About Me

My name is Diem, in Latin that would mean "Day". Hence the phrase "carpe diem" (seize the day). But the history of my name comes from my native home Vietnam, which in retrospect means "pretty". I was born in Vietnam and came to the states when i was about 3 years old. My father is a Nam veteran which gave my family a free ticket to America. I suppose that's the least they could do after abandoning the war and allowing my father to be trapped for 13 years in the re-education camps. I could go on forever about my family's history but that would take several days. Well anyway, I'm 16 years old and am fluent in English and Vietnamese. I'm learning Spanish in school but i wouldn't say I'm doing quite well. I can also speak a couple of phrases from other languages such as Korean, Cantonese, Tagalog and Indonesian. The perks of having an ethnically diverse range of friends.

My favorite authors have to be Mitch Albom, Sarah Dessen and Alice Sebold. My favorite books are in line by these authors--Tuesdays with Morrie, The Truth About Forever, and The Lovely Bones.

Some of my favorite music artists are Regina Spektor (she is amazing), The Format (i just went to one of their concerts last friday), and The Beatles (my beatles obsessed friend Monica has influenced me with their music).

I only keep up with a few TV shows. I used to be majorly addicted to Degrassi, a canadian drama, but I've gotten bored of the plots' lack of continuity. Other shows I like watching are House M.D., and re-runs of Boy Meets World and Chamed.

My favorite movies includes anything with Gael Garcia Bernal in it--he's not only a great actor, but he's gorgeous! Other movies I enjoy watching are Everything is Illuminated, Girl Interrupted,and Thirteen.


I looove Smosh videos on youtube. And how can i forget Wongfu. These guys are geniuses.

I'm not really into sports. I would say I am athletically challenged. I like recreational swimming, probably because I'm not a very competitive individual.  I've always been more on the artistic side. I love drawing, painting, and creating things from trash and scraps. I like the concept of turning normal and overlooked things into art. But my favorite form of art is fashion. I'm hoping to get a sewing machine so I could start creating my own pieces. I love going to thrift stores and purchasing old vintage clothes, and putting outfits together. I'm also learning how to play guitar, but recently I've been neglecting it because of my busy schedule. Over the past year I've gotten into filming, and I've created a few short pieces with the help of my mentors from BAVC. I like the idea of influencing others and helping the community through media.

I love hanging out with my friends on the weekends, doing ordinary things like watching movies and going to the mall, but sometimes i like to be spontaneous. One time, some friends and I were eating gelato at Holy Gelato when we suddenly had the impulse to climb the huge redwood tree at Botanical Gardens, near Golden Gate Park. Then we fed some squirrels nearby. I love animals, part of the reason why I'm a vegetarian. I've gone meatless for over two years now, and I don't think I'm ever going back to being a carnivore.

I would like to travel all over the world. My goal in life is to visit every country there is. I'm still deciding on what I want to do after college. Possible career paths in my future: filmmaking, fashion designing, some other type of art, or somewhere along the field of psychology--I'm interested in the human brain, and why we do the things we do. But ultimately, whatever I do, I want to help people and influence them for the better good.

Currently, I'm really worried about my upcoming junior year in high school. When it came to school, I've always been stressed out. This coming year I'm taking AP (advanced placement) classes, in World History and Biology. I'm also taking all honors academic classes, with one elective in Media Arts. Aside from school I'm going to be participating in Building with Books (BWB) an organization that teaches young people about current issues of the world, and by the end of the year I have a chance to travel to a developing country to help build a school! I'm very exciteddddd. I'll be returning to JCYC, my youth group that I've been in for 2 years now. I'm also re-elected into office for my school, as Vice President of my junior class. This is by far going to be my toughest year, but I'm hoping to get through with it without going completely insane.

Heroes in my life are my loving family. My parents, younger brother, and older sister.