Broncos take a huge risk!

High risk...extremely high reward! Denver takes Tim Tebow with the number 25 pick over all in Thursday's NFL draft. They traded 3 picks in later rounds to move up and snatch the new face of their franchise and the most publicly known NFL prospect. After already picking Georgia Tech standout WR Demarious Thomas in a surprise pick at 22, they make another surprise with the Tebow selection. The best part of this is, Tebow was hoping for Denver to pick him. He said that him and McDaniels just clicked and struck up a great relationship. Which couldn't make a Denver fan happier because a strong relationship between QB and HC is huge for a successful franchise. Many people are giving Denver crap for their decision to take Tebow so high in the draft, but players like him are rare. He is a great person off the field and the amount of intensity, leadership, determination, and skill is just mind blowing. He reminds me of a Ray Lewis or Brian Dawkins. But at the QB position it is even more coveted. He will be the starter in 2011 and a situational player this year unless he makes huge strides and beats out Kyle Orton. Side note Thomas will start aside Royal and create a great corps of recivers for whoever is QB day one.

Finally Decided

I finally decided that I'm going to go to San Diego State in the Fall! :) My entire life I have worked towards making this decision and I can't believe that I finally made it! I shouldn't really say that it's over because this is only the beginning. I have always been on the UC track, and I'm somewhat suprised with my decision myself. I applied to six schools, and although I got into all of them, there's something about SDSU that I know is for me. I love the mission-style buildings, and it was the first school I was ever able to picture myself actually as a student there. Not to mention, San Diego is purely amazing. I also got the most financial help there, and even recieved a scholarship there for biology that I applied for. I will be participating in the university's honors program. I can't wait for fall! :)

The Real Top Ten

So I'm going to blog about a blog.

So here's the story...

This spring break I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was nice to get out of Rocklin and be exposed to new people and ideas, so I used this oppurtunity to make new friends.

I became instant friends with a girl named Rachel. Two words to describe her: chill and mature. I was shocked to find out later she was only fourteen, but I assumed her confidence came from the fact she lived in Manhattan which can breed an independent nature in people. I found we had a lot of common interests. We both played piano, guitar, and the flute. We both tried writing our own music and we both enjoyed writnig in general.

The most fascinating thing about this girl though was she was already a successful entreprenuer at fourteen. She has her own music blog called The Real Top Ten and she's a DJ. Every week she posts a new list of her favorite songs of all different generas. Some of songs you would hear regularly on the radio, but most of the times she posts songs that not many people have heard before. People are also paying her to advertise on her webpage, and bands who are trying to get their name out go to her and ask her to blog about them. Like our friend Will who we also met on the cruise. He is an incredible guitarist and writes his own music. He is hoping to make it big in the music industry. Ironically, on her flight to L.A., Rachel was on the same plane as Iyaz who is best known for his two singles "Replay" and "Solo". She talked with his manager and he gave her his number, and told her if she comes across any new artists to let him now. After meetnig Will and hearing his music, she contacted Iyaz's manager about him.

Not only does she blog about music, she also blogs about life in general, and many of her ideas and thoughts about the world are very refreshing. She's inspired me to start my own blog. So go check it out. Its therealtopten.blogspot.com

Stress is Bad

This month-especially this week, has been challenging between school, studying for APs, swim, and some personal things, too. But I'm really telling myself to not stress because like worrying, stressing really doesn't improve a situation. Listening to music (nothing obnoxious haha) really helps, I think because lyrics can be so insightful and inspiring. In the words of the Beatles, it's important to remember "It's alright."

SCHOOL graduate SCHOOL

Graduation is so close I can taste it. But then I remember college is just around the corner not only around the corner but I start my college career 3 days after I am handed my dipolma. I was accepted and am attending University of Nevada Reno however my SAT scores for math weren't quite high enough so I start my online math class June 7th. It is kind of exciting because I can tell people I am in college all summer instead of saying im starting in the fall. but from June 7th until August 12th I get to do summer stuff as well as college. Growing up isn't so bad.

Track Meet? What Track Meet?

I went to an event on Saturday where a bunch of different track clubs all got together and competed against each other. I was working in the announcement booth taking calls and telling the announcers what to announce. It was fun, and I got community service hours, but I never would have heard about it unless the counselor had sent out an e-mail about it. I just find it weird that a fun little event like this wasn't even talked about anywhere else, especially since it was an easy ten hours. Maybe it was mentioned at some point and I just wasn't paying attention. I just think more attention should have been brought to it, but hey, that's just me.

The Dodgers

It's funny how a single thing can be immensely important to one person, but mean absolutely nothing to another.
The Dodgers. Yeah, it's just a baseball team, but to a lot of people it's much more. As is the case with most sports teams.
In a way, the Dodgers symbolize my family. My dad grew up in LA, and inherited his devotion to the Dodgers from his dad. My dad then passed this profound dedication to his own children. My brother would cry over a lost game, no doubt.
If we're going on vacation, you can bet it's to LA to watch a couple Dodgers games. We go at least twice a year. But I'm not complaining, I love it. I love everything about it. If I had to make a list of my favorite places in the world, Dodgers stadium would be in the top 3.
We have regular cable on all the TVs in the house except for one. That one has DirectTV because this is the only service that has the MLB package, and therefore the only way we can watch all the Dodgers games. If there is a game on, you can most likely find my entire family around the TV. The game will definitely effect the mood of the house. If we are losing, everyone is on edge. If we are winning, everyone is in good spirits.
My best friend Ashley, who claims to be a Giants fan but knows absolutely nothing about baseball, was over on Saturday. We were losing to the Giants, and tensions were pretty high. However, Ashley, painfully unaware, kept running her mouth about how great the Giants were. Bad idea. If you could have seen the looks my brothers were giving her.
See, a Giants fan is practically a sworn enemy, and living in Giants territory can be pretty dangerous.
But go ahead, talk as much crap to me as you'd like. I can handle it.

It's Over

So I finished the very last Speech and Debate tournament of my high school career at states in Bakersfield. It's a bittersweet moment, I no longer have to worry about it but it's still sad to have something I've done for 4 years come to an end. Sadly I didn't place but the competition was absolutely brutal, so I'm ok with having even made it to state. It was actually a pretty cool experience meeting people from all over the state who shared my interests. Although to be honest, some of them were a little scary, getting into every Ivy league plus a smattering of other top schools and acting like it was no big deal. At any rate, with this over and the school year coming to a close it is finally hitting me that my life is about to take a radical turn. High school's almost over and I'll soon be off to my new life. Obviously I've known that this was coming for a long time, but i guess it is finally starting to hit me now that everything is coming to a close.

CSF Conference

Yesterday I went to the Norcal CSF Conference in Chico. Three officers went to cheer on Stephanie Chan, who was a Seymour Finalist. The conference had a cultural theme, and Chico did a great job putting it on.

We did three workshops. The first was learning about the French language, but mainly how to make crepes. The best part was that we got to eat the crepes, which were very delicious! The next workshop we did was Columbian Dance and Culture. They had a girl speaking who had graduated from high school in Columbia. It was very interesting to hear her speak. After, she taught us some basic Columbian dance, which was fun. Following the second workshop, was the keynote speaker, a woman who told us about her life, since she had been president of her CSF chapter. The final workshop we did was really interesting, as exchange students and their host families discussed what the experience was like. It was fascinating to see how what we take for granted every day is so unusual for them!

I really enjoyed going to the conference. It was nice to be surrounded by CSF students, who see the club as more than just something to put on their college application. Everyone was truly interested in service and friendly, making for a positive atmosphere!

So much more to do

Spending a few days in Portland sans child and children has been a nice life.

I spent Thursday in a PLC meeting with other advisers, brainstorming ways for journalism teachers to connect across time and distance. It ties into my future job as a JEA Mentor... and the kind of thing that keeps me thinking.

Since then I've taught my three sessions (where I always get new ideas), attended a few, and done a ton of networking. Good for me. I'm convinced we need to expand more and more quickly into social networking. The possibilites are amazing.

For newspaper I'm especially convinced we need to expand into more sports coverage in a variety of ways. I'm excited about this.

Props to the yearbook- lots of nice recognition including a feature usage in the new Jostens textbook. Alexis and Sam in particular should be very proud.

But, I'm excited to get back to work. More truthfully I am excited to get back to Carson and spend quality time. She turns three next week and nothing is more amazing to me than that.

It's been a good break for me and Portland rocks- so "green." But... Rocklin really is the ONE.

You'll get a kick out of this- I was quoted on the Walsworth blog by students in one of my sessions. http://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/blog/

I'm Confused

Alright, something has been bugging me a lot. I heard that yesterday, some girl with an innertube won the dress up day contest. I'm pretty sure that no one would be allowed to do that on a normal day. I know, it's because it's Sadie's Week, and that weird stuff is allowed. Fine. So how come last week, on the national no shoes day, people got in trouble for not having shoes? Sadie's Week is an event for fun at our school only, while the no shoes day was a country-wide event to raise awareness for a good cause. Both required clothing that normally wouldn't be acceptable. So how come we were allowed to do one but not the other? I'm not saying to get rid of Sadie's week, just to allow us to express ourselves freely. I'm stumped here, can anyone help me figure this one out please? Thanks.

The concept of sadies

I think that Sadies is quite a good idea. It forces girls to put ourselves in the position of the guys in every other dance and occasion..really in life. There is a lot of stress put into the planning, timing, ideas. It is also very frustrating when the person you are asking does not follow through with their plans of the day. VERY FRUSTRATING. Because then you end up asking them to sadies by showing up at their house angry, with picnic blanket, cold food, and torn sign in hand. So guys, I've gotta give it up to you, bravo for all of the shenanigans you put up with for us. It's much more fun being asked as opposed to asking, so I'm glad we have the easy role for the rest of the year. "Why yes! I would love to accompany you to the dance!" > "Where the heck have you been all day?!" :D

Spring Break

Spring break was great. I went to Easter camp and it was amazing. It was a week full of activities and no technology at all. We were split up and put into different teams. My youth group girls and I got put with boys from another youth group. It was amazing how our friendship grew through out the 5 days. We had to work together and try to win. Even though we got 8th place which is dead last we had finally learned to work together, because from the first day the boys were stubborn but once we got to the end of the week we had made strong friendships. It has been my best spring break yet.

Rain

I really really don't like that it is still raining! It is pouring right now, and I don't exactly enjoy going outside in the rain, or being inside all day. Once spring started, I was really looking forward to the warm weather and wearing shorts. I love the 70 and 80 degree weather! But I guess the saying goes "April Showers Bring May Flowers" for a reason. For as long as I have lived in Rocklin, which is about 6 years, sometimes I still don't feel like I am used to the extremes of hot and cold weather. At least once it is warm and sunny I will appreciate it more! Less than two more months 'til summer!

Spring Break in Vegas

So I spent a week in Las Vegas with my best friends over spring break! We had way too much fun and im sure nearly died a few times. But we didn't care we are young and stupid! So it started off a great night chillin on the strip. Second night we got kind of bored and tried our hand at gambling! which aparantly is 21 and over not 18! No one ever told us! so we played and played. I made a dollar and Chris won 22$. But Evan and Justin just lost money. The third night we heard about a place called Lake Havisue. It is a world famous party place on Sping break. We went expecting something epic. But on wednesday nights it is not epic! Actually it is quite the opposite. We met a few people and then got bored and headed back to Vegas. (3hr. drive). On our way back we got pulled over and Justin was questioned by the AHP for close to 30 minutes. What a waste of time for a warning. Justin was so nervous he kept saying the wrong things! It was awful. But other than those couple of mishaps we still had a great time a week of epic adventures that will never be discussed with people!