A Brighter Future

Great. On the day that I plan on going into the city, it rains. Why couldn't have it rained YESTERDAY? Seriously...

Anyways, recently I've been getting good news from many of my friends. My friend Dylan, with whom I volunteered at The Tech, is now a realtor!! He works for Prudential and has his own office. It's been a while since I spoke with him and he im-ed me on Facebook to tell me the news. To think that he's practically the same age as me and he's already working professionally while still in school( majoring in electrical engineering). Maybe I should take the test to get a realtor's license.

And this morning, my friend Sophia im-ed to tell me that she's going to South Africa for study abroad. She had been put on the waiting list and was expectantly waiting to hear back. She was determined to go and was planning to apply through the university. I guess she found out this morning and is leaving in mid-July. How exciting!! It's hard to imagine studying and living in another US state let alone a foreign country... considering I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life, and now that I'm going to college here as well. It would be nice to have a change of environment maybe for just a couple years.

Hearing the news from my friends make me excited for them, but at the same time disheartened for myself. I'm struggling to keep up with school and can manage little else besides school. My hope is that things will change in the near future and I'll be able to get back on track. Many important decisions are coming up. Most of them are short term, but still are very important for me.

It's the start of a new month. And April is when I will find out whether or not I'll be able to make the next leap to a different future. But in the meantime, there are still next year's classes and housing to figure out! Here's to hoping for a brighter future!

American Idiot Changes: Berkeley Rep vs. Broadway

American Idiot began previews on Broadway a week and a half ago to a fairly strong attendance (76.8% capacity for the first five performances). Let's hope it will continue strong all throughout previews and after opening night April 20th. There have been a few changes that I've noticed between the run on Berkeley Rep and its current state on Broadway. I've listed the ones I've noticed below:

1. American Idiot - they changed the parts for the beginning. Johnny doesn't sing the first few lines.
2. Johnny’s monologues are now shared by Will and Tunny. (For the most part.)
3. Dates have been added at the beginning of each monologue. I don't like the addition of the dates before each monologue...maybe it'll grown on me, but it just seems unnecessary.
4. Tales of Another Broken Home - addition of drum solo + guitar
5. Last Night on Earth – Didn’t notice any changes! So glad because it's one of my favorite songs from the show.
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Tunny (I think) sing/repeats “City of the damned” a few times at the end of the song when it transitions to "Favorite Son"
7. Last of the American Girls/She's a Rebel - The creative team have had some trouble perfecting this scene/song. There have been numerous changes throughout the run at Berkeley with a late addition of Last of the American Girls a week before closing. According to various tweets from cast members on April 1st (April Fools joke?) that a new version went into the show that night.
8. Rock and Roll Girlfriend - Will exclaims "What the fuck?" (I'm assuming when Heather enters. It's a nice addition. - According to a friend, Heather and Miguel's character come out in a black box representing a TV set and he uses Heather as an instrument.)
9. Otherwise, nothing else has changed musically that I could notice. Most of harmonies and orchestrations have stayed.
10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Song was added after curtain call during the last week and a half of the run at Berkeley Rep. It seems like it isn't included anymore.

Only 17 days until opening night!

Another Californian Adventure

It's been a while since I last changed the photo of the header. In celebration of Disney's California Adventure's expansion, I decided it would be fitting to change it to a photo of the front entrance which will eventually be gone (around October/November of this year) to make way for the new entrance. The concept art is below. The concept is turn Sunshine Plaza into Buena Vista Street and to evoke Los Angeles as Walt Disney saw it when he arrived in California in the early 1920's. There will also be a 1920-style red trolley traveling through Buena Vista Street and Hollywoodland (current Hollywood Picture Backlot). Be sure to catch the current entrance before it disappears in October!

American Idiot Sound Check

The 'Idiot Interns' posted a video of the opening number of American Idiot from today's sound check. The show starts previews tomorrow (March 24th) and opens April 20th at the St. Jame's Theatre. According to Playbill's twitter account, they are allowing filming and photo taking during the invited performance. I've noticed a few differences from the Berkeley run:

• Lighting has changed drastically...it's been amped up and now more colorful
• Johnny no longer sings the opening lines from the song
• Will, Tunny, and Johnny are no longer watching individual TV sets. Rather, they're facing the back wall
• Slight costumes changes -- Brian Charles Johnson now wears a red shirt
• TV placement on the back wall seems similar
• No major changes in choreography or blocking

Wondermazement

Through my Twitter feed, I am always finding random, hilarious, weird, interesting content. There was no way to collect these things in case I wanted to refer back to it. Thus, Wondermazement was created. I try to update from time to time, but it all depends on how often I find stuff to post.

One of Those Nights

Tonight is one of those that I feel like staying up. The coffee might have contributed to my alertness and I have been fairly productive. This semester has been a drastic change from the previous one...seldom am I pulling all-nighters and rushing to finish assignments. Now, my body just shuts down on me and I fall instantly asleep. How convenient. This has contributed to more than one incomplete assignment, mostly those for programming.

Matlab (programming in general, rather) is not any easier the second time around. I still have trouble grasping various concepts such as recursion and least squares regression. Programming is basically conceptual math and physics. We have to spend countless hours writing functions that calculate fairly simple tasks such as matrix multiplication and solving linear equations. It just does not interest me whatsoever. At least now I know I hate two things with a burning passion: organic chemistry and now programming. At least my engineering graphics design class is somewhat fun.

On a different note, I haven't been very successful in keeping with my New Year's goals/resolutions. My plan was to work out at least once every two weeks...at the time it seemed like a practical goal. Even then, I haven't exercised once since the new year began. In the past, I've been fairly good with keeping up with my goals, but after entering college, I have been much lazier. I would much rather watch a TV show or movie for hours on end than spend just 15 minutes running. My lack of motivation is also very evident in this very blog. Posts are few and far between. This is all going to change (I hope). I will try to update more often and start exercising...soon.

Up and coming

A post is long over due...it's been more than three months since my last one. Time has been passing by and I haven't been able to record it all...a whirlwind of thoughts linger in my mind, with no where to go.Without writing them down, they are all lost among a sea of memories.

Soon...