Autobiography of a Tasmanian Devil
I am Reign Christian S Pasion, 17 years of age born on August 31, year of 2008 born. I was born, raised, and currently live in Pasig City. My academic background consists of Riversprings School Inc. (RSI), for both elementary and junior high school, and I am currently a Grade 12 student at NU East Ortigas. I am the eldest child in my family; I only have one sibling who is significantly younger than me. He’s currently in grade 4 while I am in grade 12. My mother serves as the bread winner of the family working in an office while our father does the housework, such as cooking our food and caretaking. In my daily life, I enjoy drawing and socializing with others online. These experiences and interests have shaped me into the person I am today and continue to influence my growth and aspiration.
As the eldest child, I have learned to become more compassionate and understanding towards my family. Back then I wasn’t really the sharpest tool in the shed. I didn’t know how to read till I was 7 years of age, yet I didn’t let this lower my self-esteem, I was apparently called the “Tasmanian Devil” based on the Looney Tunes character with the same name as a child. I would always get injured and be up to “weird shenanigans”. These reasons are why my relatives are so surprised to see me grow up to be quiet and reserved. My love for art stems from a question that my grade 3 teacher asked in our class. She asked what our professions would be growing up, I answered artist, it seemed to be the easiest option in my 8-year-old mind, so I stuck with it.
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As I grew older, my experiences in school began to shape my personality and the way I view the people around me, whether subconsciously or not. Most of my memories of my times in RSI are all vague, in my mind, I always thought I would be in RSI for the rest of my life, from elementary to junior high school was an eternity in mind. I didn’t get to appreciate the small moments in my time there. However, I remember how our entire class would procrastinate as a coping mechanism for hard tasks such as reporting and writing, which I carried to grades 11 and 12. I also have vague memories of our Christmas celebrations, our class was tasked with creating giant lollipops for decoration for our the christmas event of the school. We spent several days preparing them; we used bamboo for the sticks and cardboard for the lollipops themselves; we were surprisingly coordinating enough to pull it off. Our uniforms were colored white and red due to the paint we used. After we were done, we noticed there was still an abundance of cardboard left, so we used them to build a little Christmas tree for our classroom. It stayed there till we left for grade 11, to this day I still don’t know where the tree went.
RSI was a Christian school so there was only a short amount of people who had sexual orientations that was not heterosexual, so I experienced an incredible amount culture shock when I moved to NU East Ortigas. On my first day I saw a person who was able to be openly gay, I was surprised of how extroverted and comfortable they were with expressing themselves. At first i did not know how to react because I still wasn’t used to being around people who were so open about their identities and I was in a new environment. As time passed, however, I realized there was nothing unusual about it. Everyone simply had different experiences, and ways of expressing themselves. Meeting different people in senior high school allowed me to be more open minded and understanding. It taught me that stepping outside of what I am familiar with can be uncomfortable at first, but it can ultimately help me grow up as a person. My time as a grade 11, although short, was more memorable than my time in RSI. I cherished my memories more because I knew my time there was more finite; I made deeper friendships.
My time right now as a Grade 12 made me grasp how fast time can move. Unlike when I was younger, I am more aware that the friends and experiences I have will eventually become memories. Grade 12 has also made me think more about my future, which I never thought about in my time in RSI. I have become more conscious of the decisions I make and how they may affect the person I want to become. Although I still procrastinate even more than I should, I have learned to manage my time better and understand when I need to take things seriously. My experiences with the people around me have also helped me become more comfortable with who I am. As I am writing this, I realized that moving to NU East Ortigas was not just a change of school or environment, but an important part of my personal growth. Looking back at my childhood, my time in RSI, and my experiences in NU East Ortigas, I can see how each phase of my life shaped me into the person I am today.
