Growing up in Huntington Beach you were either a traditional sports athlete a skateboarder or a surfer. I got my first skateboard when I was five and skated off and on over the years did a little BMX racing as a kid and then in my freshman or sophomore year I started getting a little bit more into skateboarding.

As a sophomore I wanted to play varsity in three sports. And I accomplished that. It was a great feat that year and something I held special. I wanted to bring a championship team to Oceanside High School and it happened. It was a great year that I will never forget.

Well my background is journalism. I don't have any creative-writing experience except for one class I took as a sophomore in college.

And then before going back for my sophomore year I decided to change my major to arts and sciences and my dad cut a deal with me: He said if I'd quit school he'd pay my rent for the next three years as if I were in school.

In real life one of my friends was killed in a car accident during our sophomore year.