With the move from Stanton to Garden Grove, it was time for a fresh start at Stanford Elementary School. Unfortunately, the lack of self-confidence because of prior bullying engagement lingered on, as I had trouble making friends. I was probably really afraid of not being able to live up to anyone’s expectations considering my lack of social skills acquired in K-4th grade. Fortunately one day Mrs. Demaria walked up to me and was like “John. Have you tried making any new friends yet?”. So I finally decided to try. Cause a teacher asking you that is super humiliating.
So I walked to the handball courts, and I made my first ever Garden Grove friend, Thiep Mai, who I consider to be one of my greatest friends even to this day (even though he’s located in San Jose now. Pretty soon, the confidence that came with making one friend allowed me to make many more friends (all male, of course).
Our house was quite roomier now, and I now lived with my brother in a shared bedroom (3 of my other sisters were in another room, and my mom & dad in the last room). My sister Thao also got married this year, which made things more convenient for our family.
I watched Pokemon, Digimon, Cardcaptors, 7th Heaven, and Big Girl and Rusty. Little did we know the reverend in 7th Heaven would later be outed as a pedophile. Interesting stuff.
I did a state report on Alaska this year as well. I really would like to visit this, and all other states sometime in the future.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Choir this year, and it would later translate into my love for the show “Glee” later in life.
I remember being the “curtain puller” for the school play this year, my friend at the time Thiep playing none other than Charlie’s stupid fake grandpa.
My siblings and I thoroughly enjoyed playing Monopoly this year, and started playing it over and over again (even though we played the game wrong most of the time).
Harry Potter was the top grossing movie of the year (something I didn’t like at the time), and Lifehouse’s “Hanging by a Moment” was the number one song of the year (a song I liked I guess).
