I must put aside my ego. No matter how special, extraordinary, and unique I'd like to think I am, who I am is really a reflection of many other things put together. Numerous parts of different jigsaw puzzles pieced together to form a new picture. Vital pieces of whose absences would have made another person, not the one I am.
             I always say I'm different. Never quite what people expect on a first impression. One friend said she thought I was a nerd before she knew me. Another one was surprised to find out that I listen to rock music while studying. And there were still some others who didn't know I had a few loose screws in my head until they found themselves laughing at my jokes and then realizing that I was capable of conceiving out-of-this-world ideas. There's so much more to me than meets the eye, and I don't expect to run out of surprises very soon. I have assimilated from the different people who have influenced my life. I am made up of layers of my different sides. Each layer is not a mask, but a distinct and genuine part of me; innumerable traits converged into one personality.
             Perhaps the most defining factor in my whole personhood was my upbringing. My parents effectively instilled virtues into my once blank mind, and now I've established a very stable moral foundation for myself. That probably resulted in my 'immunity' to censorship because exposure to suggestive or explicit concepts such as violence only opened up my mind, but never tainted my moral values. I became aware of the many hard-to-swallow realities in the world, nevertheless discerning the right from the wrong. My principles are solid, and I rarely find myself following the tide, though not so much that I am alienated, but rather, playing on a different beat in the same harmony.
             My mother influenced me to be what she calls a "Renaissance woman" – possessing versatility in various fields, yet excelling in more than one ability. It's important to strike ...