It all started in 2016 when my online friend introduced me to K-pop music. She asked me, "Do you know K-pop?" I said, "No." She then told me how wonderful the music was and introduced me to the group Girls' Generation also known as SNSD. Later that night, I searched the group name and listened to a song, "I've Got a Boy." It was a catchy tune! After that, I got into the world-famous boy group--BTS (but before they got famous). I have a lot of favorite K-pop groups, but my number one favorite is BTS. In 2017, they had a comeback called, "Love Yourself." It continued until late 2018. My favorite album was "Love Yourself: Answer," because that album gave me lots of self-love. This one song called from the album called, "Love Myself." Here is the English translation of the chorus: You've shown me I have reasons. I should love myself (Oh-oh-oh). I'll answer with my breath, my path. The me of yesterday. The me of today. The me of tomorrow (I'm learning how to love myself). With no exceptions, it's all me. (BTS, 2018) Instead of focusing on other people and comparing myself to others. This lyric is telling me I need to focus on myself. For me, when I go to school or scroll through social media, I see how beautiful everyone looks and I always put myself down. I want to look and dress like them. Which is how I got appearance problems. I had a hard time posting selfies of myself on social media because I thought I would be bullied by netizens. When listening to this full comeback by BTS, a lot of their songs gave me self-love. I felt better about myself and started to take selfies of myself. The downside of me being a K-pop fan is that I had friends who didn't like K-pop. One of my friends told me, "You're Japanese, so why do you like K-pop?" That hurt me a lot, but I didn't care. I was jamming to the music. Even if K-pop is Korean music, the music is adored by everyone. The group BTS paved the way for K-pop to become famous worldwide. I never became a Koreaboo because I am happy to be Japanese. BTS and other K-pop groups release Japanese versions of their songs as well. One thing for sure is, I was proud to be Asian! I was part of friend groups online where we all liked K-pop, but as time went on, we moved on out of the group. Some of them dropped out of the fandom completely. For me, I was happy to have groups like BTS, Girls Generation, and others. I listened to them on the bus ride home from school and streamed their music videos. K-pop music was the music I didn't mind blasting on the streets. It helped me to be myself. Last year, I started a K-pop Discord Server to meet new K-pop friends. K-pop impacted all of us on that server. Where we show off our merchandise like albums and just talk about upcoming comebacks and events. I am thankful for my friend introducing me to K-pop, she introduced me to music that made my life feel extraordinary!

The song that inspired me the most is Some by SoYou and JunggiGo. The song was released in 2014 before I became a fan of Korean popular music (or K-pop). I first heard the song as a cover by the soloist--Esna at Korean Festival Hawaii in 2019. I had no idea what she was singing or what the song was about because the full song is in Korean, and I don't know the Korean language. The next time I heard the song was in 2020 on the All K-pop forums. Someone made a post about the song and how good it is. I didn't realize that Esna was only singing a cover of the song at the Korean Festival. The song was originally by SoYou and JunggiGo. I turned on English subtitles to understand what they are singing. I then realized that the song is about two opposite-gender friends who go out with each other sometimes, but don't think of themselves as boyfriend or girlfriend. I had a good friendship with this boy from school, but I couldn't think of him as my boyfriend even if we went out a lot with each other. I continued to chat with him, but I didn't call him any romantic nicknames like "babe or honey," I just had a normal friendly chat. When I did have the chance to hang out with him, we just did some normal friend stuff like chat and have fun like how SoYou and JunggiGo did at the end of the music video. The song Some is telling me that you don't need to be in a committed romantic relationship with the opposite gender, it's okay to be just friends.

When I was younger, I took ukulele classes every Saturday so I could learn how to play the ukulele. Playing the ukulele made me decide to become a musician. However, when I got my first tablet with iMovie, I used a lot to film and record my Barbie dolls. That became my first step into becoming passionate about videography and making videos. Fast-forwarding to 2016 is when I made my first YouTube channel since that's when I turned thirteen! I made lots of videos about this computer game called MovieStarPlanet. It only lasted for about three years because by 2019 is when I made my first real-life film! It was when I went to Japan! After that, I stopped making MovieStarPlanet videos and made more real-life films. I got passionate about making videos, especially when I'm at events. When it came to choosing a major for my college registration. I could have just chosen "Liberal Arts," but since I already knew what I wanted to do, I chose "Digital Media: Creative Media." My major is a mix of art, photography, and videography! I even got to do some videography classes in the first semester. To wrap everything up, besides having a YouTube channel, I also have an Instagram account for short videos and a Facebook page for photography. I also became passionate about photography when I started taking classes!

I remember back in sixth grade; the teacher would allow us to go ahead of the rest of the class during math time. I was one of the students who was allowed to go ahead to another section while the rest of the class stayed on the current page learning the concept step by step. From there, I advanced in math instead of taking eighth-grade math in eighth grade, I was able to do go ahead and do Algebra 1 which was a ninth-grade level math course. Math is important because even if you think your job does not require the use of mathematics, it might require some basic math skills like how to count or use operation symbols (add, subtract, multiply, divide). Jobs like engineering and construction use lots of math, especially geometry because they do lots of measuring. They also use Algebra because they deal with numbers. Engineering and construction jobs are not the only jobs that require math skills. If you're a cashier at a store or a bank teller, you must know how to count money so you can hand out change when needed. The job I am planning to go into--Film editing or Photography requires me to know some math skills. When you're dealing with shutter speed, the number can be a whole number, fraction, or decimal. In digital art, the programs have rulers on the side and wherever you place a shape or text, it tells you coordinates on where you place your object. For film editing, you deal with time, especially how long it takes to make each clip and how long the entire video should be. I love learning math because there are fun activities to do like if you do statistics, you might have to conduct your survey where you ask people about a certain topic. I remember my classmate e-mailed the whole class asking us to fill out this survey about if we drink anything with caffeine in it. In third grade, we had to do some surveys on a bag of skittles and M&Ms. Also, math is the only subject where you have a device you can use to help you which is the calculator because we can't do everything in our heads, so the calculator helps us to calculate some things. Sometimes math teachers go over some calculator techniques that we should know, especially because the standardized, state, and end-of-course exams do allow you to use them. Whatever job you get into, you may need to know some math skills even if it's basic elementary school math skills like counting, sorting, adding, and subtracting. It's a good skill to have and to keep practicing so you remember some things for your future career.

I remember back in seventh grade, we had to make something like a bucket list of things we wanted to accomplish. Out of all the stuff I wrote on it, I only remembered one thing from the list. It was "See Cherry Blossoms in Japan." I was happy when I got to cross it off my list because I had the opportunity to see it when I went to Japan. When I was a Junior in high school, the English teachers made us make a bucket list Google slides presentation, and most of the things I added were all travel-related. The travel-related things on my bucket list were like "Travel to South Korea, Singapore, New York, UK, France, Italy." I know it sounds expensive, but if I can at least go to the places once, I'll be happy! I also have online friends living in some of these places and they made me more interested in visiting their homeland. One of them is Singapore! They opened a shopping mall next to the airport called "Changi Jewel." There is a beautiful waterfall that I want to see. I also want to experience season change since where I live, we do not get to experience seasons except wet and dry seasons. I want to experience winter and autumn the most! In the beginning, I said that I completed one item off my bucket list, and it was to travel to Japan to see cherry blossoms. When I went to Japan in 2019, there was this beautiful cherry blossom tree at this park next to the Ghibli Museum. It was so beautiful that we spent a lot of time taking pictures of it! That was one thing I got to cross off my list! I hope I can cross off the rest soon.

Before doing any community service, I thought it was just picking up trash on the side of the road for hours. The only reason I thought that was because anytime movies or films mention community service, they're just picking up trash on the side of the road. I did not realize community service could also be volunteering and helping organizations. The first-ever community service I did was back in my first year of high school. We helped the Pearl City Community Association (PCCA) with the Mark Takai Day event. We had to help with the children's games. I helped from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM or when the event closed. It was fun to help run the children's games instead of being the ones playing them. It also taught me a lot of customer service skills that will be useful when getting a job like treating people with kindness or how to work with kids. I volunteered at that event for three years. I helped with different children's games like bean bag toss, ball toss game, and ring toss. It was also fun to give the little kids prizes when they won or if they wanted one because it does remind me of how I used to get prizes when playing games. Since I said I would stay till closing, we had to help with cleanup. We put away tables, games, tents, and chairs. We even had to sweep the pavilion to get rid of trash and leaves. It was all worth it because we got to have a free lunch of hot dogs, chips, and drinks. Another community service I did for PCCA was the Halloween Bash setup. I first did it when I was a sophomore in high school. I helped from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM. Halloween Bash is an event where kids can dress up, go trick-or-treating, play games, and enter a costume contest. It's hosted on Halloween night. In the afternoon, they set up for the event. We helped with that by sweeping leaves off the pavilion, setting up cardboard houses for trick or treating, bringing the games, setting up chairs in the pavilion, and bringing out the candy. This volunteer service taught me how to carry heavy stuff and how to properly set up for an event. I did this one for two years. I remember one year, there was a little dog that came out and when we went to the storage container to grab stuff, the dog kept on approaching us. Some of them got scared but some just remained calm. We also got free lunch or snacks of hot dogs, chips, and drinks, and one year we had free nachos. When we needed money for the Japan trip. The teacher decided we should help at the carnival that PCCA was hosting at the high school. We did the parking. The teacher collected money and students were mostly checking passes at the performer's parking lot to make sure that they were allowed to park there because they were going to perform. I helped from 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM. Since few performers were coming, I and this other person got bored easily, so we tried to talk to each other or just play on our phones until someone came. I think this one could have taught me that you may encounter a slow business day, but you just have to deal with it. Community service is more than just picking up litter. It's helping to serve your community, which can help you learn skills for the workforce and beyond.

When I was younger, I had a barbie dollhouse, barbie dolls, and an iPad. I found this purple stool that I used to turn upside down and place my iPad on like a camera tripod. Since it was too short for my dolls, I would have to add books or notebooks underneath to give it some height for the taller Barbies. I even got to know how to use the basics of iMovie, especially on mobile. This is what sparked my interest in video making and editing. Once I started to become a teenager, I decided to stay away from playing with dolls. However, I got lucky to go to Japan as a sophomore. I filmed my first ever film for YouTube there! It was not perfect, but I tried my very hardest to film. I did not have a professional camera, only my phone, so I tried my best to hold my phone as still as possible. By the time the trip was done, I combined all clips on iMovie and made something that was okay for my first film. The second film was at Polynesian Cultural Center when I went for a Junior Year Bonding activity. That one came out a little bit better, but it was too long! I also was in a digital media class during that year, and they taught us how to make videos especially for the new cast that they put on. I got to be the film editor for my group and being their film editor made me interested in going into film editing. As of now, I am majoring in Creative Media in hopes I can become a film editor, camera operator, or social media influencer.

This is a video link to my film "Boat Ride in Waikiki." My AVID teacher took the class out to Waikiki on a boat ride to celebrate our High-School graduation since we could not do much during the school year because of COVID. It was either we do like a luncheon or an activity together and we all decided to do an activity which was a boat ride. I really like to film and edit so this was an opportunity for me to film for my YouTube channel. I filmed the beach we were on, the boat going over rocky waters and waves, and just having a good time together for the last time.

Back in elementary school, I used to help this one special education student organize his binder because he would have lots of papers sticking out and there would be papers that he does not even need anymore! So, every so often, I would help him with clearing out his binder. Two teachers saw the good deed I did, so I got recognized for it as a random act of kindness. I enjoy helping people with organizing their stuff. I never liked having a big mess because I just feel like everything is all over the place and it gets harder to locate the stuff you are trying to look for. So, whenever I have a mess especially on my study desk, I try to clean it up or if I have no use with some of the stuff, I just throw it away. This is what sparked my interest in helping others organize their things. I even organized my cousin's toys because he has them all over the ground and it just makes a big mess, so when I cleaned it up, I put certain toys in certain containers depending on how similar they are. My aunty and uncle appreciate it. They cannot always go and clean up after him because they are busy with work, so I clean up my cousin's toys and organize them for him. Being organized and helping people become more organized can help us from losing stuff in the future.

One thing that motivates me daily is listening to relaxing music. I have a whole playlist for it on Spotify that I listen to every time I do my work. Relaxing music can help me do my studies, make videos, and play computer games. Whenever I come home from school, I feel very tired, and I do not want to study. All I want to do is sleep, but I know I have work that is due, so I must give myself some motivation to do little every day. At first, I just went on YouTube and searched for relaxing music to listen to while studying. It helped because I did not feel tired anymore while working on assignments. Later, I started making my playlist on Spotify with lots of relaxing music so the music can just keep playing nonstop when I click play. If I am working on a video or playing computer games, I usually play relaxing music to keep me motivated to work on the video or to focus on the game better. I tend to lose motivation easily when working on videos because I just get bored of working on them. So, relaxing music puts me in the mood to work on them longer. If I did not listen to relaxing music, I would be sleeping a lot and never will get the assignment done on time! So, listening to relaxing music gives me the motivation to do stuff daily.

When I was watching YouTube videos of people making films on places they go to, I got interested in making them myself. My inspiration came from a Golden Closet Film of Tokyo, Japan made by BTS's Jungkook! It was interesting how he filmed in certain areas of Tokyo like Ginza and Tokyo Disney. So when I had the opportunity to go to Japan, I was motivated to make a film like his. When I was recording in Japan, I had issues whenever I walked because once I started to walk and record at the same time...the phone starts becoming shakey. I also did not record everywhere because since I took lots of pictures, my phone's battery went down a lot! By the time the trip was over, I went on the computer on iMovie and imported all my clips I recorded and made a film like Jungkook's Golden Closet Film. I realized I should have recorded more in landscape instead of portrait mode because portrait mode just makes the film look more for Instagram than YouTube. However, that was the first film that I made so I knew it would not be perfect since it was my first try at filming and editing. After that, I had the opportunity to go to Polynesian Cultural Center as a Junior bonding activity and I recorded there as well. I recorded it all in landscape mode that time which came out better than the Japan trip film, but I had issues with shortening it. The entire film came to be one hour long! Then after that, I got better at shortening films and making them less shakey. In the end, I got a little bit better with editing and recording videos. I just need to keep practicing especially holding a still camera!

A happy memory for me has to be the time I went to Japan with the Japanese language class back in tenth grade. The trip was originally for Juniors and Seniors but the teachers decided to open it up to the Sophomores! I was very excited to go because I wanted to see cherry blossoms! The temples were interesting but I liked Harajuku the best because of the cute items the stores sold. We also got to visit a park where we saw a cherry blossom tree with fully bloomed flowers! That was the best sight to see for me!

The most inspiring book I have ever read was Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. The book is about a fifth-grade girl named Melody who can't walk, talk, or even hold a pencil but is smart. The part of the book that I liked the most was the teacher announcing that the grade was allowed to compete at an event but you needed to be smart. So the teacher handed out tests to everyone to see who would qualify and Melody qualified! Some students in her class were really surprised that a disabled girl was one of the participants in the event. The first event came and they won because of Melody and some of the teammates were very surprised they won because of her. When it came to having a celebratory party at the restaurant...her classmates found out that she has to be fed because she can't pick up anything! So she decided to not eat in front of her classmates. Her class was also qualified for nationals in another state. Melody did not get any remainder to say that the team hopped on another flight because of a bad snowstorm that was coming, so technically they just left her behind! She was devasted! The next day at school, she decided to enter the room and one of her friends said that she forgot to text her about the flight change! They were rushing to hop on the plane. However the team did not win, but they decided to place the participation trophy on Melody's wheelchair table but she just dropped on the ground and left to her special-education room. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper inspired me to treat kids with disabilities the same way you would treat everyone else without disabilities.

1) Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots 2) Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees 3) After School - Weeekly 4) Ready or Not - Bridgit Mendler 5) Faith - Stevie Wonder (Ft. Ariana Grande) 6) Alone - Alan Walker 7) Breathin' Ariana Grande Playlist Name: Welcome To College~! Artist Name: MochiAngel.

A lot of friends say I am really nice and helpful to them! They appreciate it because I am someone to hang around, talk to, or trust. I do remember helping my classmate couple times in elementary school, making channel banners and trailers for my online friends, and in middle school, I helped some people with their class or homework. In fifth grade, after school; I would always help this special needs student organize his binder by taking out papers he doesn't need anymore. I would have to help him like every month or so because his binder got very messy! Papers were all over the place! So, I would have to help him putting papers in the right section of his binder. For this nice act, I got recognized by the teacher for random acts of kindness. On this online chatting platform, my online friends ask if I can help them by making channel banners for their YouTube channels. A lot of my online friends found how to make thumbnail videos, very confusing! So, some of them asked me to make some pretty nice thumbnails for them. However, I am not the best at making thumbnails, but I just like to lend a hand and just make something for them. Also, I even helped most of them with editing their videos or creating channel trailers for them. Sometimes in class, the teacher doesn't give very good or clear instructions on assignments, so some people tend to get confused on what to do. So far some of them message me on Instagram or Messenger asking me to help them with understanding on what to do. I usually just try my best with explaining it. Being nice and helping others is why people know and like me!

Nowadays, Technology is all around us! Every year, it gets better and better like how Apple always releases a new and better iPhone or how computers and laptops are having touch screens. At first technology was very simple and just did the one job simple things like how vacuums just clean and telephones just call. As the years goes by, people start inventing more advanced technology that can do even more like walking or taking orders! One type of this advanced technology is robots. Lately, in Japan, they have robots working as Hotel Receptionists, Waiters, and other jobs which is a sign that technology is advancing really well! Another advanced technology is how cars are starting to become driverless or environment-friendly. Domino's Pizza is trying to use driverless cars for delivery. I remember that my chemistry teacher said that he wanted a Tesla just because it could drive itself and he thought it looked really cool! Tesla's are also eco-friendly because most of the models need gas to operate. I remember seeing a toy car commercial and they made a toy car that only runs on water! It doesn't need batteries, just water! This commercial could probably be an inspiration for a future car invention and it would be really cool to see an actual car running on pure water! In the digital creator world, you use a professional camera or video camera to record or take beautiful videos or pictures, but nowadays you can just use your phone and do all that. I remember from Photo Con in Hawaii that this one photographer, showed us this film he made with just using his iPhone! The film was very professional, it looked like he never used an iPhone at all to record it but he did! It's like nowadays you don't need an expensive camera to make films or an expensive video editor to edit them, you just need to know how to use the free ones on your phone, tablet, or computer and you can make beautiful, nice, professional films or pictures. Without technology advancing, I can picture the world just staying the same--FOREVER, and the future wouldn't look very futuristic. Since technology is always advancing, the future looks like it would be really cool!