Jump for joy

ONE MORE MONTH UNTIL CHRISTMAS. WOOOOOOOT!

Arcadia Festival of Bands

First thing's first: November 12 marked the 6-month anniversary of my blog. A bit delayed, but whatevers. -cue fireworks-

Okay, some thoughts on the Arcadia Festival of Bands:
-It feels kinda awkward to be ogled at by all the color guard girls
-AHS's marching band has a wonderful sound, but marching isn't that great
-I am so proud of my (used to be mine) horn section. GREAT JOB
-Congrats to Andrew Park for winning the Mace Drum Major division for the second year in a row! ...and for beating out the Military Drum Major winner as well!

Basically, I was really glad to see my old marching band play, and it was really interesting to be in the competition from a spectator's point of view, as opposed to a performer's, as I had been one for the past 4 years. It was also cool to see Arcadia High School march for the first time. Since I was a performer for the past 4 years, I never had the chance to see AHS's "legendary" band perform. After the parade, I was glad that so many of the younger people in band still remembered me. I'm not gonna lie, it was a special feeling to see all these people yelling, "OMG IT'S KEVIN." Although, I did get kinda tired of telling each person how college was different from high school. But generally, I enjoyed catching up with friends who I haven't seen in SO long.

Time to introduce a new tool: ScEne Creation REcall Time (SECRET). HAHA this is so lame. But basically, sometimes I forget to take pictures of a scene I want to remember later. So here is SECRET #1 (around 10:10am):

1. I encounter WHS Marching Band at the overpass.
2. I wait under the bridge.
3. All the color guard girls turn their heads and stare.
4. Someone whispers, "KEVIN!"
5. I turn to look.
6. "OMG. TEEHEE HI KEVIN." Other color guard girls follow suit and ogle.
7. I slowly look away, towards the band.
8. Band passes by. Mr. England sees me.
9. Mr. England: "Hey, you look familiar!"

End of SECRET #1.

Elton picked me up from Bryant's house after the awards ceremony, and we went to watch the field show competition for the first time (for me). It was such an amazing experience. I have to admit it, the top competitors surpass USC's marching band in terms of precision. I loved the originality and skill level of each of the class 6A bands (that's all I saw, and those are usually the top bands anyways).

Notable thoughts of the field show:
-Field show color guards have so many more toys than WHS's color guard does! I saw Riverside King's color guard use this hollowed-out crescent as well as a saber. Rancho Bernardo's color guard used this strange 3-rod contraption (so much for descriptiveness HAHA), and Mt. Carmel's color guard used this 4-disc thingamajig.
-Chino's color guard was the best that I have EVER seen. They performed with such grace and precision. How the hell can a spread-out formation of girls twirl the flags in complete unison?! The outermost girls are 100 yards apart, and they're still together! Plus, in this one extremely compact circle formation, all the girls (around 30) threw up their rifles in complete unision as well. Even the way the rifles spun in the air was in unison! How do you accomplish such a feat in a tiny compact formation?!
-I really liked El Dorado's sound. They were really jazzy, and it was cool to see a marching band accomplish that. Props for the electric guitar!

I'm extremely happy right now. For an obvious reason. :D

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

I'm currently working on my bio lab report...at Bryant's house in Arcadia. How cool is it that his parents would let me stay overnight?

Extremely excited for AFOB tomorrow (I can't believe I had never heard of that term until I heard AHS people use it). I get to see Arcadia High School march for the first time ever; I get to see (I hope to see) Rancho Bernardo march for the first time ever; I get to see the field show competition for the first time ever. Basically I get to do what I couldn't have done as a participant of the competition for the past 4 years. How exciting!

And plus there's the cherry on top...hmm I need a better analogy. BACK TO WORK.

BAM! Hit that little nigga with a freeze pop!

This video is nearly guaranteed to make you laugh at some point. HAHAHA
Thanks for the share, Justin!

2 favorite quotes

Hugh Jackman (when asked "how do you keep the passion alive?"):
"It's easy with my wife. She loves the idea of me coming home in costume because it makes her feel like she's having an affair in a good way. When we met, I was cast as a prisoner with tattoos and she'd say, 'Don't take your tattoos off tonight!' and I'd be like, 'All right!' But what works best with her is the stockbroker look. She also says, 'Do your sexy dance for me -- an '80s-like, hip-swiveling number -- and that works for me."

And...
11:50:38 PM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _: call me
11:50:45 PM _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _: and ill whisper sweet nothings in your ear

Life wasn't meant to be easy

My suitemate Bryant's laptop got hacked yesterday. He found a text file on his desktop:

Hello,
As you probably already noticed, your files on this PC/laptop are encrypted.
That means you can't use them before you decrypt them.
Decrypting these files without password and proper software is impossible.
I'm the only person in the world who has password and software you need to decrypt your files.
If you want to get ALL your files back to normal, that is,
decrypt them, you'll have to buy decryptor. To buy decrypting tool contact me at: brandos87@yahoo.com or brandos87@gmail.com.
I'll reply within hour or two, and you can have your files back within few minutes after that.
Price for decryptor and password is ow, so anyone affected by my encryptor could afford buying it.
I'll also help you delete my encryptor, that you installed on this machine without realizing that.
Also note that most of your private information is collected and sent to me.
In case you don't contact me, I'll sell your private information data (like email account logins, credit card numbers, paypal account logins, etc).
In case you do contact me and we reach agreement, I'll also remove spying tool from your machine,
and your private information will be destroyed from my system.
IMPORTANT:
If you want to get your data back, do not remove or install anything on this machine from now on, until you decrypt
all your files.
As I told you already, I'll reply in shortest possible time, most probably minutes, or in worst case few hours after you send me your message.
I'm sorry for trouble I caused you, but this is mostly your fault :)
I hope we will solve your computer problem, and I'm looking for friendly relationship with you.
Please be smart :=)
Good day.

Freaking creepy. ITS had no way to beat it. Best of luck with your laptop, Bryant!

In other news, class registration is tearing me apart. My registration time should've been at 3:30pm today, but when I logged in, I found a restriction on my account: "NON-DEPOSITED APPLICANT." I called the Registrar to sort things out, but they told me that it was an Admissions Office restriction, so I was to call them. I did just that, but the representative said she had no idea what to do. Apparently, the restriction was there because I hadn't paid my fees, but when she checked my files, all fees had been paid. She told me to physically go to the Registrar and register on one of their computers. So I had to go all the way to the Registrar, but once again, they told me to go to the Admissions Office. I did that, and the lady there finally had an answer:

...I am a transfer student, and I live on Maurice Ave. -_-

Turns out that someone else's file had merged with mine, and that someone else had the restriction, not me. The lady tried to contact the person who could lift my restriction, but with no success. So here I sit, awaiting an email from her. Meanwhile, my desired classes are filling up. Stupid stupid stupid...

Happy-go-lucky

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=was-the-dinosaurs-long-reign-a-fluke

A new study shows that the dinosaurs' long reign on Earth may have been due to luck rather than superiority. Early dinosaurs were contemporaries of crurotarsans, the ancestors of modern crocodiles. The existing fossil record shows that the crurotarsans had a comparable rate of evolution with the dinosaurs, but was even more diverse in terms of body type. If not for an extinction event at the beginning of the Jurassic some 205 million years ago, the dinosaurs might have been outcompeted by the crurotarsans.

Daang. Interesting article.

You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one

Statistics from www.downwithpinatas.com:

1. Since 1992 the Humane Society and the Department of Fish and Game have documented 480,000 incidents of pinata related violence against animals.
2. Most pinata related attacks occur within 48 hours of a child attending a pinata party.
3. The average of a perpetrator who engages in pinata related violence: 8.
4. Over 75% of violent offenders in the California prison system have actively participated in the bashing of a pinata.
5. An estimated 60,000 adults will be attacked by their children with a bat or stick following a pinata party this year.
6. Despite clear links between violent behavior and pinatas, California public schools continue to include pinatas in grade school festivities.
7. You are 10 times more likely to be the victim of pinata related violence than a terrorist attack.
8. Legislation to ban pinatas has been proposed in 32 states. So far none have passed because legislators dismiss the risk.

HAHAHA this is absolutely hilarious. The statistics in bold are my favorites.

Dance an Irish jig

November 6, 2008: Greatest personal choreography feat.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=52148295816

Loris, thanks for brightening my day with your response. :]

Chemistry+Elections

I had the greatest time in my Chem lab today. It involved mixing hydrogen peroxide with potassium iodide, and collecting the oxygen product in an inverted graduated cylinder.

I then proceeded to lift the graduated cylinder and breathe in the oxygen.

Oxygen highs are pretty trippy!


Next: Elections
It felt so good to be able to vote. The people there were so friendly, and really made me proud to be an American. Still, I had thought the voting process would be a bit more glamorous than it actually was. At least the punch holes are freaking tight.

When we came out, it was cool seeing the anti-Prop 8 activists on the streets. All of them held signs reading "NO ON PROP 8: UNFAIR AND WRONG," and almost every car would honk as they passed by. Being part of that cause must have been so uplifting, I'd imagine.

Congrats to Obama! CHANGE IS HERE. I'm a bit unsure about Obama, though. When I broke down my vote issue-by-issue, he only beat McCain 9-7. So I'm slightly uneasy about my presidential pick, considering he wasn't a dominant pick for me. I guess I'll have to see how it goes. I hope his tax model doesn't eff me (or my parents) up in the next couple of years.

So now, we're rapidly refreshing CNN as we await the results of Proposition 8. Can't believe 53% have voted YES so far...

More confused than a woodpecker in a concrete forest

Quote of the day:

Background: Tim's trying to make a movie with picture stills with iMovie. However, the default setting places all images in a Ken Burns effect, which embeds still photographs in motion pictures, displayed with slow zooming and panning effects, and fading transitions between them.

Me: Tim, you have to turn off the Ken Burns effect.
Tim: WHO'S KEN BURNS?!

Loud and clear

My new computer speakers make my chair vibrate. At 10% volume.

CLOUD NINE HERE I COME.