Banksy - The Oldest Artform of All

Banksy. A one man band of cheeky vandalism and satirical social commentary. I discovered his latest book (Wall and Piece) in a Barnes & Noble one day, and was given the book for Christmas. It is comprised of a collection of his work, and it struck a chord in me. Here is a person that is legitimately unafraid of reprisal or punishment of any kind. His art insists to be seen and thought about, and therefore legitimized by the public at large. Indeed, he is wanted by police in Britain for excessive graffiti vandalism, yet has opened art shows across London. The only catch: he never shows up. His message is blistering, his voice is loud and strong, and he refuses to be ignored.

Here's a little taste of his style:











Check out his website at http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

Oscar Wilde

For any Oscar Wilde fans out there:
I'm currently wrapped up in The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I love it. but Oscar Wilde completely confused me! The man is a complete paradox and I can't help but think that he's laughing in his grave right now. He was raised Irish Catholic and his parents were both experts on Irish folk lore- imagine, being a strict catholic and believing in fairy tales. His work certainly shows this discrepancy; his book of fairy tales have a Biblical feel and Christ inspired characters.
Only, his life doesn't begin to shed light on his work or his work on his life! He moved to England and worked to lose his accent. And began to immerse himself in society- where he became infamous.
Everything in his bio suggests that he was a typical foppish socialite. He cared only for fashion and parties. His various quotes suggest that his only hope in life was to become infamous and well known (which he certainly did). He even created a scandal when he developed a relationship with a young Lord. For which he was put into jail, tragically-
I can't imagine what jail would do to a man like Oscar Wilde. But his stories do actually hint something about him to readers- he wasn't the pansy everyone thought him to be. Especially in his Picture of Dorian Gray the reader can sense an ironic condemnation of the pointless socialite life that his characters lead. Which makes no sense!!!
He makes fun and even judges the men that I can readily say are very much (at least in bio) like himself. Which is why the man is a complete paradox. Evidence is even seen in his various quotes like,
"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."
" Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."
"All art is quite useless."
"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. "
the man even talks in paradox. Perhaps we are to do as he says (in his novels) not as he does. Perhaps Oscar Wilde enjoyed being a paradox within a paradox. Perhaps there is a point to all his madness
"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
...or not.
But mostly perhaps he used wit and satire in order for him to laugh at the things that he found intolerable, even the things that he took part in. Maybe it is because he was raised on the discrepancy between fairytales and the Bible.
And lastly my favorite quote. Allegedly as he lied on his death bed ( in his last moments) in an old ugly inn room he told his friend,
"Either this wallpaper goes or I do" -the infamous Oscar Wilde

I can't wait...

For after school today, because I'm leaving for San Francisco, then tomorrow morning, I'm leaving for Hawaii!
This vacation, for me, is going to be so relaxing and stress-reducing because its been such a long time since I've been out of the house for a long time ... I just don't want to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow morning, but hey, it's Hawaii we're talking about, so I'll deal. :D

Facebook Friends

Yesterday I read an article in the Bee about the dramatic proliferated number of Facebook users. All of a sudden, adults are joining Facebook and starting the latest trend. Myspace isn't experiencing all of these new adult users. What's suddenly attracting all of these adults to facebook?

I have both a facebook and a myspace. I've had myspace for a year and facebook for about two or three months-both of which I orginally got because of something school related. There are certain features I like in each one, so I don't really have an extreme preference. Adults, on the other hand, seem to definetley prefer facebook-as seen by the statistics.

I only have two "friends" on facebook that are among the adult crowd. The first person is my good friend's mom. I remember my friend's reaction when I told him his mom and I were friends on facebook. He didn't see a point and it turned into a funny situation...hahah, but he later accepted it. Ironically, while his mom and him aren't even friends on facebook, his mom will send me "Top Girls" requests, etc. The second adult is my other friend's mom. She doesn't talk to me as much as my other friends' mom, and my friend didn't even mind that his mom and I were "friends."

This time is becoming so internet dependent I can only wonder what's coming next.

I want to live in Almost, Maine.

So lately, I've had this minor obsession over this play called "Almost, Maine". At Lenaea, a school got a command performance for their duo scene from the play and it was there that I realized what an amazing show it was.
"Almost, Maine" is like a series of vignettes about these different individuals in the town of Almost, Maine all dealing with falling in love and the trials that come along with it. Now, I know that sounds really cheesy, but all the scenes are so incredibly over the top that it's actually really cute, so I guess if you're not into the cutesy, romantic thing you probably shouldn't check it out. I wish I could summarize a scene to explain why I find this show so incredible and poignant, but I really think you'll need to read it for yourselves to understand.
I think part of it has to do with the fact that I, like many other people, am a sucker for sweet words and stories and the way each scene is presented it doesn't make love seem like this cheesy, unattainable thing. It humanizes it in a way and makes it entertaining. And even amongst the humor and entertainment is something you can relate to.

Here's a link to the show's script.

I'll leave you with a quote that I really love from the show. It's from a scene near the end about this woman who travels hundreds of miles to finally tell the man who asked her to marry him years earlier "Yes" only to find him completely changed from "losing hope".

"I know this isn’t going to be very easy, but I was just out there all alone in the world, and I got so scared, because all I could think about was how I had no place in this world, but then I just outta nowhere realized that there was one place in this world that I did have, and that was with you, so I flew and I took a taxi to get to you, I just had to come see you"

Jr. Prom

Dresses, ties, bids, corsages, party buses, limos, dinner, and a turning point in our lives. Jr. Prom is coming up in less than a month. I have already bought my tickets and everything else is already all sorted out for the event. The ticket lines were outrageous Monday morning, at break, and even after school. I bought mine right after school. I even came to school just before 7 on monday morning and still didn't have enough time to purchase them. We are also getting a party bus with 28 people in it. I am very excited for Jr Prom and can't wait for it to be here. I have no stress right now for Jr Prom, everything is figured out, everything is pai for, and everything should go as smooth as possible. Boys are already going to look for tuxes this week. My date and I are going this coming Sunday to look for everything. Alot of people have been saying that they don't like the bids this year but I actually think they are pretty cute and creative. I am so happy that Jr Prom is almost here! I can't wait until March 21st !

p-r-o-m

talking about march 21st is soooo overkill. im not really even excited anymore - just annoyed. if it was possible to not hear anything about it until the week before, i think my excitement would come back. all the annoying worries about tables and pictures and makeup and hair and limos and party busses. waay too much. i have a hard time believing that i'm the only one tired of it right now...
am i?

Giving up Sweets

This year, for Lent, I am giving up sweets. I did the same last year. My church encourages us to give up something that we like, which doesn't always have to be food (gossiping, TV, music, etc). I eat a healthy amount, but it's still a good challenge. Amber just brought a cake to class for her birthday, but I'm not even going to give in. It's only day one and I would be angry with myself for the rest of the forty days if I rebelled this early. I remember last year, on the first day of Lent, my French class had its Mardi Gras party. Some of my friends rubbed chocolate in my face, which was expected. Honestly it wasn't even difficult after the first two weeks (hardest part). After about a month, I didn't miss sweets nearly as much as I had thought I would. I noticed the less you eat the less you crave/miss them. I'm just thankful Easter comes before my birthday this year! But before I can think about that I need to stay focused on the upcoming forty days.

life right now.

These days have been slow and demanding and emotionally, a rollercoaster. Junior Prom is in 3 weeks, and the drama that went along with it for tables and limo and such better be worth the actual dance. I have finally found a dress so I'm really excited for that. I just love how all my friends are going to be all dressed up and looking good at a dance. I just think the price was overdoing it a little. Either way, it better be amazing because that's all people, including me, have been obsessing over. Now that our table is bought and everything, I'm excited.

Also, lately I've been wasting so much money. Everyday after school I buy something, and when I don't have any more, I ask my mom for more. I just noticed it, and it's not healthy. So I'm going to try and calm down wallet wise.

Lately, people around me have been making stupid decisions, it's probably because we're all getting older and now is the time you really get to know someone with their morals and values, but let's just say 8th grade was so much easier and chill.

OH! I found out I'm not going to be in town during July 17th, 2009 which means I'm not going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter 6. I'm sooooo angry. Before they changed it to July 17th, it was on November 21st or whatever day Twilight came out, and I totally could have gone then so I'm really disappointed in Warner Brothers. And I would totally back out of the summer program I'm doing, but I really want to do it, or else I wouldn't go.

It's weird because as a junior, I feel as though I know all the people I'm going to know and they're all great, but the best part of freshman year was meeting people all the time, and next year is just going to be our class and younger people and that doesn't necessarily sound like a lot of fun. Whatever, just as long my classes are easier than this year, which they will be if I get my classes that I signed up for.

Ok, I think I covered everything. I want to take a nap.

Stream of consciousness

Hello!

This will be a stream of consciousness...maybe.

AP Classes are totally beating me up at the moment. Usually I feel guilty if my work performance is not up to par, but lately I've sort of just let that intensity go.

So, I've come up with a solution. The only way I can improve my academic performance is to...........................................................

BECOME A HERMIT! Yes!

My problem is that I think about the future too much.

In AP English, a quote really stuck with me as I learned about modernism:

"One cannot spend one's time in being modern when there are so many more important things to be." -Wallace Stevens

:l

I just spent a really long time writing a blog about yearbook.
But then blogger decided not to work, and it definitely erased my entire blog.
Im pretty upset.

So I'm going to briefly cover what my blog said:
Six weeks until spring break, which means six weeks until the entire yearbook is due.
Stress Stress
I had a spread open on my computer the other day and I had a circle of people around me reading it, which made me happy because hopefully people will like all the tiny little details we worked so hard to get in the book.
Distribution is May 26thish.
I'm nervous.


The end.

Season 8

Season 8 of American Idol has had a rough start. From what I have seen, there are not many who actually have talent. They even did something different this year, where the 36 contestants were split into three groups of twelve, America votes, and only 3 out of the 12 would make it to get to the top 12. Once three were picked from each group, America will choose the remaining three out of the remaining 27 not yet in the top 12. I personally think that they just decided to do it this way because not that many out of the top 36 were that good. Also, I think that the new judge, Kara, does not really know what she is talking about. She is basically another Paula Abdul for the show. Maybe as the season goes on, there will be better talent, but so far, there are not that many who have really good voices.

oscars

I usually never watch award shows like the oscars. To me, it's just celebrities trying (even harder than usual) to look their best. Watching Heath Ledger's family accept his award was really sad. Ben Stiller's act was slightly weird to me and it was pretty funny watching Angelina Jolie's expression while Jennifer Aniston was on stage. Other than that, I need to start looking for my senior ball dress! I always end up waiting til the last minute. Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER! :)

Can I please go to college now?

Blah, blah, blah, senioritis sucks. I've been counting down the days until graduation since the second week of school. But lately, I've been getting really intense anxiety about the end of this year. It's not that I'm not ready to leave Rocklin, believe me, I've been here too long. It's just that I might not have anything to look forward to.
So far, I have only been accepted to ONE college. One. And it was my backup school. I know admissions are released throughout February and March, but I'm definitely starting to panic. I literally will be doing something completely unrelated to school, and I'll start to stress about college. My anxiety will not go away until I check my admissions online, which of course always say the same thing: Your application is being evaluated. It's almost to cruel to expect me, one of the least patient people in the world, to wait FIVE MONTHS to find out the future of her world. I've been planning to go to a particular school since age 7. I can't even describe the pressure I feel. Is it this bad for everyone?

Prom tickets

Today was the first day to buy tickets for jr. prom. I met 2 of my friends here at 7:10 this morning and I had two of my other friends' stuff to get their tickets. But one of my other friends never came (and I didn't have her stuff). And I'm still trying to figure out where she is because I called her home and her mom said she had left already, and I called her cell two different times but she never answered or called me back. Or came... And I know she remembered we were buying tickets because she never would have left the house by the time I talked to her mom. Hmmm. I wonder where she is... But it never really mattered because the line was very slow, and even though it looked like there weren't many people in front of us, it took a long time and the bell rang before we got to the front. So, hopefully we will get our tickets after school or something. And hopefully my friend is okay too!

Oscars

Wow! "Slumdog Millionaire" won best picture and 7 other Oscars! Sean Penn and Kate Winslet won best actor/actress, along with Heath Ledger and Penelope Cruz for best supporting. I liked Hugh Jackman's musical tribute, but other than that he wasn't a very entertaining host. Tina Fey and Steve Martin definately should have hosted together.

Dreams

So, normally I never remember my dreams. I know you're supposed to have one everynight, bit I just never manage to hold onto on I guess. But recently, I was assigned a dream journal in Psychology and have adjusted my sleep cycle so that I can start remembering. At any rate, I've discovered just how consistently nonsensical these things can be. I know their always supposed to be weird, but if you remember a dream every night for a week when before you've almost never remembered a thing, it can be kinda freaky. Like a few days ago, I was dreaming that I was running through a dank/dark building being chased by a rancor(it's from Star Wars) and being helped by some kind of marine. In another dream, I was in an airplane that was flying through the air and everyone was trying to algebraically calculate the current trajectory, which as far as I could gather, was straight towards the ground. But they weren't afraid or anything, they were just spouting off random equations. It was all very strange, and while some of the details are a little fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure I died in each one, the rancor crushed me and the plane crashed into the ground.
All of this is just a little too weird. I mean, if dreams are some kind of window into one's consciousness, then I find myself wondering what in the world is going on in my head. Is this normal, or are you supposed to get chased my rancors and crash in to the ground while everyone in trying to do math?! But yeah, just thought I'd try to share some of my inner thoughts with all of you.

Keep the grades afloat.

The last semester of Senior year is by far the most excruciatingly slow chunk of time in one's high school experience.
You underclassmen think waiting for summer break is long-- try waiting for your life to begin.
I've been a great student my entire time here. Honestly, my grades reflect dedication and hard work. Because of this, I've been offered a wide array of college choices.
My transcript is awesome because I made it that way.
I even held up for last semester. I lost my momentum, but somehow managed to keep the letters up.
This semester is another issue for me. I have, according to my standards, pretty awful grades right now. I just DON'T CARE.
The problem is that I need to care. I need, to guarantee I won't have any admissions withdrawn, to keep my grades right up where they were for one more semester.
And I'm trying to figure out why I'm finding that so terribly hard.
My guess is that I just don't give the same amount of time and effort to any studies, and its showing.
So I'm going to have to search deep within myself, where somewhere (I hope) there'll be an untapped supply of energy, enough to hold me up through this semester of hell.
I don't even have the energy to get out of bed when I know school is coming.
Although I've felt this way for a long time, it's finally showing.
In a very bad way.

That's Life

It seems like teachers are assigning more work than ever right now. I have tests and/or projects in every class this week and next. Maybe it's the "before they get to go on Spring Break" push? Whatever the reason is, it is stressing me out. I have millions of things to do (ok...maybe not millions..but a lot anywho) and very little time to do it.
Just as I start to get something accomplished something else gets added to the list to do. It feels like a never-ending battle that I can't win. But I must just keep pushing on. I figure that anything I can get accomplished,ie writing this blog, will only help me and make my list of things to do smaller and smaller. In the end it will all work out, always does :)
There's a lot to do and little time and energy to do it...and that's life.

I wrote my blog last week, and it definitely didn't submit. And let me tell you , this is pretty ironic, because I was really worried about getting into schools.
Well, this weekend I found out I got into CalPoly and BYU Provo! Woohoo!!!!!!!
I thought I knew what senioritis was but now, oh man. Its ridiculous. I have a test today and tomorrow and I have no idea what they are on. My mind is basically on things like where I want to live NEXT YEAR, what classes I want to take NEXT YEAR, and how I'm going to pay for NEXT YEAR. Living for the future, I guess you could say. Pushing through the rest of this year is going to be a challenge, even with all of the senior activities and dances, but I can see (Amber), I'm not the only one in that boat!

hearts-a-fire/4-day weekend

So i guess everyone hated hearts a fire. After scanning over a few blogs i realized everyone thought it was one of the lamest dances ever. I don't know if i agree. True, there weren't very many people there, the music was a little outdated, and the price of the tickets was wayyy overpriced, but i had a good time. I think it's because i was with my boyfriend, he made it really fun for me. As the months chip away I start to appreciate going to dances, because i know there are few left to go to before i graduate. I only went with two other couples..my best friends and their boyfriends, which was nice. I think i like small dance groups better. For homecoming, i went with a group of like 20! It was so stressful and crammed. Me and my boyfriend left the dance early to go to a friends house to chill for a while, so the evening enjoyable overall.

Now on to my next subject...

I can't decide if the 4 day weekend went by slow or fast. On valentines day i had to work, which wasn't bad, and i was surprised with red roses and all my favorite candies from my boyfriend at my house. It was so sweet! From Sunday to Monday i went to Reno with my family. The journey there and back was very long because the weather was so blizzardy. Chains were required most of the way. Being in a car that long was awful...but the scenery was beautiful. I love the snow.

The weekend was relaxing, but being back at school is horrible. My senoiritis is growing everyday. Ohhhhh man.

:

Presidents' Day Weekend!

After a very long week at school, I'm so excited that presidents' weekend is a day away. I'm planning on hanging with friends on sunday and going to watch twilight again and then milk. I have heard that milk is a really good movie. Hopefully it is seeing movie tickets are $10.25 at full price. Does anyone else think thats ridiculous? Then, for the rest of the weekend I think i'm going to be consumed by homework.

Now since its going to be president's weekend, i think i should take a little time thinking about the two great presidents: Lincoln and Washington.

It is because of them that America grew to become a world super power and the best place to live. There is no other place in the world i would rather live then America.

Despite all of the problems are country is having, I still believe this is the best place to be. That fact wouldn't be true if it wasn't for Washington who was our first president and was one of the major reason why we won our indepence from Britain and Lincoln who kept the south and north together.

So, no matter what you are doing take time in rememberance of these two great leaders. After all, it is because of them that you have a four day weekend.

Senioritis!!! Ahhh!

I'm not sure if I have already blogged about this, but it is really starting to set in. My priorities are clearly not in order, because i failed my first test EVER (which happens to make alexis happy)....I think that getting accepted to college has really made me just not care anymore. All I have to do is get a C in all my classes, and they'll still accept me!!!! Which is a horrible mindset for me to have, because I just never want to do anything again. Soooo basically I need a reality check and I need to get back on track and FOCUS!!!! No more failing tests!!!!!! Ahhhh.

Dance ticket prices...

I decided that going to dances at RHS now a days, is just ridiculous to even think about considering. The prices of the tickets are over the top. I can't believe they would expect a lot of people to show up when the tickets cost $15...and $20 on Friday? I remember when tickets were 6 dollars at the most. Really, $15 to dance to music you can hear on the radio at home, in a giant mosh of sweaty people for 3 hours? Ooooh, sounds great. I originally planned on going to Hearts-a-Fire, but my friend and I decided last minute to not go because we didn't want to spend the money. I haven't attended more than one or two dances this year, for this reason. Why on earth would the school continue to raise the prices of tickets when they know how much the economy is struggling right now, and how much families are srtuggling financially. I find it ridiculous.

DOES EVERYONE HATE WHERE THE CAPSLOCK KEY IS?

I THINK IT IS MY BLOG WEEK.... BUT ANYWAY... I AM TRYING TO WRITE A PRINT STORY BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE ALL MY WRITING IS IN CAPS. THE CAPSLOCK KEY PLACEMENT ON THE KEYBOARD HAS TO BE THE MOST MISPLACED KEY. IT REMAINS AT WAR WITH THE "A" KEY AND SEEMS TO BE ATTRACTED TO MY FINGER. IF I COULD CHANGE ONE KEY LOCATION, IT WOULD HAVE TO BE THE CAPS-LOCK KEY. I JUST PRYED IT OUT OF THE KEY BOARD BECAUSE I AM SO FRUSTRATED WITH HITTING IT EVRYOTHER "A" LETTER I ATTEMPT TO HIT. ANY WAY, I AM LOOKIONG FORWARD TO A FOUR DAY WEEKEND OF PHENOMENAL FUN!

3 DAYS !

This four day weekend Cassie and I are flying to Santa Monica to stay with my cousins. We have been loking forward to this trip since before Christmas. We've already got our bathingsuits and flip flops ready to go. We have to leave very early Saturday morning because we have a basketball game to cheer for on friday night. We fly straight from Sacramento into LAX, not too long of a flight. While were there, we plan to visit Hollywood, walk the infamous Rodeo Dr. and Melrose Ave., and then we plan to go down to Venice and just go to the beach for the rest of the time. Theres one problem though. While were there its supposed to be raining! I really love to go down there in the summer, or even just when its sunny. And we pick one weekend to go and it rains! On top of that im sick and my ears are plugged. Hopefully it clears up soon. Oh well im sure we'll have a blast anyways.

The Worse Dance in Rocklin High History

Hearts-A-Fire was on Saturday Feb. 7 and it was probably the worst dance I have ever been to. Not only was the music worse than ever, but the crowd was horrible. There was probably about 150 people in the gym. And it felt like the majority were freshman. There was no middle section like usual. There was patches of people all around. It was all together just an awkward dance. The best part of the night was dinner at the Cheesecake Factory even with an hour wait. No one seems into the dances anymore. Everyone complains about the prices, rules, and music. The prices get higher for each dance and with prices going up on Fridays, who would want to pay that much. The dresscode is even stricter than before and the freak dancing rules are always strictly enforced with teachers and administration on the prowl trying to catch anyone they see. The songs being played are so old that no one listens to them anymore. Plus the music is something you don't even know how to dance to. I dont think the number of people attending the dances will change until some of the other things change too. I just hope Junior Prom isn't a bust like the rest.

High School Musical on ice

So it's not the original cast, which makes me feel wayyyyyyyyy better that I'm not going since I'm saving money for junior prom. But still, the music is the same, and it's going to be soooo fun :l it starts tonight at Arco and goes until the 16th :( I'm in torture for the next 6 DAYS!



It's HSM 1 and 2 with exclusive clips from HSM3! Two hours of pure entertainment as pro ice skaters sing to the best music from Disney ;)



Not to mention the choreography is made even more exciting by the fact that it's on ice. The twists and turns look so much more exaggerated and harder to do as our favorite characters stride across the ice. Plus it has to be harder because the actors are moving all around, trying to face the different areas of the arena in order for everyone to see their faces.

I really hope for every one's sake that this is good, but I'm also hoping it's not AMAZING, that way I'm not missing out on anything incredible. As long as Zac Efron isn't there, I'll be okay.

Australia Burns

The recent bushfires in South Australia have taught me a lesson in humility. The death toll is estimated at 165 and rising, with over 500,000 acres gutted throughout rural areas. I remember back to the wildfires this year in Southern California, where no lives were taken and only 84,000 acres were destroyed, and, while those fires were no less of a disaster, I am grateful that not one life was lost.

I have many family members in the Los Angeles area, and I lived there until the second semester of the 2005 school year. It is scary to think what could have happened to my former home if the fire spread like it has in Australia.

I just hope that the fire is under control quickly, and no one else has to suffer.

How To Save Your Newspaper

Over the weekend, I caught the latest issue of Time on our kitchen table. The headline read "How to Save Your Newspaper: A Modest Proposal". Now, unlike, Jonathan Swift's so-called 'modest proposal', Walter Isaacson's ideas weren't satirical and made some sense.

In case you choose not to read it, I'll sum it up briefly.
The issue with many newspapers today is not that less people are reading the papers. In fact, the amount of readers has grown substantially over the past few years. What is dwindling is the amount of people PAYING to read articles. Think about it. How much easier is it to go the NY Times online or Sac Bee online instead of going out and buying the newspaper? Sometimes, it's nice to go out and buy the paper, but in an envrionmentally friendly age, buying a print issue seems like a "waste of paper".

Isaacson says the solution is for papers to start charging for their news. The Wall Street Journal does this, why not other papers? Now, that's not to say that papers should start charging outrageous fees, but paying online for a subscription is the same as paying for a subscription in print. It's either paying that small fee, or being overwhelmed with heavy amounts of advertisement which is something most newspapers try to avoid (but obviously it is still important).

That's a basic summary of the article, which in itself isn't very long so I would suggest go reading it and getting an idea about the situation of the print journalism world (especially if you're seriously considering pursuing journalism, I think it's good to know).

Financial Aid

Ever since I submitted by college applications, I have concentrated on scholarships and financial aid programs offered at the specific colleges I have applied to.

Unfortunately, I have already slipped: I missed the Cornell deadline for financial aid. I did not apply for the Davis Alumni Scholarship, and I chose to ignore a couple scholarship opportunitites that have come my way.

As I look back, I feel both frustrated and overwhelmed. However, I have constantly told myself that I can't do everything. It's just not possible. Although I put my heart into everything I do, I have to let things slip once in a while.

chivalry is not dead yet.

This weekend is Hearts-a-fire and apparently around 80 tickets have been sold. Wow. I'm so glad I'm not going. At first I wanted to, because ever since I missed Welcome Back I've regretted it, but I don't really care about this dance. None of my friends are going, and I don't like anyone so that's not fun.. but it's weird because two years ago I would have been so excited. Shows how much school dances mean now. And prom is soon and everyone's stressing about that - me included - I think even though guys have to pay 140 plus a tux, girls have it worse. I'm probably being biased but we have to buy a 300 dollar dress, get our make-up done, get our hair done, there's another hundred there..and oh yeah, we have to wait for guys to realize that tickets go on sale for one week only (february 23rd to 27th) and to figure out who they're going to ask. And so many guys are complaining about the cost and blah blah blah, but what happened to chivalry? It's basically gone, that's what. I think chivalry is one of the best qualities to a guy, and it is not dead yet, and never will be. The dating world has gone down hill since the olden days and it revolves around one thing now, and guys are losing their manners, date-wise. Either way, they got to get their acts together soon, because prom should be a fun night everyone remembers forever.

All Shook Up

All Shook Up, a musical "inspired by and featuring the songs of Elvis Presley" is making it's debut at Rocklin High School. The musical takes place in the 50's (musicals from the 50's usually make me want to gag...because they suck...usually, like "Grease"), however it redeems itself by stealing the plot line of Shakespeare's "A Twelfth Night" (or for of those of you who have seen "She's The Man"). So it has a girl who falls for a guy, so she pretends to be a guy, to be close to the guy that she likes. All around this couple other couples are "falling in love left and right". ...my opinion of musicals in general is that they are the young, stupid cousins of theatre. That sounds rude but just look at plays like "Bye Bye Birdie" in comparison to plays like "Doubt". But musicals are BIG and LOUD and they attratch attention...and money, usually. But this musical is better than that (than Bye Bye Birdie) and it's genuinely a solid musical. But speaking of "Bye Bye Birdie" and of money. Finnish Temperance Hall (as well as the Jubilee) has lost funding because of California's current "economic crisis". And because the arts are always the first to go Finn Hall's last play is this summers "Bye Bye Birdie" production. I therefore encourage everyone to go see or try out for it because it's the last opportunity you will get. Go see my dad in "Kiss Me Kate" please!
We are loosing community theatre and now even our school's theater is at risk. The district is cutting funding and has singled out the "VAPA electives" as candidates for cuts (instead of cuttign an equal 10 percent of every program). For people like me Theatre is what we do. It is our sports, our extra curriculars, our speech and debate, our mock trial, our clubs, our Saturday nights...But it is at risk (more so than football) and this year we at the theater find ourselves onstage smilling into an audience of five to ten people. Last year's Suessical attratched full houses, I hope this year people will "come out to support" too. This musical isn't just about the big and loud, it has discrimination issues and real heart...
Shows are:
Feb. 10th, 11th, 12th and 19th, 20th, 21st

Wherever You Are, Google Will Find You

In today's issue of the Sacramento Bee, there is an article that brings up Google's hope to upgrade their mobile maps to "track people as effectively as it searches for information on the internet." It's called Latitude and supposedly it's a way for inviduals to share their exact whereabouts with friends and family via Google maps software.
Now, first and foremost, I thought of this idea as a serious breach of privacy, but according to Google in order to prevent any accusations of a violation of privacy, they will require the individual to manually turn on the software and will supposedly only keep the last reported location in the Google servers. I suppose that makes it a little better, but to me. It's still weird.

I know that we have internet sites like Facebook and Twitter where everyone knows everything based on your status update. Things like "______ is waiting to leave" make sure that everyone knows what you're doing at any given time. And that's an individual choice, one that I actually partake in as an avid Facebook user. However, I think having the option to divulge your exact location on a map has its major risks. I know it's presumptuous of me to assume that this information could fall into the wrong hands and any other number of worst-case-scenario situations and maybe that's just me being paranoid. And ok, you can pick who receives your updates, but Google is also contemplating making this software available for parents to keep tabs on children. Slowly but surely, I feel like this has the potential to turn into a serious breach of privacy.

Now, I know my parents trust me and I haven't given them any reason not to. But what about parents out there who are just paranoid for the sake of paranoia? I feel like this is will give parents a much more available resource to track their children at all times. As a teenager, isn't the one reason we want to get out of the house and learn to drive is so that we have the freedom to go wherever we choose? Now, naturally, certain teenagers deserve to have tabs kept on them, but I think the major issue for me is not what the software offers now, but what it will lead to.

I'm going to make the assumption that most of us have read 1984 or at least understand what it's about. I know that reference is thrown around a lot, but think about how applicable it is as each year passes by. George Orwell made some very scary and accurate predictions, probably unknowingly, about how society was going to end up. Who's to say how this software will be used later on and by whom and for what? For now, Google might have it under control, but I just think the potential of what it could be is what is most frightening.

Expenses

The downfall of the economy has had a major affect on me because I am so close to graduating and preparing for college. Everything has suddenly became more expensive, and now that I have to worry about paying for college, it does not help. Not to mention, as the years go by, college is not getting any cheaper either. I have a felling that next year, the stress of everything will build up even more, so I better start planning and thiking about my future now before it's too late. I just wish the cost of living was not so high so everyone could just focus more on the important things in life, than just about money.

What superbowl?

Guess what I was doing while the rest of America was watching the superbowl on Sunday... or at least watched the commercials? I was skiing in Squaw Valley! It was the best day to ski (apart from during the week which I could never do cuz my parents wouldn't let me miss school)because hardly anyone was there and I never had to wait in line for the lifts! My mom and I drove down on Friday night and we got to stay in a condo with my aunt, uncle, and cousin that their family had rented. On Saturday morning I was kinda sick, but I ended up feeling well enough to ski for a half day. It wasn't very busy, but then on Sunday it was like the opposite of busy. I had so much fun skiing! It was my first time skiing since my knee problems- that's 5 years. I was much more adventurous than when I was in 6th grade, too, and I had a few wipe outs. I even scraped my chin up from falling after I did a jump. It was awesome! I wanna go skiing next superbowl! If you haven't noticed, I don't really care about football...

4 Day Weekend

The 4 day weekend is coming up next week ! I'm very excited to say that I will not be in Rocklin for that weekend. Ashley and I are going to Santa Monica for this next four day weekend. I am very excited because we are visting her aunt and going to the beach mostly everyday. Its a great way to get out of Rocklin because everyone needs that every once and awhile. I wish it was next weekend because I am not really looking forward to Hearts a Fire this weekend. We were going to leave on the Friday of next week for the trip we now have to leave on Saturday due to a basketball game on Friday night. So this Valentine's Day will be spent in Santa Monica with Ashley. Its a good thing because I dont like Valentine's Day to begin with. Were flying out alone and are staying until Monday night. I can't wait for our little adventure.

An unfortunate time

These past few weeks of my life have been unbearably dreadful...to say the least. My heart was broken, smashed in to pieces, and later that night my grandfather passed away. Only a week later, my grandmother, his wife, passed away as well from Alzheimer's disease. I attended two funerals in a week for two of the most important people in my entire life. Two people I couldn't imagine not being here anymore. Even now I still can't believe they are gone. The stress that has been flooding my house is something I can only take for so long...along with everyone else. My mom has been on edge for the past couple weeks, and is taking losing her in-laws really hard. Her mother is fighting the worst level of pancreatic cancer, and is scared for her life. Not to mention the stock market crash and being scared financially. My dad is hiding his feelings, just like he always has, even when losing his parents. I'm afraid he's going to burst, and the family just wont be able to take it. Terrible things keep happening one after the other, it seems like, and feels like it's never-ending. I hope things get better, and I hope life isn't going this way for anyone else.