Running head: Like an open book I tell all 1

Like an open book I tell all

Daniel Palacios

Itt Technical Institute

Authors note

This personal narrative was prepared for Composition 1, taught by Ms. Jamil.

Like an Open Book I tell all 2

At first glance, I appear to be a man of average intelligence, in theory one would not be wrong if you made that assumption; I have made many uncalculated and spontaneous decisions in my life.However, one poignant decision I made to myself was to never lie. That decision has impacted my life in ways I would have never comprehended before. In this paper, I will be giving a reflection of my past decisions and how they have led to my journey of becoming a student at ITT tech. My interest in computer hacking is now helping me to realize how I can use it to reach my full potential at ITT Tech and in my daily life. I am hoping that this burning desire to learn can not only lead to financial success but personal success as well.

Past

For you to truly understand how I have come to this moment in my life I feel that you must understand that although enrolling in this institution was easy, my journey up to it was not. I was born into a low­income single parent household with three siblings in Fort Worth, Texas. Due to societal pressures, I always wanted to be thought of as a “man.” Because I had no real father figure at home to show me the way, I learned on my own . However, in the beginning I had the idea all wrong. I thought, to be a man you must be tough, in the sense that heavy dependency on drugs and run ins with the law was a normal. I placed myself in situations that gave me a notorious credit in my neighborhood, however in my home life I was, in a sense, failure to not only my siblings, but to my mother. After a line of bad decisions, my mother had had enough and kicked me out of the house. With spite in her voice and hatred in her eyes, she told me how she never wished to see me again. After this, I began to rethink my decisions and my definition of being a “man.” I had dropped out of school in ninth grade, lost the respect of my mother, and was couch surfing with friends; I knew there had to be something better. So I decided to join the National Guard. I cleaned up my act, took my G.E.D. and ASVAB, and faced my mother one more time to sign my waiver into the military. My entire mindset changed once I was finally around real respectable men. I knew right then and there that was what a “man” was supposed to be.

Once I was in the military, I was receiving a stable income, so I did what any underprivileged youth would have done, I bought myself a computer. I had never even touched a computer until then and was amazed by the world that it had opened to me. I would find myself spending hours watching politicians speaking about important governmental and world issues, even though I had no idea what it all meant. I would write down what I did not understand and research it later, it helped me strive to be better. However, do to my inexperience around computers, it eventually caught a virus. At the time I was serving overseas and could not hire anyone to fix it for me, so I decided to do it myself. I learned how to defeat malware and eventually learned how to play the game of “find the virus.” This led to my eventually love for repairing computers.

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Present

As of today I am a different person than I was when I was in my youth. I have not only had the opportunity to raise a beautiful family,but I learned how to be the man I knew I could be. I now respect the authority of the law and understand that my actions have repercussions. I am widening my career paths in computers through ITT, I now know that I would love for my career to revolve around program hacking, fixing software and hardware; overall I wish to learn as much as I possibly can. Although I am not professionally working in a career with computers at the moment, I am a resource when there is computer malfunction. I find it personally rewarding when I am able to fix a computer, because I feel superior to the hacker or program that was originally taking advantage of the owner.

I am in the NSA program here at Itt and have learned how interesting networking can be. I have had the pleasure to meet many people here at Itt, but the two that have stood out have been Edgar Aviles and Mr. Chiles. Edgar has helped me figure out what I want to be, achieving it and how not to lose motivation. Mr. Chiles is a great inspiration, he is doing so much to help motivate students. Mr. Chiles constantly tells us about fellow students who have followed the same paths and have not only achieved financial stability, but respect.

Future

Not only do I hope for financial stability, I also hope to be able to work doing what I love. I understand that ITT is not going to be doing all the work for me, but I feel that it is a wonderful start to my ideal career path in computers. Although, this has taken a financial toll on me, I know, because of the successful people I have met here, that I will be able to succeed in life after this. After graduation I hope to be in a better position and have some certifications to be competitive. I have big plans in my future, I want to someday own a nice home near a body of water and travel around the world with my family. I feel I am taking the proper procedures into getting a good paying job, so my bright future would be possible.

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