"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...and yet...I think...this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again." ~Anne Frank

I was born on my parents' anniversary, May 30, 1990, in San Diego, California at Kaiser Hospital. A question I get asked a lot is, "Where did you get that name from?" Well, I actually went home without a name and didn't have one for about a week. My two older siblings' names both start with the letter "V" and my parents felt that mine had to, too. They originally thought I was going to be a girl so they had picked the name "Valerie" beforehand for me, but as fate had it, I turned out to be a boy. They didn't like any other boy names that started with that letter, such as "Victor", "Vern", or "Vernon" so they had a problem on their hands. I went home as "the baby" and remained that until my grandmother called my mom and said, "What about Verin?" And there you have it; my grandmother made up my name one day and called my mom for confirmation. Overall, I love my name, despite never being able to find trinkets and souvenirs with my name on them. I think it is simple and sweet, yet completely foreign.

I have had a pretty normal life, I would say. There was no special circumstance to really make me different from anybody else. I did normal things that kids did, including sports, playing with kids around the neighborhood, riding bikes, skateboarding, and going to school. I had always liked school when I was younger and did particularly well in it. One thing that does make me somewhat unique, however, is that I skipped the 4th grade, advancing from the 3rd to the 5th grade. It was tough, leaving the friends that I had been with since kindergarten and learning to fit in and trying to adjust to the maturity level of my new older peers (one year is a lot in school years, I learned). Also, I went from material that came easy to me, which is why I advanced, to material that actually challenged me. I have never been a math type of person and I remember spending hours on a single math homework assignment feeling frustrated, on the verge of collapse, but somehow pressing on because I knew I had to live up to a standard for myself.
Always being one year younger than those in my grade carried on up until I graduated high school. People were shocked to find that I would not be getting my license until my junior year or that I couldn't go out and do things that my friends who were 18 could now do. This never made me feel down about my situation because I enjoyed it; I was able to pass up a whole year of standardized schooling, something I learned to value in high school when it wasn't as fun.
I had been put ahead in my life by skipping the 4th grade, but even now I am so much more ahead than my peers since I've graduated. This is because I took seven AP (college-level) courses during my four years in high school and passed six of the AP tests, giving me credit for my general education in college. In reality, I was getting two things done at once: my high school credits and one whole year of my future college credits. Now that I've done my first year of college, all my general education is finished and I've begun on work for my major, which is Psychology. I anticipate having my BS (Bachelor of Science) degree in the next year, by the age of 20, something that I am extremely proud of. A question I get asked often is why I'm bothering with school and degrees if I have found other ways and markets to earn a good income. The answer I tell everyone is that I'm doing it for myself, to be proud that I accomplished something, and to make my family happy that I finished college and got my degree. I understand that our economy has changed and that a good education and a degree does not guarantee success. We are shifting back to the early times where those who were most successful and affluent were entrepreneurs-that is the economy and society we have now and it is the one I am going to participate in.

I have always been brought up to learn and know that in today's markets, a good education will not take me to where I want to be. Meaning, for the type of life I wish to lead, what I deem as "comfortable", having a degree is not as dependable as it used to be in the past and one must learn to invest wisely to earn financial freedom. My grandfather has been teaching me about real estate investment and I know that sometime in my life I want to follow in his footsteps. Even so, I have to have some kind of income to be able to even qualify to buy a piece of property and I am just not there yet. On the other hand, I don't feel that getting a part-time job, making minimum wage, that will intrude my first priority, school, will help me much more. My sister and her husband have introduced me to network marketing and internet marketing, which I am presently studying and actively participating in. I find that this is a great way to earn substantial income, while still having time to do the things that mean the most in my life.
Again, being a newly "legal" member of society, I feel that I am advancing above my peers. I am readying myself for something much more, that bigger picture that I see so vividly in my head and I am excited to see it unfold day by day.

It is not that I want to live an overly lavish life or that I am selfish, greedy, or that I have some kind of inadequacy I hope to fill with money. While I don't believe that money can make someone happy on a pure emotional, equilibrium standpoint, I know that it has a large part to do with someone's comfortableness and overall well-being. Look at it this way: money, like it or not, is what drives our every day; most have to go to work Monday through Friday to earn the money that is essential to their lives. If you are familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, even the most basic needs require money and one cannot advance without fulfilling those needs. We live in a capitalist society, a dog eat dog world, and it is money that is the only key that can unlock every heart's need and desire and deliver us from the rat race.
Personally, I just want to be able to provide. I'm a giver at heart and I want to have enough money to give back to my family, friends, charity, and a little to myself. I want to help my father retire as early as possible so that him and my mother can enjoy a pleasant, stress-free life until the end of their days. It pains me to see so many seniors in the workforce; that's not how I want to live when I come to the age and I don't want to see any of my close loved ones doing so either. I want to bring stability to those around me who need it; I know that I can't just support them, but I want to be able to give them a lift and set them on the right track to be self sufficient. For friends, they are like my family, and I want to be there when they call. Isn't that what friends are for? I want to be able to go out, travel, and create a life worth living full of memories together. I also strongly believe in giving back to the community that sheltered me and providing amenities that weren't available when I was growing up, so that the next generation can already have a boost in their lives.
There is so much more to list, it is never ending, but what I hope that I conveyed was that I am preparing myself at a very early age to become financially free and comfortable so that I can give my heart its needs and desires and earn that life that I can deem as worth living, full of good memories of time that I had for myself and others, not to an occupation or institution.

"There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back." ~Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister