Me, Myself, and I

Before getting to know me, one may mistake me for just a typical brown hair brown eyed American. However, when I start speaking in Chinese when I pick up a phone call from my mom, strangers and aquaintances are confused. Truth is, I am half Taiwanese and half American. I was born in Port Townsend, Washington, but my mom is from Taiwan. Throughout my life I've lived in Port Townsend, Trukee, Santa Barbara, and Napa. We almost moved to Idaho, but when we visited I wouldn't stop complaining about how cold it was and that's why my family lives in California now. Even though we live in America, my mom and I travel to Taiwan every year to visit family. It seems like every time I gain about five pounds because I become so overwhelmed by all the amazing food.

Outside of school, my life is insane. Once the bell rings at 3:00 I begin an afternoon and evening of running and music. This year I am the cross country girls' varsity captain. Generally from 3:00 to 5:00 I can be found running the streets of Napa under the hot sun with the team. Once practice ends, I re-enter my world of music. Depending on the day I'm off to a rehearsal for Youth Symphony or for some other music group I probably shouldn't have agreed to be part of because I quite literally don't have time for it. But if for some reason I don't have a rehearsal to get to, I'm off to have a piano or a violin lesson. Piano is my first instrument. I began as a wee little five year who couldn't reach the foot pedals. Today I'm still learning classical music, but now jazz has become my main focus. Each year I take the next level up of Certificate of Merit which consists of theory and ajudication, and in May I am judged on a ten piece memorized program for National Guild Auditions. As for violin I began in the fourth grade at Alta Heights. Even though I've been in countless ensembles throughout the years, I'm not sure how I'm even half decent given the miniscule amount of time that I actually practice. I've just learned to be a good sight reader as showing up to rehearsal without looking over the music once has become all too familiar. As a result, I still haven't come to believe that I'm concert master of my high school orchestra. In my musical life I'm not just a student, but also a teacher. My job outside of school is to teach private piano and violin lessons. I have students that range from the first grade whose feet dangle off the piano bench and young violinists who only have a tiny little half sized violin, to students who are just one year older than me and sometimes even grown adults. Though life is busy, I enjoy every last minute of it. That even includes when I'm left completely baffled when my jazz piano teacher demonstrates how I'm supposed to be able to improvise. Ever get that idiotic feeling when you have no idea what just happened in front of you? Like in AP Chemistry? Sadly it does sting a little at first, but that's how we all improve and without it I wouldn't be where I am today. For me, life is a constant drive towards dedication and learning to stretch myself past where I thought my limits were.