Month: October 2010

A Great Day in Football

therightliberal4 Comments

Today was a marvellous day for a soccer fan. Manchester United (the greatest team in the history of sports) finally got an away victory thanks to Chicharito, one of the new additions from the summer. He scored two goals, the first a wonderful header.

Javier Hernandez watches his header fly in

Another great team, Rangers, also won against the arch rivals Celtic.  The Rangers Celtic rivalry is far beyond that of any other rivalry in the world. This is because it is truly over religion, it is Protestants vs. Catholics. Many people have died due to the intense hatred between the two clubs.

Kenny Miller celebrates his first goal against Celtic

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R.I.P. Paul

smackyjackjack1 Comment

One of the world’s most beloved octopuses has died. Yes, Paul the World Cup predicting octopus  died today. Paul, of course, was the octopus that correctly predicted the outcome of eight of Germany‘s soccer matches. He also chose Spain as the winner of the World Cup. They too won. The choosing process was conducted by putting two tanks with clams inside and the countries colors on each tank inside his habitat. Whichever tank Paul opened and went inside was the winner. Paul died of natural causes at the age of 2 1/2.

Paul choosing Spain

Most expensive house in the world, owned by an Indian

delhigossipLeave a comment

The Ambanis are not just the richest people in India, but they seem to be sitting fourth in the list of the richest people in the world. After the separation of their wealth a few years ago, the two Ambani brothers, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani seem to be doing very well in their petroleum businesses lately. However,  Mukesh Ambani’s new 27 floor house, is the hot topic of discussion these days around the world.

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Not Just For Practice

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

On Sunday, October 10th, mef and OVS English teacher Brad Weidlich attended a tennis marathon at the local courts of Ojai’s beautiful Libbey Park. Playing 56 games in a matter of 4 hours deemed to be just as strenuous as it seems, but gave me an absolutely amazing Sunday morning. Competing with other players within my age range and skill level, I was able to enhance my tennis skills as well as make friendships in the process.

But these tennis matches were not just for practice.

OVYF, the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, is a program designed to enhance the lives of Ojai Valley youths through recreational activities, mentor programs, and leadership events.

Every year, the OVYF holds a tennis marathon in which both adults and children gather to compete in over 5o games of doubles, no ad scoring tennis.

But these games aren’t the only thing that makes this day special.

Before playing tennis on that warm sunday afternoon, each youth player was required to raise a minimum amount of 150 dollars while the adults took on the even bigger challenge of raising a minimum of 350 dollars. With the help of relatives, friends, and the Ojai Valley School, Mr. Brad Weidlich and myself were able to raise a total amount of 650 dollars that directly benefit the youth of Ojai.

Mr. Brad Weidlich, a wonderful English teacher with a genuine desire to help the local Ojai community, inspired me to go out and make a difference. And just like that, we did.

A Tad Disappointing

theycallmedameLeave a comment

In a previous post I mentioned my love for The Lion King. I have seen it live once before when I was younger, but I do not remember much of it. Tonight I saw it again in Las Vegas, and too say the least, it was a little upsetting. The first act reined almost completely true to the actual script, and parts of it were extremely beautiful. However, it was the second act when it all spiraled downward.

Not only did it add and take out parts of the original script, but one of the most memorable parts (for me, anyways) was completely ruined. Scar was on stage with Zazu, who was locked in his cage of bones. In the movie, Zazu went from singing “Nobody Knows” to “It’s a Small World” to “I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts.” It was all rather hilarious and it is one of my favorite parts of the entire movie.

Zazu

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Unrequited love, yes. Unrequited pain, no.

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

When we were little kids, it seemed as though stories of love and happy endings charmed the fairytales we once couldn’t wait to read again. It wasn’t until a much older age that we discovered the hardship of a love that deemed to be unrequited. Forming sometimes from just a simple fascination, this experience of an intense, passionate longing for another has proven to be quite universal in our world today.

In February of 1993, a study conducted by psychologist Dr. Roy Baumeister of Case Western Reserve University, along with graduate student Sara Wotman, concluded that 98 percent of the 155 men and women that were tested admitted to having loved someone who did not return the same feelings. This finding, published in “The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,” has raised the unspoken question of whether the pursuer of this unrequited love was truly the only one who would imminently be hurt.

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WE ARE FAMILY

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

On Friday, October 22, it seemed as though all the different cultures in our incredibly large world  joined together tightly into the incredibly small world of Ojai Valley School.

A “Parent’s Weekend,” as it is called at the OVS Upper Campus, brought more than just the student’s loved ones, but rather the true diversity that represents this campus.

With more than 50% of the students trekking from across the seas, our school has seem to be slightly dominated by the international students from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and even Russia.

As one student in my calculus said, “At OVS, it’s like the Americans are the international students.” A quote that can, with some honesty, be deemed true, is a quality of this school that I can, with all honesty, say I enjoy most.

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Time Difference

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

More than just time. So much more.

While simply computing the difference in hours can perpetually confuse one, knowing that the people you love are on the other side of the country, or even on the other side of the world, wherever they are, is the hardest part.

I assume that I never realized the trouble with time zones until my parents. Yes, my parents. The utter adults I am supposed to hate with all my guts as a typical teenager, I can honestly say I love with all my heart.  Constantly traveling for business, I not only wish I was with them strolling through the streets of New York City or practicing my broken Chinese in the heart of Shanghai, but most of the time, I just wish I could call them whenever I wanted to.

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prep

weirdjennyLeave a comment

Spending all my parents weekends catching up the reading assignment in English 12, I found out that I am addicted to this great book, Prep. Prep, written by Curtis Sittenfeld, is one of the New York Times bestseller. The book is about a fourteen-year-old girl who leaves her family to attend boarding school. The author’s fantastic writing skill has perfectly portrait the character’s complicated relationship with teachers and her girl friends. Although I am a guy, I felt that I have really similar situation with the character. Moreover, many of the school events are as same as /o/v/s events, such as switch day and the Assassin game. While reading this book, I felt really related to my real life in OVS. So I highly recommend OVS student should read this book.

practice

weirdjennyLeave a comment

Practicing every seventh period, members of chorus want to show their best performance to OVS parents on parents weekend.

This year we are going to present three songs, the City Called Heaven, Cross the Wide Missouri, and the Motown Medley. By performing three different types of songs, we want to give the audience the feelings of sorrow, sentiment, and vitality.

I joined the OVS last year, and I have participated as a singer and a drummer. This time I only need to play drums for three of the Motown songs and sing the rest of the songs. However, I found out that it is very difficult for me to play drums in the transitions. Because these three songs have very different pace, I made a lot of mistakes during the practices. I have not played correctly one time during all our practices.

However, I kept listening and listening to the song, and practice the transitions in my room everyday. Luckily, in the two performances on Friday, I didn’t make any mistakes. I felt that the effort that I have put in is worth it.