I've always loved to read and I started writing my own stuff at a pretty young age. I remember the summer before high school I decided I didn't want to do anything or go anywhere, I just wanted to spend the whole summer at home writing a book. You can imagine how well that turned out, one week into summer vacation and I was calling my mom complaining about being "bored." All she had to say was "I told you so," which no one likes to hear. Ever.

In high school I had a fascination with Australia and back then I wanted to be a travelling doctor, – that's before I realized blood and needles aren't my friends – so every time someone would ask me what I wanted to do with my life I would say "I want to be a doctor in Australia." My sophomore year of high school in my ASL – American Sign Language – class we had to go around the room and introduce ourselves, the most dreaded thing for anyone in school. When it was my turn I remember that's what I said, I remember because my teacher asked immediately afterwards "Australia is the only place that needs doctors?" I also remember feeling embarrassed to be put on the spot like that because I was shy and just wanting the floor to open up and swallow me. I no longer wish to become a doctor nor live in Australia – I would visit though.

I was cleaning out my room today – this whole week actually and a little embarrassed to say I'm not finished; how can one room accumulate so much junk? – and I came across a poem that I wrote about Australia and a bunch of random lines thrown together. I wish I could figure out the train of thought I had for writing this but it's a fun juvenile piece and it shows me just how much I've grown. It's okay to laugh, I know I sure did.

Australia

Robots eating mangos

Floating through the air

My mother laughs funny

*My dad hates trees

Monkeys eat bananas

I wonder why

Ice cream is yummy

*I love naked grapes

*Punch buggies hurt

My mind hates math

My teacher hates me

I don't care because she's a bum

Dancing lobsters eat my brain

Kiwi is delicious

OMG!

Cheese is my passion

Fairy tickles make me smile

Washing machines are noisy

Alligators are scary

Umbrellas dance on windy days

Marshmallows are FLUFFY!

Cheesecake is not carrot cake

Pineapples on cheese pizza makes my DAY!

Yellow apples are amazing

Fish make funny faces

Haha lol smiley face

Rof lol hehe lmbo

Sup caterpillars crawl

Kangaroos are agressive

I wanna go to Australia

I wrote this poem exactly as I had written it, not adding or taking away lines even though I wanted to. I left it this way because everyone has a stepping stone and this happens to be one of mine. Every time I read this piece I laugh out loud. One of my ninth grade teachers did hate me – not 100 percent but 99.9 percent sure. I just think the fact that I called this poem "Austrailia" is amusing since only one line even talks about Australia. I haven't written a poem in a while but might start again if they turn out half as fun as this did. Hope it made you laugh.

*My dad doesn't really hate trees

*I used to peel grapes with my teeth and eat the skin first and then eat the rest of the grape, not sure why

*When you see a VW Beetle and someone punches your arm