Dear Reader

Hello, my name is Mandy Ensign and I have been married to my wonderful husband Gary for ten years now. We have no children, so we have a lot of time to play. We both have our own motorcycles and love to go on long rides together. We also have a dirt bike and a four wheeler and we love to go to Bel-Fair, an off road riding park. I have had my share of broken bones on my four wheeler, but I always get back on and ride. I’m also an animal lover. I have two Pomeranians, the male is Sunnie Boyz and the female is Pennie Lane. I also have one cat named Summer. I love to spoil them with toys and treats from the pet store. I also spend a lot of time with my dogs down at our private beach that our neighborhood has access to. They absolutely love the park, especially in the summertime because they like to swim with me. I also love having my family over a lot. My mother and step father live in Bonney Lake Washington and my sisters live in Bellingham Washington. My house is the halfway point between the two, so we have a lot of family get togethers at my house. I have a big 4th of July party every year. We all go to the Indian reservation and get fireworks to blow off at night. This activity has turned into an annual family gathering that means the world to me. They also come over for Thanksgiving every year so that is another family gathering that I enjoy. As you can see I’m very close with my family and believe that they give me a lot of happiness.

I have decided to go back to college and pursue my Medical Assistant degree. I was the Pre-Press Manager at a well known fishing and hunting magazine. A Pre-Press Manager is in charge of outputting of all metal printing plates for the printing press. It was my dream job, but the owner died and the company closed down. There are no jobs out there in my field of work, so I decided to get a medical degree. My twenty year high school reunion is coming up and I never thought I would be in college at that time. I’m enjoying being in college. I have learned a lot from my peers and teachers this quarter. I have learned that just because your pushing forty years old doesn’t mean you can’t go back to school and get a better education. I was really anxious when I first started classes, but when I finally started I realized that every one else is anxious and intimidated like I was.

When I started college, I took the asset test and had no idea how to fix an essay. But now that I’m taking English 97 I have learned a lot on how to be a better writer. I can now say that I can fix an essay because I can identify sentence fragments and comma errors. I never thought I was a good writer but taking this course gave me more confidence to write a paper now, and how to fix all my mistakes. It has made me into a more conscious writer as well. Out of all the papers that I wrote this quarter, I enjoyed the descriptive paper out of them all. I enjoyed trying to explained to the reader what they where seeing, with sensory details and coherent sentences. It makes me feel a lot better about myself knowing that I can write a paper now and not be intimidated.

I have chosen four pieces that I wrote throughout the quarter. "Fun, Lost and Broken" is a narrative that I did about dirt riding. "Denise’s House" is a descriptive essay about my eccentric neighbor and friend Denise. A journal that I wrote in the beginning of the quarter named "I Was Nervous," which I thought had good showing and descriptive sentences. The last piece I am sharing with you is "The First Time Doing Something." This piece describes how I went about getting my motorcycle endorsement. So I hope you enjoy these pieces that I have chosen for you to read. I thoroughly enjoyed writing them for you.