Music has changed every single person's life. Some people realize that they enjoy it, others just can't live without it. And then there are others who can live without it. There are also a lot of people who, without music, probably would not still be with us anymore. I am more of a can't live without it type of person. Music has just been there with me for so long, I don't know how I'd function without it. I would spend the rest of my life trying to remember songs I listened to or played (I play the trumpet) just to remember what it's like to have music in my life. But my passion for music didn't come from nowhere. It came from my mom, my friends, and, to me most importantly, my grandfather. Most of my childhood I remember is with my mom. My mom used to be a single mother and for a big part of my childhood, it was just my mom and I living in Connecticut. When I was a newborn, my grandparents took care of me in Texas (more on that later). I vividly remember a weekly routine my mom and I had on Fridays when it was just the two of us living in Connecticut. My mom would pick me up from school and we would go to Pizza Hut and get to eat these things they used to sell called Pizza rolls. I don't really know how to explain the concept, all I know is that it was delicious. Although I miss those days and the pizza rolls (they were discontinued a couple of years later), my favorite part is that I got to play songs both of us liked and sing-a-long to them. If it were not for that, I wouldn't have such a good relationship with my mom as I do now. My mom and I still do that to this day, keeping us connected still. I am an introvert, which means that it is harder for me to be more social or start a conversation. So naturally, I don't have that many friends and I am fine with that. But the friends I do have all have one thing in common with me. Their love for music. There is a difference between liking, loving, and really loving music. All of my friends are the really loving music type of people, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Most of the friends I've made have been through music. My best friends and I were in the same Drumline for our school and that's how we met. My girlfriend and I met through a musical, which includes a lot of music. Almost every friend I know started out as strangers, but through music, we became friends. When I was just a baby, my mom went off to New York for college so she could get her sociology degree. Since I was just a baby, my mother left me in the care of my grandparents. My family is from El Salvador, and therefore via the name of the country and statistics of ethnicity, my family is also Catholic. So I would go to chruch every Sunday with my grandparents and uncles and aunts. I have very little memory of my childhood before I moved to Connecticut, but I do know one thing. My grandfather loved to sing for the church. I'd join him just because it looked fun. My grandfather recently passed away, and as a way of reviving his love for music, I want to practice my skills for him.

Using tools, you can survive the un-dead, trade with villagers, discover lost cities and temples, and travel to whole new worlds that are even deadlier than earth. All the while you and the worlds are shaped in cubes. Minecraft is one of the most (if not the most) popular video game there is. You can try and survive on your own, with you friends, play mini-games on servers, and even becoming a god with the ability to build or destroy whatever you want. I am not a good minecraft player. I die very quickly and easily. So why would I, a person who is terrible at the game, enjoy it so much? Well although it can be difficult to play for some people, its not really about the gameplay. It's about the adventure. There are many people (me included) who like to play video games, which will make them stay indoors rather than outdoors. Since it is also hot outside during the summer or cold during the winter, people want to stay inside their comfortable homes either way. But minecraft can bring back the joy of being outside. Sure, you can't build a house in a day or slay zombies or even punch a tree till it breaks, but that feeling of adventure is still there. People still have a sense and need for adventure, and minecraft is possible one of the best ways to experience that for those who don't actually want to go outside.

When you almost get eaten alive by a sea king, one naturally gets the dream to become the greatest pirate ever by finding the greatest pirate treasure, the One Piece. The show I'm talking about as just said earlier, is called One Piece, starring the main protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, and his insanely strong and interesting pirate crew. A lot of people think that this show is over-rated, especially when it comes to the fact that the show has now over 1100 episodes and yet has not been finished. However, I disagree with that statement and in fact think that the show is under-rated. There are many people out there who still think anime is for children (which is not true as there are a lot of anime is intended for a mature audience), but if they watched any of most popular anime out there today, they might change their mind. A lot of anime have to have a lot of sagas or stories in order to keep the show going, meaning that although one chapter is finished, it doesn't have to be because the creators of the anime can make a new problem anytime they want. One Piece is no exception to that, there are so many sagas, which is something I love about the show. Since there are so many sagas/stories/plots, you can always be able to watch something new and interesting. Something I also enjoy about the show is about how many lessons the show has. Some people think that I am talking about how you must never give up on your dream and to be brave, which the show does promote but it also has its darker lessons as it has signs of loss, slavery, great depression, and more. Yet even with these incredibly dark topics, this show is able to turn that around to help Luffy and his crew become even stronger. I understand that the One Piece show and anime in general is not for everybody since everyone has their own preference. Although I do think it is worth it to try and watch the show before you see how many episodes it has.

I grew up with a family that helps each other out. They aren't the perfect family since they all still have their problems with themselves or with other people, but in the end we still care for each other and help each other out. As I grew up, I enjoyed helping other people more. I believe my joy for helping was back in elementary school where I was just given money and instead of buying a toy with it, gave it to a family in need of food. Soon after I started helping my family more, my friends, and people who just needed help in general. I always try my best when it comes to helping people because I think that helping others is the one of the best thing you can do. For that reason, I have joined the Boy Scouts and the YLA program. In Boy Scouts, we have an slogan. That slogan is to, "Do a good turn daily." This means that as scouts, we must help not only one another, but to help others as well. This is not the only place where it states that the scouts must help others. It is stated in the Scout Law when it states that a scout is helpful and the Scout Oath when is says, "...To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times...". These oaths, laws, and slogans have made me a better person because it helped me help other people. The YLA program is a program at the Ohio State University and stands for the Youth Leader Association. This program is for students in High School to learn how to be a leader in order to be able to help others in whichever environment we are in. The program typically is throughout the school year, with only 12-15 meetings per year. Each meeting we either go by grades-to see how the meetings can improve and more interesting, or by groups like a social committee or financial committee- in order to plan what happens in the next meeting. However in the summer, the students get to be a part of a summer program that YLA is in called LIFE SPORTS. In this program, students under High School go to Ohio State's campus and learns how to play sports while being nice to one another's peers. As Youth Leaders, we are able to put what we've learned into practice with a bunch of kids younger than us in order to gain this experience. There have been many times where I've had to sit down and help the kids calm down from being upset at another peer, or just being there to make them happy.

Music has always been a part of my life. I grew up with it because I lived with a big family. Each member of my family has different tastes in music, so I grew up having a very wide sense of what types I like. It's also always been there for me. When I needed to just sit and contemplate, when I just needed something to cheer me up out of a bad mood, to even just having it because it fills the awkward quietness in the room. I mostly grew up listening to Spanish styles of music like Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, and Reggaeton but I also enjoy other groups like rap, country, jazz, pop, and j-pop. Music has always given me a sense of flow and motivation where I can loosen up or focus when I need it. I'd say that the biggest reason I've been so influenced and in love with music is because of the flow of it. The rhythm and on beat sounds that come together are what can bring people joy and satisfaction with music. Music is always something I can count on when I need it the most, and I want to share that experience to others as well. I have a couple of ideas for my future career. I could take something in the theatre direction, like acting. I could also go in the art direction, like animation or drawing. But my main idea is music. I would like to either be a music artist or producer, helping other people make their own songs. I also like the idea of being in a band of any sort because I know how to play the trumpet. I like making my own beats from time to time. I struggle with coming up with ideas because I always keep thinking of what should go next or how I want it to end but I try my best to stick to a theme and go with it. But to me, the reason I chose to go with a music career is because I'd like to share the same experience and impact many songs and artists have left me to other people who also like music as much as I do. I don't really care about fame as long as it helps me build a connection between people and music more so they can also be impacted positively.