MY LIFE WITHOUT PRETENSION, GLOSS OR HYPE

Writing my autobiography when I’m about to be 20 years old seems like a very cool thing to do, although it’s a kind of self-centred task. Vanity is trying to take the pen and trace its path such as “I’m the most amazing guy alive; therefore my life has been perfect so far. However, I can’t fool myself and I won’t lie to anyone.

My full name is José Frank Diego Velasquez Pastor and I was born in July, the 23rd of 1988 in Trujillo, Perú. A quite peaceful place to grow up, where hours seemed to last long enough. Unluckily at the moment, my hometown is being involved by an aggressive development and an awful traffic.

Well, first of all I must confess I haven’t got a conventional family: my father managed his own factory of scales and my mother was a social worker. They were married with other people before, so I have six stepbrothers and twelve stepsisters, approximately. I don’t get along with all of them and to be completely honest I don’t know why.

I was the last child in my family so most of the members had no choice but to raise me a little bit spoilt. About my childhood, my mom told me that I was able to memorize some pieces of advertising before to learn to speak properly, so my dad started giving me more tales’ books than toys and that explains why I love reading. As a child, I used to do what I was told but I’ve always liked to speak my mind.

Antonio Raymondi was the Elementary School where I studied in from 1993 to 1999. I gave my first public speech there when I was nine, I won’t ever forget that moment. Then, I studied at San Juan High School, where I met people who lived in rough neighborhoods and didn't have enough food to eat. I became more and humble and down-to-earth. As soon as I finished high school, I decided to apply to get a place at the National University of Trujillo. I needed to get ready to face that huge challenge. At first I wanted to study Laws but then I changed my mind after pointing out some things. My family was very supportive.

Unhappily my father passed away in 2005. Although our relationship father-son wasn’t the best in the world, I wish He’d be still with me, to see me reaching all my goals. Once he told me: If you have a dream, go for it! Don’t let anybody or anything to put them aside. His death gave a different approach to life and mainly shows me that it’s never too late to say I’m sorry and apologize when it is necessary.

After all of that, my mom and I had lots of legal matters to solve. We succeed because she’s the bravest woman I have ever met. She’s always been my mentor and the backbone of my research and studies. She’s my strength and joy; I do admire her a lot.

Thanks to her, I decided to get my eyes’ laser operation and it went awesome. I had been wearing glasses for about 10 years, only taking them off to shower or to sleep. After the procedure I felt renewed.

Presently, I’m a mass communication student and I spend most of my free time involved in it, or expanding my knowledge on languages, socials or psychology. Nowadays, I’m studying French at L’Alliance Française and it’s a quite difficult subject but I’m doing my best and enjoying it as well. I’m satisfied with my academic results in general.

I don’t waste my time watching TV but at the end of the day I can’t consider it as a damaging pastime. It depends on what types of TV programs people watch. However, I think that reading a book is always much better for everyone and a more useful resource for their brains.

Most people think they know me but what they think may not be true or they haven’t got a clue for sure. I don’t want to be just another person in this really complex world that’s why I’m always trying to find out what really living means while most of my friends are getting drunk and stoned.

Sometimes I get moody and dark, and I must reckon I’m not the easiest guy to deal with. I try to be as honest as possible and not to hurt people very much. When I’m mad, I ask my friends to get away from me because my words can be devastating at times. But, I laugh more than I cry. Well, my hobbies and interests are of a wide variety. I'm into reading, writing, music, yoga, outdoors activities and so on. I do love pets, specially dogs and cats. Dancing, rings, long kisses and chocolates are my guilty pleasures.

I own this blog, where I train myself to be a writer. I also use it as a cathartic method to get rid of some disappointments. I’d write everyday if possible but nowadays it’s really hard to find the time to just sit in and write without being interrupted. I must be calm and focus on the topic to go through it.

Love is still a problem without solution. Right now I'm a 100% single but that will be changing eventually, I hope...

I have learned a lot about life itself through different experiences. Who knows if others would even care to read mine, I just wanted to write down my life up to now, so I can move onto the rest of it…