The Story of My Life (Finished)
Journal Entry: Tue May 30, 2006, 7:00 AM
Chapter I
Stirb nicht vor mir.
Don't die before I do.
Looking back on everything that you've done to get where you are is a hard thing to do. Questions arise, “Who am I?, “How did I become this way?” are just a few of the questions that you yourself have to answer. My name is James Ammon Patrick, I am 18 years old. I have attended Greenwich Central School every year that I've been in school. Now that I'm about to graduate, I ask myself, “What lies ahead and what did I do to prepare myself for this experience?” I have been accepted to study Computer Engineering Technology at Onondaga Community College, and could not be happier to be following in my fathers footsteps. He graduated from OCC in 1980.
Now that I'm off on the right footing for my future, I now have to rely on the experiences that I've been able to learn. How my life was affected as a child through my growing adult years. One thing that has been nothing but a positive influence in my life is my parents. Always looking to tell me what I've done wrong, always letting me know just how wrong I was. This was a way that I still refuse to believe, to get me to start taking care of myself. Always watchful of my actions, and my words. And anyone that knows me knows that I have many flaws that I need to fix. By teaching me to stand on my own two feet, they taught me just how to achieve my personal goals. My goals in life are simple, one make a great living to support my future family, and second to live a happy life. Goals are achieved only through persistence and self-sacrifice.
Chapter II
So allein will ich nicht sein.
I don't want to be so alone.
School. School has to be the most bizarre change of location for any child to make. Going from the loving arms of your parents to going to place where you think everyone is going to eat you. You walk into a room and see thirteen other kids crying and you think might as well. And to top it off the funny looking boys won't leave you alone. I was very charismatic when I was a child, I made many friends. That’s just the kind of person I am. I wasn't the best student in the class, probably closer to the worst student in the class. I remember only in the earlier years of my schooling having a lot of laughs. Mr. Bergeron’s class was a decade all its own. It felt as though I would never make it out of that class. Everyday, “James! Put that down!”, “James, Stop making that noise.”, “James, try that one more time and see what happens.” Everyday, of the entire year, right after singing the opening of our morning ritual, star spangled banner and the such.
So, that year was over. And then it was followed by the fast moving years 3rd 4th and 5th grade, not much is to be remembered about these years. In 5th grade I was introduced to Mr. Sheffield, the teacher who disciplined me like it was his full time job. He was a lot of fun!! Speed-ball was the greatest sport invented for a 5th grader. Especially if there are 3 or 4 other classes you have to beat. Mr. Pemricks' class always seemed to beat everyone. But I remember the game where we defeated them. It was a triumphant moment in 5th grade history. 6th grade lead to the years in the janitor’s closet and the cubby that was made for me. The laughs still haunt my dreams! All these I would never give up, well, maybe the cubby, but other than the cubby I wouldn't change my elementary years for anything, since I met my best friend in 6th grade.
Chapter III
Versteht ihr mich?
Do you understand me?
Junior High. You have got to be kidding me. The years of boyfriends and girlfriends, and making new friends. Classes forty minutes long? Who are these ten foot tall giants? Facial hair! What more is there to say about the infamous years of the junior high? These are the years that I learned to talk back to my teachers. I knew which way to evade Jack Middlebrooks ever watchful eye. The swear words heard roaring through the hallway and the cursing following it like thunder to lightning. Getting through junior high was like try to sting a needle. It can be done, but you have to work at it. Well, needless to say I didn't work very hard. I went to summer school that year. Actually, I went to summer school ever year I went to 7th through 11th grade. Wow. I played soccer and basketball, and in 7th grade I threw the shot and discus for track.
This is also where I really found my place for singing. My entire family is musical, my father a music teacher up in Granville, my sister also pursuing a masters in music education. So there’s quite a mold that the Patrick's live by. Junior High also brought me my first kiss as well as my first girlfriend. Lots of great friendships were forged in junior high too. Friendships that, even today, is as strong as they were back then. Such as my friendship with Joe Borges. We met in Junior High and we were pretty good friends. I really knew him through Vince Monks; they lived right next to each other. He left to go to another school, but when he came back in the summer of 2005 it was just like old times.
Chapter IV
Ich hab' keine Lust.
I don't feel like it.
Greenwich, New York, United States of America. I have lived here my entire life. Born in Cambridge raised in Greenwich. For 18 years of my life, nothing but Greenwich witches. I've lived here my entire life, yet there is always something new going on. I can remember when there was a gas station out in front of Agway, and the stop light, before the rotary! Thinking back now, all my trips to Saratoga were the farthest away from home I went. It was like traveling to Mexico! But now nothing seems like a long trip.
I love driving in the car. I have a thing with directions; it’s like a photographic memory. If I've ever been there then i can find my way back through the dark.
Chapter V
Ohne dich
Without you
So I spent all of my life listening to music, but never really settling into one genre. Punk, punk rock, emo, rock, alternative, classical, jazz, techno to name a few. I have always loved singing music and I always enjoy listening to music. So really any music except country music I could listen to. My favorite song at this moment would have to be The Otherside by Bubba Sparxx and Its True by Chamilionaire.
Chapter VI
Morgenstern ach scheine.
Morningstar, oh shine.
Kiribati, part of the Gilbertese islands about 100 miles south-west of Hawaii. My mother side of my family lives there. I traveled there a couple of years ago. For 45 days I lived in what we would call here poverty. This was an experience of a life time.
I lived with my aunt and uncle, and my five cousins. My experiences varied, one was feeling love for my family. Absolute love for my family, they showed loved towards each other, every moment of everyday. They were so excited to see my sister, my mother and me. My mother and my sister were both born down in the islands, but I was not. I was the first of my fathers’ seed to be produced in the United States. But not the last, my brother and my little sister were also born in Cambridge.
One of my greatest experiences was when my grandmother and I were at the house, alone. And we were trying to communicate with each other and she really wanted me to sing to her. So I started singing to her and she started to cry and it was my most rewarding experience down in the islands. Being with my grandmother and being able to sing to her, I’m not sure how many more times I will be able to do that, so it was something that makes me glad to be one of her grandchildren.
Another one of the great experiences was hanging out with my cousins. They were some of the greatest people I knew. They had such a great sense of humor, and they were always trying to incorporate my sister and me into things that they were doing. One night we played volleyball for something like 3 hours. It was the most fun I’ve ever had. I met a lot of pretty girls and most of them turned out to be my cousins. So, that was one disappointing thing about going down there. Almost everyone I met was related to me somehow.
Chapter VII
Bestrafe mich.
Punish me
Going through my High School years was fun, better known as the underclassmen years. Going through the freshman and the sophomore years were like diving into the hallow end. Not recommended but nonetheless can be done. Which I did, kind of.
Freshman year was the year where the seniors remind you of just how low on the food chain you are. I also at this time joined the WCHSC, Washington County High School Chorale, a local singing group filled with high school student who wished to sing more challenging material that regular high school repertoire. During my sophomore year I had the privilege of singing down in Carnegie Hall. I sing baritone, also know as a bass with tenor intention. During this time I was able to befriend many of the upperclassmen, which helps to impress the other underclassmen. A couple that I am still in touch with even though they are at college. This is where I see myself next year, college.
During all this madness, I met some pretty amazing people who helped mold me into the person that I am today, for better or for worse. There are just too many to even begin to tell you about.
Sophomore year, this is were I stopped playing soccer and basketball. A lot of things changed for. Goals, my attitude towards people and work, I mean I’ve always been lazy but my 10th grade year I got pretty damn lazy. More and more I began to sink into a deeper hell of my own. Until I started a serious relationship.
Chapter VIII
Können Herzen singen
kann ein Herz zerspringen
können Herzen rein sein
kann ein Herz aus Stein sein
Can hearts sing
can a heart burst
can hearts be pure
can a heart be made of stone
Love. Not something you can put your finger on and identify. It’s something that hits you like a train through a station. I fell in love, like tripped and fell, into love with a wonderful girl from Salem. We didn’t have a lot in common, but we seemed to get alone real well. It’s not like a lot of relationships where you would fight all the time, in fact we never really fought at all. The reason that it didn’t work out between us, is pretty much the same reason that my relationship with Carly Burns didn’t work, we both got bored with the same old routine. But I think that it was just me who got bored. Now, don’t get me wrong I love them both of them; they were great company and will always be friends. But having a relationship took all my time, and my school work was suffering even more than it was before. So I had to let them go. It seemed like everything worked out for the best. Everyone seems to be happy with the choice that I made.
So, that was pretty much my love life. It’s not much to talk about, but it seemed like I needed to write a chapter about it. Something that kind of resembles a chapter.
Chapter IX
Feuer frei!
Fire at will!
My family; two sisters, one brother, and two parents. Sariah a junior in college, Jonathan a freshman in high school, and my little sister Katherine who is in 8th grade. My parents are Timothy and Miriama Patrick. We are like any American family; we like to go on vacation we get in fights with each other only to be told to say you’re sorry. It’s a never ending cycle of dos and don’ts. I, in my own opinion, have not been the easiest member of the family to get along with.
I have a real problem with my temper; I can fly off the handle at some of the smallest things. One of my main “pet peeves” is pinching. And my sister loves to pinch me. I just hate the sudden feeling of pain and I respond to pain with anger. Of course I always say I’m sorry after the damage has been done. My family seems to get getting used to me doing this. Of course my actions don’t go unpunished and I always accept my punishment without complaining. It’s a fault that I must work on before I go off to college and have to deal with 4 other sweet-mates. I don’t feel a need to get arrested at school.
Chapter XI
und dann hat er sie geküsst
ihre Lippen schwach und blass
und seine Augen werden nass
and then he kissed her
her lips, delicate and pale
and his eyes tear up
So now that I’m off to study Computer Engineering Technology at Onondaga Community College, I find a need to look back on my life and see where I have been, what I have done, and the people that helped me get where I am today. If I were to, right now, thank everyone who ever helped me to get to where I am today, this would be a very long epilogue. Looking back over my life, there’s only a few things that I would change. One is me. I would change who I am, how I treated people and how I felt about people. I took for granted many people I crossed paths with. I wish I could go back and show them how grateful I am for all their time and money that was spent on me.
Back in school I would do my work and not slack off. I would be a better student and a better friend. Of course I can start doing that now. Right in college and begin to develop study habits that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
As for my family, I would be a better son, and a better brother. Overall, I would try to improve my impressions that I left with people who didn’t know. I would be more cautious of my comments and try not to offend too many people. I would tell more people who I love, that I love them. My grandmother who was a big help with my transition into adulthood, I would let her know how much she means to me.
As for the reader of my book; thanks for bearing with me through my dark years and my bright years. Always trying to defend myself as if at any time I could crumble and fall; but never failing at anything I would try because I did everything as if it didn’t matter. But now that I’m older and see how slacking off in my early years really came back to haunt me, I was rejected from a few colleges I really wanted to go to. But knowing deep down inside that I could never get into the colleges.
Thanks for reading and thanks for caring about me, all the help that you’ve given me, all the chances that you’ve given and all the humor that we’ve shared has made a difference in my life. This book is dedicated to you.
Optimism
