Undergraduate / A glimpse into the future. Harvard supplement, letter to future roommate [2]

Essay prompt: Occasionally, students feel that college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about themselves or their accomplishments. If there is something you would like us to know, please inform us below. If you wish to include an additional essay, you may do so.

I chose to write a letter to my future roommate. Please tell me if it sounds cliched or if it looks like a miserably failed attempt at humor.

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To my roommate from the not-so-distant future,

I initially planned to rant about and exaggerate my positive qualities to seem like a perfect darling but then I thought to myself "Eh, he's eventually going to find out...." So I will just really let you know how our room is going to look and feel with me and my stuff in it.

Please don't think I am crazy if you see me doing the following things:
- Attempting one-arm pull-ups or two-finger push-ups (but failing miserably) in a Bruce Lee-esque style. I am fitness-oriented and on pursuit of attaining a physique similar to that of Cristiano Ronaldo (far away from it, but hope to get there eventually).

- Activate thinking/analysis mode. After reading a book/prose/essay, I have a tendency to go into that mode. Watch for the symptoms: twisting and flipping my hair using my fingers; left eye constantly twitching; smirked facial expression or all of the aforementioned happening simultaneously.

- Cry on a Saturday/Tuesday night. That would be because AC Milan (my soccer team!) lost their match.
- Sob/weep on a Saturday/Tuesday night. That would be because AC Milan won their match.
- Constantly provoking you to start up an argument. Forgive me, but I love to debate, virtually about anything. On one instance, I was debating with a friend about why John Dillinger was tactically smarter than Captain America.

- Abruptly start doing the 'gangnam style' dance. It helps to clear up my mind.

These are the stuff I'll bring along and you will be used to seeing:
- My wardrobe. It contains a good mix of colors and styles. I am not a 'fashionista' but I do like dressing up elegantly.
- My books collection. You will see my book rack in our room arranged exactly the way it is arranged right now in my room. Here's what my top row (my favorite row!) will look like (left to right) - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Angels and Demons, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, The Wall, The Ego and the Id, Propaganda, The Power of Now and A New Earth.

- Yellow spray-paint, to spray on all of your stuff. Just kidding, it's actually something symbolic to me. I'll tell you more about it in the not-so-distant future.

I hope you are:
- Different from me. I enjoy being around people who are different from me and have views that conflict mine. That gives us more opportunities to debate (yay!).

- Skilled at various activities. Coming from a small, measly funded school, I barely had opportunities to learn anything out of the realm of academic books. I am looking forward to learning new things from you.

- A poet/good writer/grammar nazi. Ever since I first started learning English 8 years back, I have only wanted to keep getting better and I expect you to help me refine my writing style further.

- Interested in sharing TEDtalks and cracked.com articles with me.

I am sure that a wonderful freshman year waits for ahead for us *Drumbeat rolls*
Yours truly,
Roommate from the not-so-distant past
Khaled

Undergraduate / A stone, concrete pitch, spray-painted walls & Soccer; Common App/ topic of your choice [2]

I am not spectacular at English so can someone please help me refine my essay? Please also make suggestions regarding the content of the essay!

It's my commonapp essay, 'topic of your choice'

Spray-paint

Abruptly, I kick the half-filled pepsi can into the goal. No, not a real goal-post, but the one I and my friends drew on the crumbling white wall with yellow spray-paint. I tuck my hands into my jacket and turn around to take a good look at our 'playground' and reminisce about the days when I used to play here. Technically it was only a street like any other; old and shoddy residential buildings extant on either side of it and a few cars parked here and there. We brought this dead street to life by painting goalposts on two crumbling, white walls and with the first kick of a soccer ball.

Within a few weeks from now, I will go away from Jeddah forever and all of a sudden I start to feel a nostalgic attachment to this playground. As a young child, I wasn't privileged to play on soft grass and goalposts, but my feet found solace in the rough concrete and stones and painted walls. And not just I, several other kids from different cultures (South Asian, African and Arab) found a second home in this playground. We all were connected by soccer. This is where we all were first exposed to each other's language, customs and thoughts; this is where we all first embraced diversity. And not surprisingly, I faced my first challenges here.

A few weeks after we first started playing here, my new sneakers tore and I was left dismayed because I couldn't afford to buy another pair. Not ready to stop playing, I told myself that many challenges are yet to come in life and I may be left to face them with no tools at my disposal but I can't let that stop me. I started playing with bare feet. My feet were cut and jagged and bled a few times but I eventually adjusted to the roughness of the pitch.

I was often outperformed by the Arabs and Africans. Although initially it felt humiliating, I managed to overcome the chagrin, put aside any jealousy and focus on learning from them. It took some time, but eventually I was appeased to finally play at a level similar to their. I started grow as soon as I was ready to admit that I suck.

Eventually, as I grew older, I started to devote more time to studying, reading and thinking but my attachment to the playground never faded. I played there less often but always played with the same enthusiasm and joy. We learn as we lose. On this pitch, I lost many matches, a tooth, a few toe nails, my footing (several times and ended up scratching my shins and knees), my temper (losing matches does provoke frustration) but in return I found happiness, resilience and unwavering confidence. Life is what we make out of it. Situations are what we make out of them. A stone and concrete pitch and spray-painted walls sufficed for a soccer turf in my life. I have witnessed the magic that a little bit of spray paint can do.