Hung luu

2-18-16
EN 101A
31207
Memoir Final

A Rough Dream
Whiz, snap, a long sleek bright orange object flies past you, then another and another.
Your mind goes blank and instincts kicks in hard, telling you, bank hard left and roll. No time to
think, just survive. An aerial dogfight has broken out. Missile trails and tracer rounds fill the skies
as friend and foe fight for air supremacy. My eyes race in search of an enemy fighter, but then
some tracer rounds whizzed! passed me. I knew then I founded one, warning!, missile!,
missile! , beeep!.
Some dream huh? I told myself, as my body catches up to reality. I reach over to side
to grab my alarm clock, and watch it go off, beep!- be!-,snooze. Then I would look up and stare
at the white ceilings for a bit, beep!- beep!- ba!-bee-,snooze. I crawled out of bed and headed to
work. As I lumbered down to the kitchen and proceeded out the back door, my mother caught
me and Im like what did I do now. She asked when are you going to attend college? You're
21 now!, either go to college or enlist in the military like you said you were. I know, I know, bye
mom, I said as I rush out the door before she could say another word. I got in and started my
car and left for work. It was going to the same day as any other.

Driving on the beltway at 7 o'clock the morning can be agonizing, bumper to bumper
traffic, and crazy driver who love to cut you off, especially between New Hampshire Ave to
Georgia Ave. Sitting there in traffic, I watched and listened as 2 UH-60 Black Hawk, as they flew
low overhead following the beltway towards Andrew Air Force Base. I felt the rumbling sound
from their twin T700 engine and the 4 rotor blades thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup. They reminded
me of my dreams. Not the one I had earlier that morning, even though it was amazing. Their
flyby reminded me of one of my dream, to one day fly in every sky, over every sea and ocean,
and was free to fly wherever. All of that was lost in a midst of confusion during the end of my
high school year if I was going to work to help my parents pay for my college or enroll straight
into college.

I finally got passed traffic and made it to work with minutes to spare. The I place work at
is a Jiffy Lube franchise over in Kensington MD. My role was to gather the customer vehicle
information and the vehicle condition. I also have to cover for other employees when they're on
break. I started working there the moment I got out of high school. I founded the job though
Montgomery Works, an organization that helps people find jobs, all over Montgomery County.
Working for the Jiffy Lube franchise was alright, but it wasnt a career I would stick to for long. I
was just working there to save up money to pay for my classes. I would work for 40 hours from
8am to around 6pm all week. It's a stressful and labor intense job, because we work in a
building that kept all 4 garages door wide open, all year long. We worked in harsh ear biting cold
winter winds, to scorching hot summers that can cook an egg in a pan if left outside, on top of
that we would get burned if we weren't careful. I worked for there for 2 years, till it all went south.
There going to be major changes to the shop, either you change with it or leave as the
manager said. After a month of changes went by, the manager fired 3 of his veteran workers
who has been working for the franchise for 5 to 7 years. At that moment I knew that working full
time there, straight out of high school was a mistake.

Having not stepped in any learning institute in 2 years I knew that I was in deep, under
where no light nor sky will comfort me, all but my dreams and a wish to hold onto. I was going to
enter a difficult part of my college life. Attending Montgomery College was my the first step, and
it was a disaster. First I couldnt get financial aid, not due to my income, but to how difficult it
was to apply for. All of the paperwork that need to be fill out and FAFSA made my head spin. My
heart sank. Two, I did poorly on the Accuplacer. It was so bad that it left a crater near my heart.
Lastly I was forced to take EN001, MATH 93, and RD99, zero credit of course. Splat! I looked
around to see where the sound came from, then I looked down and I saw my heart beating on
the floor. I pick it up, stuffed it back in my chest, and stitched the hole up. Alright let's do this I
told myself as I start my first semester.

Somehow I manage to passed my first semester in college all the non credit classes.
The two classes that I thought I was going to fail, were EN001 in my first semester and EN002
in my second semester, both English courses. I was never good at writing. I always had difficulty
writing essays and papers for class. I think it was mainly that the assignments I was given, didnt
seem interesting to me. I remember there was an assessment in my EN001 class, it was to
write about a song that I like. Vidro Moyou was the song that I choose, its by a japanese
singer name Yanagi Nagi. Its Japanese music how the hell would anyone in class would know
whats she is singing, when I dont even know how to explain the song. I choose it because it
had a catchy tune. Out of some miracle I manage to passed that class with a C. Now when I
look back I would say it wasn't so bad and a Marine Corps quote the only easy day was
yesterday would pop up alongside it. EN002 was much easier because it was more about
descriptive writing, which I was good at.
So what? Why am I in school? It is not something I would do, because it's way out of my
comfort zone, but my dream is no longer holding my hand. Instead it's pushing me out the hole,
forcing me to see the sky, the sun, the moon, and feel the rain. There are many days to come.
More classes to take and more harder challenges awaiting me. Theres still 2 more english
classes, 4 more math classes to take, till I can take the general course, then transfer to a 4 year
college. Then graduate with a Bachelor's degree and begin my career in the military as a
helicopter pilot.

voooo VOOO, thwup-thwup-THWUP-THWUP. System are all green, engine running

stable, Air tower to Alpha 2 you are clear for lift off, winds are at 5 knots, south by southeast,
proceed to helipad 3, clear skys ahead, wilco Air tower proceeding to helipad 3, clear skies.
This is Alpha 2 lifting off.