The Story of Nathan Luong
By: Nathan Luong
Chapter 1 Name Story
Chapter 2 The Day I Was Born
When is your birthday?
March 22, 2000
5310 days since my birth
Waning gibbous
Visible: 95% ↓Age: 17days
The weather for March 22, 2000 cannot be found on the internet.
-William Shatner (actor)
-JJ Watt(football player (Houston (Texas))
-Keegan-Michael Key (comedian(Key & Pelle))
-Rick Harrison (reality TV star(Pawn Stars))
-Will Yun Lee (actor)
238 - Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperor.
752 - Stephen II elected Catholic Pope
1594 - French King Henri IV festival in Paris
1630 - 1st colonial legislation prohibiting gambling enacted (Boston)
1692 - Emperor Leopold I names duke Earnest August of Braunschweig, king
1765 - Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on colonists
1784 - The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
1790 - Thomas Jefferson becomes the 1st US Secretary of State under President Washington
2012 - Largest protest in Quebec's history occurs in Montreal with over 200,000 people marching against government tuition hikes and for free access to postsecondary education
2012 - Ireland returns to recession as GDP falls by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011 following a fall of 1.1% in the third quarter
a postage stamp- $.26
a luxury car
an economy car- $17.518
a four bedroom house in Media- $119.600
a gallon of milk- $2.88
going to the movies- $5.06
Bill Clinton was president
Silly Putty was the must have toy
Gladiator, How the Grinch Stole Christmas X-Men, Mission: Impossible 2,had came out.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon were the big movie stars.
Malcolm in the Middle, Big Brother, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation were the most popular television shows.
Who Let the Dogs Out- Baha Men, Oops! I Did it Again- Britney Spears were popular songs.
Basketball, Football, Soccer were the most common sports
Peasant Tops, Shiny Pants, Neckties as Belts were a fashion trend then.
Chapter 3 Storage Trunk
I needed an old memento, so I went to my great-grandmother's house. I dug through the old piles of junk, in her basement, and came upon an old picture, a black and white one. I could almost make out who was in it, and then I realized, this must have been taken ages ago. I asked my mom about it, and she told me it was taken when they immigrated to the U.S.. Then she pointed out who was in the picture: my grandpa, my grandma, my mom, my uncle, and two of my aunts. In the picture they had nothing. I think this picture shows that even though we came from literally nothing, our family's hard work got us to this point of our lives. Then she told me stories of how hard each of them worked to get into college and have a successful life, after I found this picture, I headed upstairs to eat lunch, it was my favorite dish my great-grandma makes. I enjoyed this as she told me her story of immigration. I felt happy and very thankful of what i am and what i have now. Later that day, i lay in the hammock inside, and saw a picture framed in its usual spot. Then i decided to use this picture. This picture was all of my extended family in south Philly, honestly i didn't know how they all fit into one picture. I realized that most of them don't live in PA anymore. My family is all spread out everywhere in the world, from Paris to Australia. I choose this picture because, to me i symbolizes that even though we may not be together now, we will always be connected, and when the holidays come around, i know i will see them again.
Chapter 4 A B C's
A is for asian, I am asian, and I really like being asian.
B is for bantling, some people might say that I act like a child.
C is for crazy, my parents think that I am crazy.
D is for determined, I am determined to be my best at the sports I play.
E is for enjoy, I try to live all my days to the fullest, and enjoy every second of it.
F is for fantastic, I think of myself as fantastic, because I am.
G is for grok, usually I can fully comprehend what my teachers tell me.
H is for habilable, I was able to dress myself when I was 7.
I is for ichthyophagous , I like eating fish, it is healthy and I like the taste.
J is for joyful, when it comes to my life, I am joyful and grateful for everything and everyone in my life.
K is for kakorrhaphiophobia, in sports, and in life, I do not like failing.
L is for lunatic, sometimes, when I am on a sugar high I act like a lunatic.
M is for manly, I like to think of myself as manly and mature.
N is for nathan, I really like my name, it is classy.
O is for obganiate, either I annoy my mom or she annoys me.
P is for passion, I have a great passion to do well in school.
Q is for questionable, some of my acts are questionable and dumb, even to me sometimes.
R is for Rabelaisian, I find myself hilarious, I usually even laugh at my own jokes.
S is for sadogue, I think I am an easy-going type of person,
T is for thought, I don’t give anything thought, which usually lead for me getting in trouble.
U is for ultion, when my brother does something to me, I always seek out revenge.
V is for vafrous, I am pretty sneaky and sly.
W is for walleteer, I usually carry a wallet.
X is for xenial, my family and I are very hospitable.
Y is for young, I wish to stay this was for a while.
Z is for zoophagy, I like eating animals like cow, pig, and chicken.
Chapter 5 Thanksgiving Dinner
My immediate family consists of both of my parents, Phil and Connie, my brother, Brendan and I. For Thanksgiving, we went to the place where it all started for my mother’s side of the family, Reading, PA. When we arrived everyone was already there, all of my uncles and aunts and their families (I lost count of how many there are).
During Thanksgiving, our meal has traditional Chinese/Vietnamese cuisine, and the classic Thanksgiving foods like, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and pumpkin pie.
Every year we have Thanksgiving here, I think about our roots, and where we came from to get to this point. I asked my mom, who was a first-generation immigrant to the United States, why they left Vietnam for America. The reason they left, was after the Vietnam war the communists took over and in later years, they needed to sneak out of the country. So they flead on a fishing vessel to America, where they eventually ended up in Reading with our whole extended family, living in one house. My mom told me that my grandma, and grandpa worked all day so that she and my uncle and aunts could get a good education, and after my one aunt got a scholarship into Penn, they really encouraged everyone in the family to study hard so you can get a good education which leads to a good life. Now my family spread out, way out from our origin in Reading, from across the country to across the globe.
For a religious family like ours, we have our religious traditions, like going to temples and praying to our god, Buddha. Also, there are customs we do during special events like birthdays, weddings, and deaths. For religious traditions, my grandmother, who is very involved in our religion, and is considered a monk, organizes most of our rituals. I think we should preserve our traditional customs, or we might forget where we came from.
In my family, we speak many, many languages. We speak about 5 dialects of Chinese, Vietnamese, English, and some speak French and German. At home with my immediate family, I speak English, but when I am in settings with my great-grandmother, I speak all dialects of Chinese. Some of my family that, besides English speak Vietnamese, they talk Vietnamese with everyone else in Vietnamese. On my dads side, he tells me many stories of when he was a young boy in Saigon, Vietnam, before the war. He tells me his life and exciting events from his past. With every story he tells me, I am more and more thankful for what I have today. My grandpa, who has passed, was a “war hero”, he fought in the Vietnam war for South Vietnam, which lost to the North, and he had a scar from a bullet, that he use to showed me when I was little. I would not say that we keep heirlooms, but the only thing we keep are old, old pictures from long ago. We have many picture books and they are funny to look at now a days. These pictures vary from pictures of my great-grandparents to my uncles and aunts.
Chapter 6 And The Band Played On
Music is important to my life. Everyday I listen to music on my commutes to places and listen to music when I’m in certain situations. I listen to all genres of music. I listen to: Rap/Hip Hop, Alternative, Pop, R&B, and Jazz. I listen to Sam Smith, Jay Z, Chris Brown, One Republic, Hozier, 2Pac, T.I., Hustle Gang, I really like every song from Sam Smith’s The Lonely Hour, Take Me to Church, No Church in the Wild.
My "theme song" would have to be a new song Take Me to Church, Hozier
My lover's got humor
Knows everybody's disapproval
I should've worshiped her sooner
If the Heavens ever did speak
She is the last true mouthpiece
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
'We were born sick,' you heard them say it
My church offers no absolutes
She tells me 'worship in the bedroom'
The only heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well
Amen. Amen. Amen
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
To drain the whole sea
Get something shiny
Something meaty for the main course
That's a fine looking high horse
What you got in the stable?
We've a lot of starving faithful
That looks tasty
That looks plenty
This is hungry work
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
No masters or kings when the ritual begins
There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
Only then I am human
Only then I am clean
Amen. Amen. Amen
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
I really like this song a lot. I don't really think it describes me. I just think it would be an awesome theme song for me. My favorite lines would probably be,
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Chapter 7 Likes/ Dislikes
- Lacrosse - Hands down, my favorite sport. It is so physical, and requires much skill to dominate on the lacrosse field.
- Music - I listen to music everyday of my life, whether it is on my phone, or on the radio. Music is always around me, and I love it.
- Cars - I love cars. I love seeing a nice tuned car on the road, exhaust rumbling. I want to study mechanical engineering in college.
- Basketball - I love sports, and basketball helps my foot work and defense for lacrosse.
- Soccer - Soccer helps me condition in the off season.
- Watching Television - I like watching TV in my free time, and its fun, and it never gets old.
- Computers - I am really interested in computers, I want to minor in computer software engineering.
- Video games - I play video games in my free time.
- Food - I love food, I could eat forever.
- Sleep - I love to sleep. The best feeling is when I come home from lacrosse, after a shower, just lay and fall asleep.
- Fitness - I really like staying fit, and like to play sports.
Dislikes
- School - I am not very good at school, but I try, but it is really hard for me to live up to my parents' standards.
- Reading - I think reading is the only thing in school I am good at. I feel that I can read fluently.
- Chores - I really hate chores, but its the only way I make money right now.
- Bad Weather - Sure, I could watch television, or play video games, but I cannot play outside.
- Baseball - In my opinion, baseball is a dumb sport.
- Homework - I am really bad at homework, it gets really hard sometimes, that I cant even finish it.
- Essays - I do not do essays well, at all. It is hard to get what I want to say in my mind on paper.
- Grammar - I really stink at grammar, but when I get it, I get really happy.
- Spelling - I have really am bad at sounding out words.
- Tests - I don't usually do well on tests, even when I study a lot. I try new ways to study, but some don't work, and it really gets on my nerves.
- Vegetables - I don't like the taste of vegetables, but I know it is good for my digestive tract.
Chapter 8 Room Sweet Room
My room is very simple. It has a bed, a dresser, a desk, windows, and a door. There are somethings that are special. Lets start with the bed. It is a double sized bed, on top of the mattress there is a memory foam “sheet” which is very comfortable. It use to be very uncomfortable, ever since I was a toddler, I would always jump on my bed; one time I hit the ceiling, and there is still a dent. I hang my first lacrosse jerseys above my bed, under the dent. Every time I go to sleep I stare at them and think about my progress, and future games, or how i could improve, I sometimes have dreams about lacrosse, because I think about it every night. Next to my bed is my desk with my computer. The desk where I do the homework, when I happen to do it. It is also where I play my video games, I have always loved video games since I was a little kid. My desk has stickers, varying from lacrosse stickers to happy faces,it first started when I was in elementary school, I was doing a project and accidentally the ink in the marker leaked though the paper! I needed a way to cover it up, so I had put varius stickers on it to cover it up. I love my room, and everything is perfect.
Chapter 9 A Day In A Life
He arose from his daily slumber. As he awakes, he has a feeling he will be late for school. He immediately checks his alarm clock. He is an hour late for school! He snatches his phone as he attempts in getting ready. He somehow manages to get ready, in a world record of 2 minutes, but it is not enough. Everyone in the house is asleep. He is terrified in asking his parent for a ride to the school, but he knows it's his only option left. As he walks in the chambers of his parents' bedroom. He wakes his father. His father, with an anger from being awaken, asks him why he did the deed of waking him. He explained to his father, and asked him for the ride. His father, explains, that it was Saturday, that he did not have school. Shocked, he heads outside, with his best friend, his lacrosse stick. With him, they practice their skills until the time when they know his friends would awaken. Once that time came, he sent out a group message asking about what his friends where doing that day. They coordinate plans and he goes to the great town of Media. He arrives to his friend jimmy's house. They all meet there, and they all go to the soccer field near by. There, they see the envious Philadelphia Union soccer team. They ask to play against the professional players, and they accept. After the fierce battle both parties are sweating bullets, the ground has been kicked up from the hard shots, and tackles, their muscles ache, and their bodies are bruised, the amateurs have beaten the pros. They are aroused by the win, and retire at the house of one of the friends, Isaac. There they fall asleep, no worries at all, knowing that tomorrow is Sunday, the day for their homeworks.
Chapter 10 One Medium Suitcase
If I were to leave home forever with only one medium sized suitcase, I would only bring money. I thought it would be a really bad idea. Questions arose, what if I fail, what if you lost all your money, how much money could you fit in the suitcase, what if you were caught with it, what happens when you ran out. I think I might have thought about it too much. I just went with this crazy idea about leaving home, with just a suitcase full of money. I had some reasoning to chose such a bizarre idea. I have always wondered what my family went through when they immigrated to the United States with nothing, looking for jobs, to send my parents, aunts, and uncles to a good school to get a good education so they could live a prosperous life in America. I thought i might try that and i would only spend a little bit of the money for food and travel. If I were to fail, which I would probably do; i would use the money as a backup to get back home, if that were an option.
Chapter 11 Lessons I Learned But Was Too Late
A list of lessons I learned, but was too late to apply them:
Read the directions - Elementary School, I didn't read directions on a placement test, and got many questions wrong.
Try not to be lazy - I wasn't very active when I was a little kid, but that all changed now.
Finish what you started - School (in general), I use to read parts of books, and put them off, and I got bad grades on book reports.
Express yourself - Elementary School, when I was chosen for a competition, but decided not to do it, I was embarrassed to express myself in the writing and art I did all throughout school.
Don’t be a bully - Elementary School, when I was mean to my cousin, and ve weren't good friends, untill now.
Speak up for yourself - Elementary school
Try Not to Be Lazy
When I was little, I didn’t do any sports at all, sure, I played in the courtyard at recess, but no competitive sports. I spent most of my days on the computer, watching television, and hanging out with friends. Every time my parents encouraged me to try a sport, I claimed that I was too lazy, and I payed for it now that I love sports. Even though I try and stay active in all aspects that I can, the laziness still lingers within me and shows itself around the house.
Chapter 12 Year In Reading
This year, we read a lot of books in English. At first, I thought it was too much, but Mrs. Lobitz explained that this was level 1, honors English. I really never liked reading very much over my student career. As we read more and Mrs. Lobitz showed the class the hidden meanings that lay in the text; that's when I started to enjoy reading. Now, after all the books I have read this year, I have faith in myself that I will survive one of school's most versatile weapons, reading. This is a list of the books, their authors, a rating, and a summary for you:
Kindness For Weakness
Shawn Goodman
4.5-5
"Don't be the person people want you to be, be the man that you have to be."
A lonely teenager tries to fit in, but ends up in jail. In jail, he meet new people, and gets more confident and has gains. He leaves jail, and starts a new life in the real world.
Into Thin Air
Jon Krakauer
Non-Fiction
3.5-5
“This forms the nub of a dilemma that every Everest climber eventually comes up against: in order to succeed you must be exceedingly driven, but if you're too driven you're likely to die.”
A team of climbers train to summit the peak of Everest. They start climbing, and they run into many problems on the course of the climb. They eventually reach the top.
Night
Elie Wiesel
Non-Fiction
3.5-5
-
Elie and his family are liquidated from his hometown, and was brought into the ghettos. They are moved from place to place as they try to survive. He is the only one alive, and his camp is liberated by the Americans
American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
Fiction
2.5-5
-
Tales of The Monkey King and his adventures are told. Then a family from China immigrated to San Francisco, as they try to adjust to their new lives, they run into many, many problems. Danny has a Chinese cousin he visits a lot who makes him uncomfortable because of his stereo typicalness.
A Walk In the Woods
Bill Bryson
Memoir
3.5-5
“There is no point in hurrying because you are not actually going anywhere. However far or long you plod, you are always in the same place: in the woods.”
Bill Bryson trains for a trek along the Appalachian Mountains. On the journey, he runs into many obstacles, he takes a break in a town near the mountains. He never finishes the trek, but knows the mountain will always be there, if he wants to finish it.
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Novella
3.5-5
"I got to think about that. We was always gonna do it by ourselves."
Two migrant ranch workers travel to their newest job, George is Lennie's "guardian". Lennie has mental problems, and runs into problems in the ranch. He ends up accidentally killing a women on the ranch, and is shot by George.
All of these books I read this year, helped me realize that reading does not have to be suffering; you can enjoy reading, you can embrace it.
Chapter 13 Friends
I have many friends, but I like a certain few just a little more than some. The ones I call, “best friends”, have been there for me thick and thin. These men suck by when I ran into problems, and helped me clear the problems, and I did the same for them. To name a few, my “best friends” consist of John McGlinn, Jack Fletcher, Sam Stern, Justin Senakarib, and Austin Daggy.
We usually spend time with each other. We do many activities. Sometimes we play basketball, and other times we may play video games. We usually meet around the great town of Media. We may sometimes go to one person’s house. They all make me feel happy, they are all funny. They all have different personalities, and each one makes me feel like I am special. John and I are friends because we share our like for soccer, and enjoy spending time with each other Jack and I are friends because I like hockey, and he plays hockey. We spend time hanging out and talking. Sam and I are friends, have been friends since preschool/daycare. We have many interests alike and enjoy each other's presence. Justin and I are friends, we have been playing lacrosse together for 2 years now, and share interests, like skiing.Austin and I are friends, because we play basketball in Media a lot, and football. We are good friends to each other. We have a band called Seashore Renegade, and he is the lead guitarist and vocalist.
Pictures: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PrGrGydP-NCoy7mFds2EA8Fl3yhvHdlTWWRLuQFgDfo/edit