Yeah, so it's been a couple of days since my last post and if school wasn't such a pain in the butt, you'd be able to hear more about my pathetic life. On Wednesday I finished the presentation I'd been working on at nausem since I got back from break and finally had a chance Wednesday night to put things away and no longer live out of bags. Yesterday I met with another project group and took pictures of kids playing on a playground, then sang the rest of the day. I had my big performance last night and it went really well. My parents and Becca came to see it and afterwards we all went out to dinner. By the time they left it had felt like a Friday night and not really wanting to do anything school related my roommate and I watched "Dazed and Confused" which I had never seen before and found out was like a 70's version of "American Graffiti". Both are pretty good movies.

Unfortunately I won't be around for the weekend much, since I promised some friends to help with an engineering conference thingy. From 4-11 today I have that, then off to a friends birthday party afterwards, and tomorrow I have to help out from 8am-11pm then go to another friends birthday bash. Sunday will be spent writing the paper that I have due Monday that I saved for the weekend not realizing that I wasn't going to have much of a weekend. You probably won't see me till maybe Sunday, possibly Monday, but please feel free to leave comments and IMs to help alleviate some of the chaos of the weekend.

Finally, for a whopping 5 Chris points, tell me what a camel, a cat, and a giraffe have in common. It's sort of a biomechanical riddle that I read about last night. I doubt anyone will get it but, it's a nice challenge to throw out there.

The Daily Grind

I seem to have picked back up right where I left off before Spring Break. I've only been back one day and I already spent most of my free time working on a presentation and once again had a very late dinner (11 tonight). In some ways Spring Break seems like a dream that almost never happened and that I never really left the hustle and bustle of school. Blah. I got back 2 midterms and an essay today and did fairly well on all three so at least that's some good news. I finally got around to reading some of the cartoon emails I neglected to check over break and found two good applicable ones. They pretty much sum up how I'm feeling now. I guess I should get back to putting stuff away here... that or more project work....

End of Spring Break

Spring Break is officially over and I am back at school. It's quite weird here, now that my furniture has been replaced (except for the couch, unfortunately). Since the switch was totally unnecessary, the whole ordeal is more of an inconvenience than anything else. It feels like the first day of school almost, with an empty desk and things scattered around in boxes. It took me about two weeks to get settled in at the beginning of the year and something tells me that it'll be another two weeks before things start to get back to normal here.

I have some more things to share, but for now I must sleep because I've got a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow.

What Day of Spring Break is This?

I've lost track of how many days since class stopped, but it doesn't really matter does it? All I know is that my break is starting to set like the sun and that I soon have to get back to the hustle and bustle of school.

I watched "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" today with my brother. It's a great movie that really plays with your mind and in a way, unintentionally causes you to recall the past; both the good memories and the bad, humiliating memories. David Cross possibly has the best role of the movie with only a couple minutes of screen time. Definately see the movie if you can.

Today's Spring Break activity is an Interactive Bruce Lee beat mixer. It's fun to play with and kill time with, which is what Spring Break is all about.

5th and 6th Day of Break

Yes, I have been slacking these past few days. I've been doing a lot of nothing here at home and have not felt like waiting forever and a day to dial-up onto the internet. I could be doing so much more things with my time like sleeping, eating, watching movies, or reading rather than sitting and waiting and clicking and waiting and waiting and waiting.... So my apologies to all.

To compensate for my lack of attendance, here are the 2 activities for the days I missed. Both are art related so feel free to express your inner artist.

First you can Make Your Own Picasso!

And second a little Interactive Lite-Brite

4th Day of Spring Break

There's not much going on here in Bakersfield and that's the way it should be, at least for my break. The way school has been this semester, I don't need to go on any trips of any sort, I just need to sit and do nothing. And that's what I intend to do, despite being asked to help work on the BHS play already. Sorry, but my week is booked....


Today's S.B. activity is an interactive frog dissection! Ahhh.... the memories of Mrs. Slayton's class!

3rd Day of Spring Break

So I'm finally back in Bakersfield and am looking forward to a week of nothing. I spent most of my day yesterday cleaning up the apartment. Apparently the University is replacing the furniture in my apartment for some reason. They do own it so I guess they can do as they please, the only problem however is that I had to remove everything off of and out of the existing furniture. This meant that I had to take everything out of my desk and put my computer away, I had to empty out my dresser, and put all the books, movies, lamps, the tv, etc. away so that all the furniture could be left bare for them to replace. This was both annoying and time consuming. But it's all done and after having an Indian birthday dinner with Rachel and friends I headed home.

To continue with the week of activity, I'm supplying a dangerously addicting game of 20 questions involving an AI.

Now back to relaxing....

2nd Official Day of Spring Break

For the second day of Spring Break: more internet quizzes. Without them, we would actually have to do work or learn or something like that. So further procrastination and enjoy yourselves.

I am a Pacman Ghost. I like to hang around with friends, chatting, dancing, all that sort of thing. We don't appreciate outsiders, and do our best to discourage others approaching us. I enjoy occasionally wandering around randomly, and often find that when I do so, I get to where I wanted to be. What Video Game Character Are You?

I'm The James Bond Villain Personality Test!

I live in a fictional world of spies and blonde women with ridiculous names, and I like to give people plenty of options. Although whether they're villainous is not optional.

Click here to find out which test you are!

To be, or not to be?


What is Your Shakespearian Tragic Flaw?
brought to you by Quizilla


C.H.R.I.S.: Cybernetic Humanoid Responsible for Infiltration and Sabotage



http://www.cyborgname.com/

1st Official Day of Spring Break

Today is officially the beginning of my Spring Break, so to celebrate I have decided to post something creative every single day that I'm on break (more or less). I've recently come across several entertaining games, quizzes and other time-consuming enterprises.

To start it off is a rather amusing video clip. It takes a long time to load, but believe me when I say that it is worth it!

Stay tuned in for more entertaining Spring Break action!

3rd Person Perspective of Marathon Winners

This past weekend Natalie and Holly competed in the LA Marathon and having done so became my newest heroes! Not only did they run the complete 26.1 miles required for the marathon, some of it uphill some of it downhill, but they also ran it in almost 90 degree weather! They completed the course in just over five and a half hours. Now imagine continuously running for 5.5 hours in hot weather!

I went to cheer both of these girls on and after waiting for over two hours towards the finish line I saw them run by. There were over 20,000 people running in this marathon and I was waiting for just 2, so naturally my biggest fear was that I would miss seeing them run. But sure enough, as I stood and watched in anticipation as more and more people kept streaming by, I saw both Natalie and Holly fighting for the finish line, supporting each other as they ran those few extra yards. I called out to Natalie but she didn't hear me, and then I tried running alongside them for some additional cheering. That failed to work so I gave up and watched them cross over to the winners realm.

It took me forever to find a way over to where I could meet them and then it was a matter of luck of finding one of them. Sure enough though we found each other and celebrated their victory. They of course each had blisters on their feet, and were sore throughout their legs, but it didn't seem to matter. I myself had cut my feet up with my sandals (don't ask) and got a blister on my heel (by the end of it, I felt like I had run part of the marathon).

Blisters and bruises will heal though, and muscles will cease to ache, but what they accomplished through those gruelling 5.5 hours will follow them for the rest of their lives. And if they can do something that incredible, what's stopping us from doing incredible things in our lives? That is why they are my new heroes. It was a fun experience from the spectator's point-of-view, and I truly wish more of us could have been there to see them run. I guess we'll just have to talk them into another marathon....

The Winners

Another Longzzz zzz zzz zzz...............

I just survived another grueling 3-days. Do you ever feel sometimes that you're living your life in fast motion on a regular basis? It seems like everything these days goes to the tempo of the "William Tell Overature" or the "Sabre Dance".

I'll spare you all about the grusome details to yet another busy Wednesday. The important thing is that I'm one day closer to my Spring Break. Spring Break for me starts Friday and lasts until the 21st of March. Looks like I'll be relaxing in Bakersfield over break. Let me know if you'll be in town and/or want to do something. As long as it's not school related, I'm up for anything.

I've now got marathon pics, but I'll post them tomorrow when I have time and am not exhausted by my day.

My New Heros!

Natalie and Holly are my new heros!

Once I get pictures from Natalie I'll have an update on the exciting adventures of the LA marathon.

***ATTENTION LADIES***

Nathaniel Joseph Prevendar, my roommate, is single and available. He's a Pisces who enjoys long walks on the beach, moonlight, classical rock guitar, and has a penchant for photography. If any of you are at all interested or want more information on this HOT, HOT item, you can IM him at stars1683! Remember ladies, he'll only be available for a limited time only so act fast!

An Evening At Bovard

So tonight I participated in a collegiate choir festival on campus with 13 other choirs from the LA area. Pretty much every college within a 50-mile radius participated, with the exception of UCLA. As it was, a lot of the schools there were Claremont schools! And you could tell when Caltech took the stage. They just had that look about them.

It was 3.5 hours of music, most of which was really good and several songs I knew. For those of you who might remember some songs from high school, I heard "Locus Iste", "At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners", and "Kde Su Kravy Moje?". At least hearing some songs I knew made the time go by quicker.

We performed in the middle of the whole thing and had a pretty good performance. We ended with a gospel song. Now all choir people know that the best way to draw a big reaction from a crowd is to end with a gospel song. Even a poorly performed gospel song can still create a great deal of noise from the audience. Well, we didn't perform poorly, at least I didn't think so, so we made a lot of noise after we finished.

The most disturbing part of the evening was seeing a countertenor from CSULA hitting notes that I think most females couldn't hit! My goodness! Males SHOULD NOT be able to hit those notes or be able to sound like that at all. I swear that if I closed my eyes I couldn't to tell if he was male or female!

This really was my first experience seeing other college choirs perform and it really made me think about why I chose to go to USC as opposed to the other schools I applied to. Although there were many reasons why I chose USC, I'm glad that I did choose a school with a great music program. I love doing this! I love performing and singing challenging songs and having it being a part of my life. And none of the other schools I applied to would have given me this experience.

I have been so blessed to have performed at venues like the opening of the Pasedena Civic Center, or at Disney Hall with the LA Philharmonic! I have performed for numerous crowds and for people such as Henry Winkler and Steven Hawking! I have also been blessed to have met some of today's big named, comtemporary composers such as Eric Whitacre, Morton Lauridsen, James Hopkins and Frank Tichelli! These are experiences I wouldn't trade for anything. I love singing and I'm glad I'm at an institution with a program that challenges me and gives me these opportunities.

I realized tonight that if I went to any of these other schools, my passion for music would just have to be satisfied with 'just enough'. But life is a song and I want to sing it! And I am....

Crazy Times Keep Getting Crazier

My what a busy week I seem to have caught myself up in! After a rather typical, mellow Monday and a chance to sleep in on Tuesday, the rest of my week will be long, tiring, and active.

Today was the first stage of it: with class at 9 then rushing over to a computer lab to finish some programming, then rushing over to another computer lab to finalize some parts of my C-Clamp design, then a brief 40 minute break to throw stuff together on Powerpoint, then off to my next 2 classes while shoving half a sandwich down my throat, and then my 3 hour lab that decided to be 3.5 hours today, which meant that I had to run over to a computer lab to get something for my part that I had previously forgot, rush back to my apartment just long enough to go to the bathroom and email my Powerpoint slides to myself, then off to my evening 3 hour lab where I printed out and submitted my slides.

I left my lab early because I had a headache and hadn't really eaten much all day. Unfortunately, my next two days, usually the more lax part of my week, will be much of the same. Tomorrow will consist of waking up early to meet with a group, then class until 4, then an interview, and then preparing for my speech and midterm Friday. Which means that Friday I have a speech and a midterm to do as well as an extra 2-hour choir rehearsal! Plus I think I may be getting sick.

Oooh.... just thinking about it all makes my head hurt! And after Friday, it won't be over just yet. I have a choir festival thingy Saturday (which we are totally UNprepared for) which will consume my whole evening. To top it all off, I have another midterm next Wednesday for my 3 hour evening lab that I'm told I won't be able to finish in the allotted time. Wait..... I can't finish this test in 3 HOURS!?! AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!

BUT..... (there's always a but). But, after the test, it's smooth sailing to Spring Break! I don't have plans yet, but it won't consist of me running around campus from one long lab to the next. Maybe I'll go dancing. What's that? Dancing? Oh yah, I used to go swing dancing, back when I had a life.... In the past 11 weeks I have gone dancing 3 times. That's about once per month! If I kept this up for a year, I would dance 14 times total! I don't like those odds.

I just gotta keep expecting the best out of each day and hope that everything will work out for the best. I hate to imagine it, but it could be worse. My semester hasn't killed me yet, why should I start letting it now? Oh well, back to work.....