Marshall’s Blog

“Where am I, what’s going on. Am I dead?” Ken slowly started to open his suddenly heavy eyelids. “What are all these dark shadows, what’s that beeping? I feel, weightless, like I’m floating. I feel, so cold, and burning.”

“So many questions, so many answers. Almost all of which, I am not authorized to tell you.” A voice boomed somewhere overhead.

Ken opened his eyes as far as he could, which wasn’t very. He could make out a shadow on what seemed to be the far left of the room, how could it hear him? He started to move towards it. “What’s going on here? I can’t move my body at all.”

The voice chuckled, “Wow, you never run out of questions do you. Right now you’re wondering how I can hear your thoughts. Wouldn’t you like to know. Well good luck with that, Ken.” Mirthless laughter filled the chamber in which Ken was trapped.

“Don’t even think that you can escape, this is a level ten containment field. You can try, but I wouln’t suggest it. The field is full of positively and negatively charged plasma particles, super heated to five-thousand degrees of your planet’s farenhieght. The only thing that’s keeping you from being an evaporating mass of liquid quivering on the floor is the chemically enhanced coolant I have installed. And if you somehow get past that, the floor will register your weight and send an electrical charge through the floor and incinerate you. And if you get past that, well, you’ll die of hunger and disease. How? The glass door is filled with a new and improved engineered version airborne version of the night shadow plague just waiting to be re-released, and we could always use a test subject. So there really is no way out without a DNA I.d. scan that matches up with one on the scanner’s memory.”

“This guy is as boring as my physics teacher’s lectures” groaned Ken. Of course this was all in his head, but the mysterious voice in his head could hear every word, or should I say thought.

“Boring? This is science, but don’t worry, the tetrodotoxin and zolpidem coated nanoshells should be quieting you down at any moment now. When I press these buttons, these shells should receive radiation beams and disperse the various chemicals into your system, shutting you from my mind for good. Shutdown in 3-2-1-0.”

CRASH! Ken’s captor spun around

“Dr. Kozaki, you are relived from your duty. You are now a hostage of the Rebels of Caterva. Forfeit your prisoners peacefully and we shall also execute our mission peacefully, if not, well, you’re going to be in a great deal of pain and suffering.”

“Ha, ha-ha. I will never surrender, commander. Good bye, I’ll be seeing you, in hell!” Laughing manically he pressed the red glowing button. Suddenly, a deep rumbling was heard from the ground. Abruptly, the titanium coated floors split apart right underneath Kozaki’s feet. Still laughing he dropped in.

“Shit!” Commander Gladius swore he rushed over to the hole.  He looked down and almost gave his face a new appearance. Whoosh! The high speed turbo – capsule shot out of the tunnel like a bullet shot from a gun, or in this case, a capsule from a charger chamber. The capsule shot straight through the roof and at the speed of mach fifteen and accelerating, leaving a fine trail of glowing nuclear dust in the night sky, only to disappear and fade away completely into the pitch-black darkness. “God dammit, he disappeared again! That’s the fifth time he’s done it, that low lying two-faced son of a bitch!”

Three uniformed officers walked into the room carrying Lee and Jackie. A fourth dashed into the room yelling unnecessarily, “He disappeared again sir.”

“I know that, you idiot. Who the hell are you to repeat the obvious, what are you, a pet parrot! Get the hell out of my sight!”

“Sir, yes sir!”        

“Shut up! That is an order!”

“Yes s…”

“Shut up and free the last test subject private! Or you will be terminated! I’ll see to it myself!” the commander’s arm was starting to glow bright red, radiating a searing heat.  Gladius’s men paled. His very unfortunate victim ran towards the control panel, shorting out the plasma tiles and field surrounding Ken. It slowly dissipated around him and slowly faded out in a blue fluorescent light.

Gladius’s arm slowly regained its normal color. “That’s much better.” He said slowly cooling down his temper. His surrounding officers sighed in silence.  If his temper flared up a few more times, they reasoned, he would die of a high blood pressure.

“Don’t just stand around like a bunch of dumbbells; get the subjects out of here. Men move out!”

“Sir Yes sir!” they replied saluting and rushing off to do his bidding.

He stormed off after them, but not before smashing the rest of the equipment into little pieces of junk left by the doctor.

Lee ran fast, really fast. So fast, that he collided into Jackie. Ultimately tripping her up and creating a miniature domino effect where Ken was the unfortunate last domino.

“Owww!” yelled Ken, “That was unnecessarily painful!”

“It’s not my fault.” protested Jackie. “Sir Genius here pushed me.” She got off the ground and pushed Lee.

“Um, yeah, well about that.” muttered Lee.

“What do you mean about that!? That hurt!”

“Um, well are you o.k.?”

“Am I o.k.!? What are you talking about?”

Jackie laughed and said, “Wow Ken, you’re such a crybaby!”

“What are you talking about, look!

“What do you mean look, its dark in here!?”

“Hey wait a sec peoples.” Lee said, “Wasn’t it bright just a second ago?” He looked at the floor. Their shadows were getting longer. In sudden realization, he cried, “The door, it’s closing in on us!” But by that time, it was way too late; the door was three inches off the floor. Two inches… one inch… no inches. The light disappeared totally.

“Aw shit.” Said Ken, forgetting not to swear but in reality, it was accurate because that is what they were in. They were in it deep too. “Now how the heck are we going to get out of here?”

“How should I know? You’re the one who started it! You dared me to go in! You stupid idiot! This is all your fault!” She kicked out blindly in anger. Her foot connected with something. That something was Ken’s shin.

“Ow! Again! Who was that this time?”

“You know what, no one cares about you and your problems.” said Jackie.

“I’m going to get you Jackie!” yelled Ken, and that’s when he tripped. Ken fell and fell and fell. He kept on falling on sharp, pointy edges on his way down finally he stopped and landed on his elbow.  Face first. “Owwwwww!!!” he yelled rolling over on his back, “Shit that hurt!”

Suddenly a light shined down on Ken. He heard someone say, “Wow, what a loser!” He squinted up at the bright light. Lee was rushing down the stairs towards him while Jackie stared down at him with an I-am-trying-to-look-worried look on her face. Ken tried to get up but fell again with a crack. Now Jackie looked almost worried. She walked down the now suddenly receding stairs. She got halfway down the stairs when they flattened out underneath her feet creating something like a slide – making her slide, literately making her slide into Lee. Now Jackie was the only one left standing. “Oh yeah, well sorry about that Lee” Jackie said. “But starting now I am indifferent to your suffering.” Then she looked down at Ken, “Your suffering especially” she added. Suddenly Ken grabbed out and pulled Jackie’s leg out from under her. She screamed.

“Lee and I are indifferent to your suffering, yours especially.” Ken remarked as she fell also.

“You jerk!” she yelled, on the floor.

“Look who’s talking.”

 “You loser!” Jackie kicked at Ken again, except this time with a flash light for light. He dodged and her foot connected with the wall at full force, the part of the wall with symbols on it. Her shoe it the cylinder. The floor suddenly dropped at heart wreaking pace. The platform continued to drop for, to what Ken thought, was an eternity through hell’s thrill ride. The walls of the tunnel were continuously changing colors and was going so fast that the colors were blending together. The world was spinning faster and faster. Going down so rapidly, it seemed like they were flying. Finally it gradually slowed to a halt.

 “Jesus Christ! What the hell was that?!” Ken yelled after he felt somewhat normal again. The sickening jolt still in his stomach he got up and looked around him. “Now where the hell are we?!”

Getting up, Lee said, “I have absolutely no idea what so ever.” He looked in front of him and saw a bright passageway leading to the outside. They were in a brightly lit cave with surprisingly smooth sides. “Well we lost the flashlight”, he mentally observed. “But now we’re in an illuminated cave with positively absolutely no idea about where we are.” Then, “That’s at least one plus.”

“Hey guys.” Jackie said. “What the heck are you two wearing? We’re not going to some Halloween costume party. You guys look like you’re some weird Si-Fi fantasy thing my dad watches on TV!”

 “What are you talking about Jackie? What’s wrong with my clothes! I mean, Lee I can understand but seriously, I can’t see what’s so wrong with jeans, converse shoes, and a t- shirt?” Ken finally looked down at himself, realizing the rare truth in Jackie’s words. “Whoa. What the heck is going on? Where the heck did this come from?” he thought. “I’m pretty sure these aren’t what I wore this morning. He was suddenly wearing what appeared to be a metallic gray metal armor like suit. It was tough, like Kevlar combined with reinforced steel, yet light and bendy. He had a cylinder clipped to his belt along with a pouch made from a leather like gray material and on his right arm; he had a band attached to a what he thought to be an arm brace. On his back, he wore a backpack not unlike the ones the military use. He couldn’t tell if anything was real though because it was all light as silk. He then noticed that Lee and Jackie were wearing things of similar make with some differences.

Jackie’s clothes were similar to Ken’s, with some obvious very distinct differences. First of all hers was obviously not tailored for men. But the material was similar and except for the fact that that she didn’t have any of the other accessories that to Ken now seemed unnecessary like the backpack-like object and the tube like cylinder thing on his belt and had no protective armor whatsoever she just had two obviously gun shaped objects in what Ken figured was a holster and a side pouch at her hip.

Lee on the other hand was wearing clothes that were well, like clothes. Instead of the armor-like protection that the others had, he wore a loose shirt and pants with arm and leg guards and wraps that widened at the sleeves and the ends. He had a small black belt and had two hip pouches attached to the belt and had a hood like head gear on his head obscuring most of his face but left his eyes. He had a pole-like object on his back and a spiked ring on each of his middle fingers. He was dressed completely in matte-black.

Lee looked down and saw studs on his gloves and cloth like shoes. “Hey guys”, cool clothing aside, where are we?” 

“I don’t know”, answered Ken, “But I know that I’m definitely out of this I’m out of this cave.” He walked out of the shining cave into the broad yet foreign daylight.

“Halt”, commanded a gruff military like voice. The sort of voice that was used to being obeyed by.

Ken quickly whirled around to stare at a gun pointed at his face.  He then suddenly heard a shot being fired, not as loud as a gunshot but louder than an air soft gun. He felt something hit his head. The last things he heard was “One down.” Who were these people how did they know where we were. The world spun around and around in dizzying circles. Ken blacked out before he even hit the cold solid ground.

Cutting through the silence like a hot knife through butter, Lee looked up and exclaimed, “Hey! What are you guys staring at? Aren’t you two going to invite me in?”

After an extremely long moment, Ken tore his eyes of the door, looked at him and said cluelessly, “What?” Jackie on the other hand was still staring at it like she was hypnotized.

Lee frowned. “What do you mean ‘What?’? You two hardly ever sit still for long just to stare at anything at all! What’s wrong with you two, Wake Up!” shouted Lee, alarmed. Jackie finally looked up dazed. “What the heck are you two staring at?!” Lee was really starting to get worried

Ken plainly stated, “Look” seeming oblivious to his friend’s abrupt frantic shouting.

Lee cautiously walked over, as if he were doing this to appease a hobo he just found on a damp corner. He was aware that the “thing” his friends were looking at could be dangerous and definitely had a hypnotic affect when looked at. He finally looked at the door. “Wow”, he murmured. He traced the patterns on the door. “Hey Ken”, he called. “Where did this come from?”

“Who knows?”

“Hey Jackie, wake up.”

Jackie was still staring, but now into space, the empty hallway. “Sure, whatever, will do, just wait a sec.” She started to move but was so dizzy she held out a hand to steady herself. She accidentally brushed her hand on the center symbol, the spiral. Slowly the door started to lift.

Jackie leapt back, suddenly and finally awake and alert, she wasn’t the only one to do so. The three stared in surprise at the slowly ascending door. Finally, the door smoothly and silently came to a halt in its gradual ascent revealing a long dark tunnel. Finally Lee said, “Um, what just happened?”

“I don’t know, ask Jackie! She pressed something!”

“What! Of course, blame it on the girl!”

Lee sighed. “At least”, he thought, “They’re back to normal. But now, they’re arguing, again. Oh well. The least I can do is to be the one to solve the problem.”

“Oh yeah? Well if you’re so tough, then I dare you to go into the tunnel!” dared Ken.

“Oh yeah I take that, are you coming, or are you just chicken to go in yourself.” Jackie challenged.

“I’m not chicken, just watch me.” And with that, Ken turned his back to his friends and strode into the tunnel by himself.

“What an idiot” said Jackie to herself. She took a deep breath and walked in.

Lee hesitated, “Jeez you two really are total morons.”, he muttered. “But if you two idiots are going in I guess I better go too.” He sprinted  in after his friends.

“Yes! I’m free!

“Um Ken, we still have math left.”

“Not to mention that he still bound to get a detention Mr. Kinscisky.”

“Yeah right, it’s the last day of school. He can’t give me a detention!”

Ken looked out into the hallway. Most of the other students were filing into the classroom. “Scratch that, were gonna be late, again.” He sighed.

“What do you mean again? You’re the only one who’s always late. Lee and I are never late.”

“Leave me out of this.” Lee mumbled. “Any ways, Ken’s right, we really are going to be late in exactly one minute, twenty-eight seconds and counting.”

“How do you always know the exact time?”

“Um, Jackie, how about less questioning and more running? We have one minute and nineteen seconds to make it half way across the school before we’re all late.” And with that, he raced down the corridor and around the corner at race pace.

“Wait after me!” yelled Jackie, her long hair streaming as she struggled to catch up.

“Oh yeah, fine leave me, again.” Ken murmured, then called,” I’m walking!”

Then walk as slowly and deliberately as he possibly could, Ken trudged around the corner and down the stairs where he almost tripped over his dangling shoe lace.

“Stupid shoe lace” Ken thought, “The next thing you know I’ll trip over…” two seconds later, on the ground he finished the thought, “…a rock.”

Picking himself up off the cement, Ken brushed off the dirt and gravel off his dark blue jeans. He slowly shuffled towards class as a lone white cloud floated across the light blue sky. He was in the hallway in which his class was. Just twenty steps away from the door. Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen. “Bbbbbbbrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiinnnnngggggg!” the bell rang.

“Yep I’m late, as usual.” Said Ken to no one in particular. He took the last few steps towards the classroom while wondering aloud what his next punishment would be. “Maybe Mr. Kinscisky will think of something more creative then lines or than being sent outside in the hall. Hopefully it’s something worth my time and effort like running laps or at least push-ups in front of class.” Ken finally opened the door. A sea of eyes were staring at him from every side of the classroom.

“Mr. Williams, how good of you to join us, finally, have a seat.” From the other side of the neat rows of desks, Mr. Kinscisky got up from his swivel chair. Continuing in his loud reedy voice he droned on, “I realize that today is the last day of school so I will make an exception.” He paused to look around to see if dared to interrupt, but no one dared. If he made an exception it usually meant homework over the summer for him to “evaluate” how much you remembered. Instead of letting you go for the summer, he would correct them and give them to your next math teacher to show them the above average kids and the challenged ones. “Today instead of math problems we are writing an essay on what you are going to do over the summer including your goals, ideal places to go and….did you have something to tell us Mr. Myamoto? Please tell us about your important discussion with Mr. Williams. Well now speak up!”

Lee, who was about to whisper something to Ken shot up and said, “I was going to tell Ken how grateful I was to have been taught in this class by such a great and perfect teacher sir.” He seemed to have recited these lines by heart because it sounded fairly truthful and fairly sincere.

Mr. Kinscisky stared at him, as if trying to find a loop hole to punish him with. Finally he said, “Thank you, and as I was starting to finish, your ideas of a good summer. Did everyone get that?”

The rest of the class murmured in assent as Lee wiped his long black hair out of eyes.

“Oh wow I thought you were done for back there Lee”

“I know huh. Well, if you haven’t already noticed our teacher is totally clueless.”

“Seriously”, Ken rolled his eyes, “I mean what kind of math teacher gives an essay in math?”

“Frankly, I’m surprised that you haven’t gotten a detention yet Ken.”

Ken whirled around in feigned surprise. “Hey, where did you come from Jackie?”

“Ha ha very dramatic.”

“Hey peoples.” said Lee in a soft whisper.

“What, I just asked a small question.”

“Hey um, you guys.” said Lee a little louder.

“And I replied with a simple answer.”

“Oh yeah, sarcasm simple, but then again Jackie is simple minded…”

“You’re one to talk, loser lord.”

“Um, peoples, am I invisible here.”

“Shut up!” Yelled Ken and Jackie embarrassingly loud, and in perfect sync. Everyone in the room looked directly at the trio. The already quiet room grew silent. Dead silent.

“Detention, for all three of you. I’ve already given you fifty warnings today already.”

“Hey, um, sir how about a re-count? At my last count you’ve given us zip, zero and nada warnings.” Ken sounded sarcastically.

“That’s it, out in the hall, all three of you.”

“Wait a sec, how come Lee and I have to go out in the hall too?”

“Don’t ever question my judgment, ever. Now get out of my room, all three of you, out!”

The three ran out into the hot and stuffy corridor as the door suddenly slammed tightly shut behind them. Breaking the moment’s silence Lee said, “Maybe he isn’t as clueless as I previously thought.”

Happy for an excuse to talk Jackie remarked, “What the heck are you talking about? He’s just clueless with a horrible temper.”

“And I totally and absolutely agree with you.” Agreed Ken. After sitting down for about a minute, he looked up and down the empty corridor. Scanning the area, he suddenly came upon something he had never seen before. There, standing directly in front of him was a door, except, it didn’t exactly look like a door. It was the sort of thing that would look out of place anywhere, except perhaps a Si-Fi museum. It had strange unearthly symbols all over and had no handle of any kind. The weird thing was that the metal that it was created by didn’t seem to be of this world. It was a pearly white and seemed to shine as a piece of glass reflects a light into a rainbow many different colors. Being curious he got up and walked to the door and knocked on it. It was smooth and felt to Ken, as hard as a diamond yet hollow. “Hey guys.” He called. “Get over here.”

“Do I really want to?” replied Jackie in a bored undertone.

“Um, duh you want to.”

Jackie reluctantly got up off the ground and slowly walked over towards him. “Yeah I’m coming. Huh? Wow.” She stared at the door like it was from out of the world, and in a sense it really was.

Is death really necessary?  Do we need it?  Or should we prevent it?  Well in my point of view death is necessary no matter the fact that we like it or not.  But on the other side I feel that if death can be prevented, prevent it or try to.

For one, I think that all those people who wish they could live forever, search for a fountain of youth, want a sorcerer’s stone or what ever, are stupidly crazy to the max.!!!  Why? Because if you have a never ending life, and something or anything ridiculously bad happens, what are you going to do about it???  You’ll be burdened for the rest of your life and guess what?!  You’re going to never forget it and be haunted by it for the rest of your life!  So in that case it is necessary of our sake and for the sanity of the world’s!!  Man I mean if we could live forever, someone with way to much thoughts of hubris (Not hummus) could be the world’s dictator and/or the ruler of the universe!!!!!

Quoting Daniel Paje’s essay “Humans are the cause of all suffering in the world”,  Well, I agree 120% and as an added fact, no matter how sad it is!  People like me or you need to die because we’re over populating this world and that the less numers and population, the less world suffering!  I don’t mean to promote death and deaths or anything because some people don’t need to or deserve to die, but the fact that it’s a life process and that we need to accept that. I don’t like it, you don’t like it but whether we like it or not, it is absolutely nessessary for this world to survive.

I also believe that life and death should be fought in constant battle, which means that if death can be prevented, prevent it.  I mean even though death is necessary we could also prevent it for the good of the people and prevent the life of people that could save the planet from global warming or the current economic crisis.

Remember, death IS necessary but should be fought with the idea of saving lives for good and therefore the good of the world.

Some people tell you that racism is gone, over with and no longer existent. Some will tell you that it doesn’t affect anyone and are all idle insults that have no meaning. And the same ignorance drives them to say the same to the subject of prejudice. Well here’s the truth that I will tell you as the reader, “Racism and prejudice exists every where in every country.” You might ask how do I confirm this? Well, from first to third hand experiences. Everyday you hear racist comments around you whether it’s calling someone a “Chink, jap, nigger, or cracker”, its still in society, being thrown around and aimed at something, even if it’s casual, it’s still there in society today. How can you say that there is no racism today when every day people are being preyed on by other’s of a different race?! How can you believe that when there are groups of a race are out there to harm one or group another race, minority or not?! Look at this country for instance! The K.K.K. still exists and no one can legally do anything about it! So how can you say that its all over with? Racism is real and alive today. We need to stop this now for our sake and for future generation’s sake if we don’t want another holocaust over prejudice and race.

Some people say that there is always a little voice popping up telling you what is right or wrong.  Can this voice be changed with your personality or the things we want to think.  To fit in or be “cool”, to see yourselves as others do.  Can this conscience be changed.  If so, easily?  Well I think this voice can be changed.

If you were a drug dealer selling your “crack” and “pot” to kids in the middle school, you probably think as yourself, your unaltered conscience, would think,” That’s crazy.  Who’s that big of a retard to do that.”  But if you think about it, there are people who do that for a living, selling drugs to any idiot that buys them.  They do it for a living.  They really don’t give a damn to whose buying it, as long they get the money and not caught.  And really these people started out like you and all those others reading this.  With a fresh conscience not introduced to this lifestyle.  But soon enough, these dealers gradually go from the good kids we know today who wouldn’t think about it, to the retards selling drugs.

Can you become someone “bad” to someone whose “good”, I say sure you can.  Once there was a drug dealer who didn’t know anything but selling drugs. He then went to jail and became  a prisoner on kitchen duty he discovered that he liked to cook and when he got out of prison. he became a world class chef.  And If you think someone who ruined kid’s lives to become a chef is a big jump, well listen to this, this ex-convict now helps problem kids who had a hard time.  His name is Chef Jeff, and went from not caring about the kids who bought his “pot”, to someone who gets kids to improve their lives.

So to all those people who don’t believe you an change your conscience think again. Any thing’s possible.

400 words not including title By Marshall Zia

What defines a veteran? Is it how many battles you’ve faced? What you’ve persevered through serving your country? Or is it how many sacrifices you’ve made for your country’s success. Do you have to be still in existence? The answer is that anyone can be a veteran and it doesn’t matter how old you are. But what makes that same veteran worth honoring, is a different story. Why should we honor their existence if anyone can be one? These following people show the answer to the question, “Why America’s veterans should be honored”.

In year 1970, April 1^st in the Vietnam War, 19 year old Peter Lemon was tired, scared, wounded, and fighting for his life. For over three hours the battle had raged at Fire Support Base Illingsworth, one of two small American outposts in Tay Ninh Province. Already the skirmish vaporized one of his friends, killed two more friends before his eyes, and left him wounded. He barely survived the first two waves and braced himself for a third. Determined to go down fighting the intrepid soldier found a working machine gun and jumped to the top of the dirt pile and in an exposed position, continued firing at the enemy. Third time wounded, the Army Ranger survived the night. Lemon received the Medal of Honor for his actions but stated, “It isn’t mine, it belongs to Casey Waller, Nathan Mann, Brent Street, and the guys in the unit.”

On December 23, 1944, Melvin Biddle was serving as a private first class in Company B of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II. On the 23^rd and 24^th of December, near Soy, Belgium, Biddle reconnoitered the German lines alone. Eliminated three enemy snipers with excellent marksmanship, and eradicated four hostile machine gun nests on his lonesome, securing the area. His actions during the battle awarded him the Medal of Honor as well as the Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and CIB, all for courageous actions.

Both of these brave men were honored with medals and awards, but these people are a few of the many American veterans who’ve served our country, whether they volunteered or not. The answer to the question is America’s veterans should be honored because they protected and served our country whether they wanted to or not, and the fact that they’ve witnessed these hardships first hand. That’s why we should honor America’s veterans.

My name is Marshall Zia (As you already know) and even though being named Marshall Zia has some inconveniences, it also has a lot of advantages to go with it. So, I am going to tell you in this paper about the advantages and disadvantages about my name. First I will tell you about the disadvantages.

My name has a few disadvantages. First of all, Marshall, my first name, is usually a last name, so often people who are reading my name of a list announce me as Zia Marshall instead of Marshall Zia. Next, my last name is, well, last. Or at least almost last, which always or almost always puts me last for activities which is not great. And lastly, people can get a kinds of weird nicknames like Marshy, Marshmallow, and my least favorite, Marsha (I bet you can tell why.)

My name also has some advantages to it. First, Marshall isn’t exactly a common first name that you see every day, so I don’t many people with the same name walking around. Another thing is that I could say and spell my name since I was two because the number of letters in my name goes to the Mickey Mouse March tune. And lastly, it has a nice ring to it; at least, I think so.

My sacred place would definitely be Hong Kong, my birthplace. My family and I moved to the states when I was 4 years old. Our apartment (The main housing in Hong Kong) was big compared to the usual small, cramped apartments in Hong Kong. I can still remember our apartment on the sixteenth floor of a sky scraper on the Kaloon side of Hong Kong. There was a family room, then a hall way into the kitchen, then another hallway that led to the bathroom and my old bedroom, then back from the entrance, you take a right and then you se the maid’s room and then the main bedroom. I also remember that I used to go take the elevator up to the roof and with my friends, ride in our mini red and yellow tricycles and in those toy cars from Fishers Price™ that every toddler plays with in preschool. I also remember that on the corner of the busy and very humid city street there was a mini-mart, the easiest and most convenient way to do groceries when you’re far away from a super super mall. My favorite thing to get at the store was these chocolate eggs that tasted not like American chocolate, but British chocolate that was creamier and mare flavorful than the Hershey’s™ bar you get at the nearest Safeway or Raley’s. And in the middle, they had these orange capsules that had a mini sized toy inside that you build and play with.

Even though these are some the only memories of my real hometown, I still feel like I can relate to there.