Day: May 16, 2011

Not So E-Z Up

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Half the field had fallen asleep after 2:30 am. Only a select few were still walking, but luckily there was a free coffee stand open for the whole 24 hours. Even the 6 of us kids were still up and about trying to stay up until at least 4:30. We walked a bit more, but soon we got super tired and decided it was time to take a break. We had all set up camp underneath a green E-Z Up. It was cold and windy, but the warmth of our sleeping bags took care of that. Ryan was posted in a fold out lounge chair, Kai, Lucy, and I were sprawled out on the lime green tarp, Mrs. Davis curled up under the booth table, and Mr. Alvarez was laying just outside of the shelter of the tent.

It was late. Around 3-ish maybe. We had already walked at least a trillion or so laps. 18 hours and 12 cups of coffee later I was disappointingly unable to fall asleep and what I saw would make the night a zillion times more interesting. It started to sprinkle and the sprinkling got heavier. The corners of the E-Z Up began to sink and leak. Nobody thought anything of it at first (mostly because we were either half or fully asleep). When the rain got heavier I started moving all the bags underneath the tent so they wouldn’t get anymore wet. That’s when Mr. Alvarez woke up. The tent kept dripping and eventually it got so bad that it just couldn’t be ignored… maybe it was just the coffee.

We scraped the water off the tent with lacrosse sticks. Frustratingly enough the water just kept building up. At this point everyone was awake trying to fix the problem. The tent frame wouldn’t rise or spread or move pretty much at all. The only thing we could do was get rid of it. Kai was pushing the water. I was holding the covering taught and pulled it down. Kai pushed the fabric up towards the edge and before I could move out of the way a waterfall of rain dumped on my head. I was completely soaked. My shoes were in puddles. My pants were drenched and my hair was dripping. It was awesome.

We all curled up in the middle of the tarp; unorganized and uncomfortable. About two hours later I woke up to a bright and shining sun, took a few walks around the track and when Mr. Alvarez’s run around the track ended we wondered how and why everyone else’s tent kept them dry and ours drooled all over us. The hunt was on. We looked under every tent. The Fire Department’s tent was exactly like ours, but we noticed something different about the frame. We ran to our booth, took off the cover and lowered the frame legs. It turns out the top of the tent extends high, so high that it was supposed to let water roll off the sides. I guess ours wasn’t fully raised.

Oh boy, what a night. But hey, it was so worth it.

Brush Clearing

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Today for my community service hours for OVS, I had the job of clearing all seven water pipe heads and the pipes around the water tanks on back gate.

I got driven out to the last one close to the 150, and was told “goodluck see you back at school”

And so with a plow, a scraper thing, clippers and a pickaxe I began the long day of clearing brush.

Seven heads, a bench, and the water tanks later I was done.  AND I only finished half my hours.

But to be honest I actually enjoyed it.  I had some tunage going and a lot on my mind so it went fairly quickly.  I only have a few blisters so in all it was a pretty good day.  After work I went for a great drive to top off the day.

Social Rejections may be much painful than Physical Pain

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null“Social Rejection Shares Somatosensory Representations With Physical Pain,” by Ethan F. Kross, Marc G. Berman, Walter Mischel, Edward E. Smith and Tor D. Wager; published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Most people have the experience of being ostracized in a group throughout their life. I remembered one time on the basketball court, my friends didn’t let me play because I am too short. However, I started to grow taller and taller and get better skill and then finally beat those people. But this is not a really intense social rejection. Some people have very intense social rejections that can influence their whole lives. New research shows that the same areas in the brain that reflect physical pain are activated at moments of intense social loss. “When we sat around and thought about the most difficult emotional experiences, we all agreed that it doesn’t get any worse than social rejection,” said the study’s lead author, Ethan F. Kross. The previous research doesn’t have this discovery is because the emotional pain simulated in the previous experiments was not powerful enough to create the response. This time, the team found out that if the emotional pain was painful enough, it can create responses in the physical pain area in our brain. However, throughout this research, the researchers don’t know where the body will feel this physical pain when our brain is affected by the emotional pain.

Relay for Life 2011

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null“I ran the whole night!” said my roommate, Amit Pandya, as he walked in our room after he has stayed overnight at Buena High School. Many students from OVS have participated in Relay for Life which is held at Buena High School on 5/15. The American Cancer Society Relay for Life is an event that gives everyone a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember ones lost, and fight back against the disease. Last year, I ran for our teacher, Mr. V, and so does every student from OVS. This year, Mr. V wears a purple t-shirt, which is for the survivors. However, this year I ran for my aunt, who just found out she has stage 4 cancer few months ago. Several of OVS students have decided to stay overnight to keep running and support the American Cancer Society. Amit said that he has run over 100 laps last night, and played lacrosse, and sung karaoke with his friends. Because of the passion of these participants, we got the award for the most spirited team. Although I don’t get a chance next year to participate in this event, I will keep supporting my aunt to fight against the disease, and so do other people who have family, friends, and people who they loved are suffering from cancer.

19

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The number 19 is not considered special by most people. It doesn’t get the glory of 10 or hold the importance of 100. But on Saturday, May 14th of 2011, the number 19 got a little credit.

Manchester United won their 19th league title this past Saturday. To most people, that does not seem to be a good enough reason to shave the number in to your chest hair, but for Manchester United star striker Wayne Rooney (pictured above) it was a great reason.

This league title now gives Manchester United the most league titles of any English club. Again this may not seem like a huge deal. But looking back it is a huge deal.

Before the 1992-93 season, United only had 7 league titles. This was not bad but compared to Liverpool’s 18 titles, it was quite small. But in only 19 seasons, United won 12 of their now 19. That is simply incredible.

With this new title United can now surpass their arch nemesis Liverpool as far as the most dominant team in history. All of the last 12 titles have come from Sir Alex Ferguson who took over a struggling team.

United had not won a title since the 1966-67 season. During that time they had been relegated and had lost much of their prestige. But Fergie changed all of that. During his reign, United have won many accolades including the Treble, the only team to have ever accomplished the feat.

Fergie should be credited with much of the rebuilding that has happened. He took over in 1988, taking over a club that was on the verge of relegation. He has now built them in to the largest team in the world.

United now hold 19 league titles, a number that for them seemed impossible to get to. They were weak and now they are strong. Now they can be the ones celebrating by carving numbers in to their chest hair.

Botox for 8-year-old

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What would you do when your child complains about wrinkles?

This Mother Kerry Campbell would immediately persuade her Daughter Britney to have Botox and fillers injected to lessen the “wrinkles.”

She buys the products from cannot-be-publicized-online-man. And, she, who is apparently a “trained beautician,” tests the products’ quality and credibility by injecting into her “adult” face before she uses for her “eight-year-old” daughter’s face.

A 34-year-old mother from San Francisco defends her malignant practice, “A lot of the mothers there (beauty pageant) are giving their kids Botox and it’s pretty much like the thing and a lot of moms do it. I am not the only one.”

Moreover, Britney was forced to get her legs waxed so she would be more “beautiful.”

Britney’s friends consider all these practices “cool” and even looks up to her.

What’s wrong with all this? Someone tell me.

The XX.

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The XX

The XX are a musical group from London specializing in indie pop/rock. Formed in 2005, the group came together to create simple, but effective, music. Living up to the indie genre, the music they create is definitely individual, standing out in the music industry.

Releasing their first album “XX” in 2009 the group received much praise for their individuality and great music. In the same year they won the Mercury Music Prize and were ranked as “one of the best of year” in the Rolling Stone.

The XX’s sound works well because of the dual voices used. The males soothing deep tones compliment that of the females and accompanied by simple acoustics the music molds together perfectly.

The band’s music is simple but catchy with their warming tones creating the perfect ambience for a night by an open fire or a time of relaxation. Due to release an album this year, fans are excited see if the new material can triumph over that of the legendary “XX.” Lets just hope they don’t disappoint.

Ochocinco: This time its bull-riding

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So I posted a while ago about ochocinco trying out for a soccer team, and in my opinion, it was pretty funny to see him try to entertain himself and his ADHD-like enthusiasm during the NFL lockout.

Now he’s done it again, recently posting on his twitter, “Can everyone please follow @teampbr and @fordtrucks,after I ride this bull for 8 seconds I’m giving the away the F-150 I win.” and a few hours later posting “#EPIC RT @pbrcoo: @ochocinco that’s the deal. Show up and get on the bull u get 10K, ride him for 8 secs and its a brand new F150″

In other words, Ochocinco is trying to be a bull-rider, and hes getting $10K to ride it and a brand new truck if he stays on for 8 seconds.

Well he rode the bull a couple days ago, and he lasted 1.5 seconds.

Yes, there is a video.

So no truck, but he managed to make ten thousand dollars for less than two seconds of his time.

Pretty legit.

Relay For Life 2011

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“Just one more year.”

May 14, 2011, Ventura, California, Relay for Life.

It is approximately 9:00 am in the cold parking lot of Buena High School in Ventura. The yellow bus unloads its passengers, yielding the start of the day. Slowly, students crawl out, it was too early for them. But the grey, salty breeze shifts cool between their sleeves and awaken the tired students. The day had begun.

A loud voice could be heard on the loud speakers, announcing highlights of the event. Schools were commended for their outstanding fundraising. First, the honorable mentions, soon followed by the bronze teams. Then came the silver teams. My school, our school, Ojai Valley School, had been recognized as a silver team for raising so much money. In our school of just under 100 students, we managed to raise  $3,060. It was a great start to our day.

The empty track was broken by a mass of survivors, clad in the same purple shirts. Among the many survivors was OVS AP psychology teacher, John Valenzuela. He made his way around the track while our school gathered at one corner and shouted words of encouragement to him, our screams choked with tears, because we had all seen him battle through this scary disease and we had won this battle together. He put his hand over his heart and we all knew what he felt.

Throughout the day, students walked around the track, bought food, and even partook in a wedding between a survivor and the love of his life.

That night, some of our students stayed overnight and endured heavy rains, cold, and hunger but came back with smiles. And at the end of the day, all I could think to myself was “just one more year.”

Friendly Fires.

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Friendly Fires.
Ever need some dance but good quality music for the summer months? Well Friendly Fires offer the perfect solution for this problem. The group’s alternative beats and sounds, described as dance punk, along with their fast and spontaneous lyrics combine together to make the perfect summer BBQ music.

Forming at the age of 14 in school, the St Albans group came together to produce great music. As the group progressed through the different stages of education so did their music and in 2009 they released their first album “Friendly Fires.” Including hits such as “Jump In the Pool” and “Paris” the album was announced as one of the shortlisted bands for the Mercury Music Prize.Now, two years later, the English band is set to release their second album “Pala.”

Expected to be released on the 16th of May in the U.K and the 24th in the U.S, the first song off the album “Live Those Days Tonight” has already been previewed.  With similar but more grown up sounds in comparison to the first album, “Pala” is deemed to be a great success in the coming months.