Tuesday, August 31, 2010

You're riding high in April, shot down in May

So today is my second day of college classes. I am loving the schedule I have. I'm down everyday before 3:30 and have three classes a day, many of which I have hour-long breaks between(right now is one, for example). I should be reading The Republic right now, but instead I'm blogging.

On Sunday, we had our last day of orientation which consisted of an "excursion" to some part of Washington, DC. I chose to go to Georgetown because I had seen everything else. There was a massive group of us and once we got off the Metro in Georgetown, everyone broke up and went off with different people. I spent the whole day with two kids: Mary (who is in my major) and Sebastien (who kind of just ended up with us. Our first stop was Georgetown Cupcake, which had a line around the block which I related to Sprinkles in LA. The long line was totally worth it and Mary and I decided that we would be going back there a lot throughout the semester. We then wandered around Georgetown and went and visited the college's campus. People assumed that we were students there, which was quite a compliment. Georgetown has beautiful buildings and a great neighborhood but CUA accuately has a campus with room.

The first day of classes was overwhelming but I had this strange feeling that I was still in high school. I got lost on my way to Astronomy and when I asked for help, the man I asked found out my major and began to tell me about how there was a government project that drama majors were good at because they take direction well. Nice to know, but not all that helpful at the time.

Later that day, we had a barbaque for Drama so that everyone could meet each other. Everyone was exceptionally nice and I was amazingly happy to be in that major. We took pictures which will be displayed in the main office of the drama building. Auditions for fall shows are tonight and I am slightly nervous.

Later that night, Linda (my room-mate) and I had a visit from Fr. Jude, who was stopping by to see how our first day went. Fr.Jude is in one of the highest positions on campus, at the same level as the President. The visit made me feel exceptionally happy to be at CUA. Then I had to go out and do my Astronomy project, which consists of studying the moon's position every night until October 1. I sat by the Pryz (our student center) and drew the moon while marveling at the sheer beauty of the campus at night.

I know that I have talked enough for many posts but I felt like telling all. Thanks for reading!

Bye-Bye!

P.S: The title comes from the Sinatra song "That's life". I was really stressed before I came to school and now I feel a lot better. Now the title makes sense to you.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Some people choose the city

So I'm in my third day of orientation at CUA! Just one more day to go of orientation before classes start. I really would have been fine with orientation being about two days because now I'm excited for classes to start.

After never having seen the campus and not knowing anyone, I had multiple panic attacks that I wasn't ready to go to college or that I would hate it or fail out of school. Once I had moved in, I felt totally better. The campus is as gorgeous as the pictures and everyone here is friendly. The partying-room mate issue is not an issue in my dorm and my major is small enough that I can feel comfortable with everyone.

But it's still college and the girls in the two rooms across the hall have decided that they should get a head-start on the Animal House lifestyle. The first night, my room-mate and I were ready to go to sleep and one of the girls loudly stated that she'd "never been so wasted in her life." Great to know.

But it's only been two days and I'm excited. I'll keep you updated throughout the year.

Bye-Bye!

P.S: I decided to quote Philadelphia Freedom because it's about a city, a good song, and half the people at CUA are from there or as I learned, ROP (Right Outside Philadelphia)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Goodbye until tommorow

So tomorrow is going to be my last day in Mill Valley and California. I fly to DC early on Wednesday so I have to get all of my goodbyes and visits done in the next 48 hours. It's really weird. I've been packing all day and cleaning my room which has put me on the verge of tears all day.

I also visited my high school drama program CTE, because school started for them last Wednesday. I sat in on their Monday Meeting which had always been my favorite part of Advanced Drama because normally something really funny happened and all of Advanced Drama was there. It felt like I hadn't graduated and so normal that yet again, I was a bundle of emotions. It made me want to go back to Junior year so that I could repeat Advanced Drama again.

I'll definitely feel better once I'm in DC and all settled. I'll be part of a new Drama program which is apparently awesome. Goodbyes are always the hardest part, like pulling off a Band-Aid.

(The title for this post comes from the musical The Last 5 Years which follows a couple's relationship. Tomorrow in my case is really three months)

The next time I write, I'll probably be in DC! Hope all goes well.

Bye-Bye!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Keep on the Sunnyside of Life

So the last couple of days, while at work, I've been rocking out (as much as one can) to the soundtrack from O Brother, Where Art Thou. I'm not generally into bluegrass or country that much, but there is something I really enjoy about this album.

Our summer reading for our "First-Year Experience" at CUA was The Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou is the Coen Brothers southern interpretation of that story. I have to say I prefer this to Homer's version.

I would post a video, but I can't figure out how to, so I'll just post a link.

The song is Man of Constant Sorrow.

Bye-Bye!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I am what I wear and how I dress

Since my trip to London in April, I've had this infatuation with British designers. Maybe it was the fact that every person I saw in London was dressed how I would love to dress, but I came back with this immense hankering to buy lots of British clothes.

ModCloth has been able to appease my desire for British designers, though the prices are a bit steep due to shipping and what not. Anyway here are some favorites:

1) Vivien Of Holloway

2) Criminal Damage (the tattoos ain't my thing, but the dress is)

3) Gonsalves and Hall ( no images, but I found them at Spitalfields market)

4) There was also lots of killer vintage stores in London, really need to go back to those someday

But for anyone going to London, my absolute favorite places to finding anything was Spitalfields Market and the Camden/ Buck Street market (which appears sketchy but isn't that bad)

There are many reasons I want to do a semester or year abroad in London, one of which is fashion.

(The title is in reference to "My Strongest Suit" from the musical Aida, not my personal philosophy)

Bye-Bye!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Wait, Do you see my heart on my sleeve?

I'm sitting at work, which I've been at for about twelve minutes. Only five more hours! My boss made sure to tell me that I can set an ambiance for the store by playing music, it should never be silent. So I'm listening to Adele, who is an amazing singer/songwriter and Billie Holiday. So it's not that bad right now.

I got back from Tahoe on Friday and my mother brought me back to reality by telling me that I leave in a week and a half for DC. I'm stressing out a lot about. The notion that I'm moving 3000 miles away in eleven days is finally dawning on me. I went dorm shopping yesterday which helped me calm down a lot because now I'm excited to decorate my dorm. I also found out who the person from Marin was that is going to CUA. She went to Marin Catholic and won Miss US Jr. Teen. I've never met anyone whose done pageants, especially in Marin. College will be interesting.

I'm definitely going to miss Mill Valley and Marin. Here's a list of things I'll miss:

1) The eccentric people of Marin, mainly people like the old hippies
2) San Fransisco
3) The ocean
4) lack of a winter and humid summers
5) Mill Valley Market
6) Conservatory Theatre Ensemble (my high school drama program)
7) knowing lots of people
8) Tam High teachers (we have some crazy ones)
9) My house (of course)

It's a short list but that was all I could think of. Well, time for new experiences.

And on a different note, here are some of the pictures I promised from Tahoe:


Emerald Bay


The most adorable four-year-old ever


The amazing Bathing Beauty swimsuit from ModCloth

I'm generally never comfortable in a swimsuit because I always had to wear bikinis because you could buy two separate sizes but a Mad Men quote summed up how I felt about that:

"A bikini is underwear you wear to the beach"

So I finally found a one-piece that fits! Yeah!!!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this long post. Thanks for reading!

Bye-Bye!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Bye-Bye Miss American Pie

So tomorrow, my mom and I are going to Lake Tahoe until Friday. It's just going to be me, her, my aunt, and my mom's boyfriend Hugh(a one-eyed cowboy) for a whole week. Fun.

The last time I was at Tahoe during the summer it was with lots of family when I was in middle school. My family did that for a long time. We would spend the fourth of July up there for many years. It was loads of fun. Truly one of the most "All-American" summers I experienced.

The Water of Tahoe is bone-numbingly cold and I'm not sure if I'll be able to swim in it this year. I used to when I was younger but we'll see.

I'm going to see if I can put pictures up after the trip, but I'm going to be offline for a few days, just to let you know.

Bye-Bye!

Friday, August 6, 2010

No H8

I forgot to put this in my last post but I think that this topic deserved a whole new post because it's so important.

Prop 8, California's ban on gay marriage, has been revoked! I'm incredibly happy about this because gay marriage is an issue that I was willing to fight to the death about. I believe that banning gay marriage is moving backward in history. It seems to show that America was almost forgetting about the not-so-long-ago Jim Crow laws and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the Stonewall riots.

I have a good friend who came out this year and it would have killed me to think that he and his boyfriend, if they wanted to, wouldn't have been able to get married even though they were just as much in love as say, John and Sue, who could get married.

Well not anymore!

Sadly, Prop 8 could come back into existence but for now, California celebrates equality! Yeah!!!

Bye-Bye!

Dynamite with an electric beam

I've been listening to Queen's song "Killer Queen" a lot the last few days. At first I thought that the song was about nuclear weapons or the atom bomb, because of the references to Kennedy and Kruschev. Turns out, not so much. Oh well, to each his own.

Today was one of the days where I was looking forward to going to DC mainly because it's quite cold here and I want some summer weather. I know that I'm going to regret that statement after a few days of mind-numbing DC heat.

Today was a good day for reading which I did a lot of because I was at work. We sold nothing today. That's normal for us........

On a better note, I got a new laptop for college considering my Dell was behaving much like an elderly person: slow, tiring out easily (running out of battery quickly), and random health problems. I got a MacBook Pro and it is proving to be a cool new toy to play around with. I happy about it.

Also, I've been having this obsession with oxford-style high heels and want to buy some before I leave for DC. I would put up some pictures but I can't figure out how to save images from the Internet with this new computer. I'll figure it out.

A rather uneventful last couple of days. Hoping that sunny skies will appear here.

Bye-Bye!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Brush Up Your Shakespeare...

Start quoting him now!

So I just got back tonight from Ashland, Oregon where the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival (hence why I used the Kiss Me, Kate song as the blog post title) takes place every year. This was actually their 75th anniversary! In the course of two days, my mom and I saw three plays: She Loves Me, Hamlet, and The Merchant of Venice. The shows were incredible, especially the lighting and sound on Hamlet. Oh, I almost died of amazement! If any of you readers have a chance to go to the festival, do it. You will be completely amazed.

While up in Ashland, I met a girl who is going to be a freshmen as well at CUA. The story is rather interesting how we came to meet. She actually works at the Bed & Breakfast that my mom and I stayed at. Pure coincidence! She proved to be a very nice girl and I'm glad that I got to meet someone before I go back.

Now that our little trip is over, I have to get back to the grind of work and preparing monologues for fall show auditions. Luckily, I get plenty of time to read my new book, Through A Glass Darkly at work after having finished Wideacre a few days ago.

Now for a literature tangent. Wideacre has got to be one of the most horrifying books I have ever read. The main character Beatrice is what is described as an anti-hero, which is someone who is the main character and lacks heroic qualities. Victor Frankenstein is an example. Beatrice is a combination (in my mind) of my three favorite literary characters: Scarlet O'Hara, Rebecca Sharp, and Milady DeWinter. Except that Beatrice goes above and beyond in the path towards being morally reprehensible: she commits incest, with a completely lack of any guilt. I know this is a major spoiler of the novel, but I feel that it is necessary to put out so that anyone who plans to read the book may prepare for this. The book is quite good and a page-turner, but I felt dirty reading it and that I should bathe in Lysol after I finished. Good book, but not for the faint-hearted, like Titus Andronicus.

End literature tangent.

I can't believe that I leave in about three weeks for DC! I still have so much to do! But more on that later.

An exceptionally wordy post today, I'm sorry. I just felt a need to talk about a lot of stuff after being MIA for a few days. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bye-Bye!

P.S: I watched the movie Ed Wood on Friday and let's say it is quite hilarious,Tim Burton did a great job. I suggest that you watch one of Ed Wood's actual movies before this because it makes it even better. I'd seen Plan 9 From Outer Space (What happened to plans 1 through 8?)