Bucket List

           I have always been very conservative, never going out of my comfort zone.  That is until one day in my freshman year of high school. I looked back on my live and what experiences I’ve had and realized that I haven’t had many.  I decided that day to have a whole new perspective on life, and haven’t turned back since.  I now live by the “live life to the fullest” motto.

My main goal in life is to have as many amazing experiences as I can. To me, the best way to do this is to get an amazing education and become very successful.  This fits well with a goal listed on my bucket list. I have dreamt of being an engineer since middle school. As of now this is my main focus. I am working on my education to be an Aerospace Engineer and will let nothing stop me.

                Another goal of mine that goes along with being an engineer is working on a huge project that will change the world. Whether it’s significant or insignificant, I want to help create something that people will look back on and think to themselves, “Wow. That’s really amazing!” 

                While changing the world is on my bucket list, another important goal to me is to change an individual’s life.  Whether it’s by providing them with something, giving them a life changing experience, or even changing the way they look at life like I changed mine.  I hope that someday I can help someone improve their future.

                As a successful engineer I wouldn’t only make my dreams come true.  I have always wanted to make someone else’s dream come true. A way that I would do this is to show someone support with a crazy dream. I would help them with resources as well as be with them and do everything I can to make their dream a success.

My career is obviously important to me. Something else that is very important that I have in my future is a family. I want to have a very loving wife and kids.  With my family I want to travel the world, experiencing as many cultures and ways of life as possible, seeing the amazing things on this earth that God has provided for us.  Then after traveling the world I would like to retire, living, for at least a year, on a Caribbean Island, with no care or worry in the world.

These are major and will take a lot of work, some other smaller, yet important, goals on my bucket list are; Make money by playing my ukulele on the street with a hat out, Restart my grandpas coffee making business, Write a song, Get a tattoo for every major event in my life to always remember them, Go sky diving, and to Snorkel.

                While these have all been goals and dreams that I can control and work towards I have another dream that is most important.  Ever since I can remember I have struggled with Tourette’s syndrome.  It’s annoyed me as well as others my entire life. Even now I get strange looks sitting in class or walking down the street, and even comments on my tics.  I don’t blame people I realize that it’s a very strange and annoying thing I just wish I didn’t have to deal with it.  Most people think is just making noises and moving strangely.  It’s not like that at all.  Having Tourette’s and needing to make the sounds and movements I do is a very excruciating thing. Imagine the worst itch you’ve had and not being able to scratch it, never have a peaceful moment, a release from this itch you’ve struggled with your entire life.  This is the closest explanation I can come up with to what it is like.  Add this to the constant strange looks and jokes and comments and you have a very good reason why I would do anything to get rid of it.  My most important item on my bucket list is one I can’t control. Grow out of my Tourette’s syndrome. My mother has always told me it’s very likely that I won’t have it when I am older. I am still waiting for this day. It will always be at the top of my bucket list.

My Best

A time when I was at my best is at the SCC conference tennis tournament.  At the tournament I feel I reached the best that I could do on the tennis court.  I played as hard as I ever have, as long as I ever have, and as well as I ever have. 

As a freshman tennis player the varsity team seemed impossibly far away.  I was a first year tennis player and struggled to hit the ball in bounds on the easiest returns while the varsity were driving balls down the lane returning a well-placed serve.  Seeing the difference between us really made me want to quit. I never dreamed I would ever match the skill demonstrated by the varsity tennis team.

I decided I was going to stick with it. I never like quitting anything and I sure wasn’t going to start then.  Our coach always said there are five parts to tennis and listed them in order of importance. They were; get it in, control the direction, control distance, use spin, and hit with power. So I began working on the first and most important; get it in.  This skill took my whole freshman year to develop but by the end of it I was able to go up against some of the upperclassman, competing for the 12^th position, just by hitting the ball back and in the boundary lines.  The next year I began to work both on direction and distance. By the end of that year I played at the number 9 and 8 spot. This was quite an achievement for me and gave me drive to play more and more. By my junior year I was able to play with the basics and control the spin I put on the ball, putting a whole new twist in the game I played.  During this year I worked my way to the number 4 spot although I also played number 5 for a lot of meets. 

Finally it was my senior year and I was as excited as ever to begin my tennis season.  The coach had high expectations for us and we did not plan on letting him down. The team went undefeated in the regular conference season and did well against the big schools as well.  The conference tournament was nearing and we were practicing as hard as ever, trying to improve our skills just enough to beat the competition.  When it came we arrived with the determination to win.  All of our nerves were roaring while we warmed up.  My first match was against the number 3 player from Clark county, our nemesis.  I played reasonably well and pulled away with a win.  Although the win was awesome, I knew I needed to play better to get anywhere in the tournament. Through the next few games I played as hard as I possibly could, diving and sliding for balls and never giving up on a shot.  Finally after a very long and tiring day of tennis while most of my teammates were out of the tournament I had my final match for third place.  Both I and my opponent were exhausted. I had heat cramps and could barely make myself run for a ball. But, after a very long and close match, not giving up paid off. I won! I got 3^rd place at the conference tournament in singles and an all-conference award.

The feeling of all of my hard work for the 4 years of high school finally paying off was amazing.  I started off as one of the worst, but with lots of hard work and by listening to my coaches instructions, I was able to pull of what I never thought I could. 

This shows me that although I am currently not very high in skill in my major, if I work hard and listen to my instructors, I could become a very successful aerospace engineer in four years.