hair, and scrawny. With the weight I gained through out middle school I started losing some of it due to natural body development, but I was still chubby. I hated it, but I dealt with it for 3 years, until I realized that friends aren’t always your friends, boys are a joke, & parting, drinking, and doing drugs isn’t everything, there are more important things in life.