doom de doom doom...

*sings* VANS Warped Tour is coming to San Francisco and I am gonna go because I went last year and had loads of fun and I hope I get my celebrity pants signed by a famous band so when I'm a starving artist I have something to sell to pay the bills....

The Gir Song

I warned you about the random, didn't I?

CRAAAAASH and then fall... o(_ _o)

So I have a life that decided to eat me, which is why I haven't posted in a while. Last week I was in Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare festival, but more on that later. I shouldn't be blogging but I felt that most dedicated bloggers would blog about absences, so that's what I'm doing. I'm just checking in so those 2 people from Malaysia and the one person from Sweden know what's up (if they can read English...).

Yeah. I have visitors from Malaysia and Sweden. How awesome is that?! There's this cool thing on google that lets you track what countries people visit your site from. It's called Google Analytics. It's perty nifty, I must say. Beware, it also makes you sad. Yesterday I had 3 visits... <(T_T)> But since I made this blog I've had 67 visits from 34 different people! YAY!! Don't worry, this thinger doesn't give me personal info, only your name, address, IP address, first language, personal tastes and all the websites you've ever visited in your life. Just kidding :P It only gives me what city you live in, so it wouldn't be very practical for me to stalk you.

Anyhoo, I have to go do some math homework. YAY!! o(_ _o) = falls down (theoretically speaking).

Be Careful Out in Cyberspace

I was randomly browsing the internet as I often do when I'm "taking a break from homework," and I came across a disturbing story: a young girl, about a year older than me, killed herself because she was labelled the school whore after her ex-boyfriend sent out pictures of her when she was completely naked.  Below is the video I found.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I think that this is a major issue today because no one realizes just how public the internet is.  Anything you put on the internet can be found by your friends, your teachers, your employers, anybody really, and what you put on the internet can stay there forever.  It is so easy for someone to record an IM conversation without you even knowing it by simply copy-pasting it to Word, and people can take pictures of their computer screens with the press of a button.  So next time you or your friend decides to put suggestive pictures on the internet, remember that anyone can see it and that it can be found years into the future.  Do you want your grandchildren to see pictures of you when you were drunk and guzzling beer with a see-through white shirt on?  I wouldn't think so.

So please, think about it.  Cyberspace is dangerous, and everybody knows that.  But with the onset of Facebook and blogging, nothing is safe.  Remember that a simple photo can really screw you over.

Three Awesome Things (March)

Since not much is going on in my life right now, I decided to make a list of 3 amazing things. These are by no means THE most amazing things, simply 3 random things that I think are awesome. I think I'll make a list of 3 things every month... (we'll see how that works out).

Enjoy (^^)v

3 Awesome Things

1: Waffle (noun) A thick light pancake, crisp on the outside, that is baked in a waffle iron to give a pattern of indentations on both sides (1)

A good waffle has a crispy layer of goodness on the outside while still having a layer of fluffy delight beneath. These beauties taste delicious with maple syrup or butter and sugar. They taste best when warm and fresh out of the toaster/oven. Since they can be addicting (I know out of personal experience), I suggest buying organic healthy ones. They still taste scrumptious, and you don't feel guilty about the DELICIOUS AWESOME-NESS of a waffle.

2: Rainbow (noun) An arc of light separated into bands of color that appears when the Sun's rays are refracted and reflected by drops of mist or rain. The colors of the rainbow are conventionally said to be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (1)

According to my science textbook, the rainbow is the only spectrum of light that humans can see. There are other types of light (like ultraviolet, and apparently radio waves are light too... which is strange when you think about it, but if the scientists say it's true then it will be true until future scientists say otherwise). Rainbows are beautiful because bright colors are positively lovely, and there's something amazing in the way it makes sense for them to turn into other colors. Like red turns to orange, which then turns to yellow, and so on. Rainbows are rather logical, and they are pleasing to thine eyes, therefore rainbows are marvelous.

Note: Rainbows are often seen with unicorns and leprechauns.

(2)

3: Emo Kid (noun) I've looked this up and apparently there are two types of emo kids, fake emo kids and true emo kids. A true emo kid pretty much does whatever the hell they want because they want to, but are very in touch with their feelings. They like good music, good lyrics, poetry, and they like finding the deeper meanings of the world. A fake emo kid is a Hot-Topic baby: one who doesn't have any HUGE problems but has emotional difficulties (most often due to spoiling by the parental unit) and so creates problems. Fake emos like to draw attention to these created problems by practicing how to write suicide notes, cutting themselves, and other such rebellious actions.

Both types dress similarly, the only difference is where the clothes come from. Most emo kids wear tight, dark jeans, studded accessories, thick-rimmed glasses (usually black), band t-shirts in dark colors, and they usually style their hair in this flippy hair-do (3) that's usually dyed black. Fake emo kids will dress in mostly Hot-Topic brand clothing (hence the nickname of Hot-Topic baby). Real emo kids will get their clothes from wherever the hell they feel like.

Then there are ninja emo kids: emo kids that don't immediately look like emo kids, but you find out later that they are suicidal and need serious help. While they are harder to spot, once you get to know them you'll discover their true identity.

Summary: Fake emo kids = Hot-Topic babies, looking to be "cool"
Real emo kids look the same, but are looking to be themselves

Now, all emo kids are sensitive, emotional, and dramatic and extremely fun to mess with (I know from personal experience). Next time you see one, try waving or hugging them. They'll glare at you, the you'll laugh, and then they'll be confused as you walk away. Pure, awkward fun.

((If you are not a young, impressionable child, I suggest going to YouTube and searching for the username "adamandandrewmusic" and taking a look at their video "Emo Kid." But if you or your parents will get mad at naughty words, I suggest you stay away. FAR away. It's funny though.))

Resources Cited:
(1) MSN Encarta Dictionary

(2) Inhabitat.com

(3) Picture of Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance. I don't know who this actually belongs to...

(Note: I originally planned to have a list of 10 awesome things, but 3 things made a decent sized post so it's only a list of 3 things.

Visiting Colleges

Yesterday I came home from Claremont, CA, a small-ish town about forty minutes away from LA. I was there visiting the Claremont colleges: Scripps, Pomona, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, and Claremont McKenna College. I flew down from Oakland Airport (yay OAK!) on Thursday night with my mother-dearest (Celia) and her luuurvely wife, Sally. We arrived at LAX sometime after that, and then drove to Claremont in this tiny little Nissan that both Sally and I thought was amazing, but mother-dearest wanted a big truck so she could drive the biggest car (she's compensating for her height). So we drove down the highway (meaning, they drove, I don't have my license yet).

I don't know anything about the hotels in Claremont, but we stayed at the Double Tree and it was magnificent. Just so you know, in case you plan on heading to Claremont (which you should because it is beautiful and amazing, an awesome college town with little shops and everything is about 10 times cheaper than Marin. Well, almost everything else is).

On Friday I visited Scripps, Pomona, and Pitzer (in that order). Scripps had a beautiful campus and felt like a grown-up version of my high school (San Domenico High School). Scripps is all-girls with no religious affiliation that I am aware of and a strong humanities department. There were squirrels and bunnies and birdies everywhere. It was like a fairy-princess land! I wouldn't be surprised if Scrippsies walked around in poofy dresses and crowns while singing to the little woodland critters.

Pomona was big on athletics, but they still stressed education above everything else. Their campus is much bigger than Scripps, mainly because they have 1,200 students compared to Scripps' 900. Everyone at Pomona seems really nice. Plus, they have these fountains everywhere and according to the guides, people are constantly tossing other people into them... It's all in good fun, so I hear.

Pitzer has a strong love of the environment. They just rebuilt their dorms so that they're certified green buildings, which is awesome. They have a strong science program along with amazing abroad programs. The student body is very politically active. The guide told us that a while back there was an old house that was going to be demolished, so Pitzer students bought the house for $1, picked it up and moved it onto campus property and converted it into a student-run eatery. It's an awesome little cafe, I must say.

After all the tours, I hung out with my friend Callie. She is my San Domenico-ordained big sister who goes to Scripps. She and her amazing roommate, Laura, hosted me Friday and Saturday night in their dorm room. Scripps dorms are so roomy!!! And Callie's building has these doors that pop open when you swipe your Scripps card. It's like magic!!!

((Above: Callie is the blond beauty right thar))

Callie also introduced me to her awesomely silly friends.

((Vicki and Julia))

((Emma and Gwendy))

((In order from left to right: Callie, Liz, Vritti, Eva))

((My room post-arrival))

[[Edit 8:00pm March 9, 2009]]

And so it begins...

Hello... you...

You are reading this, which means one of two things: you're bored (as in EXTREMELY bored), or you know me and are reading this out of loyalty (even though you might not want to...). Or perhaps you just want to because you can. Well, thank you for reading my first post. I have a few promises for you:

ONE: I will not be one of those girls who talks about herself in such a way that it's boring and kind of stupid. [disclaimer: this blog is obviously about me, so you'll have to deal with some of that, but this will NOT be a public diary. I do keep a diary, but no one is allowed to read that until I'm dead.] **

TWO: I will be positive at all times, mainly because college admissions, future employers, and other random people will be reading this. I always want to give a good impression! [Besides, pessimism gets on my nerves.]

THREE: This will be a blog of stories, advice, pictures, videos, and other random things that I hope you will find amusing enough to read. I can't guarantee that you'll understand it all, though...

FOUR: There is no four, but four lines can make a square or a parallelogram, and those are cool...

** Here's a good video you should watch: