About NAZ

Take #1

It all started with Discovery Kids. In the 1990s, the channel had excellent television programs, such as Art Attack, Popular Mechanics for Kids, and many others.

From the age of about eight, I fell in love with LEGO—building houses, castles, and cars, and creating lives for all my pieces. Fun became curiosity, and that curiosity eventually led me to the field of engineering.

At the age of seventeen, I started university feeling lost and scared. I learned the hard way what the experience would be like.

First, let me explain my background. From first through sixth grade, I was a 4.00 GPA student. I received my first C in fifth grade. It was emotionally traumatic for me, and I never received another one in elementary school.

School was not too difficult. I finished all my work during the school day, and projects were usually completed by the second day after they were assigned. My routine was simple: finish school, watch Discovery Kids, and repeat.

I started to understand money and life in general, but I felt limited because I was not yet an adult. I always wondered, How will I think when I’m an adult? Now that I feel like one, let me answer that question: There are too many responsibilities, kid. Keep playing and enjoying life.

My first traumatic experience was watching the Twin Towers collapse on television. I could not understand why it was happening or what it meant, but I knew that something significant was taking place.

Junior High School

During junior high school, I expanded my experience with managing money. By my fifteenth birthday, I had accumulated a small amount of money given to me by family and friends, both as birthday gifts and as rewards for maintaining a 4.00 GPA.

I bought a PlayStation 2 and Grand Theft Auto III. I lent the rest of my small fortune to my father in exchange for “10 percent interest” per month. He always gave me the same amount of money as he gave my brothers, but I felt that I had earned mine.

The PlayStation 2 consumed most of my time at home. My grades declined. I was still earning As, but I no longer had a 4.00 GPA. Social interactions also became more complicated, and emotions became an important part of my adolescent development.

Acne contributed to my insecurities, and I gained weight because of my lack of physical activity. I started junior high with a 3.5 GPA, improved to a 3.86, and finished my third year with a 4.00 GPA.

Classes became easier as I adjusted to having less time because of my passion for video games. Then the PlayStation Portable entered my life, and my love for the internet, music, and portable gaming began.

High School

High school was the final step before university. Public school had its disadvantages, including a lack of individual attention. With approximately thirty students in each class, it was nearly impossible to receive all the guidance we needed.

We lacked books, more challenging coursework, and professional advisers. However, we did have healthy food, sports programs, and some great teachers.

I did not do well with my many unrequited crushes, and my acne contributed to my low self-esteem. I did not learn about effective acne treatments until much later.

I finished both my first and second years of high school—tenth and eleventh grade—with a 4.00 GPA. I also discovered a love for skating. During the summer between eleventh and twelfth grade, I spent my time skating and riding my bicycle. Through those activities, I lost weight and became a 194-pound, 5-foot-11-inch young man.

My final year was more difficult than the first two because I had to choose a college degree. Mechanical engineering was my first choice, civil engineering was my second, and theater was my third.

Because of my lack of discipline, I had difficulties with a teacher who constantly picked on me. The behavior felt unprofessional, but I think the teacher simply did not see any potential in me. Even when I wrote the best poem for a class exercise, the teacher did not believe that I had written it.

Those were difficult times, but they helped shape the person I am today. I earned a B in that class. Because of that grade and my College Board score—the Puerto Rican equivalent of the SAT—I missed admission to the mechanical engineering program by one point on the General Admission Index, known as the IGS in Spanish.

University

My first years at university were filled with new experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I learned to fight for what I wanted, to study, and to love.

I came to understand that, at least in Puerto Rico, a university student can feel like nothing more than a number—a block of coal. However, if you can withstand the pressure and endure the struggle, whether silently or with the support of others, you can emerge on the other side as a diamond.

No university can give you your values. Those come from your life experiences. My values, along with sheer luck, persistence, and hard work, were what carried me through.

Now, I would like to write to my younger self—the misguided version of me who had not yet figured everything out. This is the story of how I built the best version of myself.

I Best My Self is a guide for the younger me. I hope you’ll join me on this journey and find something valuable in my writing. Thank you for taking the time to read my About section.