My final year of high school.
I felt like I had conquered high school at last. I had worked my way up on the social ladder on my own terms. Not because I wanted to be cool but because I just was. I was a nice kid, fun and funny. And being good at many things also helped me being accepted and popular among different circles of friends.
This final year of high school was about enjoying my last year of high school and preparing for college life ahead.
The end of my skateboard career
I ended my skateboarding dreams.
Much to my parents to delight, and to the shock of all my friends…I decided not to skateboard anymore. Afters of fantasizing and dreaming about becoming a pro skater, and even feeling it was a guaranteed future…I realized I didn’t like everything that came with it.
All the pro skaters I know had destroyed bodies. Forced to riskier and riskier stunts, it was only a matter of time before they fell and broke bones or suffered gruesome injuries. The best injuries was a clean bone break. But not everyone is that lucky.
- One guy broke her leg in very badly and couldn’t walk.
- Other broke his arm in multiple places, his arm looked like a cartoon zigzag.
- One friend smashed his face and blood gushed from his chin.
- Another hit his head badly and suffered a concussion so bad it traumatized him. He skates with a helmet all the time now.
- Another one missed a jump and landed on a spike fence that tore his penis. He peed through a rubber tube on the side of his hip while his re-stitched penis was recovering.
I could go on and on but I don’t remember all. Even the guys who didn’t break any bones later had massive back problems in their adult age. I’m talking about 28 year old guys who have body deformities or loss of movement that they can’t even do certain things. Or just nasty scars on their body or face.
I compared the life of a pro-skater to a gangster. A gangster eventually ends up dead or in prison. A skater eventually ends up injured or disfigured.
No thanks. I realized that I accomplished more than I ever dreamed of on a skateboard. It taught me confident and courage. How to be brave and fearless. How to be self-taught (since I was already the best in my area). To believe in myself. And how to believe that I can accomplish anything I want.
Skateboarding has served its purpose in molding me. Now it was time to save my body for future athletic dreams.
The end of my chess hobby
I quit playing chess as well.
As much as I enjoyed chess, I eventually lost my passion for it. It seemed like a dead-end game where your mind is doing nothing more than computing for the best move. And at any given time, there seems to be only one best move. Like a really complicated game of tic-tac-toe.
There was no such thing as style or personality, individuality. You were a slave to always making the best move possible. I also felt being a good player relied on having good memory more than making spontaneous calls to the moment. The whole game just felt robotic and I fell out of love with it. With zero desire of turning pro, or winning more prestigious tournaments, or developing a higher chess rating. I was prepared to go spend my brains for more creative and individualistic endeavors.
Track & field winner
I decided to try track & field again.
This year, Annie decided not to do track anymore. So I’m sure you’d wonder just like everyone else…why is Johnny doing track & field again?
It’s a funny story but at the end of the track season last year…in the very last track meet. I jumped last place again like I always did. Against every jumper in the league (out of 8 high schools).
But the difference was, I was only 1 and half inches from the next lowest guy. I was actually close to the next last guy instead of being a whole 1 or 2 feet shorter like usual. I was still far from the best jumpers but anyway, I was curious.
I wondered what if I might actually not be the worst? What if I could improve myself to not be the worst? Shit, let’s try it! Hahahahah….it’s the craziest way to spark self-confidence out of literally nothing.
Surprise at the Belmont time trials.
Next year, I joined the track team early. And did all the early year conditioning. Instead of jogging at a leisurely pace and chatting with friends like I did last year, I was on a personal mission this year. I pushed myself each and every day. Always trying to do extra reps, extra sets. Doing more than the coach asked for. I wasn’t running for Annie anymore. I was running for myself. I wanted to see what I could do.
Maybe the hard work was working. Or my body had changed again. (Perhaps a bit of both.) But when the school ran time the trials this year…everybody was in for a huge surprise. The time trials are like mock races to see where everybody stands and what people’s speeds were so we could predict or place them in their events.
To everyone’s surprise, including my own…I was the 2nd fastest in the whole school in the 100m sprint. Everybody was like WHAT-THE-ACTUAL-FUCK?! Johnny, the last place Asian kid from last year, is now Belmont’s 2nd fastest sprinter?!!!! WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKKKK?!!!!!
You had to see it to believe it, our top sprinters team line-up looked like:
- Richard Jones – short super-thick muscle black guy, also on football team
- Johnny Nguyen – lean muscle Asian guy
- Tim Farley – tall muscled half-black, half Puerto Rican, also on football team
- Nate Jones – tall lean black guy, on both football and basketball team
- Nick Melendez – muscled Mexican, also on football team
Joining the hurdle squad.
During the early year when athletes were trying different events to see what they liked or fit best, I discovered I had a talent for hurdling. Hurdling is actually a very technical event where you have to jump over hurdles. It’s not only physically challenging, but also very technical, and makes you very nervous. It’s easy to miss a jump and fall badly or injure yourself during the hurdles. For this reason, the best hurdlers need years of experience to perform well.
But for me, even though it was my last year of high school…it was only my first year of hurdling. But i was already the best hurdler in my school. I had a faster sprint time than any of the other hurdlers and although I lacked experience, I was already fearless from doing dangerous skateboard jumps. Although hurdles are usually scary or nerve-racking, they weren’t for me. That was my advantage.
Another disadvantage for me was that I was short. I had to actually jump higher than others when going over the hurdles (since they were at my chest level). Whereas for the taller runners, they can almost just run right over them (since the hurdles only came up to their hip level). No matter anyway, I’m here for fun and challenge.
1st track meet – Taft
Guess who we’d be racing at the start of our track season this year?
Once again, it was Taft High School. The big scary black school that laughed and cursed at me during my embarrassing 400m letdown last year. I was back with a vengeance. I scored 1st place in one event, 2nd place in two others, and 4th place in another.
Barely only my first meet in this new body and already people were looking at me differently. There were even some cheerleader girls from Taft who asked their track coach to ask me if I already had a date for prom.
2nd track meet – Lincoln High
We faced Lincoln High School in our second track meet. They were a relatively weak school with few good runners. In the very first high hurdles event, I quickly stormed to a massive 1st place finish. Beating the 2nd place guy (Lincoln’s hurdler) by 2 whole seconds. Everyone on our school was so proud cheering my name loudly with every jump. It felt like my skateboarding days all over again.
3rd track meet – Eagle Rock
This was a very strong track team. Their best hurdler beat our best hurdler in the league finals last year, a super tall black guy named Edward Johnson (aka EJ). And guess who was in the stands before this hurdle race? It was EJ, our former champion himself. He stood in the stands yelling out to me, “JOHNNY, GO BEAT THEM!” Alongside him was Tim Farley, our 2nd best hurdler but he was injured so he had to watch as well. He wished me well.
With all the hopes of my school on my back, the gun blew and the hurdlers came out. I had a faster raw speed and was easily beating their fastest guy on each jump. And with each jump, the crowds roared louder and louder. I was easily winning the race until the final hurdles #8 and #10 (there’s 10 hurdles total). I had a mis-step in my technique which forced me to jump on the opposite leg which made me a split second slower and the 2nd place guy caught me and beat me.
I walked away from that race very disappointed at my 2nd place finish but the whole Eagle Rock team (runners & coaches) were legitimately shocked. They had a strong hurdle team, with nearly 3 to 4 runners who were capable of beating any school’s fastest hurdler. I was an unknown who didn’t have any history of hurdling and yet I had nearly beaten their champion. They had no idea who I was before…but from here on out, my name was going to be on the opponent’s scout records. I had officially become “THE GUY” to watch out for. In the other hurdles and jump events, I scored 2nd place and 1st place and 3rd place. Proving once again…I was one of the school’s highest point scorers…and a proven winner, even against the toughest competition.
At next week’s track practice, my coach awarded me the weekly “team shirt”. It’s a ritual our coach does every week awarding a team shirt out to the athletes with the most admirable performances last week. I had sat through many meetings last year clapping and watching other athletes receive them. I never dreamed in my wildest fantasies that I would one day receive one.
I was just caught completely by surprised. He usually does a little speech before the award speaking of someone in anonymous third person. “This next shirt is for a runner who went out there and did everything for us this week. He placed in 4 events. Setting new personal records even in events he just started this year. And against tough competition. JOHNNY NGUYEN!” As everybody clapped. It was a heartwarming moment to say the least.
Hearing words like that never felt so good. I was emboldened to try harder and push myself even harder.
Spring break – Eagle Rock Invitationals
This is a really cool massive track event during spring break, where 100 schools from all over the state arrive to race “unofficially”. Each team brings only their best runners instead of their whole team. And you see only the best racing against the best.
It was an incredible experience to witness. From the parking lots, you could see the buses pulling in from different school districts. With tons of superstars pouring out. You even saw fancy coach buses that unloaded private track clubs, runners with fancy matching warm-ups on. Wow. Many of the top runners proudly wore their “champion” shirts from previous years. Some runners had their fastest times tattooed on their backs or arms. Even some USA Olympic athletes were there to support their family members.
I ran many different races that day and the crowd was intense. It felt like we were running in the Olympics. Everybody ran for their lives as the crowd went wild. These was some of the best runners in the country. Our team did alright. Usually placing right around 3rd in our races. Our team members who came had already been before, but it was my first time.
4th track meet – Wilson High
This was a school in an Asian neighborhood. And so many of their runners were Asian. Being that their fastest runners were non-Asian. They think didn’t think much of me when they saw me. Also too…they probably looked up my records from last year. Little did they know, the same super slow Asian guy from last year was going to terrorize them this year.
I was like the “super Asian”. Once again, I won a bunch of races. Oh and some girls from the opposing team tried to talk to me. It was funny.
5th track meet – Marshall High
They were our school rivals. We hated them. They hated us. Their top hurdler had clocked the fastest time in our league this year. So everyone was glued to BOYS 110M high hurdles event again. He represented his school and I represented mine. Their crowd cheered for him. And my crowd for me. He was taller, and had a scary calm about him. No nerves at all. This was an experienced hurdler who was used to winning.
The gun blew and I took the lead right away. My crowd screamed in delight as his crowd screamed in desperation. Hurdle after hurdle he tried to catch me, but I stayed in front till the end. Winning as my whole school celebrated.
By now, I was already begging my parents to come watch my track & field events. I told them that I was winning now and I wasn’t a loser anymore. But they mostly didn’t care.
6th track meet – Franklin High
My mom decided to come watch me. The first family member who came to watch. My dad and brothers never bothered.
This was a tough school with a few massively scary runners…one of them being Jonathan Powell (a huge white guy would later play professional NFL football). Coach Zuniga decided to take me off the low hurdle event and put me on the 4x100M relay team as the starting leg. I took off fast but then the other runner bumped my arm and I dropped the baton and we ultimately lost the race. I was really pissed about that mishap.
In the 110M high hurdles event, I took my revenge. Running so far ahead Franklin’s top 2 hurdlers…that my mom heard a black woman in the Franklin bleachers claiming that I was cheating. I also placed in all the other events.
But in the final event, it came down to the triple jump. Everybody watched from both schools watched anxiously because the score was tied exactly even. Whoever won the triple jump event, would win the entire meet.
Can you guess who top 2 jumpers were?
- Jonathan Powell of Franklin High
- and Johnny Nguyen on Belmont High
We each got multiple jumps, with our longest being the official recorded one. And with each jump we took, we were beating each other’s. On Powell’s final jump…he ran down the runway and jumped to 37’8″, beating my previous mark of 37’6″. The Franklin crowd roared in approval as he celebrated and high-fived his teammates.
I had one jump left. And my jump decided whether our school won or lost. Everybody was like “C’MON JOHNNY, YOU GOT THIS!” My coach came over and said, “We need that 38′ again.” You see…I had previously already jumped 38′ a couple weeks ago against Eagle Rock. But I was tired today from my previous events.
I took off down the runway and started sprinting towards the base board. As I hit the board and jumped off, I could felt it was a great jump. I was bursting with joy and excitement when I landed in the sand pit, I could feel my jump was farther than his. And as our crowd started to scream with excitement…the ref held up a RED FLAG. And yelled, “SCRATCH!”
A “scratch” call means that your jump is disqualified because you stepped over the line. I had stepped over by just 2 inches. And we measured my jump anyway and indeed it was a winning jump. But we lost. I was sad for letting the school down but everybody hugged me and said “great job”.
Next week during the team shirt giveaways…my coach said, “This next shirt goes out to a runner who never gave up. He made mistakes, dropping the baton during a relay and scratching a winning jump. But he took on tremendous pressure of our entire school and he represented us well. A true champion even in defeat. JOHNNY NGUYEN!” People already knew that shirt was going to me and started clapping before he announced my name, then loudly as I came up to receive my shirt.
They loved me even when I lost. I would forever be my school’s champion. Their pride and joy. I was absolutely shocked (along with many others). I didn’t even know it was possible to get TWO (2) team shirts in a season. It was rare that anybody would ever get even one!
League Semi-Finals
We’re now entering the league competitions to see who the best runners were in our school district. There was about 8 schools competing in our district. The semi-finals was run at another high school. All you have to do is qualify for finals. No pressure to win. It was also helpful that we had already ran against each other in previous track meets. Everybody already knew who the top dogs were.
Since so many schools and runners were competing, they can’t put everyone in one race. So they run multiple races (called “heats”) of the same event. And then the top 9 times will qualify for the finals.
Before my 110M high hurdle race, a very professional voice went out on the microphone:
- “Next up….HEAT 4, of the 110M senior boys high hurdles…”
- “The top two leading qualifiers are Johnny Nguyen, of Belmont…and John Jacobs, of Marshall”
- My school fans roared as my name was called. Same for John.
The race was a near tragic disaster. In a momentary loss of focus, I had mis-step one hurdle and went from 1st to 5th place. The announcer’s voice was like a horse race right as the gun blew…
- NGUYEN OF LANE 5! OF BELMONT! IN THE LEAD!
- JACOBS, LANE 4…OF MARSHALL! RIGHT BEHIND
- NGUYEN IN FRONT!
- NOW JACOBS IN FRONT!
- LANE 1, DEREK SANCHEZ OF EAGLE ROCK IS CATCHING UP!
- DEREK SANCHEZ OF EAGLE ROCK IS GOING TO WIN HEAT 3!
I had to claw my way back to barely win 3rd at the end…and just barely qualifying for the league finals (9th fastest overall). Had I been a split second slower, I wouldn’t have made the finals. Such a scary thought considering how much dominance I had all season long.
In my other events, long jump and triple jump…I easily qualified for the triple jump, but wasn’t in the top 9 for the long jump. I would be in the finals next week for the 110M HIGH HURDLES and TRIPLE JUMP.
League Finals (at Pasadena College)
The night before the league finals, I prayed for at least 2nd place in the high hurdles. It was the event I cared about the most. I had the 2nd fastest clocked time all season, and was second only to the Eagle Rock hurdler that beat me early in the season. We would finally meet again. But it wouldn’t be revenge for me. I knew he had 4 years of hurdling experience and for me just my first year. I wouldn’t be greedy or over-confident, I just wanted to perform well and not have a near-tragedy like last week.
The league finals would be ran at the Pasadena College stadium. It had a very nice and professional looking track, and professional looking crowd seats. It felt like we were professional runners. The sound system and atmosphere felt like a professional sporting event. I begged my brothers and parents to come but none of them did. My brothers didn’t feel like taking the bus or asking my dad for a ride. My mom was busy at school. Lucky for me, 3 of my high school friends came. Bryan L, Aaron T, and Sophal S.
However…this hurdle track had crowd sections seated differently. Athletes had to sit on the far side of the track. And family and friends sat on the section closest to the hurdle track. My friends rode along in our team bus so they had to sit in the athletes section. Far from me. When they introduced each runner and lane, I could hear loud cheers from my school section…but they were far away. In the family section, I had no one. I remember feeling a bit unfair and disadvantaged. Every other athlete in my race had tons of family and friends cheering and watching closely by as their name was announced. Once again, I was going to run alone. (A metaphor for my life.)
In the high hurdles event, I was placed in lane 9. Usually…the best runners are in the middle lanes and slower ones on the end. This way the race has a nice arrowhead formation and runners can easily see each other and push each other. You also want the best in the middle so they can be next to each other to push each other. I was supposed to be in a middle-lane placement but because I ran so poorly last week, I was in the end lane. Everyone had figured I would choke under pressure and so they forgot about me.
Once the gun blew, I reminded them who I was. I ran far out in front along with the 1st place guy, Chad of Eagle Rock, the one who beat me earlier in the season. When the race ended, everyone was like WOW.
The 110M high hurdle results announced as we each stepped onto the podium to receive our medals around our neck:
- 3rd place – Derek S of Eagle Rock
- 2nd place – Johnny Nguyen of Belmont
- 1st place of Chad M of Eagle Rock.
I was proud for myself but I felt like crying when I stood on the podium. I remember looking down at the 3rd place guy, thinking of how he had so much friends and family cheering for him. I almost wished I could trade places with him. And I wanted to cry thinking of how alone I must felt in this world, that I would trade away all my hard work, my blood sweat and tears…that I would trade away my 2nd place medal, to be 3rd place but have family support.
In the triple jump, I was able to jump my way into 2nd place in the league. I missed 1st place by only 6 inches. I could have possibly won in but I was happy with my hurdle medal already. No need to be greedy. I ran over to celebrate with my school, and cheer all the other team members that won members. Our school had done well. Winning tons of medals at the league finals, and ultimately sending a sizeable squad to the Los Angeles City Semi-Finals. Everyone was proud.
Los Angeles City Semi-Finals
Before this event, I had already heard that the LA city finals would be insane. The Los Angeles city metropolitan area is actually made up of 100+ cities. And has over 1,000 high schools overall. The LA city track competitions are actually fierce. Considering the density of the state and the city itself, it’s not hard to see why it features many of the absolute best runners in the country. In fact, you could even say that an LA city finalist could easily be a finalist in one of the other states.
Days before the event, I read a headline in the LA Times (Los Angeles Times) newspaper:
- It was in the sports section.
- “Fierce competition ahead in the Los Angeles city Track & Field Semi-Finals”
In the photo featured 2 hurdlers flying over the hurdles in perfect folded-position:
- Humberto Jimenez of Verdugo High (white & black jersey)
- Trayvon Johnson of Long Beach Poly Technic (orange jersey)
They were perfectly neck-and-neck and their finishing times were more than a second faster than I had ever ran. They form looked incredible and to be honest, they seemed like gods. Unreal superheroes. And they were running in the same event as me. In this moment, I started to realize how serious this event was. We’re talking about pedigree sprinters with dreams of running for the Olympics.
The morning before school that day, my mother told me she had convinced my dad to come support me at the event and take pictures of me with his nice camera. I was happy for that but also annoyed that he chose to come just now (during my hardest event) and not earlier in the season when I was winning easily.
At school, I thought non-stop about the event. Practicing my hurdle form mentally and repeating positive mantras, just as I’d done for previous events. I was in the zone. I didn’t care about anything else. When the last hour of the day arrived and it was time for the qualifying team members to meet our coach and board the team bus, my coach stopped me. He told me congratulations…you’re the team anchor today. I was going to be our anchor leg on the 4x100M relay team. (Turns out our usual anchor leg and #1 fastest guy in the school, Richard Jones, had gotten into an argument with the coach and kicked off the relay team.) Wow, what an honor for me.
The atmosphere was unbelievable when our bus arrived at the city semi-finals. This was the craziest thing many of us had ever seen. Buses were unloading monster sprinters left and right. They all had the look. The pretty uniforms, the muscles, even the hair. They LOOKED like Olympic runners. I mean so did we….but they just somehow looked more professional and godlike.
When they announced our names one-by-one, we felt like gladiators at the Roman Colliseum. Running for the love of the people. Running for the crowd’s approval. We were gladiators! Warriors!
My first event that day was the 4x100M relay. Oh boy did we provide a spectacle for the crowd. As each team was announced, you would see 4 tall black guys come out. Another school announced, another 4 black guys. Each one scarier than the last.
When our school was announced…and with me as the anchor leg. Everybody, and I do mean EVERYBODY….like WTF?! Who is the Asian guy anchoring that relay team?! I was the only Asian guy on any relay team (out of 40 schools)…and the non-black anchor runner.
- The gun blew and the relays started. Our first relay guy was already 0.2 seconds behind the everybody else. Our second relay leg was another 0.2 seconds slower. Our third the same. By the time I received the baton…we were already last and a full second slower than the next slowest team. We were last and there was nothing I could do to catch up. It’s not possible to outrun another anchor runner by 1 second.
Coach Zuniga was proud of us. He came over to congratulate the team, he said we did a great job and told us to focus on our next events.
- Soon they would be announcing, “110M hurdles HEAT 4, start warming up.”
- So I went out there and start warming up, right on the track, in front of the crowd. But for some odd reason, I was the only one warming up. Nobody other hurdlers were out there.
- I didn’t know I was making a rookie mistake. Apparently all the top runners never warm up in public. They do it in private on the backside track so they don’t get distracted by the crowd or psyched-out by their competitors.
- Soon after, they announced “110M hurdles, HEAT 4…get on the blocks!”
And NOW…the hurdlers came to take their spots. Holy shit, these guys looked like beasts. I was frozen like a deer in the headlights when I felt a tap on my back. A voice said, “Hey…what’s your best time?”
It took me a while before I could turn around and answer. As I turned around, I saw it was Humberto Jimenez…the Verdugo hurdler in the LA Times newspaper!!! Holy fucken shit. He grinned and told me his fastest time, hoping to intimidate me. But I already knew his time. It was faster than anything I had ever ran. As we walk to the blocks, turns out this bastard was in the lane right next to me (on my right).
I decided to ignore him and just start setting myself down into my blocks. A few seconds later, I noticed another set of legs settling down into the blocks on my left. As I turned my to head to look over…I saw it was Trayvon Johnson on Long Beach Poly Technic. Ok….so basically…I’m running against the 2 hurdling monster gods that I saw in the newspaper just days ago. And they’re sandwiching me on both sides.
In case I had mistaken them, the announcer introduced each lane and runner like we were celebrities. The crowd roaring with approval for every runner (including me), but loudest for them. Yeaup…it was definitely them. When he announced, “LANE 4! JOHNNY NGUYEN, OF BELMONT!” I could faintly hear my coach’s voice yelling, “Goooooo Johnnnnnnyyyyy!”
- The announcer goes “ON YOUR MARK…..GET SET….”
- Out the corner of my eye, Humberto turns his head to dog me straight in the eye…with his grin.
- *BANG!* the gun goes off. And the hurdlers fly out of the blocks jump over the hurdles.
- It starts off tight…all 9 runners closely packed, nobody in the lead.
- The crowd screaming with each set of hurdles cleared.
- Humberto was still being an ass. While he was jumping over the hurdles, I could see him turning his head to stare me down. Instead of just focusing straight forward ahead in his lane.
- Somewhere around the 4th or 5th hurdle…I lost sight of him out of my peripheral. And I heard a loud agonizing scream of “NOOOOooOOOOO!!!”
- On my next hurdle, I turned my head during the jump to look back and I saw Humberto had fallen. He rolled once on the floor and then slammed on his hands down on the ground. He didn’t even bother to get up. There was no way he was going to catch up. And Olympic dreams had died right there that day.
- I kept running and finished the race. Ending up around 3rd place in my heat. But 25th out of 40th overall. I wasn’t in the top 9 and did not qualify for the LA city finals next week.
My coach came over to congratulate me after the race. Despite not winning or qualifying for the city finals, it was my fastest time ever. Not bad for a first time hurdler. Now was time to focus on my final event, the TRIPLE JUMP.
- As I walked over to the triple jump pit. A huge black guy came over to introduce himself with a smile.
- I already knew this silly psych-out trick.
- He asked, “Hey, I never seen you before. What do you jump?”
- I told him my best was 38 feet.
- He smiled and said his best was 47 feet.
- I already knew who he was. When I checked the scout records last week, he was the city’s leading triple jump from Dorsey high (green jersey).
I jumped something like 38’6″. I know I could do better but I was happy and content with my performances and how this overall track season went. My dream Cinderella run was over.
Wow…what an honor.
12th grade….track & field (winning alone without support, most improved), on track to graduate…laziness. college choice of CSUN rather than UCLA.
The end of high school
Getting more and more comfortable.
I was pretty much one of the cool kids by then. Track star, athlete, skater, breakdancer, chess champ, computer nerd (I was fixing all my friend’s computers), sexy muscle guy, were among the things people knew me for. I had many circles of friends and got along with everyone.
Everyone invited me to parties. Gangsters treated me with respect. Girls were always nice to me. I was still very much an introvert but a socially-comfortable one.
Beating the statistics.
Our school was an absolutely huge one. Most high schools had around 1,500 kids. Ours had 7,000 since we were in the crowded inner-city. But the numbers weren’t even throughout the grades. We had around 2,000 freshman but it quickly whittled down to only 400 graduating seniors.
I remember at the beginning of high school, when the school dean visited our class and told everyone to look to their left and to their right. He said that only 25% of us would ever make it to college. At the time, I thought that prediction was way too low. But oh did I soon find out how right he was.
Girls would either get pregnant, or join gangs and drop out, or have to work to support the family, or some other reason to miss school. The boys were even worse, joining gangs and dying or going to jail, or getting their girlfriend pregnant and having to work to support the baby. Or just somehow someway not graduating out of high school.
Luckily I, and most of my friends, were set to graduate.
Preparing for college
Choosing my own destiny.
My parents already knew they couldn’t control me anymore. These past few years, they had already stopped trying to parent me. They didn’t give me any rules or curfews. I could skate with my friends all night long on weekdays (school nights) and come home even at 2 or 3am if I wanted to. As long as I didn’t come home in handcuffs or get arrested, or did drugs, they didn’t care what I did.
They had also given up on me being a doctor a long time ago. They hoped my long passion for computers would perhaps inspire me to become a computer programmer, and make good money there. I told them I would choose Computer Engineering as a major, and they were very relieved to hear that.
I was accepted in California State University of Northridge (aka “CSUN”).
I decided to go there because it was cheap. And because some of my good friends were going there. Also…because I felt it was an easier (and cheaper) school than the more prestigious UCLA (University of California Los Angeles).
After doing my SAT’s and ACT’s, my scores and high school grades were more than enough to get me in. I was excited to enter college and do all those cool grown up things I’d seen in the movies.
I also signed up for the US Army.
After talking to a recruiter at school, I heavily considered joining the army because it seemed like a cool thing to do. Looking back…I feel silly as hell and definitely exploited.
- For those not from the US, they might never understand America’s obsession with the military and glorifying military participation.
- Basically…the US war machine is heavily glorified and propagated throughout movies, media, and pop culture. It’s considered a very cool and honorable thing to do…to join the military and go fight overseas to “protect America’s freedom”. It sounds so dumb now, but I was ignorant then. And actually, (I’m embarrassed to say) many Americans are still ignorant now.
- The US military recruits heavily in poor communities. Selling the promises of adventure, discipline, and college money.
- Many poor kids who either don’t want or can’t afford college, and also don’t yet want to work, will sign up for the military. Because they feel (from years of American brainwashing culture) that it’s the cool thing to do.
Luckily for me…I asked around about all my options and settled on the US Army Reserve. It’s one of 3 branches of the US Army:
- US Army (active) – the regular branch is known as the active army. Where you are stationed on a base stateside or abroad. You do your regular bootcamp training…then you live on base, training and eating, and then called up for combat duty or international deployment as needed.
- US Army Reserve – this is the backup branch of soldiers. How it works is after your bootcamp…you get to live at home, and work a regular civilian job or go to college. And then you only have to report to your military base 1 weekend every month. And also do 2-4 weeks in the summer. Your job is to stay ready, and then if needed you are called up for overseas deployment.
- US National Guard – this is the home branch of soldiers. They’re similar to the reserve branch, in that they do their bootcamp and then get to live at home. The difference is that their job is to stay ready and protect the homeland from foreign invasion. They also help with natural disaster relief (earthquakes, floods, fires, etc) or to assist with the local matters (protests or civilian uprisings) when the police are not able to control a situation.
The US Army Reserve seemed like a smart idea since it allowed me to experience the fun of the army without such a heavy time commitment. I didn’t have to live on base and lose 4 years of my life. I could be at home and go to college while also having my college tuition paid. Of course, a reserve soldier isn’t paid as much as an active soldier but my school was cheap enough that I didn’t have to work while in college. As long as the US wasn’t at war…I didn’t have to worry about getting called up for overseas combat duty.
…but we all know what happened during my senior year of high school…
On September 11, 2001…”terrorists” supposedly hijacked planes and suicide-crashed them into buildings in the United States. (I don’t buy that lame excuse at all…I believe the US intentionally did this to make an excuse for war. Just as they’ve done with many other wars. But that’s another discussion for another day.)
So basically…as soon I graduated from high school in June 2002, I would be shipped off to army bootcamp in August 2002. My US Army Reserve contract was for 6 years.