Sarita+Lam

__Moving to New Jersey__  Packing things high in hard, brown cardboard boxes and locking up suitcases. It was the day to move out to New Jersey from my homeland, Brooklyn, New York. Before that, my family and I used to live in a basement under our landlord’s house. The day we took a tour around and in the house that I’m living in today, it’s still the same on the outside with the stones laid out. A mini fountain spurts out crystal-like water in the gleaming sun, the pine trees were standing firm and the tall, and the green grass on the peaceful lawn. Inside the glorious house were 3 bedrooms, but we used one for the computers and the important things like books; important books at work and such. The computer room is also known as my family’s work room when we have to make copies of things from the copier machine. “Huh! You’re on my computer?” Dad exclaimed. “Dad, your computer is faster and newer than mine!” I protested. The next thing my dad does is sigh and walks away to do something else. I always had my favorite excuses when it comes to playing computers.

 The room I’m really familiar with is the bathroom. One phrase always reminds me of the bathroom when I have to use it very badly. When you gotta go, you gotta go I said to myself as I rushed to the bathroom as quickly as I could. Breathing Hard, I relaxed as I sat down on the luxurious toilet bowl. The bathroom is the most luxurious, even though people don’t think of it that way, but, people can spend their time reading books when we have to make the number 2. Our bathroom back then was nothing like today. In the basement, our bathroom was next to the kitchen, although it’s closer than was I can expect for a better bathroom than that. I myself would take my time slowly and say, “Ahhhhh! Peace and quietness,” until someone pounds on the door like a gorilla screaming, “I gotta go! Hurry up! I won’t make it in time!” Nah I thought. But boy, I had to rush and sometimes I get angry when my privacy gets interrupted. Next is the living room. Back then, our small living room was bonded together with the dining room, which was much the worst place to eat when I have to TV on my favorite show. But now, the living room is immense and better, because we can fit extra couches in our present living room. Plus this time, we have our own portion for a backyard! We had to share with our landlord when we first lived there in the basement. In our own yard, we planted many flowers and vegetables. Now, as we got older, we stopped planting things. We pretty much got too lazy to do it for the rest of the years.

 From that day on, everything changed. We went back to our home for one last time, to remember the memories we had in there as a family, as one. Our home, which is a basement is quite crazy but it’s cheaper to rent, our landlord said, “Good luck,” and a, “Good-bye,” one last time and we practically never saw each other again, but we recently give them calls. Now, we don’t contact them as much today. By far, my mom and dad lived there for 1 to 2 years before I was born in 1999. Our home was on West 7 th  Street in Brooklyn. Now that I’m here in Edison, New Jersey, I really miss my home back there. I had many friends back there and I don’t really know if I can remember them or not, but either way, we might as well not recognize each other if we meet again in the present time. Maybe they would say different things like, “Who are you?” or, “Do I know you from somewhere? I could tell them we were neighbors back then, they would have forgotten still about what fun we had together. The funny thing is I remember them. Then again, I intend to forget their names! My friend’s house is my playhouse. Not the expensive arcades, the plain, green, lush, park or even home. Well…. maybe home can be considered as my playhouse but not as much as my friend’s house. They have Wii, Play Station, Cube and something like that. Anyways, all that is out of my misery. In the present today, I myself have my own Wii in my house from 2003, the year we bought the house. Since we didn’t bother to go home yet, we contacted, or should I say, went to our relative’s house to tell them our new address in New Jersey. My Aunt also lives in Brooklyn, New York, in a condo with other people upstairs (Whom I don’t know, which I consider calling them strangers). Next is my Grandpa’s apartment that is further away but we still visited him, and I have an uncle who lives with him still today. Unlike my Aunt living with a bunch of people who I don’t know at all, my Grandpa lives with other relatives upstairs! Now isn’t that a coincidence? Knowing that there are relatives around to visit, I fell a lot better, although that now we live in New Jersey, it’s about a one hour ride to Brooklyn from here to there. Plus we usually meet together mostly on holidays.

 My family and I took our time to get used to Edison and our new home. Our new home changed my life since we moved in. It was cleaner, bigger and comfortable like Heaven even though I don’t really know what Heaven is like. I use to flop on my bed and practically sleep on it for hours. The bathroom was at least closer to my room, and the kitchen was small, almost like the one from the basement, but I like the way it is now for just three people. I would always remember the times living in a basement. After a few weeks, we did many rearrangements around our house. We mixed-matched our bedrooms the way we wanted them to be, even the living room. It’s like every time I walk into the house, there’s always something new and I always think that I walked into the wrong house. Speaking of Edison, it’s a great place to live in. Edison is a place for a soothing neighborhood. There are many school districts for children to go to. Other than that, there is a park in Edison where many kids place at. Edison is the place to make many friendships with one another. That’s how I managed to live in Edison for 8 years till today in the year of 2012. I still remember the great memories I had with my friends. Above all the things I said about Edison, it’s a lot better than Brooklyn since many people live there. Plus Brooklyn is a very crowded place in a way I don’t like it. Brooklyn has too many people living there, but unlike Edison, there are more playgrounds to hang out with friends. I know I would miss Brooklyn. I visit Brooklyn every 2 weeks in a month and it always makes me happy that I get to see my close friends back then.

 Now in the present day, it’s the same as before, we never moved to a new house because of work or anything else, etc. Back in 2003, I was nervous about everything when I came to here, to a new place to live. Now, I’m home free! It’s like a dream I have interpreted for a long time. The outcomes were possible that I would have a better life in Edison when I moved here. I feel better already! In the end, I still truly miss Brooklyn, of all the times I spent time playing with my friends and how was bonded a long life friendship. The bonding of long friendship is now broken like a vase shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. For once I thought that it wouldn’t turn out to be like this, but I guess it had to. I will always remember Brooklyn, always…

**Author’s Note:**  Back then, I had no other choice to move from my homeland. It was unexpected when I was at the age of 4 in 2003. I was heartbroken to move away from close friends and family members but I often visit them once in a while. Although moving to New Jersey changed my life a whole lot, I could remember the good times I had when I was a kid. Now, those memories are part of my treasures in my heart. NICE JOB SARITA;) ONLY YOU WOULD MAKE YOUR STORY THIS FUNNY:) ABI

--- =**PSA- Smoking Persuasive Essay **=

Think about it, is smoking a good idea? Would it make you any better at things or make you more good looking? It doesn’t matter what happens on the outside, it only matters what happens in the inside. Once you’re addicted, there’s a 15% chance that you’ll want to quit smoking. Smoking can shorten your life span and cause damage to your body in the inside. You’ll increase the damage of the work done from diseases, such as lung cancer, and it can increases the risk of certain complications of pregnancy and sudden infant death syndrome. There are over 4,000 chemical toxins found in tobacco and people today who smoke daily intend to expose poison into their body and eventually kill themselves. You wouldn’t want to kill yourself in a short time in your only life line now do you? Think about it. About 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco.Smoking is set to kill 6.5 million people in 2015 and 8.3 million others in 2030. Every 6.5 seconds a current or former smoker dies from smoking a cigarette. There are an estimated 1.3 billion smokers worldwide.

There was a time I witnessed many people in New York City, and every time I go there, the streets are dominated with the smell of smoke. People are here and there smoking in their own little world like they just don’t care about the other important things that surround them today. I went shopping for groceries with my aunt one day and we lost directions back to the train station. So we came across a group of elderly people smoking near a park for directions. My aunt did all the talking when I held my breath for the whole conversation (which was short). Whenever I come across a smoker, I hold my breath in until there’s fresh air around me. The reason why I hold my breath near those people is because I don’t want to expose myself in poison. One sentence comes into mind when I see a smoker or when I start smelling smoke. “Hold your breath in, it’s going to be alright. I’m not going to die but have lung cancer if I expose in this toxin too much which is not that bad and is more harmless than suicide.” Another thing while my aunt talked with a man from the group, his teeth were yellow and his breath stinks! That makes me want to vomit and never smoke for life, even if I was forced to do so. Now do you want to smoke future generation? Do you want bad appearances like the man I described? Think about it twice before you try picking up another cigarette. Is it right for you to smoke in the first place and why you want to do so, even if you know all the consequences?

If you fellow smokers want to quit now and live a healthier life like the rest of the non-smoking humanity, go ahead, but I warn you, because smoking is an addictive nature, quitting is a difficult challenge for everyone who smokes for a while. This is a major death case worldwide and it can kill other lives. Do you want that to happen to the ones you care about the most? In my opinion, smoking to me is suicide. It is death in anticipation. Think about this, every time you pick up a cigarette and smoke, you’re killing yourself every minute and every second. To prevent this, here’s my advice, whenever you come across a pack of cigarettes in a store or other places, think about the consequences in the future, would you be happy or unpleasant? Is this good or bad for your health? The answer is a no. You will not have a happy life and it is best if you stay away from them in the future for your own good. Think About it.