WE HAVE THE AXE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you haven't heard, WE GOT THE AXE BACK FROM stanfurd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Big Game Week has been CRAZY, without a doubt. It's been eventful, tiring and fun. All those long nights and fun-filled days. I'll do a longer post later, but here are some photos from the hill. I was on Cannon Crew and had spectacular view.

View from the hill before the game.

What the fuck is that thing in the middle? Do you really call that a mascot?

NEXT UPDATE: Big Game Week and Big Game (with lots of photos). GOOOO BEARS!

Music, Mucus, and Phelgm

Of course, I am magically sick the week of Big Game AND the week when I have three concerts. Yesterday after class I had to rush to Walgreens to purchase cold medicine so I wouldn't cough my guts out. The medicine hasn't done much. It claims to be all these magical things: "pain reliever/fever reducer, nasal decongestant, cough suppressant, antihistamine*", but it could might as well be just a sugar pill stamped with the Tylenol logo.

Anyways, the Voices of Light/Passion of Joan of Arc concert last night was a great experience. The Castro Theatre is quite a unique, historical venue. I didn't expect a very large audience, maybe just a few friends or family of members from Alumni chorus. Quite the contrary. At 7:30pm, our listed curtain time, there was still a line going down the street with people waiting to buy tickets. Who knew so many people would come on a weekday to attend such an event? It took until 8:00pm to get the last people in the door. Luckily, there was an organist that entertained us during the wait. We packed the entire place. The full house made the experience that much better.


During the show, my phone rang during one of the silent scenes. Luckily the ring was muffled and hopefully not many people heard except for Patrick who was sitting next to me. I had a miserable time with my runny nose and sore throat. Every few minutes I would need to cough or blow my nose in order to sing. I had to do it discreetly to not disturb the audience watching the movie. After the show, the audience gave us a standing ovation. This response made me even more excited for this Sunday's encore performance on campus in Hertz Hall.

Today's Cup of Starbucks

4094 18th Street/Castro
San Francisco, CA 94114
Store #09212

Tall Espresso Truffle

BGW

This is the start of a busy weekend AND upcoming week. Big Game Week will be similar to Hell Week in that I will be up and about every day of the week. Let's hope that my professors and GSIs have a nice heart and not throw something sudden in our way because it will NOT be fun.

Anyways, while walking around campus, I noticed that banners for Big Game Week (BGW, for short) are now hanging from various buildings. They're used to advertise the numerous events happening during BGW. These banners are all painted by lovely Rally Comm members. My favorite is the Bonfire banner.

In addition to the million Rally Comm events, I have three concerts for Men's Chorale. So I will be cheering and singing my week away with an essay due on Tuesday. Indeed, now's the time to start and I am actually working on homework on a Friday night. Let's hope I survive until Thanksgiving or at least until the Big Game.

Dining Commons

The food at the dining commons is made of grease, oil, and fat. Oh, don't forget the SALT. Today's brunch menu included made-to-order crepes and omlettes, bacon, scrambled eggs, tofu and eggs, sausages, and chilaquiles. So looking at the nutrition facts (since the food is known to be poisonous), many of the foods seemed not too bad. Until the chilaquiles...

NOTE: This photo has NOT been photoshopped.

Are you kidding me? From a one serving (three ounces), 1052 calories, 78% of my daily value of fat, 91% of my daily value of saturated fat, 64% of my daily value of cholestrol, 92% of my daily value of salt, 26% of my daily value of carbs...

I thought it was just a typo; the person might have just mistyped a number or added too much of a particular ingredient. So I brilliantly decided to try some. Bad idea. It tasted like it was made from salt. Notice how it is CHICKEN chilaquiles de Monterey? And how the second ingredient in the ingredients list is CHICKEN? There was no CHICKEN. It was just tortilla chips and this brown sauce that tasted like it was made of salt.

Also what in the world is YEGETABLE oil? And I'm pretty sure it's not a typo because later on, it lists VEGETABLE oil as one of the ingredients...what are they trying to feed us? I really hope that it is just a typo, but keep in mind that I did try some and it was incredibly salty.

In response, I have written a comment card to the Cal Dining staff. Below is what I wrote:

"Looking at the nutrition facts for one of the items from today's brunch menu - chicken chilquiles de Monterey, it is shocking. from one serving (3oz), there are 1052 calories and 92%DV of sodium among other things. I really hope this is only a typo, but I did try some of it and it was extremely salty."

"Fine."

When you ask how I am doing, I will tell you "fine." Things may or may not be "fine", but that is what I will tell you. There is no reason to explain the details because you will only be quick to judge. I will only bother to tell you if things aren't "fine" if I feel like you'll even remotely understand my situation.

Every time everyone asks how I am doing, there is nothing I can tell them except for "fine". Do they expect me to tell them that I hate myself for what I have done? Or do they expect me to tell them that nothing could be better? Either way it's a waste of time to explain myself. There will be people that talk. It's frustrating to hear from one person that another person was talking about me. Why don't you just tell me directly? I'd be much happier if you told me directly how you thought about me instead of hearing from someone else.

So the next time you ask me, "How are things going?", I may answer "fine", "alright", "not bad" or some variation. Just know that my situation could be just swell or my life could be crashing down in front of my eyes. But I will tell you "fine".

I know that this post may not make any sense and I have so much more to say, but this post is for the one person out there. You may be in a difficult time. Things aren't "fine" but just know that you will get through it. If you need anything, please call me.

Not Gone...

Yesterday was closing day for Spring Awakening tour here in San Francisco.  More than one month ago on opening night, I bought my ticket for the final performance. I never expected this day to arrive so soon. Before the show, numerous boxes were piled in front of the theater in preparation for the move to Seattle. Never have I been so attached to the show, to the cast, to the story line, to the music, and to everything else. All in all, I have seen the show eleven times. People have called me crazy for seeing the show so many times, but I would never do it for another show. Each time watching the show has been quite an adventure, meeting new people in the rush line, talking with the cast, hanging out at Starbucks, and just plain goofing off.

The show has brought so many unexpected opportunities. Without the street team, I wouldn't have been able to meet so many new people: Frances, Azuah, Christina, Juliana, Javier, Andrew, Kelsey, Rose, and so many more. I am going to miss the fun times that we had just hanging out before and after shows, those random conversations, and our stupid Starbucks moments. These past six weeks are ones that I will not forget for a very long time. I have made many friendships and created memories to remember.

Now that the show is gone, there are two ways to look at the situation. For the past six weeks, there hasn't been a weekend that I haven't spent in San Francisco. Each weekend, I was in the city either to watch the show or to attend a street team event. It's been such a big time commitment, especially because of the street team. On the other hand, with all this extra time, I can finally devote more time to schoolwork and pray that I will make it alive out of this school. It is time to step up my game and ace my midterms and final (hopefully).