Future Life of Taro

FIGURE 2 BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH A FEW FRIENDS FIGURE 1 OLD FAMILY PICTURE

FIGURE 3 WRESTLING TEAM

FIGURE 4 MY DOG, GRETCHEN

Table of Contents Chapter 1- Career .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Chapter 2- Travel........................................................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 3- Family .......................................................................................................................................... 8

Chapter 4- What will make me happy .......................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 5- Maintaining health into old age ................................................................................................ 10

When I first was assigned this

assignment for planning out my future life, I

got so excited! I heard tons of people sigh in

disappointment, but I thought it was going to

be really fun. “I’m going to learn so much

through the research I do in this essay! My

whole life will be planned out!” I thought.

Well, actually, I have finally realized what

the saying “The more you learn the dumber

you realize you are” means! I have learned

tons about my future life that I had

absolutely no idea about. Although I did

have quite a lot of trouble researching and

thinking about this essay, it was really

helpful to know what I have to do to reach

the goals I set, and to find out what I can do

to reach them.

Chapter 1- Career Ever since I was young, I never

really knew what I wanted to be when I

grew up. At one point, I wanted to be a

firefighter, an engineer, a farmer, a pro-

swimmer, and a pilot. But throughout the

years, being a doctor has always sort of

shined out to me. My mom was a doctor and

always told me how it would be a perfect

job for me. I wanted to be so many different

things when I grew up, but if I wanted to be

a doctor, I would need some persuading.

One time, my mom had a really deep

splinter. I sat by her side and picked at it

with a needle and after an hour, it finally

came out. “Tara you should be a doctor!”

my mom cried out in joy. I really felt like I

could. I already had my mind set on being a

doctor after that moment, but I was not sure

what kind of doctor I wanted to be. There

were so many options! I could specialize, I

could become an internist, or a pediatrician.

It was so hard to choose! After I thought

about it, I decided that I wanted to be a

pediatrician.

A few important skills needed to

become a doctor are oral comprehension and

expression, problem sensitivity, good

reasoning, and written comprehension and

expression.

From my previous experiences, I feel like I

have the talent and skills needed to become

a pediatrician. I have looked into different

groups that offer summer programs like

AAMC and

DVC. They provide summer camps that

encourages girls to become interested in the

fields of medicine and science. I went to one

last year at DVC College, and I plan to go

again this year. Majority of the websites I

looked into told me that you should just be

well rounded and you don’t have to “check

out each box” to become a doctor. I believe

that is true and that I need to join as many

clubs and do as many extracurricular

activities as I can to get into a good college

and have as many skills necessary. I could

shadow my mom while she is at work, and I

could also shadow my old pediatrician, Dr.

Nguyen, this summer or upcoming years

from now. Courses that I could take this

year are biology (which I am already

taking), chemistry (next year), psychology,

and as many math courses possible. The Red

Cross Club at BHS is also a good option to

take at the school if you’re interested in

going into the field of medicine. Whenever I

go to my mom’s office, I make it a point to

read the health magazines in the waiting

rooms. Magazines I can read are New

England Journals of Medicine and Annals of

Internal Medicine.

FIGURE 5 DREAM COLLEGE

Looking at my life from college

onward, the top Pre-Med schools are

Harvard, Stanford, University of

Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and

Cornell University. My dream college since

I was 10 years old has always been UCLA.

I’ve always wanted to go to school in

Southern California, and even though UCLA

is not one of the top listed schools, it is

number 13, and the highest of the UCs

listed. I really don’t want to go to the East

Coast for college so I think that I’ll

end up going to school at UCLA. I am going

to enroll in a summer camp at UCLA for

high school students, called a “Nanoscience

Lab Summer Institute” where you learn

about

nanoscience and advanced technology.

Another summer camp I plan to enroll in at

UCLA is a “Nanoscale Microscopy Lab

Institute” where you learn about microscopy

use and study under a

microscope. After college, I was not really

sure what I was going to do with my

medical career. I could go into private

practice and open up my own building, or I

could go into public practice and work

somewhere like Kaiser or a VA Medical

Center (serves the Veterans) but since I was

going to be a pediatrician, I thought I should

open up my own practice with a few other

doctors. Income for the upcoming years

would be $135,000 a year, but would

gradually increase up to $175,000 a year.

If my plan to become a pediatrician

does not work, I plan to go into becoming an

internist. Since my mom works at the VA in

Concord, I am basically guaranteed a spot of

work there, as long as I have the education

needed. (Which I will)

Chapter 2- Travel

All my life I have never really left

California. I've never really wanted to travel

around the world, but so far I have been to

Nevada and Oregon. People have told me

about places they have gone to for vacation,

but they were just words to me. I didn’t

think too much on what they said because I

know in my later life I will probably travel

more, so they were things I could think

about later, when I actually planned out a

trip. Luckily, last year I was fortunate

enough to go to Maui, Hawaii for a

wrestling tournament. It was by far one of

the best experiences of my life so far.

Having the experience of my Maui trip, I

now crave the experience of traveling

around the world. Paris has always sounded

like fun to me, and I also want to go on a

road trip around the US with a few of my

friends right after we graduate high school.

I’ve seen hundreds of pictures of around the

world before, but they were just pictures.

Now that I have experienced the clear blue

water and the lush forests of Hawaii,

pictures I see are no longer just pictures.

They are now places I want to visit before I

die, and trips I want to plan out for my

future.

At least once every few years, I

would like to visit Hawaii. I'm not really

sure which island I would visit. Kauai is the

garden isle, Maui is the valley isle, Big

Island is the orchid isle, and Oahu is the

gathering place. Depending on the time of

the year & what I want to see in particular

will help me decide what island to visit.

Personally, I think winter is the best time to

go to Hawaii because it’s warm for

California, but cooler for Hawaii. Maui

would be my first choice to vacation at. I

FIGURE 6 MAUI, HAWAII

love the waterfalls and mountainous areas of

Maui, so if I go in the winter, there

are more and better waterfalls, and the

weather is nicer to hike in. Maui is the best

place to go whale watching. Humpback

whales start arriving in November, and are

in full force by February, and are gone by

early May. In South Shore Maui, there is an

aquarium, fine beaches, snorkeling, and

good places to stay. I want to go on the

Road To Hana. It is a 55 mile journey

around Maui that takes you through the

waterfalls, the overgrown hillside and

around the coast. West Maui is more for

tourists and places you go to get souvenirs.

In North Shore Maui, there are tons of water

sports going on. The winds and winter

swells draw boaters to the ocean for racing.

If I were to fly to Maui, I’d just use Alaska

Airlines (what I used last time) that takes us

from Oakland to Maui. I then would rent a

car and stay in a hotel by the shore. The car

rental place is a few blocks from the airport,

and hotels are about 15 minutes away from

the car rentals. I love Maui because

everything is close, so if you stay in a hotel,

it’s less than half an hour away from an

attraction.

When I am older, and married, I

would love to go to Paris. There are

different “districts” in Paris, France. I want

to go to the Eiffel Tower in particular, so I

would visit the 7th arrondissement. I would

love to go during the Fall, because the trees

would be turning orange and the chilly but

sunny weather and crisp air would be

perfect. The overall cost to go to Paris is

really high, and I would have to exchange

Euros in Paris, so I would go after I have

made quite a bit of money and saved up to

go. There are a bunch of cool art museums,

and the Notre Dame Cathedral that I really

want to see. It is very hard to find parking in

Paris, so instead of using a car, I would take

the Metro or a taxi. For lodging, I would

rent an apartment.

Since many gourmet restaurants are

quite a bit of money to eat at, I won’t be

going to a cafe every morning of my trip.

Instead, I would buy store food or street

food and picnic. I would

splurge on one or two nice meals in a fancy

gourmet restaurant, but mostly I’d stick to

street food. Paris is one of the world’s

reigning capitals of fashion, and along with

that the clothes are fairly expensive. Instead

of spending thousands of dollars in a store,

I’d try the flea market, but of course window

shop! The Notre Dame Cathedral is best to

visit during the fall, which coincidentally is

the time I want to visit, because of the

shorter lines and smaller crowds. I would

spend the afternoon there, so that I could

watch the sunset from inside the Cathedral,

and experience the sunset from behind the

stained glass. I would also like to see The

Louvre Museum, go on a boat tour of the

Seine River, and Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

As soon as I graduate from high

school, I plan to go on a summer road trip

with my best friends. First, we would get a

really fuel efficient car and a really good

FIGURE 8 ROAD TO HANA

FIGURE 7 PARIS IN THE FALL

playlist for the ride. Then, we’d all become

experts at changing tires and filling up a gas

tank. Finally, we would pack enough clothes

for a month and a half, enough food (snacks

or instant food) and water, and a few things

to do in the car. We’d start in California,

then go to Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico,

Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina,

North Carolina, Virginia,West Virginia,

Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa,

Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah,

and back to California. I know that if you

are on a road trip, especially for a few

months, you won’t be able to sleep in a

motel every night, so I’m going to have to

get used to sleeping in a car, I guess. Within

our trip, we would make sure to visit

Hollywood, Vegas, a

Southern Catholic Church in Louisiana, the

warm beaches of Florida, and Mount

Rushmore. When you’re on the road, you

are probably going to be eating a ton of fast

food, so we are all going to work out really

hard before our trip so that we can gain back

all the weight we lost before. We have to

make sure to stop along the way and take

pictures, or even just lay a blanket down in a

meadow we drive by, just to enjoy our

experience to the fullest. I’m not scared to

make a wrong turn in the road because any

small mistake on a road trip can lead you to

having the best experience.

Chapter 3- Family When I’m older, I hope to get

married and have two kids. I really want to

have kids because it would be pretty

amazing to literally give life to another….

And of course it would be so much fun! I

have always loved kids… I babysit and

coach them so I have seen them at their best

and worst. They can be SUCH a pain

sometimes, but I feel like that is part of the

fun of having kids. It would be so amazing

when I’m 30, and a toddler is crawling

around the carpet of my house, as I drink

coffee on the couch with my husband. I

know I can’t control whether I have a boy or

a girl, but if I have a boy, he’ll be named

Ares, Blaze, Zen, or Adonis (but Donny for

short). If I have a girl, she’ll be named Jade,

Aozora (but Zoey for short), Faith, or Hope.

I really like names from Greek mythology,

seasonal names, and names that have a

strong meaning to them, and I ended up

narrowing it down to those eight names.

I don’t plan to have kids until my

early 30s, but I plan to enroll each of my

kids in tons of sports and extracurricular

activities. I want my kids to be really well

rounded and be able to do things that will

help them in their later life. They should be

in leadership clubs so that they learn the

important skill of leadership. They should be

in sports because sports teach you self

discipline, hard work, time management,

and so much more! Sports give you daily

physical activity, social skills, good self

esteem, and lifelong health that they can

pass on to their kids. I will push my kids in

everything they do, but of course give

them leeway once in awhile. My family

will go on vacation often, and have family

activities together, even if we are all just

sitting in the same room, reading. We will

go to church every Sunday, because I feel

like religion is a very important aspect of

life. My kids should have some kind of

belief, but preferably Catholic or Christian

FIGURE 9 ROAD TRIP

(of course it’s up to them). When they want

to have parties at home, I will make sure to

keep an eye on who they hang out with, so

that I can help guide them into the right

crowds. In all honesty, I feel like their lives

will revolve around sports and

extracurriculars because if they play a sport

or are in a club, they will be surrounded with

people that have their same values or

interests. Also, from my personal

experience, when you are on a team with

someone, there is some sort of special bond

inside of you because you all work hard

together, you’re all rewarded if you succeed,

and you all take your consequences together.

Being on a team with people brings

everyone closer together, and I feel like just

that will help them find good friends that

will last them a lifetime.

Regarding my spouse, I want to get

married to a man who has a good head on

their shoulders. It might not sound that

good, but my spouse has to do certain things

in our relationship. For example; my

husband can’t smoke or do any drugs, he has

to have a good, well-paying job, and he has

to know how to cook and clean. Since your

spouse is the person you are going to spend

the rest of your life with, I don’t want to

make any mistake in who I choose to marry.

To be honest, if I can’t find a man who fits

my circumstances, I would rather just be

single for the rest of my life. I don’t want to

spend 70 years being miserable, I want to be

happy, and that’s part of the reason you

should get married, or for that matter, stay

single. People ask each other if you think

looks are more important than personality in

a relationship. In my opinion, I think

personality is majority of the answer. Looks

are important, but when I get married, the

personality of the person I marry will bring

up their looks. I’m not sure if that makes

sense, but basically the cooler of a person

you are, it makes you look better inside and

out. I of course would prefer to have a

husband who is good looking, but their

personality seems to be more important to

me.

Chapter 4- What will make me happy

When I graduate high school and

move on to college, I will basically have a

new life. Not really anybody knows you in

college, and sometimes it’s difficult to make

friends. I plan to be very preoccupied with

school in college already, but I will have to

make time and find things to do that will

make me happy, because there is way more

to life than staying in a quiet room studying

all day. When I’m 30, I will have my kids to

keep me happy, but I’m not really sure what

I’ll do when I’m 80. Joining clubs and sports

will majorly help me in college, or just

hanging out with friends in general, but what

will I do when I’m older?

Whether or not I get into college on a

wrestling, swimming, or water polo

scholarship, I still plan to join sports teams

in college. My sister is on a crew team for

rowing at UC Davis, and she tells me all the

time that it is so much fun. From what she

says, it seems like something I would

definitely look into in college. Even if I

don’t join a team, I will try as best as I can

to exercise daily, especially because I’m not

FIGURE 10 FAMILY PICTURE

trying to get the Freshman 15 (when

freshmans gain roughly 15 pounds from the

exposure to college foods and eating habits,

stress, etc.).

Ever since I was young, I’ve also

always wanted to learn how to dance. I feel

like dancing is an important skill that

everyone needs to learn, so without a doubt,

I will take a dance class at the college I go

to. I’m just interested in learning the basics

of dance, not the deep roots of it.

I also have wanted to join some kind

of leadership club for a school ever since

middle school. I think that when I’m in

college, leadership will be a good door for

me to open because I’m really outgoing and

I love to talk and have people hear what I

think. If I end up doing any of these things

in college, I think I will be pretty dang

happy! Doing all these activities will not

only benefit my learning and make me

happy, but it will help me make new friends

because we will all be interested in the same

things.

In my middle-age years, I will have

kids that will take up majority of my time,

so I might as will do things with my family

that will make us all happy! There are tons

of things I can do with my family that will

be fun. We could bake cookies, visit a beach

and collect shells, make a fort out of

cardboard boxes, go on picnics, go biking on

a trail; there are so many things available!

When my kids are in elementary school, I

will volunteer in their classrooms to help out

with things the teacher needs, and help out

during class parties, just like what my mom

used to do. I could socialize with the other

parents that I will probably know for awhile,

since my kids and their kids will be in

school together for many years.

When I’m about about 80 years old, I

can’t imagine having many things to do. My

kids will be out of college, and they’ll

probably have their own families. I could go

to senior community events, like senior

prom, and hang out with fellow seniors I

barely know, OR I could get together with

my friends and watch movies from when we

were kids, like Frozen!!! It would be pretty

cool to watch a movie when we’re all 60

years older that we used to watch when we

were 15! I want to live next door to my best

friends when we’re older so that we can

easily commute to each other’s houses when

we want to hang out. We will all sit down in

rocking chairs and knit clothes for our

grandchildren, and bake tons of food for

when our they come over so that they all

leave our homes fat and happy. My best

friends and I will all drink tea together and

we’ll talk about life, and look back quite

often on how we used to talk about growing

old together when we were teenagers.

Chapter 5- Maintaining health into old age A pretty big goal I have is to be

really healthy for the rest of my life, so I

plan to be one those really muscular and fit

grandmas that goes on power walks every

morning, then sits outside with her husband

and drinks coffee afterwards. My mom

knows people that are 100 years old, and

their bodies are still completely healthy

physically and mentally. Those people are

just like who I want to be like when I’m

older. There are many components to being

a healthy person. Eating healthy, exercising

daily, and being with people that make you

happy are the 3 most important components

to me when it comes to being healthy.

Eating healthy is the first thing that

comes to my mind when it comes to your

health. I watched a documentary that talked

about how this man ate very little calories

per day, not to lose weight, but to live

longer. He was eating about 900 calories of

food per day, instead of the normal 2,000.

According to the video I watched, what he

was doing was tricking his body into

starvation mode, which made his body

become super efficient at making the most

of the calories it gets from food and drink.

Apparently, it could add about 10-15 years

to your life if you can manage starvation

mode properly. Grandparents do eat a lot

less when they’re older, especially because

they sleep a lot and can’t chew food as well

as they used to. I definitely don’t want to

trick my body into starvation mode because

it just sounds awful to me! But I will eat

quite a bit less, and very healthy. I’m not

really allergic to any foods, so the food I

will eat to maintain a healthy diet would be

pretty diverse. Each day, I should eat 1.5-2.5

cups of fruit, 2-3.5 cups of vegetables, 5-10

ounces of grains, 5-7 ounces of protein, and

3 cups of milk or 1-1.5 ounces of yogurt or

cheese. I should stay away from empty

calories, like candy, and stick to the

healthiest foods possible. One time, a trainer

came into one of my wrestling practices to

teach us about losing weight. He said that

we should have half a handful of protein,

half a handful of grains and dairy, and as

much fruits and vegetables as we want. I am

going to stick to those food portions as I

grow older. It is recommended to eat your

fruits and vegetables first, then your starch,

then your proteins, and of course I’ll eat

vitamins every day, too!

Another key to living a healthy life is

to exercise daily. I am already an athlete, but

when I’m older, it won’t be as easy for me

to wrestle or run. I’ll have to find different

alternatives to getting daily exercise, like

swimming. Swimming is honestly the best

way to stay fit for older people. It offers

aerobic exercise without impacting your

body. When you are submerged in water, the

body becomes lighter. You hold up 50

percent of your weight at the surface of the

water, when you are chest-deep, you hold

25-35 percent, and when the water is up to

your neck, you only hold 10 percent of your

body weight. The rest is all carried by the

pool. This means that the pool provides a

good place to work stiff muscles and sore

joints, especially if you’re overweight or

suffer from arthritis. Warm water helps

loosen stiff joints and helps expands your

lungs and strengthens your heart.

Swimming, along with any other form of

physical activity can lower stress, higher

spirits, and better your brain. Exercising

releases endorphins; feel good chemicals

that make you have a natural high. Apart

from swimming, I plan to take yoga and

aerobics classes. Yoga relaxes and

strengthens your body, and muscles, and

aerobics helps you get fit and lose weight. I

will swim, take yoga classes, and aerobics

classes every day of the week except for

Sunday, which will be my rest day.

The last component to being healthy

is to be with people that make you happy.

You can’t possibly lead a healthy life

without being with people that make you

happy, otherwise, there isn’t really any fun

in life. Of course, I will have my husband

with me, and I plan to live near a bunch of

my friends, so we can hang out often. We

could all take exercise classes together, or

go on walks at a local park. We could also

bake and do a bunch of elderly-woman

things, like go out for coffee after church. I

think being with good people sort of ties into

FIGURE 11 SMOOTHIE BOWL!!!

exercise because when you take a yoga

class, for example, you meet people that are

all very calm and happy, and they of course

would be the sort of people you would want

to associate with. If I don’t ever end up

living close to my friends, and I live in a

nursing home, HECK! I would ride around

the halls with a scooter thing with some

people in the same nursing home. We would

do super cool and fun things if I was in

there, because you might as will do

something fun wherever you are, especially

because I could be there for awhile.

FIGURE 13 WAFFLES FROM JAVA POINT CAFE

FIGURE 12 ANOTHER SMOOTHIE BOWL

FIGURE 15 YOGA INSPIRED

FIGURE 16 CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

FIGURE 17 OLYMPIC WOMENS WRESTLING

FIGURE 14 OLYMPIC SWIMMING

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