Hi, I am Tori & Welcome to my Life

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    Hello, everyone! My full name is Tori Elizabeth Hicks, but you all can call me Tori. I am constantly asked if Victoria is my full name, but no, not me; I am just Tori. My father told my mother when I was born that Victoria was so common, and that he just wanted Tori, so he got his wishes. I like it though, filling out my name in the bubbles on state testing throughout grade school was so easy. 

    Okay, I got distracted. Hobbies. My favorite hobby is dancing and I have danced since I was two and a half years old. So, that means that I have been dancing for eighteen years. I am twenty years old, I will turn twenty one this November. I love to spend time with my friends and my boyfriend. Michael and I have been dating for five years as of August 22nd. 

    I work at the Starbucks on Main Street Spartanburg. So, if you want to see me, don't come to Pine Street. I would say that I generally work 2-3 days a week, about 15-20 hours a week. 

    Something that you should know about me as a learner is that I do not do well with technology. I also get stressed out when things are scattered all over the place, because I get afraid that I will miss an assignment. I live by the syllabus; I have it printed off and I check off assignments as I do them. If the syllabus is ever to change, it would be helpful to know, so that I can reprint it. I am a perfectionist and will almost always have assignments turned in before or by the due date. 

    Thinking back to my childhood, I loved books. I was most passionate about reading in elementary and middle school. In elementary school I would read Magic Treehouse books in one sitting. I also loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Junie B Jones books. I would always get to go to our "AR"(accelerated reading) celebrations and I would have one of the highest set of "AR" points. In middle school I read many books but some of my favorites were the Hunger Games series and The Fault in Our Stars. Saying this now, I really want to go back and re-read the Hunger Games series. At the end of middle school and into high school, I got more into writing. High school is where my reading really fell through. I never had the time to read anymore, so I didn't. I would still write; my favorite thing to write is poems. I loved all of my assignments in my classes that were related to writing, but I hated reading assignments. This is why I don't read much now. 

    Hopefully, I learn to enjoy reading more through this class. Since it is required for me to read, I will obviously have to devote time to my reading. I feel that this may spark that drive to read that I had in elementary and middle school. Literally, back then, you wouldn't see me without a book in my hand. So far in this class, I have went ahead and read the first book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and I have started the second book, The Hate U Give. I have absolutely loved both of these books so far, and have enjoyed taking time out of my day to read them. I got through the first book in two days. I started reading these books earlier because I am not as quick of a reader as other people. I have thoroughly enjoyed these books and hope the rest of our readings are just as much fun as these have been! 

   This is the first class that I have got to really read in, so I am excited about that. I am very excited about our class and getting to know you guys. 

    

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