while i'm seventeen

  I am frustrated.

 How can something, just this simple, stress me out? "This should be something grand! This should have a meaning!" I demand myself. 

  You have no idea how many times I've been pressing 'Backspace' just to find the right words to begin with. Each word I type in, takes me a long, few seconds to think of. The cycle goes from typing, reading, then erasing. It usually takes two replacements to "make it to the final." It's not that my mind goes completely blank. I just like giving extra thoughts to the words I choose whenever I write, especially online. (I believe a lot of us can relate.) 

  I am someone who is extremely dependent on using hand gestures whenever I share stories. I love storytelling- both fiction and non-fiction. I enjoy telling stories through music, acting, and dancing. Writing? That I do, too. But, it's always a big challenge for me. I can say I'm a little weak and limited with my vocabularies. Sure, it's a blessing to speak 5 languages. But, the struggle to express myself without having to mix up a language with another language is real. So to fully understand how I feel, you'll need to see my hand movements and also my unintentionally, weird facial expressions. And if I'm actually into what I'm talking about, you may even hear me adding special sound effects with my mouth. *inserts an awkward smiley face

  Well, that just shows the fact that I am an emotional person- who feels and is passionate about a lot of things. I guess that is a good way for me to introduce myself and LOKAL. After all, the purpose of the existence of this blog is to share how I feel/deal, and have felt/dealt, with events and situations once I enter the life of my 18 year old self. 

  I have no high expectations to see this blog go BIG. I do not expect a hundred people to read what I write about. But, I do anticipate that there will be at least one person who reads this and hopefully can learn something from the mistakes I know I will make and will be sharing about.

  So before I end this, allow me to recap the purpose of LOKAL:

• To be independent in expressing myself without making too many movements- less moving, more talking. (something like that☺)
• To show people that, even as a believer of Christ, I still go through tough times.
• To be there for someone who is looking for some answers.
• To hopefully help someone stand strong, especially in uncertain times.

 2 Timothy 1:8, NLT: "So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 

A picture mom took of me @17