The Broken Pieces on the Floor

It's just so hard to explain in words. Each time I try and explain it, it just doesn't come out right. I'm not trying to hate Berkeley.

Now that I've submitted in my SIR, my whole world feels like it split into a million little pieces. It's an inherent feeling that I can't control. There are many times when nothing seems right. It feels that nothing matters any more.

Yes, I know I should try and go into this experience with a positive attitude. I have. Berkeley definitely has a better Bioengineering program than LA and it's a world renowned school. In addition, it will be a new experience to meet new people and see new places. However, the pieces of the puzzle just don't seem to fit correctly.

Choosing a college should have been a process that I should been able to decide. However, I never had this power to begin with. While my friends are deciding between UCLA and Cornell or UCLA and Rice or some other pair, I was forced to choose Cal. If it had been my own decision, the experience would have been more pleasant, but because it was forced on me, it just all didn't work out.

On a side note, it has no theater department (well, it practically doesn't exist). I'm not going into theater, but it's just such an important part of my life that I feel there's a reason why it's missing. There might not be those students who are hardcore theater majors. Or that theater majors don't attend Berkeley. They would rather go to UMich, CMU or NYU.

If this post does not make any sense, please remember that it's hard to explain in words. It's a difficult time for me so I would appreciate it if you could just give me my own space.

Spring Break

Spring Break has flown by so quickly. With a blink of any eye, it is already Friday. This week has been pretty ordinary, just studying for AP tests which are coming up in just THREE weeks! It seems that everyone is coming to the library to study. You'll only find that happening in our area. Students studying over break instead of playing in the nice weather.

However, I am having fun editing the dozens of clips that I recorded from the past two months because I finally found a decent video editing program. Windows Movie Maker is not user friendly, does not support many of the basic file formats, and never works properly. It always takes days to edit a five-minute clip using the program. Now, I am using VideoSpin, a free program that is quite easy to use with many more features than Movie Maker.

The previous post is a preview of the blog and the product of testing the new program. The first episode will debut on Monday!

EXCLUSIVE Sneak Peek

It's finally here! An exclusive sneak peek of what's coming to the blog.



Check back soon for the premiere episode! :)

The most AMAZING group EVER

I was at Cal Day at UC Berkeley this past Saturday. Cal Day is this big celebration for all admitted students as well as the community. Admitted students can learn more about their prospective major. And groups perform and sing throughout the day.

This video is of the UC Men's Octet. They are an AMAZING group of eight guys who sing a capella. Their songs ranging from oldies like "My Girl" to contemporary songs like "Beacuse of You" by Ne-Yo. Nothing is more hilarious or awesome than their performances. Take a look.



(Sorry for the shakiness. There was quite a lot going on around me.)

YouTube them if you want to see more of their performances. There's also Lion King medley, Guy Love from Scrubs, and a bunch of others.

totes bye!

Tomorrow the sun will NOT come up

Bright and early at 6am, I will be at school setting up for the last school-wide rally EVER. This means I'll need to wake up at 5:45am. It's already hard for me to wake up at 7am every morning. How am I supposed to wake up an hour earlier? And it gets even better.

My Spanish teacher decides to assign us a short dialogue presentation on perfect subjunctive tenses.....on block day....which is due on Friday. That has given us just Wednesday night, Thursday night (tonight) to plan a theme, write the dialogue, memorize the lines, practice AND rehearse. I'm in the process of memorizing because my group just created the dialogue two hours ago... And I'm already getting tired. But there's more!

What do you know? For the umpteenth time, there happens to be a AP Biology test on the same day as a rally. For every single rally set-up this year, I have had to study for a 100-point test. Guaranteed, I will not score well on this test because I do not know the information because I have not been reading. It is part laziness, but part death speed. Since second semester began, we have had tests pretty much EVERY single week. Our last test was just a week ago on Friday. There's not enough time to read three whole chapters, understand the information, while visiting colleges. Besides, there's also projects, tests, and presentations from other classes that pile on.

I'm just glad that I am not in an AP Literature student's position. Many of them are working hard, even as I write this, to complete a 10-page research paper with 3 books, numerous secondary sources, etc. Also, AP Government students don't have it any easier. They have a 10-article current events binder due tomorrow. And of course, AP Calculus BC has their free-response binder/furniture due tomorrow. Last year, I had such a great time when I had to compile all those worksheets and print all those free-response answers.

Since February, I have been recording videos with my snazzy handheld device. Now, I have so much video footage that I don't know what to do with all of it. I think I might be able to pull off two blog videos or so out of the clips...... STAY TUNED!

LAX

You know you're in Los Angeles when you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic at 11 o'clock....AT NIGHT. The string of brake lights went on and on forever. We traveled barely five miles in 20 minutes all because of a single car which probably just broke down.

The trip down here to L.A. wasn't as bad as I thought. Stopped at Casa de Fruta for a short break and then I took the wheel for the next three hours. Cruise control must be one of the best inventions EVER. Without it, at the end of those three hours, my foot would probably have lost circulation from stepping on the gas pedal.

However, Interstate 5 is one of the most boring highways in the US. It's just a strip of concrete down some plains with gas stations and rest areas here and there. I spent the time rocking to Spelling Bee and Spring Awakening which helped pass the time quite quickly.

Can't wait for tomorrow! Visiting UCLA bright and early for the first time. Wish I was going to Disneyland though.

Musical Madlibs

Recently, I found this HILARIOUS video. There's a segment from the improv show "Don't Quit Your Night Job" called Madlibs.

How it works: Certain words from a Broadway show tune are taken out. Without prior knowledge of the missing words, the audience suggests nouns, verbs, proper names, just like in the game Madlibs. A Broadway star (usually the one who sings the song in the respective show) comes and sings the newly revised version.

This is "Nothing" from A CHORUS LINE sung by the current Broadway cast member, Natalie Cortez. Enjoy!



Some of the other songs include "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" sung by John Lloyd Young, "On My Own" sung by Celia Keenan-Bolger, "Gimme Gimme" sung by Sutton Foster, and more. Check out the MusicalMadlib YouTube channel for more videos !