Music

Music is known as a worldwide language that speaks to all people, and without it, many different cultures would not be what they are today.  Personally, I don't know how my life would function without music.  Dance is an expression that without music, would be pointless and boring.  Music is what inspires dancers to create something beautiful and express the life in a certain song.  

Because there are so many different types of music and so many amazing artists, I can't just choose one to introduce you to.  One of my all time favorite bands, though, is called the Shiny Toy Guns, which have a techno-ish feel.  Their best album is We Are Pilots, and the song "We are Pilots" actually got nominated in the Grammys.  Another favorite artist of mine is Imogen Heap, also known as Frou Frou.  Her work is absolutely amazing, and it's shocking how much she can do with just a laptop and her voice. Imogen Heap's sound is original and kind of different, but still inspiring none the less.   If you get the chance, you should check her out. 

Okay, so this is a reflection on the past two weeks.  Last week was spring break, and I went on a trip with my church to Galveston, TX to fix up the houses that were hit by hurricane Ike six months ago.  We re-roofed a house where an elderly lady lived, and it was amazing to see how much our work impacted the community alone.  I must say, it was the most fun and gratifying experience I have ever encountered.  (Also, at the end of our trip, my sister turned EIGHTEEN!!!! She's really old now, but I still love her anyways.) 

This past week, the robotics team traveled to Houston, TX to compete in the FIRST competition.  Since it's our first year, we're considered rookies, and because it's our first year, it was kind of crazy trying to compete with a lot of magnificent teams. I must say, we did pretty good for our first year, and managed to win two of our matches (I'm not telling you how many we lost :O). 

Well, that's all for now, folks.  

Free Topic

AHH! This past week has been completely crazy with nonstop dance rehearsals and then our dance show on Saturday (which would be why I forgot about this blog).  Not only have I been dancing all week, I'll be dancing all week this week, too, for Belle auditions.  The Belles team at Anderson is a dance team that dances at the football games and basketball games, and (according to one of my friends) is a nationally ranked team :). I'm extremely excited about auditions, because a bunch of AMAZING dancers are auditioning with me (or so I've heard) so I can't wait to see them dance.  

Spring break is in a week and to be honest, I really do need a break.  Sadly, though, I won't get that much of a break because my sister and I are going on a mission trip to Galveston to help rebuild houses and stuff like that. We're going with a bunch of great people, and although it's a small group, it's still going to be fun. My sister is also turning the big one-eight over spring break, the day that we're getting back, so I think that we're going to get a surprise birthday cake for her (although I don't think I'll get to smash it in her face).  

Basically, I'm quite ready for this week to be over with everything that's happening this week.  It's going to be EXTREMELY stressful for me because science fair is due this week and I have no clue when I'm going to be able to write my 5 page research paper (fun, I know).  On the bright side, it'll all be over and done with by the time it's spring break, and then the school year should be all downhill from there. 

Well, until next time (if I survive this coming week)....

Learning to Love or Falling in Love?

Both learning to love and falling in love have their pros and their cons, but overall, I think that falling in love is better than learning to love.  I find that this way of love is better mostly because the american society has developed an insight that learning to love is what's right, and that's just the way that our culture has taken in that aspect of love.  I think that one of the reasons that learning to love is not looked at as reasonable in America is because our country stands for freedom, and falling in love is known more as freedom of love, while learning to love stands for the taking away of freedom of love.  Also, I think that overtime, americans (and people in general) learn to love without knowing it, and that's just the way that people work.  

These past two weeks have been hectic, to say the least.  I think that the next two weeks, though, will be extremely stressful with school, extra dance rehearsals, and solo ensemble coming up.  My solo is quite at an interesting state right now, between the process of being memorized and being half memorized right now.  The four day break last weekend was AWESOME, and it was a great stress reliever with all that was going on.  This past week has been extremely long, though, especially with a four hour dance rehearsal on thursday. Oh! VASE (visual arts scholastic event) was last weekend (six am wake up call, baby!), and I'm relieved to say that I did fairly well.  The one piece that I thought I did worse on actually went to state, which I find extremely stupid because I actually did get a higher score on my other piece out of the two.  Oh, well.  I'm just excited and still in shock that one of my pieces actually got to go to state(0r is going to go to state)! Sadly, I will not be able to attend state in person even though my piece will, because that's the weekend that Choir, Band, and Orchestra are going to Winter Park, CO, which should be EXTREMELY fun! Well, I guess that's it, until the seventh (ADW show!), when I'll hopefully post another blog if I survive these next two weeks.  :)

Global Warming

Global Warming has had a large impact on the world, and it has been dealt with in many different ways.  For example, in Austin, our city is  very supportive of recycling, and all ages have been effected by the ways it has been advocated in this city.  I find that it has become a bigger deal at school and at home in the past few years and has been discussed often.  But, the one thing that I find funny about how our community reacts to helping the environment is that some of the alternatives are quite expensive.  Take hybrid cars, for example,  they are much more environmentally friendly and yet they seem to be much more expensive then regular gasoline fueled cars.  A lot of people have multiple cars because it is convenient, and I think that the biggest problem that would be most helpful to our community if overcome is finding a cheap way of building cars like hybrids, and I think that the car companies today are well on their way of achieving this goal. 

Well, these past few weeks I've been doing what I (kind of) do best at - surviving.  To be honest, not much has happened this week except for the frequent contemplating on whether or not I should take online classes to get my permit and all the cramming of  algebra, world geography, biology, and Shakespeare into my head.  I've also (frantically) been working on a piece of artwork for VASE which is on valentines day,  but I've sadly neglected my solo for solo and ensemble which is in two weeks (yikes!).  Lets see, what else happened these past two weeks? Oh yes, yesterday, I FINALLY returned my friend's CD and book that I borrowed...way back in November.  I think that's pretty much it.  Also, in biology, (as I just remembered) we're starting the chapter on Darwin's theory of evolution, which has been quite exciting and has involved many debates (okay, one) at the lunch table.  Oh! Something I just realized! Our HUGE big company (dance) show is the first weekend in March, so there's only about three more weeks of practice until then. I'm pretty sure that concludes the past two weeks, and I should probably go work on my solo for solo and ensemble now.  Ciao! (That's French/Italian for bye :]) 

Technology

As a student, having a computer to use is very important because without one, things like projects and blogs and checking for homework on a teacher's website wouldn't be possible.  Computers help me not only with my schoolwork, but also with keeping in touch with my friends and family.  I can also play music, buy music, edit pictures, make movies, and email people with my computer.  Another piece of technology that has changed my lifestyle has been the iPod.  I remember when I was little and I first got a walkman (Yeah, one of those old things. I don't think they even sell them anymore!) and now, all my music is already on my iPod and it's so much easier to access the exact song I want to listen to.  Also, it's smaller, which makes it ideal for traveling. 

Speaking of traveling, did anyone go anywhere interesting for break? My family and I went to NYC for my sisters graduation present right after Christmas, although we did not stay for New Years.  That was quite an interesting trip!  If you ever go, make sure you see at least one broadway, and if you go during winter, go see the Radio City Rockettes.  It was an amazing trip, but it was EXTREMELY crowded in New York, so I suggest going anytime of the year but winter.  The city itself was incredibly different from ATX, and so were the people, but they were all very nice.  

School has just started back up again and already three weeks have gone by, so I think this might be a quick six weeks.  I hope all of y'all are enjoying your days back at school and hope you have an awesome semester! 

Toodles (for now)!

Blog Project

At first, I found this project pretty awesome, until I realized that only the Anderson people (mostly) would reply.  It's really funny, though, to see how people from different places use a whole different vocabulary then we do.  That was kinda cool.  Replying would also become a hard thing to do, too, because people would never post their blogs or post them a few days after it was due, and I usually couldn't find the time to log on and read their blogs with all the other responsibilities I have.  

It was a relatively easy project, although some of the topics really made me think.  I'm pretty sure my blogs got repetitive, which kind of made my blogs boring.  During the last six weeks, it was really hard to remember when a blog was due (but that's partly because I'm not very organized.  Thats going to be my New Years Resolution, though) with reviews for finals and major cramming of information in the brain to make up for Thanksgiving break. 

Overall, it was a pretty darn creative project that I wouldn't mind doing again next semester (but it would be pretty sweet if there were more than two people from a different country to communicate).  I liked seeing other's opinions on things like immigration and terrorism, and how people from different places opinion's differed. 

Diversity in the U.S. of A.

In the United States, diversity is not only present in the culture, but also things like food, sports, music, etc.  In Texas especially, there is a large Hispanic impact on our food (breakfast tacos, anyone?), religion (like Catholicism), and music (Selena).  These influences have made places like Austin special in its own way, and without these influences, the people of Austin wouldn't be who they are today. 

Every single place in the United States has their own influences on their culture, which makes almost every place in the United States different from one another.  But, even though these places differ, things like food can be found common.  For example, pizza is one of the most loved american dishes even though it actually originated from Italy.  Also, chinese food, Mexican food, and many other types of food from different countries have blended with the american culture to form many of the favorite dishes that America has today.   

When it comes to music, it is easy to tell that it has a large impact on American society.  Genres range from bluegrass to rap, and from classical to rock.   Some of these genres have actually blended to for new types of music that americans grow to love.   

Religion is also a large part of american society, along with politics.  Sometimes, both religion and politics go hand in hand with each other, which makes many issues debatable.  Things like abortion in the U.S. is something that many americans have been very opinionated about, along with things like deciding who the next president is.  Both religion and politics have molded the United States into the very differently opinionated society that it is today. 

Overall, america wouldn't be the "melting pot" it is today if it weren't for the vast variety of influences from other countries that lets the citizens of America chose what type of lifestyle they live.