3 Major Questions
Ok, so this might be seen as a slightly angry rant, but when I originally wrote this, I was a little fed up. All still applies today, I'm just a little more mellow about it. People will say and do what they know, and I can't change that.
Ok, time for the 3 major questions that everyone feels the need to ask me.
For me, there are only three difficult questions: Where are you from, what is your ethnicity (especially on forms, because they usually only give you one option), and what religion are you.
The question, Where are you from, is not a simple answer. It ends up having to be a bit of a long story of where I've lived and why I've lived so many places. So, here it is: Where am I from?
Well, in August, 2002 I moved to the NJ/PA area from Louisiana , but I'm not really "from" Louisiana . I was in Louisiana for 8 years, and before that I was in California . I was in San Francisco before Louisiana , San Diego ( La Jolla ) before that, Santa Anna before that, San Pedro before that, and I was born in Yosemite National Park . That is where my parents lived when they met, got married and then had me.
Response that I usually get:
You lived in a National Park? Like in a tent or something? How do you live in a National Park? Were your parents on vacation? Why did you move around so much? Are you an Army brat?
Answer:
No, my parents were not on vacation, we did not live in a tent (although my mother did at one point, but that was long before me). Anyone that worked in the Park usually lived in the Valley. It's actually quite common. My Dad works for Marriott, and he got a lot of promotions.
What ethnicity are you? Well, another difficult question, only because it brings on more questions. I am an eclectic mix of Spanish, Mexican, Polish, and Black.
Response that I usually get:
Oh my gosh, that's a mix! How is that even possible? Let me guess, your Dad is Black and Hispanic, and your mom is Polish, right?
Answer:
No, my Dad is Black, and my Mother is everything else. I'm just a swirl baby - it's normal in California . See our happy little family :-).
The next question that I get a lot (mostly in Louisiana though), what religion are you?
Usually, I simply say that I'm nothing, and that I wasn't raised with religion.
Response that I usually get:
Well, what are your parents?
Answer:
They were both raised Catholic, but my Mother refers to herself as a recovering Catholic.
Response that I usually get:
Well, if your parents are Catholic, then you're Catholic.
Answer:
No way! Catholicism is probably the last thing I'd ever actually be associated with. Although the Catholic Church has their good qualities, there are far too many scandals, cover-ups, and misleading information for me to support it. If something is discovered that even hints that they’ve been wrong all this time, the Church denies its very existence. I can’t live by something that can’t accept new concepts or ideas. If we were to never accept new ideas, you wouldn’t be reading this today because we’d still have no electricity, no computers, and no freedom of speech. I was simply not raised with religion in my life, and I'm very thankful for that. Just because my grandparents forced my parents to be Catholic, does not mean that I am too. I have not been baptized, nor do I care to. I'm not an atheist, I simply don't care. I guess you can say I'm agnostic. I won't tell you that there is a God, and I won't tell you that there isn't. I'll tell you that I don't care if there is or not. I'm completely apathetic about the entire religion thing. I don't need religion to lead a decent life, but I do feel that religion is important for many individuals out there in order to do so. 
I also think it could be very important for those who have gone through rough times, and need to believe that everything is a part of "God's plan".
Ok, so those are the difficult questions to answer in my life. I know the answer, so they aren't difficult in that sense; it's just a matter of how people react to my answer. It's not always a pleasant experience for me.
