Day: October 5, 2010

Rain is the Norm

Yourcupatea2 Comments

Rain: moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops (according to apple). Rain is definitely common in The British Isles; it’s the norm, something that I now strangely see as positive after a month in Ojai.

Rain is what makes everything luscious and green and allows us to wear the great apparel called rain gear. Granted rain doesn’t come with the positives of giving you a glowing color or allow you to wear shorts, but it is definitely refreshing.

Pessimists could argue that rain is horrible, and I say I can see their perspective — coming in after a trip out completely drenched is not always fun in the best of circumstances. But it definitely makes you appreciate your comfy warm home a lot more.

I now see rain as an extreme positive, but I must say too much can be slightly overwhelming. Everything in moderation.

In fact it’s raining in England right now, so off I go to suit up in my rain gear and enjoy the most of the great weather while I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ&fs=1&hl=en_US

Crackdown

therightliberal2 Comments

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk dropped Nigel De Jong for two games due to his latest dirty tackle. This weekend while playing for Manchester City in a game against Newcastle United, De Jong went in way to hard on a tackle and broke Hatem Ben Arfa‘s leg. This is the second hard challenge that he has committed recently and gotten away with.  The first was in the final against Spain where he karate kicked Xabi Alonso in the chest and got away with only a yellow card. Nigel de Jong plants his studs into Xabi Alonso's chest

This time he goes in, breaks a player’s leg and doesn’t even get a foul called. But Van Marwijk made up for the refs mistake.

Read More »

Buisness Time

realtompagnozzi1 Comment

This will no longer be a diary of any sort after this post. I recently came to the realization that my own method of expressing myself is not through the guitar, and definitely not the paintbrush. I deal with truth. My opinions and philosophy change perpetually, and truth can be drawn from it in only a very short window of time.

I’m gonna lay down the FACTS. I’m gonna say THIS is what this artist has been up to, see it, love it,  and move on.

Bella Roma

vabenissimo2 Comments

Rome was my home. Indeed, living in Rome itself was a beauty. While residing on Via Volusia from 2008 to 2009, I wished I was a S.P.Q.R. girl. Many people are familiar with the term “Romans,” but in the real world of Rome, the Italians with legitimate Roman birth certificates are actually called the “S.P.Q.R.,” or Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Here are the moments that I miss the most: eating a pizza or gelato on the steps of Piazza di Popollo and Spagna, lowering prices of items by proving that I was not a tourist, buying the freshest fruits and vegetables coated with the early morning mist at Campo di Fiori, riding a bicycle around the city with my friends’ support, taking my European History class in “Roma,” hearing my favorite gypsy violinist play behind the Pantheon, complaining about the heavy morning traffic with the police officers and neighbors on my way to school, having sugarless cappuccino, pasta with thin spread of cheese and salt, rosetta (rose-shaped) bread with prosciutto and juicy mozzarella inside, or crispy panini as breakfast and lunch during school hours, going to guilty vintage shopping where gypsies sell their stolen goods, running to catch buses 213 and 202 every morning, hanging out in my neighborhood of Via Cassia, going for picnics at Borghese Park, sneering at the posters of scandalous Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, listening to Andrea Bocelli’s magical cadence spilling from the Coliseum, learning about business people from Embassies of diverse countries, FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization), and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in Parioli, gazing at the back side of Santa Majore Church at night, strolling down Via Berlini with my beautiful friends on my side, and tasting the most delicious gelato in the world near Termini Station.

Read More »

Blackout

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

I woke up in the dark. My sense of time had been lost and my eyesight had been compromised due to the unknown amount of time that my eyes had been blissfully shut. It was absolutely silent around me. The ringing in my ears was deafening and there seemed to be no sign of commotion anywhere. Where was everyone? I sat up and frantically looked for my phone, which I found beside me. It was 7:29 on a perfectly average Monday night on the Ojai Valley School Upper Campus, except for the loss of electricity.

No lights, no power, no preparation. I found myself mindlessly walking toward the lounge where forty-something girls stood scattered among the feelings of chaos. Dorm parents were ordering the students around like a sheepdog would herd petrified sheep into formations we call single file lines. There we were, forty-something girls, in the dark, trying to organize and comprehend why exactly they were all in the dark.

Read More »

The Typical Brit

Yourcupatea2 Comments

How can you define someone as typical? You can’t. So how can you define a nation as a typical way? You can’t. All one can presume is that the typical figure portrayed as a representative of a country is what the majority of the population is like. This is how stereotypical opinions form.

On television someone of a certain class or nationality is often presented in a particular way in order to entertain the viewer. The characters are often presented as caricatures, over exaggerating their characteristics in comedies to make them amusing. If one English person is like this then they all will be. This is definitely not the case.

Read More »

Nowhere

vabenissimoLeave a comment

What a wonderful sight! The South Korean students are chained to their desks for hours at both home and school. Neither a sign of sparkle nor spirit is observed in their eyes. Routinely, their parents, teachers, and even the South Korean government shout about the merits of entering “elite” schools.

Read More »

Equine Therapy- Reigns of Hope

pikachu04Leave a comment

“Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is one of the most effective forms of experiential therapy,” according to the organization Reigns of Hope.

Reigns of Hope is an organization based in Ojai.  Julie Giove, a well-known therapist in Ojai and Ventura, is one of the leaders of this group. Equine therapy allows for a very powerful emotional relationship and connection to develop between the horse and the person.

The objective is to first establish a comfortable relationship with the horse, then proceed to touch it and lead it through an obstacle course created with objects you choose from a bucket. You then must use the objects to lead the horse through the set course without touching it with your hands. This requires a great deal of communication.

Read More »

Common Wealth Games Theme Song

delhigossip2 Comments

For the opening ceremony of the long-awaited Common Wealth games being hosted in New Delhi this year, the theme song was sung by the world famous Grammy winner and composer of Slumdog Millionaire‘s, “Jai Ho,” A. R Rahman.

However, this song did not do justice to the high expectations people had in mind who were expecting a song much like Shakira‘s, ” Waka Waka.”

Read More »

OVS, are you blackout ready?

yrreskrapLeave a comment

Instant darkness. The excited yells of frantic girls could be heard across the Upper campus as Ojai Valley School experienced it’s first blackout of the year. Many of us did not know how to react. It was exciting for all-this chaotic, fortuitous occurrence meant that study hall was postponed.  A herd of girls began to stream out of the dorms, assembling into the blackhole, but they were soon told by the faculty that this was not a fire drill and that it was okay to be inside the dorms. We retreated. Back inside the black enclosures, people huddled together, walking to their rooms scouring drawers and closets for any source of light they could find: flashlights, cell phones, even laptops.

I was one of the few for whom this was a frightening experience. I have nyctophobia, meaning I am afraid of the dark. My first instinct was to grab my headlamp that had been so handy during dark nights camping out in the Eastern Sierras just two weeks back. It was just my luck when I snapped out of my frantic state and realized my headlamp was upstairs, in the storage room. It was a scary journey up but when the dorm parent on duty, Ms. Smith, opened up the room, I dashed in there to find the precious light source.

I walked back downstairs with a new sense of calm, the light from my headlamp illuminating the way back to my seat in the girls lounge. There, Mama asked passing girls where their flashlights and headlamps were. Apparently, we were supposed to keep them in our rooms, in case of emergency like this. Weird. In my four years at Ojai Valley School, this is the first blackout I have ever experienced. This was also the first time I have ever heard anybody tell me that I needed to keep an emergency headlamp just chilling in my room. The only girl I witnessed having a headlamp handy was Zooey. I guess we all didn’t get the memo.