Early Memories
What is Karina's first home?
My first home was in Little Havana. All my family lived in the same building. My cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents lived in the floor above me. My godparents lived right next to me. My earliest memory is this house and my grandma walking me and my cousins to the park every single day.
What is Karina's favorite movies?
Some of my favorite movies are Deadpool, Scott Pilgrim V. the World, Lady Bird, The Florida Project, and Ponyo, and Lilo and Stitch.
What is Karina's Ideal Self
I want to be more caring and kind
What is Karina's Pets?
I have tortoise named Frankie, a bird named Ari, and a cat named Callie.
What is Karina's First and Last Sport?
For one brief season I played softball. I was playing for Ft. Lauderdale and we were called the Pink Socks. I do not have an athletic bone in my body and everyone on the stands saw it when I played as well. I didn't really care that I was so horrible at it because I knew I tried really hard. All the girls in my team played softball their entire lives so I didn't really compare my abilities to there's because I was just a beginner. The girls also made me feel very out of place too and I think this had a factor to do with how bad I was. I had no support system telling me what I can do to improve or anyone telling me what I did good. They all went to the same school and I didn't. They didn't make me feel welcome and I felt like a black sheep the whole season and I didn't even consider them to be my team just strangers that I unfortunately have to play with. Anyways my team (without my help obviously) made it to championships. So there was this one day where we had to play 5 games all on a Saturday. We were exhausted and burnt out but we made it to the very last game and this game decided who won. We were in the last inning and I was the last batter. Whether I hit the ball and ran through all the bases depended if we won or not (still do not know the terminology lol). There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders but, of course I screwed it up. I lost us the win and I never even looked at a softball again. Looking back I was being pretty dramatic. I would play again maybe even for Northeast but playing this experience taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that after I fail at something I just give up. I started recognizing I did it for everything. If I do not understand an assignment rather than asking I just do not turn it in or procrastinate and turn it in 2 weeks late or more. I use to sing in chorus and my teacher didn't give me as many solos as I wanted so I quit that too. When I'm in a conflict with someone I don't communicate what I feel I just ignore what they are saying and then move on. This flaw is something I've been attempting to work on the past couple months. It's not completely gone and I still fall victim to this terrible habit but I'm trying because it's cost me many potential opportunities and relationships. I've grown a lot and I'm proud of that but I'm not at the level I want to be yet and I will stop at nothing to get to who I want to be as a person.
What is Karina's New York Trip?
My dad went on a business trip for about a month to New York. My mom, sister, and I started to miss him naturally. So, I ended going on my second plane ride. Well technically the first one that I can fully recall. The turbulence the entire ride was scary. I was in the fourth grade at the time and we happened to go to New York the day Trump got inaugurated. So, we get to New York and there was a huge fire across the airport. It was safe distance away and by the time we got there the fire was mostly contained. While we were at the airport the security guards kept on ushering us out because there were threats that somebody was going do something to the airport. When you looked out the hotel room you can Times Square so that was cool. The next day we did lots of sightseeing. We went on the ferry and we got to see the statue of liberty. We ended up in the Manhattan and mostly just looked around. We took the ferry back home and went to the Bronx to see a couple of family members. The next day we drove to New Jersey to see snow because it was not going to snow in New York so we ended up going snow tubing which was really fun. The third day my dad had work so me, my mom, and sister explored the city. We went to through Times Square and there are these people in costumes. They were dressed as SpongeBob and Minnie Mouse little kid characters basically. I can not explain how dirty and old these costumes were Spongebob was green rather than yellow. Anyways, we were walking and then when of the characters grabbed us (not harshly but still...) and kept on harassing us to take a picture with them and so we did. Then they started asking for 20 bucks for a SINGULAR picture. My mom was obviously not going to pay that absurd price so we gave them $5 and moved on. After that ordeal, we went to central park and went ice skating. There was also an old folks’ home at the park and they were inviting people to play board games. I ended up playing checkers with these very kind elderly man and he was talking about his life and it I really enjoyed his company. Fourth day we went on a stroll at another park when I ended up seeing Andy Cohen and Sarah Jessica Parker walking and this had been the first time, I had ever seen a celebrity. Sarah Jessica Parker is my mom favorite actor so it was funny seeing her freak out. I added this memory because the time I went to New York was so monumental. There were rioting everywhere because of Trumps inauguration. It also happened to be in New York during the women’s right march so everywhere you looked there was a sign either supporting or opposing our current president and other civil rights issues. I got to witness such a monumental time in history and I felt empowered to see all those woman fighting for what they believe is right. A couple of days ago the election finally ended and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won. Its funny how so much as changed in the last four years. My trip from New York felt like something out of a fictional movie but this is one of my fondest memories.
What is Karina's favorite shows?
Some of my favorite shows are The Politician, Sailor Moon, High Fidelity, Parks and Recreation, and Rick and Morty.
What is Self Schema
When I fail at something rather than trying again I give up and don't ever look at it again
What is Karina's best friends?
I have a best friend named Neveah. I've known her since preschool and we use to do mostly everything together. I went to her house everyday afterschool and I remember us always making the most weirdest and digusting food combinations like Fruit Loops and Chocolate Syrup. She was like a sister to me sometimes she felt more like more sister than my real one. At that time I went to a school where I knew everyone from preschool. So it was weird being a new kid at that school because everyone knew each other since babies. Eventually I left this school which was very tough. I went from going to a school where I was "popular" to sitting alone in a cafeteria with no-one to talk to. For the couple of months in the new school I made zero effort to make friends. I just observed what people did and said (i heard lots of gossip) and then people started naturally gravitating towards me eventually and I started making friends. I have 3 best friends from that school Rashawn, Jenifer, and Sherian. These 3 people mean so much to me and I still keep in contact with these people to this day. Its crazy to me how I have a better relationship with these three people than others that I've known since I was a young child. You may be wondering why this is under the family section. I consider these people to be more than family than some of my actual family. These four people has made the biggest impact in my life and I wouldn't be who I am without them and I am forever grateful to them.
What is Karina's fears?
I am deadly afraid of horses. There is no apparent reason for it I have just always been terrified of it since I was a little kid. I think it stems from me watching stupid movies as a kid and the horse goes crazy and kicks and hurts someone. They're beautiful to look at just not something that you will ever see me be around or willingly touch. I am also terrified of the movie Coraline or any claymation movie in general. Bonus fun fact, my sister is always teasing me and she puts buttons around her eyes and starts chasing after me.
What is Karina's first Christmas?
This isn't my very first Christmas that I can remember obviously because I don't remember things from when I was a 3 month old. Me and my family use to take Christmas picture every year so I remember doing that. I remember getting a IPod with a princess peach case. Our Christmas tradition is to wake up and open all the presents then, go get Breakfast, go to the movie theaters, and then go back home and watch some more movies. I'm not really sure how this is going to work this year but its going to be a bizarre Christmas for everyone but I am very excited.
What is Karina's favorite musical artist?
Some of my favorite bands and artist are Panic! at the Disco, Fleetwood Mac, SZA, Nicki Minaj, Flo Milli, Jay Z, Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, Queen, ThunderCat, Trippie Redd, J. Cole, Tame Impala and MF DOOM.
What is Self Esteem
Growing up I was teased a lot. I was overweight and I was definitely not the prettiest. This teasing absolutely plummeted my self esteem and has made me very insecure. These insecurities have gone away for the most part but they are still absolutely there. This caused a complete self evaluation. So whenever someone mentions a character or physical flaw I know I'm already working on my growth for that certain flaw so It doesn't have an effect on me anymore.
What is Karina's Family Nicknames?
My nickname is Kari or KarKar (i hate these names so much), My dad's name is Thomas so we call him ChooChoo alluding to Thomas the Train, My mom's name is Edda so we call her edamame solely because it has the first 3 letters of her name, and my sister's name is Alexandra so we just called her Lexi or Alex.
What is Karina's most memorable movie scene?
One of my favorite movies is called the Florida Project. The movie that was shot in Orando, Florida is about a mother named Haley and her daughter named Mooney. They live in a hotel and they live in extreme poverty. Since Mooney is a little kid she's not aware how badly she is living. Mooney has two bestfriends and they walk around Orlando throughout the movie. This movie contains one of my favorite scenes of all time. CPS comes to go get Mooney because of the lack of resources her mother gives her. Mooney runs away and goes to her best friend house in tears telling her goodbye and that will be the last time she will ever see her. Her friend felt terrible obviously so she grabbed Mooney's hand and they went all the way Disney World. Out of all outcomes this movie could have had that was the one they went with and I think it was bizarre and wholesome at the same time and I loved it so much. After I watched this I was doing some snooping around and found some extremely sad theories about why that was the ending of the movie. One of the theories was that Mooney and her friend passed away while running away and that Disney World was them in heaven. I learned my lesson to just watch the movie as it is without any background information because now I can't watch it the same. I highly recommend watching this movie (not kid appropriate sometimes) and you can probably spot out a couple of landmarks if you've ever been on a drive to Disney or Orlando in general
What is Karina's first choice of careers.
Ever since I was little I always wanted to be a celebrity. I didn't really care what it was as long as everyone knew my name. Which is why got into fields such as singing and dancing. I took ballet classes and I had afterschool chorus and I would sing at a Church every Sunday. A lot of people see me as an actor mostly because of how dramatic I am. I see myself as an actor too but these dreams died hard. Celebrities are put at an unrealistic standard and are constantly put under a microscope. No matter what they do they will never please anyone and receive a large amount of hate for minor things. Then people excuse this malicious behavior by saying something about it being ok because they are rich. I enjoy my alone time and privacy more than anyone else I could never be watched that closely. Right now I really don't know what I am going to do in the future. I know I'm just a freshman and I have lots of time but graduation seems so soon. I felt like I just started 9th grade last week. Usually I have a plan for everything but when it comes to my future its just blank and its worrisome. I still always have the feeling that I am going to be successful no matter what I do the thing is I need to find it and quickly.
What is Karina's favorite food.
I'm Nicaraguan and Dominican so most of these dishes are traditional foods from my parents country. The first dish is unnamed but you can get it at a Fritanga place which is where a lot of Nicaraguan foods are served. The dish has gallo pinto, carne asada, and queso frito. Fun fact the literal english translation for Gallo Pinto is spotted rooster but its really just rice and beans. Carne asada is a piece of steak, and queso frito is fried cheese. It's special type of cheese so please don't go fry swiss cheese (true story). My next favorite dish is a Dominican dish and it is called Mangu. It consist of five things: mashed platains, fried eggs, queso frito (fried cheese) fried Dominican salami, topped with sauteed vinegar. These dishes are very special to me because I've eaten them my whole life and me and my Grandmas bond over making food and these were the first dishes I learned how to make.
What is Self Enhancement
I wear makeup and every time I take a photo I edit it or add a filter.
What is Karina's Family Dynamic?
I lived with my family for a good portion of my life. In my childhood home, I was completely surrounded by my family. When I moved out of that home, I was still in walking distance from my cousins and grandparents house. I am extremely close to my cousins but not so much now since 2 out of 3 of them just graduated high school. We don't see or talk each other much and I feel like I lost my best friends. My grandparents and uncle essentially raised me. My mom and dad had to go to work so they would drop me off at either my Tio Jorgie's House or Abuela Ramona's house. Wherever I went my cousins was always there too. My family doesn't really say I love you to each other. We convey our affection with actions rather than words. We know we always have each other's backs and sometimes there may be some roadblocks but we always work through them as a family.
What is the name tradition?
There is a tradition in my family that the first born daughter gets their mother middle name. My Grandma's middle name is Edda which is my mom's first name. My moms middle name is Karina which is my first name. My middle name is Hailey so if I ever end up having a child her name is going to be Hailey.
What is Karina's Idols?
Some of my idols are Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and Marie Curie.
What is Face
I want others to see me as loyal and trust worthy
What is Karina's most prized possession?
One good thing that came out of my softball experience was me getting MVP because I had successfully hit a ball mid season may I add. They gave me a softball as an award but the thing is it was given to me on April Fools Day. It's still a running joke in my family that that ball was given to me purely on "coincidence". I keep the ball on my nightstand and I look at it whenever I need a good laugh.