We're All Celebrities

We went outside for a break to practice taking pictures, since we need to be experts when we go to our schools. Evan took a photo of Don to start out, then we decided to continue by taking pictures of other people taking pictures.

  

This fake brick!

After a few minutes, our cohort decided to take a photo together in front of the banner. We didn't know how to pose so we chose a couple silly poses, like the typical prom pose. 

The tutorial is always a good bonding time, mostly because it's just taking pictures of each other. Unfortunately, other than people there aren't all that many things to take photos of in front of the school.

Evan and I actually realized that the school is actually all fake brick, which was pretty incredible to me. You can tell from far away that the brick is strangely smooth, but then close up it's visible that it's something stuck on concrete.

The Most Stressful Day

One of the most stressful moments of my life would have to be the last week prior to our homecoming rally. My team and I put our literal blood, sweat, and tears into our homecoming float for the past four months. Everyday after school we would come straight to my house and work nonstop from 4 pm to about 8 or sometimes later, depending on the day. 

Homecoming week arrives much sooner than expected and next thing you know we have less than 5 days to add our finishing touches and be ready to go Friday morning. All of the components had been completed by Tuesday. Wednesday comes along, and I could not believe my eyes. The trailer, the thing that everything goes on top of, had been dropped off at my house before I came home from school. I had given the task of assembling the trailer of to a friend, as she volunteered. What was dropped off at my house was a 6 feet tall box and a trailer that was the wrong size. There was less than 48 hours before the parade.

I contacted more than 20 people, in attempt of getting some help to disassemble and rebuild the entire thing. Thankfully, my neighbor, who is also a contractor, was walking by and told us he would help us rebuild the entire thing. 5 hours later, everyone had left and yet my parents and my neighbor were still outside working. I had regained some hope.

Finally came homecoming day, and everything was set and ready to go. We arrived at Sheldon Elementary earlier than expected and our hopes were high. The parade began, and as our trailer started to move, we heard a crack, and then many more. Our trailer was falling apart, and our float was getting stuck in the trees. I am not exaggerating when I say I almost fainted; however we completed the parade, we received 3rd place, and everything was over with. I would call it a success, and I could not have been more relieved.

Has nothing to do with the blog, but it's still a cute picture

Cats!

I have three cats. The oldest is named "Polter", and the two youngest are called "Lambi" and "Oliver". Oliver and Lambi are actually brothers despite their differences in appearance. Lambi is a white flame point siamese with blue eyes. Oliver on the other hand is an orange tabby with beautiful green eyes. 

Polter being the oldest, and female is always annoyed with Oliver and Lambi. She tries her best to keep a huge bubble of distance between herself and them. However, they just want to play with her and she takes it the wrong way. I wish that Polter could let loose and have fun with them once in awhile.

My cohort and I being models!

Some of the pros of having a cat are that you have your very own lap warmer during the winter. They provide you with company. You have your own alarm clock every morning at 4AM. You will never have a rodent problem. These pros should be more than enough reasons for everyone to want a cat.

Sure you may have to constantly clean litter boxes, use a lint roller everyday, and have band aids on hand, but you really have to work for the affection of a cat. A dog is naturally obedient, and there's no effort into it. A cat is more appreciated and elegant. Plus dogs smell really badly. I love cats!

MOVIES!!!

All my life I wanted to be a gangster. SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!!! You're gonna need a bigger boat. Leave the gun take the cannoli. I want the TRUTH! You can't handle the TRUTH. I feel the need. The need for speed! You know nothing of my work. I am the father. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I can't believe it. They forgot my @%$^#! birthday. It's elementary Watson.

My Cornell Cohort members and my graceful self

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit. Here's to looking at you kid. We'll always have Paris. Play it again Sam. Out of all the gin joints in all the world, she walks into mine. Frankly my dear I I don't give a d***n. WILSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! Inconceivable! My name is Inigo Montoia. you have killed my father. Prepare to die. Life is like a box of chocalates you don't know what you're gonna get. RUN FOREST RUN! I gotta pee. 

This is us practicing for our future modeling careers

Big mistake. Huge. You lookin' at me? I ate his liver with fava beans and a nice chianti. It puts the lotion in the basket. No one would notice. Rosebud. I'm still waiting. If my dog had a face like yours I would shave his butt and make him walk backwards. On Wednesdays we wear pink.  You can shave your back now. Danny DeVito! I love your work! That's why her hair is so big its full of secrets.    

Typing Because I Also Want To Make Typing Noises

Candid. 

So I'm just sitting here trying to write anything other than blah blah blah for this practice blog, I don't want to sit here and overthink everything that I'm doing right now, I hear everyone else in the room typing so I feel like I need to as well. I can't believe I'm actually trying to type something, I want to go out and take pictures with the banner, De Anza is not as nice as everyone told me, as far as I've seen. We are having way too many technical difficulties. So far, I have had some Twizzlers and a cookie, aside from the cup of coffee this morning. I think I'm gonna go get some fries after this. 

I feel like I have so much to do, today is prom for my school and I'm not going. My friend Erika is coming to my house at 2:30 so I can do her hair, I wonder if she will hate me for being a little late getting home. All I hear is typing. What is everybody typing? Don just said this session is not going how it is supposed to. 

I don't know why I decided to hold on to the pole. 

Having the time of our lives!

We're going to take some photos today, I wonder how that's going to go. Maybe I should get up and get a bag of chips but I have to sit here and keep typing. 4 paragraphs, that's how much I have to hit. Now I just hear myself typing. What did everyone else type? I drank a lot of my water bottle, I normally don't even drink this much water throughout the day, I guess I'm just not thinking. It's really cold even though Zunarah already closed the door. She goes here. I still like El Cerrito better, not be sound cocky. But no one is probably gonna read this anyways. Just me typing away for the sake of making some typing sounds. 

I want to start with the photo editing. Honestly the thing I'm looking most forward to about today. Weren't we supposed to get a break? When is that supposed to be happening? There's a little teapot next to me, I bet someone made it in ceramics, it looks so cute! Okay, I feel like I'm doing too much, so I'm gonna go grab a bag of chips now. Blah would have been more interesting than whatever this was I just spent the past 6 minutes doing. 

A Trip to Costco Has Obviously Been Made.

Today I woke up at 6:30, proceeded to accidentally fall asleep for 30 more minutes, and then panicked, I got dressed, made some coffee, and rushed out the door.

Okay, I think I'm done with that paragraph.. Now we have started a new paragraph. I am still very cold. I am trying to write a lot as I think it will appear like the actual blogs will. Okay, now I just going to write words as I have nothing else to say. Blah, blah, blah,blah, blaakijd sdlfiu4 dfuow9 aifuweoiuj feuwoufowlurow3i  woerup fji fjowj foiuf fou48t rjoie u4o8 fjwuo gfj4i guwopurweluo ourtowuit erituot souj foweumjfwoiufrw loiuwrt gwoutw ;ltoipoigtkjsdpogultuwo9t5u oi7t9ru86t 8tou

What a friendly sign.

Good news! The technology seems to be working! Right now our task is to write a certain amount of words so that we can insert a picture and it looks nice. So, now I'm just talking. Blah blah blah. I am very cold right now. I was not expecting this morning to be so cold. I babysat yesterday, that was fun. 

Once at De Anza High School, I helped Don set up, received a packet that was full of various information, turned on the desktop that was in front of me, talked to my table partner, and waiting for the various technological things to work in our favor so that the tutorial could begin.

Last night I ate dinner at 9:00 which I was not very happy about, as I prefer to eat dinner around 6:00 or even 7:00. Don has obviously made a Costco run for this tutorial as there are a vast amount of red vines, chips, cookies, and other items that could only be bought at Costco.

The sun was in our eyes.

Video Games are Complicated

I normally don’t play video games all too often, but I do play one game on my phone which is called Love Live! School Idol Festival. It’s a Japanese rhythm and card collecting game that also involves dealing with math, time management, not to mention screaming if you are a more serious player like I am. The story of the game follows two high school idol groups, Muse and Aqours, that you can switch between as you play the game.

Photo-ception (n.)- the act of taking a picture of someone taking a picture.

The actual rhythm portion is in the format of a semicircle around the top center of the screen. The difficulty of the game varies from way too easy to way too hard, but as you get better you will start to see that the hardest setting is very easy while any setting below is very difficult to do.

Photo-ception Part 2

This game is honestly a great way to sharpen your reaction times, however it is not a very good game to play in many places. On hard, expert, and master modes, it’s impossible to pause without breaking your combo and this is a two-hand game. It’s best played at home, on the bus, or during breaks.

The main time where math comes into play is team building. To get the strongest teams possible with the cards you have, you need to play around with card positions, leader boosts, and equip-able booster tokens. Your strongest cards go second from the center on both sides, while your weakest cards go forth from the center. Then card that yields the highest boost to the team from being in the center obviously goes in the center. Lastly, you can add tokens to make an individual card stronger. The game does part of the math for you, but it’s better for you to do all the math yourself.

As for time management, this game is considered “F2P” or free to play should you not purchase premium in-game currency with real money, and one energy point takes 6 minutes to fill if you just let your bar fill. Songs cost 5 to 25 energy points and the best rewards come from 25 point songs, especially in events. It saves so much time and energy. Also, during these events, a full bar sitting is worse than an empty one. You need to manage your time wisely in order to do well in these events and still juggle a full class load, work, and social life.

REDVINES

Not Redvines

What if Redvines grew from the ground. Seriously, think about it. Every year we have a bountiful Redvine crop to package into boxes and tins to ship around the world to entertain movie goers and people who wish they were at the movies alike. Ideally then health specialist would be more supportive of my diet of Redvines and various other candy crops. 

In this case I could roam a Redvine forest with trees which could grow to have trunks forged of millions of average produced Redvines. Of course in this forest it is encouraged to taste naturally grown Redvines, no pesticides of course for you health nuts, straight from the source.  Redvine galore.

Other forms of candy are also great...but I have to say Redvines are the best movie candy. Sometimes movie theaters like to let me down, and they don't sell Redvines. If they really don't want me to bring in outside food and make me pay $8 for candy, you think they would have the best candy. But alas I am disappointed that they won't give me the opportunity to waste extra money that could've gone to charity on Redvines.

Thank you Don for bringing Redvines. You may have noticed in this blog that I spoke of them frequently in this blog. Redvines. Redvines.

Also Not Redvines

Kong is an Awesome Gorilla

I want to see Kong: Skull Island last Thursday with my friends. The actors and their acting were mediocre but I loved Kong! I was so mad when they lit him on fire with gasoline. That was not okay at all. Then he fought that big lizard thingy to protect them. If I were Kong I wouldn't have done that. 

Random teenagers. 

Kong's fight with the reptile thing was pretty epic. The CGI in the movie was pretty well done. But every time I saw Kong hurt I just felt so bad. He was protecting the people who straight up lit him on fire, and he sustained injuries protecting them. I don't even think the people said thank you to him. Humans are so ungrateful. 

Horses.

Also, at the beginning, they dropped seismic bombs to "explore" the new island. That was pretty messed up, too. They were literally just bombing the island and the animals. I wonder if that was just made up in the movie or if that's actually what they do. I hope not. I think people being awful is a recurring theme in the movie.

So I ran out of things to write about. I am just going to fill this last paragraph with nonsense. The weather is cold today. April shouldn't be so cold. There's a lot of weeds outside. I feel sleepy. I should probably write more. Today is the 15th. There is an Easter Egg Hunt at Fernandez Park. I think this paragraph is the best piece I've ever written. So I ran out of things to write about.  Let's repeat this. I am just going to fill this last paragraph with nonsense. The weather is cold today. April shouldn't be so cold. There's a lot of weeds outside. I feel sleepy. I should probably write more. Today is the 15th. There is an Easter Egg Hunt at Fernandez Park. I think this paragraph is the best piece I've ever written.

Don's Floral Print Shirt

Don in his beautiful shirt

Don had a great floral print shirt on today for our blog tutorial extravaganza. It has a black background, with multitudes of colorful flora all over it. Some of my favorite greenery exhibited by Don's shirt include the big red flowers and the purple flowers. I think that those colors really stand among the green of the leaves and the black background. They aren't overstated, however, and blend seamlessly with the mass of green, pink, and yellow that also covers his shirt.

You mustn't mistake his shirt for one of those garish, tacky, and absolutely appalling tourist shirts that are all too common in the state of Hawaii. Don's shirt is more classy than that. The colors are more muted, and don't screech at you like some of the other vibrant floral print shirts that you might have seen. Don's shirt stands out, yet doesn't clash with the rest of his outfit, which consists of khakis and open-toed sandals. His outfit is a masterpiece of style, capped off by the beautiful shirt.

I will admit, however, that it is a little cold to be wearing something so obviously suited for warm weather. I myself came in jeans and a hoodie, but Don must be half polar bear, or another animal suited for cold weather because he seems totally unperturbed by the chill air surrounding him. Still though, Don picked a great outfit for today, regardless of the weather. The floral print shirt is just fantastic!

Second Tutorial Experience

It feels strange but good being here again. I miss Kachi, Diana, and Shuxin, but I'm excited to meet the other cohorts today and at the other events. Also, last year the tutorial went by more smoothly, in many aspects, but we have to keep going. There are many things to go over and talk about.

I was really tired last night after taking a really tedious online course and test that I forgot to turn on my alarm, causing me to wake up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at De Anza High School. Good thing my sister was already awake, otherwise I would've arrived even later, which is no good for Guantanamo Don. Luckily, the tutorial hadn't really begun yet when I arrived. 

To my surprise, there were fewer people here compared to last year. It's a shame that there is less funding, because I think this is an amazing program that numerous people can benefit from. I highly doubt as many people would apply to Ivy League schools if it weren't for this program. Nevertheless, I'm glad that the program is still around and students are taking advantage of it.  

Bieber Fever

Hello anyone looking at this is a practice blog. One day in elementary school I heard the beautiful voice of Justin Drew Bieber, unknowingly I had contracted “Bieber Fever.” As time went on I had my heart set on finding out anything I could about him from his birthday to the status of his parents.

Justin Drew Bieber was born March 1, 1994 at 12:56 in the morning. This day just so happened to be a rainy Tuesday. Now Bieber is the only child from his parents Jeremy Bieber and Pattie Mallette, they had him at the age of 16. Jeremy Bieber left Pattie Mallette before Justin was born.

As a young boy Bieber showed great interest in music he would bang on anything to create a beat. As time went on he got drum set as watched drummers and imitated how they would play. As he got older he started singing outside of buildings to try and get a little bit of money but most of all he just wanted to sing.

One fateful day Pattie Mallette posted a video of Justin Bieber on YouTube where he sang a by Usher. This video spread like wild fire and his life was never the same. He caught the attention of many and went onto create his first, of many, hit single “One Time” now he is 22 and still creating albums. 

The Word 'Cold' Loses Its Meaning After a While

It was warmer outside!

I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold.  

I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. 

I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold.  I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. I am cold. 

Our poses were great. I avoided the shade for obvious reasons. 

My Pets

I have five pets in total, of those two are cats, two are bunnies, and one is a fish. One of my cats is named Dodger, he is a gray tabby cat. My other cat is named Tinkerbell, she is a calico. We have two bunnies, Adam and Lucifer. I also have one fish but he doesn't have a name.

The Vanderbilt Cohort with the ILC Banner

Noor having fun with a stop sign 

I got Dodger when I was in Kindergarten, he was a birthday present from my grandmother. My sister got Tinkerbell when I was in 3rd grade. The bunnies are our newest pets besides the fish, we got them 2 years ago because my sister was working at a rabbit rescue. My fish was part of an experiment for my AP Environmental Science class, no one else in my group wanted to take him home so I did. 

My favorite pet is my cat Dodger. His personality is a bit weird, but me likes me and I like him. Tinkerbell can be very moody, she sometimes likes me an sometimes doesn't. The bunnies only like me when I give them treats, they enjoy bananas the most. I'm not sure how my fish feels about me, I don't spend that much time with him. 

I hope in the future I'll have more pets. I would like to have a hairless cat, I think they're very cute. I would also enjoy having more bunnies, preferably ones that are more friendly then Adam and Lucy. I don't think I need to have more fish in the future, as I don't have very strong feelings about my current fish. 

A Stream of Consciousness During the Tutorial

I like Red Vines. I also like cookies. In addition to Red Vines and cookies, I like water. Don brought all three of those things for us today, which pleased me. 

The exterior of De Anza

Although I enjoy Red Vines, I find Twizzlers more fun to eat. This is because they have a shiny, more plastic-like finish and feel to them. This quality makes it feel like I'm eating something that should be inedible. While Red Vines are also quite artificial in consistency, I don't think they are as unnatural as Twizzlers.

Lost, artsy Noor

I prefer water over cookies. Water is translucent and cookies are opaque, meaning that water is easier to understand. Water is its own ingredient, while cookies are made up of several other ingredients, so water has a pleasantly simple taste that makes cookies feel overly constructed in comparison. Also, although I absolutely need water to survive, while I can manage without having cookies for a while.

Computers are hard. They are so complicated and there's always something wrong with them. The school computers are especially finicky. It can take upwards of 5 minutes just to log on, and even then they don't always work.

Fritos, Cookies, and Twizzlers is a Great Healthy Breakfast

I love eating Lays chips, but not as much as Fritos chips. Fritos chips are more crunchy than lays chips.  The Fritos logo looks more aesthetically pleasing than the Lays chips. Frito chips are the best. I will buy more Fritos chips the next time I will buy groceries and waste my budget on them, and I will have no regrets. 

The cookies at the tutorial are good. They taste like oatmeal and chocolate, but I don't have the stomach to finish it. I have two oatmeal and chocolate cookies left over, I haven't even finished one cookie on my little paper plate. I have eaten at least six twizzler bars in a minimum of 10 minutes. I want to have the whole box to myself for later snacks. But, as they say, sharing is caring. 

I still feel really cold in this De Anza classroom, but the food gives me warmth. Frito chips and cookies are the best thing to eat in the morning. Specifically at 9 am, in tutorial, with added twizzlers. My mouth feels a little dry eating all three of them together, but it was worth it. Who thought a combination like that would be so mind-blowing?  I did.

The best thing mankind has ever made, thank you.

I like these cookies, along with Fritos and Twizzlers.

Along with this food adventure, we took photos outside. During our break taking photos, many of us, like Madison and I, took silly pictures. We went around the front of the school's campus and took many random shots to test out our photography skills. 

Posing for a very old medical truck that hasn't been touched in De Anza.

Kelsey has become everyone's favorite model.

Practice Blog

WHO CAN ADJUST THE BLOG SITE?

Only cohort members who have been given Admin privileges can make adjustments to the site.  Once we have all agreed on your site, those privileges will be pulled so changes to each other’s blogs can’t be made.

IS THIS A ONE PERSON SHOW?

You know better.  What’s critical is that everyone in the cohort needs to work together as a team.  This means coordinating with each other.

To that end. Before anyone makes a change, they need to communicate with the rest of the cohort so everyone is on the same page.  This means that maybe compromises will need to be made.

Oh, and with all of these emails—you need to cc Don.

CAN WE DO ANYTHING WE WANT?Once again, you know better.  You will have a lot of latitude but there are some things that we need to include (which Don will put on your site early on) and other things that we don’t want on the site.  In particular, we all need to stay focused on the purpose of the site—which means that all of those cutesy things you may want to insert may take away from the reason the site exists.

As you might expect, Don has the final approval.  The Blog Site is an extension of the ILC and will be viewed by gazillions of people on this planet and others.  So—it needs to be perfect.

SHOULD WE REINVENT THE WHEEL?

Same answer.  Take advantage of what Don has to say because he can steer you in the right direction.  Knowing how Blogspot’s tools work can help.