Category: general news

Stuff having to do with the news in general.

Countdown

rangerthecatLeave a comment


I CAN HARDLY HANDLE IT!!!!
I’m getting so anxious there are no words to describe the feeling.
So anxious and crazy and excited and nervous that I can hardly focus.
I want graduation to come; even though I’m going to miss this place like crazy, there will be the most amazing feeling when I walk across that stage and officially become a college student. I will officially have made it to a place in life that I had serious doubts about a few times in my past.
Oh, and I guess that going to Cabo with 7 of my closest friends doesn’t exactly suck either, huh? 😉

So, due to this slight mental chaos that I’m having, I’m going to have a random blog.

First, I wanted to start by sharing a video and singing duo that I find to be just utterly fantastic.


They call themselves Jayesslee, two twin sisters named Janice and Sonia. They have so many covers of songs that have millions of views on Youtube, so the’re pretty popular. Their harmonies just make me want to melt… And I can’t stop listening to this specific one. I highly recommend anyone and everyone to listen to their stuff!

Secondly, I’m just getting so nervous waiting for my last college decision. I’m so pleased with the schools that I got accepted into (and a little bit disappointed with the ones I was rejected from). But most of my friends have already received their Chapman letters of acceptance, and I’m getting very antsy – I JUST WANT TO KNOW! I checked online on the website, and it says that my decision letter has been mailed out already, so it’s just a matter of time… Unfortunately I’m not the most patient person on the planet.

And last, I know that they are over about 2 months away, so I still have time, but I am already stressing out over the AP tests. Man, am I glad that I dropped out of a few of the AP classes I had been taking in the beginning of the year and lightened my load. Now, I only have AP Psych and AP English as opposed to 5 total as I had in the beginning. Still, I feel like these will be really difficult tests and I’m definitely no where near as prepared as I’m hoping to be. One of these weekends I’m going to have to do some serious looking into what the tests are going to expect.

For now, I’ll just keep looking ahead to the good things in my future like graduation and Cabo!!!!! Hopefully it will help the time pass faster, because as of now, it feels like everything is going by so slowly, I can hardly stand it.

Raining in Southern California

thehungryrunnergirl1 Comment

It rained this weekend!

It rarely rains in California, but this weekend it was just a downpour. I woke up to the sound of rain and clouds that were very gloomy.

According to the National Weather Service, it dropped 0.59 inches of rain in Los Angeles. Santa Ana and Orange County lost power and in L.A County, the winds blew the Paco’s Tacos sign on Manchester Avenue. In the mountain areas, they got a few inches of snow where Mammoth mountain got 18-22 inches of snow.

On Saturday, both boys and girls lacrosse game got cancelled, which I wanted to go watch, so I had nothing to do. I couldn’t sit still so I started to play lacrosse in the rain with my friends.

I was wearing shorts but I forgot about how cold it was and I enjoyed playing in the rain. It was so much fun.

I wish it rained more in Southern California.

The Pint sized builder.

frog3Leave a comment

Body Building is considered an extreme sport where one must train for hundreds of hours to achieve a muscular physique. For those body builders that can rise to the top there is one event that they must compete in, the Mr. Universe competition.

There is one who was able to conquer his overwhelming poverty and his puny size to rise to the top. His name is Manohar Aich, although to some he is known as “ Pocket Hercules “. Standing at 4’11 , Manohar was born in Bangladesh a region known for its poverty.

These obstacles did not stop Manohar Aich. Around the age of 12 Manohar came under attack from black fever. To regain his health he began exercising doing thousand of repetitions for a single exercise.

His efforts did not stop their and by his early 30s people were commenting on his muscular physique. By age 37 the puny Manohar Aich was able to win the Mr. Universe competition. No one his size has since been able to replicate his feat.

College, College, College

rangerthecat1 Comment

Remember back in December/January when I posted a nice little blog about waiting for colleges to respond back to applications?

Well, finally, the waiting is over! (Most of it, at least).

Last Wednesday, I was sitting with a few friends when I looked to see I had a text message on my phone. It was from my Mom, so I wasn’t expecting anything super mind-blowing.

But instead, I open it and immediately start freaking out. She told me that Cal Lutheran had sent a letter to my house addressed to “Accepted Student” and asked if she could open it. Of course I said yes, called her, and she read me the letter. It said I had been accepted and that they were offering me a $15 thousand scholarship. I was so excited I even asked her to send me a picture of the letter.

Cal Lutheran wasn’t a school I was absolutely dying to go to, but getting that acceptance made me feel just that much more secure. I felt like I didn’t have to worry as much, and that I could relax for the rest of my college admissions (or rejections).

When I returned to school from the honors ski trip, I checked my mail box, and surprisingly there were two more letters waiting for me from Sonoma State and San Jose State. Accepted!!! I then checked online at Cal Poly, and unfortunately I wasn’t accepted like I was hoping… But to be honest, I wasn’t as disappointed as I had thought I would be. About a week later, I logged onto UC Merced‘s website and had another acceptance waiting for me!!!

I’m still waiting to hear from 2 colleges, Chapman and UC Santa Barbara. I really hope I get accepted, of course, but at this point I’m just too excited that I got into 4 colleges that if I don’t get in, it won’t be the end of the world.

Now comes the time to choose which one I want to go to. It’s going to be a really tough decision. Most of them are good schools and I feel like I’d have a great time at all of them. At this point, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do, but it feels AMAZING to know I have options and that I don’t have to worry anymore.
I finally did it! There’s only 82 days until I graduate from high school and then just a few more months until I will be onto the next 4 years of my life in a new place.


Honors Ski Trip

rangerthecat1 Comment

Last week, I had one of the best weeks I’ve had so far this year. I took a trip with 18 of my classmates and close friends along with 4 faculty members to Yosemite for the Honors Ski Trip.

Now, I’ve been to Yosemite before when I was younger and I do remember parts of it. But it was so different than I had remembered and so amazing. It was a completely different experience and a really great one at that.

Day #1:
After arriving the night before when there was hardly any snow, we woke up unsure if there would be good skiing conditions. Nevertheless, we went up to Badger pass, rented our skis, and set off on our first cross country skiing journey. The skiing itself was extremely difficult for me, and I fell over at least every 3 minutes. It was so frustrating and I wasn’t really having the best time. about 20 or 30 minutes in, it started snowing lightly. It got colder, then began to snow harder and harder until I could hardly feel my hands or see very far ahead of me. We stopped for lunch at a campground, which was about 3 miles from where we started, and took a break in the cold snow storm for about 20 minutes. Then, we headed back the way we came to make a 6 mile trip. It wasn’t that far, really, but it seemed like it to be because I was terrible at the skiing, but being surrounded by beautiful scenery definitely enhanced the experience.

Day #2:
It wasn’t as hard for me the 2nd day because I had gotten used to the hang of the skiing, but I was still really slow. We went the same way as we did the 1st day, but part way through, we cut off the main path and went a few miles out on a side trail. It was so beautiful, with many less people, and it was sunny and warm (well, compared to the first day). At our stopping spot, we went up a really steep hill onto a flat area where some of us (including myself) stopped and ate lunch as a small group continued on to another destination. We stayed at this spot for an hour or a little bit more, making snow forts, having a snowball fight, building a snowman, and sleeping in the snow with the warm sun beating down on us. It was a very peaceful and beautiful experience. When we got back and were loading up the vans, a group of us saw a coyote that was so close to us we could almost touch it. Its eyes were extremely greenish-yellow and vibrant, and he was so much more calm than I would expect.

Day #3:
This was by far my favorite day. We split into two groups, one that went on another ski trip and one that went on a hike by half dome and the huge waterfall. We walked a while through the trees until we spotted a beautiful bobcat that was only about 20 feet away from us. It wasn’t scared or nervous, and just went about doing whatever it wanted to. I had never seen one before and it was probably the best part of the day – it’s not very often people see bobcats roaming around, even in Yosemite. We took a very nice hike about 4 more miles out to a location called Mirror lake. It wasn’t a very full lake when we were there, it was a bit more dried up than I imagined, but it was still beautiful. We stopped and ate lunch here and did some rock-climbing, if you could call it that… it was more of a sad attempt.
At the end of the day, we went back to where the hike started and took an interesting journey into what are called the “spider caves”. It’s pitch black, cold, rocky, and the spaces to fit through are extremely small. We weren’t allowed to use lamps, so we were all helping the person behind us through. I only made it through the first half of the cave; I chickened out and found a way to get out. The rest of the group, however, crawled through more small spaces for about 20 minutes until they made it out at the other end.

Overall, I would say it was an extremely valuable experience. I saw so many things that I hadn’t ever seen before, and we had SO much fun in our cabins at night playing charades, twister, and cooking dinner together.

To be honest, I was extremely sad for this trip to end and I wish I could do it at least one more time. All I can say is, I’m thankful for the time I spent with those people and that I had the opportunity to experience these new things. It was truly great.

Falling to New heights!!!

frog31 Comment

Sky Diving has long been considered an extreme sport, even though in reality it is quite safe. Most people think of sky diving as reckless and perhaps even stupid, Felix Baumgartner plans to take this reputation to new heights.

Currently the record for the worlds highest free fall is 19.5 miles. The jump was made in 1960 from a height of 102,800 ft by retired astronaut Joe Kittinger. Kittinger is currently one of the advisors for Felix as Felix attempts to do what very few people have done before. Other safety officials include Dr. Clark whose wife Laurel died in the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003. Dr.Clark has since become an expert in Spacecraft emergency escape.

Hopefully Felix’s achievement allow humanity to soar to new heights, and push the limits of what is possible and what is not.

Banking on Failure

therightliberalLeave a comment

One of the many changes we are facing in our country currently is a change in our banking system.

While many people feel that banks are a fairly unimportant part of our lives, on a national level banks are key.

But many people are now feeling as though the banks cannot be trusted. Between the bailout, fragile economy, and some interesting business practices, many of the American people are feeling nervous about using large banks.

Obviously BoA is getting the brunt of this. Many people are switching over to using local banks, which is both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is that the move supports local business, giving more people jobs in their communities and providing for a more stable community.

The curse is aimed at the national economy. By hurting the big national banks, we no longer have such a strong national banking program. The government can not go around and take micro-loans from local banks if the national banks tank.

Although I am a supporter of the 99% movement, I feel the move to go to smaller banks is a mistake. We have to stay strong as a nation and support the national economy. I know that local economies are important and part of the backbone of the country. But at the same time, we have to keep our government running.

Good ol’ Santorum

therightliberalLeave a comment

I must say I enjoy seeing a candidate claim a victory when he is not going to win. Santorum is doing exactly that and it sums it all up for the GOP.

Santorum has been winning primaries, with the most recent being Kansas. He claimed a “landslide” victory, although the validity of that is questionable.

Santorum recently gave a speech claiming that he was on the way to getting the GOP nomination. Ironically, Santorum doesn’t really have a hope in hell of getting the nomination unless Romney is accused of something quite shocking.

It seems to be the pattern of the times that GOP members have a total disregard for the strength of their party. As a liberal it makes me happy to see as it is comical the way in which the wheels have fallen off.

Yet, I think that the political world will follow in the separation of parties into every (wo)man for themselves. We are not getting much done as parties and we have a better chance of getting things done individually.

That being said, the Democrats will enjoy sitting back and watching the GOP fall apart. But the first to fall could also be the first to get up. Only time will tell.

Interracial marriage

thehungryrunnergirlLeave a comment

1 in 12, 8.4% of marriages are interracial in the United States, an all-time high. Compared to 1980, interracial marriage has increased more than 5 %!

Studies show that Hispanics and Asians are the most common to marry different races. Also, interestingly, Asian women have double the rate of Asian men marrying a different race, 36% to 17%. Additionally, black men were nearly three times more likely to marry a different race than black women, which is 24% to 9%.

In the United States, Hawaii was found to have the most interracial marriages for its population. Almost half of the population who married from 2008-2010 was interracial. On the other hand, the state that has the lowest rate of interracial marriage is Vermont, which has only 4%.

Despite of the growth in interracial marriage, the Southern States like Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi still think that interracial marriage should be illegal. I think this is sad, because the people there are still not willing to accept different races and I don’t think it’s right.

However, this article made me happy because the fact suggests that the relationship between different races has greatly improved.

Also, the more races mixed, the healthier and prettier the baby is!

Make A Change.

YourcupateaLeave a comment

Calcutta Kids

Everyone aspires to be something great, someone noble and someone admired; yet some people don’t have any of these ambitions and this is because they live in desolation and poverty.

Some people don’t have the chance to dream, the chance to have ambitions and many often don’t have the chance to think. Sometimes you may think your life is hard because you can’t go out with your friends or you can’t go on a trip, but think about how you would feel if you couldn’t say no.

Children all around the globe today are forced into slavery and prostitution by their families and friends and never have the chance to say no, let alone worry about material goods.

After watching the documentary Born Into Brothels I have realized it is up to us as a society to make a change. Donating a few dollars a month, visiting countries to work with those in poverty or just giving children something that they can learn from and cherish.

By giving children and families across the globe inspiration and aspirations we can achieve something great. We, the people have to help. We must give many their key out and aid them with the tools to gain freedom and the liberation to stand up to say no and fulfill a life that they choose.