Personal Narrative Essay: The Browser

A saying i've kept to myself is to get back up when knocked down. This saying doesn’t just stand for getting up when literally knocked down but can keep a deeper meaning than what it says as for example being knocked down by a difficult obstacle to overcome and getting up to find a way to get past it and achieving it. Some people may not see this as something important but they don’t think about how getting up after knocked down can be something that can or would have been like a positive outcome into their life and how they are given two choices when knocked down which is to stay down or get back up and continue going forward.

I hadn 't realized how nerve racking breaking a social norm could be until I decided to purposely go around doing it for a day. For my deviance experiment, I decided to ask ten random people throughout my day on June 30th, 2016 if they wanted to play rock-paper-scissors. The game itself is harmless and fun, but the act of interacting with someone more than a simple “Hello, how are you?" and a quick "I 'm fine, thanks" became a deviant act. The textbook describes deviance as a “recognized violation of cultural norms.” (pg 174) People who go against social norms, who may be considered outsiders or strange are often labeled deviant.

My act of deviance was to wear a pajama set with slippers and to carry my sock monkey around with me to all of my classes. As simple as my act may seem, I actually several norms. The first norm is that you normally wear pajamas to bed, and every day, casual clothes to class. The second norm is that you wear slippers around your house and have different shoes you wear out. The third norm is that stuffed animals are owned by small children. All of my norms are based off the value of conformity. It makes people uncomfortable when someone deviates, so that’s exactly what

We stared at each other speechless, literally speechless. No matter how hard I tried I could make a sound. Her eyes darted back and forth and slowly she opened her mouth and out came a small insect. She screamed, or it appeared she made the motions of screaming but like me no sound came out, she pushed herself away from the desk and stood up baking away in fright. We watched the strange insect like creature scurry away across the room and slide between a crack in the front door.

It hurts. My bright red bruises under the light were buzzing from the pain. The yelling and arguing were muffled by my loud sobs. Why did this have to happen to me? I was just a kid, I didn’t do anything! Stomp stomp stomp. I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He found me and yelled into my ears even more. I was called ugly, fat, disgusting, useless, girly, weak. The words ringed in my ears as I asked myself once again, why? I was like a slave, I couldn’t defend myself, I had to survive the beatings. I succumbed to the insults and descended into chaos.

When I joined the military, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. It is one of the main reasons why I decided to join the Reserves and not Active duty. The other main reason was because I knew the Reserves would still pay for college while I was only active one weekend a month. Growing up in Killeen, Texas – I was right beside one of the largest Army post which is Fort Hood. I had a lot of friends whose parents were in the military, and two distant cousins who were also in the service. All I knew, (or thought I knew) was they had good money.

“Hey, caption needs us to come to her office,” called out Ryker my field partner. He then headed towards the captain Calvert's office.

I was ten, the most terrifying event I had been through was riding the little dragon roller coaster at the fair, but that night changed it all. The fear that started in my head spread like wildfire to the rest of my body from the tips of my fingers to the bottoms of my toes. My heart was racing so fast that it could have beat Usain Bolt in a 100m dash. Stop, drop and roll, three steps that should have come naturally, but instead I froze, looked down at my yellow and black checkered flannel in complete terror, fearing for my life.

Reading and writing has always played a vital part in my life. From toddler to adult, pre-elementary to college, I’ve managed to sharpen both skills to my liking. However, even though it significantly helped, schooling was not what influenced me to continue developing those skills into talent. Many different things shaped and influenced my learning, and now reading and writing have become the safety net of my life. I know that even if I have nothing else in the future, I’ll still have my talent and knowledge. To ensure my success, I hope to further develop those skills so that I may fulfill my wishes.

After the slow dawdle like walk up to “The Site”, with the slight trickle of the fresh mountain stream in the background. All I want is sleep, picturing my bright yellow hammock enveloped by a semi transparent school provided tarp. Soon enough, I am greeted by “The Site” only told to stay within the gully. I start with a little scan of the landscape, trying to find the perfect spot for my hammock to lay between two coniferous trees. No, no, no, after 20 minutes of scanning the landscape I find the perfect spot.

I had always assumed that my legs were strong and that I had decent muscle control, however, this thought was proven wrong at the beginning of my junior year in high school due to a detrimental injury. It was the first game of fall league for basketball, and within the first five minutes I had succumbed to an injury. Tearing my ACL and Meniscus has taught me to continue improving on my strength, not let this one injury keep me down, and to keep a positive mindset.

Everyone has a story, some people have too many if you asked me, but one story has always stuck with me. Monique and I were standing next to a gigantic leafy tree hoping that the sub teacher wouldn’t make us run laps in the scorching hot weather. After running 4 laps we were exhausted, the teacher forgot about us and decided to run the humongous oval with the rest of the students. To make this boring, useless class a little bit more interesting, I started telling Monique that I’m an actual ninja. I exclaimed with excellent “Can I show you this really cool ninja/karate kid flip”.

Plav, Montenegro is a small, poor village in Europe. It is the place where my parents were born and raised. Even though I was born in Brooklyn, New York, I feel I was raised in Plav, Montenegro, too. Growing up in America, where the culture and traditions are so different from that of Montenegro, I was faced with the obstacle of trying to become part of mainstream America while maintaining my own culture.

My superhero helps people who gets bullied. It all started at Timber Creek Academy when there was this girl named Maddie.One day at Timber Creek Academy she was walking in the hallway looking at her book,and then this girl named Jennifer said “how would you like to be my friend”.Then Maddie said “are you sure” and then of course Jennifer said”why not you seem so interesting”.She went along with it,but then Jennifer texted Maddie and said “do you want to come to my house and hang out” then Maddie replayed “let me ask…..” .She said “yes, where do you live” then replayed “5698 Poetry Lane” then she said “ok see you soon”.

I have reddish-brown wavy hair, I am 5’4”, and I weigh 127 pounds. I see myself as the comedian of my friend group. I am shy around people I am not very close with, but once I get to know someone, they can never get me to shut up. I believe others see me as hilarious, smart, caring, and fun to be around. In my free time, I hang out with friends, watch hockey, go shopping, sleep, and watch Netflix. My three best friends are Abby Quirin, Morgan Jetton, and Hunter Ross. Unfortunately, I constantly think about what my peers will think of me before I make my decisions. Although, my friends usually help me make wise decisions and give me the confidence to do what is right. My favorite things to eat are pizza, salad, spaghetti, watermelon, and chocolate.