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Alissa Montgomery
JRNL 102
Autobiography
Twenty years of life has been painstakingly typical for me. I have lived in the same city, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in the same house for the entirety of my existence. My family consists of my mother and father, Jim and Lisa, and three sisters, Jenna, Jaclyn and Alaina. Additionally, we own an overweight, red-haired dachshund named Heidi. My mother is a Registered Nurse but opted to become a stay at home mom once having children, while my father is a self-employed podiatrist. My older sister Jenna is 23 years old and recently moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as a biomedical and mechanical engineer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. My younger sister Jaclyn is a 17-year-old varsity cheerleader who is employed at Panera Bread. Lastly, Alaina is a 14-year-old sports fanatic. Considering the fact that my father is surrounded by women, including the dog, Alaina is often referred to as my dad’s “boy” of the family. To account for my family as a whole, we are all very open, sarcastic and supportive toward one another, laid back, friendly and as some would call it, “entertaining.”
As for myself, I can truly say that I remain to find some real, intellectual interests in life or even enjoyable hobbies. The sole hobby I have been deeply passionate about and extremely well at is the art of dancing. I competitively danced from ages three to thirteen but decided to quit because it was overwhelmingly time-consuming. Sadly, I didn’t realize how much I would regret making this decision. I attempted other activities, such as cheerleading, softball, ceramics and photography, but they did not appeal to me in the way dancing did. Although I have not done much researching, I don’t feel as if I will ever find another activity to enjoy as much as dancing. However, I do plan to return to the sport fairly soon. Besides dancing, the only areas that intrigue me are skin care since I had consistent acne for almost seven years, make-up, nail care, fashion, animals, food, music, psychic abilities and the paranormal, and my studies. All but one of these appear to me as trivial interests with no depth or intelligence behind them, consequently I have yet to become fascinated by noteworthy topics such as philosophy, chemistry, or even technology. Essentially, I wish that I had a much broader range of interests.
A bit of background knowledge regarding my personal life is crucial in order to discuss why I chose to attend the IUP. From the depths of middle school to my freshman year of college I was involved in a serious relationship. Not too fond of his body immersed with tattoos, long, black hair, poor family situation and being the drummer of a metal band, one can identify why my parents didn’t care for my former boyfriend in the first place. As years passed, my hair, make-up and clothing style began to alter and eventually so did my personality. Suddenly, my only friends were his friends, uncivil arguments with my parents occurred regularly as well as between him and me, and my attitude declined to pessimistic and mean. Although I did not recognize these negative effects until I ended the relationship, it is accurate to say that a large reason I am enrolled at IUP is because of the effects he had on my personality and well-being. I was not enthused in any way about attending college; it was a nuisance to me. For this reason I only applied to three colleges, those being Slippery Rock University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately I was not accepted to the main campus of Pitt, so I decided on entering IUP because I didn’t like the campus SRU had to offer. I felt as if this was just another simple decision of my life.
Without being thrilled about college life, it was hard to be thrilled about selecting a college major. I first applied to IUP as an education major but then began to seek a higher income, so I changed my major to undecided business shortly before the start of my freshman year. I mostly completed liberal studies courses my first year so I didn’t exactly get a feel for the business realm. This past semester of my sophomore year gave me that feel and I concluded that business definitely does not suit my personality. I felt as if I would be miserable with a job in that field; business is boring and there is no room for personal creativity. I feel that business is boring and there is no room for personal creativity. I simply don’t have the mentality of a businessperson.
Nonetheless, my family and friends have always told me that I was “good” at writing, so I impulsively decided to switch my major to journalism before the current school year ended. I thought to myself, “I’m 20 years old, I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life, so maybe I should just stick with something I’m decent at doing.” Hence, I am enrolled in this class as a requirement of my major. However, I am beginning to experience some doubts in this subject area and am contemplating changing my major for the third time. When I came across the journalism major on IUP’s website, I thought: writing. I can write. I never actually considered the career opportunities. I cannot see myself being happy reporting the news on television, interviewing agitated subjects of my questioning, or even editing on a regular basis. I initially imagined writing for a fashion or skin care magazine, but I never realized how risky this field can be on the basis of ethics until the introduction of my “Journalism and Mass Media” course. I foresee that my conscience would not be able to deal with some of the aspects of this type of career. Nonetheless, I am gravitating towards returning to my original major and will hopefully be satisfied in doing so. Seeing that I don’t know what I want to do with my life, no one has really influenced me in that way. Since my father is a doctor, he has always pushed my sisters and me very hard to do well in school. Because of that I am influenced to do well scholastically and take pride in my schoolwork.
In 10 years, I am hoping to be permanently located in the “Palmetto State” of South Carolina. I plan to be married, most likely with one out of two or three children born, two dogs, a cat, fish and a beautiful southern home. I truly believe that weather can have a tremendous affect on one’s personality and lifestyle. I want to be able to raise my children in a healthy environment where they are able to be happy simply because of the weather. I have always wished to live somewhere warm and I will finally get the chance to do so. Although this may seem shallow, I do view money as very important. I want to be able to financially support my family, along with being able to afford whatever additional luxuries we so chose. In our society, wealth offers security. Money is certainly not everything and cannot create happiness on its own, but it can aid in providing supplementary happiness. The only disadvantage of moving 12 hours away from home is being distant from my immediate family. My parents have said they plan to retire in South Carolina, but my youngest sibling is 14 years old so that decision may change in the near future. I’m assuming both of my younger sisters will move away as well. Without family, a person is nothing. You are the way you are because of the experiences you have endured while being raised by and with your family. When friends or significant others desert you, family is always there to support and guide you. Since I terminated the relationship with my former boyfriend, I have now built a much better relationship with my family, mainly my parents because I have always been close with my sisters. I have learned that a healthy family situation leads to a healthier and happier life. Additionally, my current boyfriend is a nothing less than an optimist. His positive personality has helped me return to my prior, positive nature as opposed to the negative attitude I held for several years. My friends have also served as a source of happiness and an outlet to life. I am overly pleased with my life now and am anxious to discover the opportunities that lie ahead.
