Olivia's Blog

Music

2009-03-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-02-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-12-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

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.

Favorite Places in the U.S.

2008-11-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I have always been dragged from state to state every Christmas and/or Thanksgiving. Both my parents are from the south, so pretty much that's all I know of America. I have grown to love the northern sticks of Mississippi, and also Huntsville, Alabama (where [part of] NASA is located, and also where the first McDonald's sit down restaurant is), although my grandparents only lived there a short time of my childhood.

One of the greatest things I love about the quaint little towns in the sticks of Mississippi is that it's basically made up of about ten different fairly large families, with the whole distant cousins and fifth aunts twice removed stuff. To be honest, I don't really think anyone knows how they're related, they just know that they are related. Because everyone knows each other, it's quite amusing to see how much of the stereotypical "family drama" is true (ex: an uncle on his fifth wife, a cousin running off with some random guy, multiple divorces, a specific family member having to clean up all the messes repeatedly, you get the picture [note: none of these pertain to any of my family members :D]).

Another place that I absolutely love that is not in the south is Colorado. As I have said before in a previous blog, the Rockies are absolutely beautiful. They are so shockingly amazing that the first time I saw them, all I could do was just stare at them with my mouth open for about ten minutes ( I was getting a cramp in my neck). If any of y'all ever get a chance to go to Colorado, you have to go to Crested Butte. Crested Butte is a pretty famous town, what my father would refer to as a "tourist trap", but hey, it's pretty dang amazing. Crested Butte is located at the bottom of this HUGE mountain, and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is to look around and all of a sudden see this ginormous beautiful thing looking down at you.

So yeah...the Rockies rock my world. (haha. bad pun)

So for all y'all Australian and Korean people, if you ever get to come to America, go to the Rockies or the sticks (also the Appalachians, but you might get carsick because it's so windy). Personally, I would go to the Rockies because you kinda have to have a family in the sticks to fully understand the whole "family affairs" thing :). So...yea. Those are my favorite places in the U.S....and this is the end of my blog. Until next time....

Terrorist Attacks in the United States

2008-11-01T18:02:00.001-07:00

There have been multiple terrorist attacks in the United States in the past years, one of the most devastating and well known being September 11, 2001. So many people died that day, but so many more have died from terrorist attacks in general. One of the saddest parts though, is that our nation seems to be able to unite under major circumstances like terrorist attacks while we aren't able to unite when nothing is wrong. As a citizen of this nation, I think we should have the ability to be united no matter what, and not just because something bad has happened.

Terrorism has also caused trust issues with our border countries. After September 11th, an anti-drug organization formed by American citizens and Mexican citizens stopped meeting at the border like they usually did and had to start meeting in different cities, alternating countries each year. I think that it's sad that America can't even trust it's own neighbors, and it's amazing to see how much fear we have for ourselves because of terrorists. We lock ourselves in our country, trying to keep out the bad people and possible nightmares, but that just makes things like legal border crossing and transcontinental flights harder for Americans. Americans are even afraid of ourselves, with all the new high-tech security that was not needed fifty years ago.

Terrorism, overall has both improved technology and created trust issues for the United States. Personally, I'd rather try to keep those trust bonds between other countries then have to improve and create new technology just to defend myself from my own kind.

Anderson

2008-10-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

So...Anderson is a pretty awesome school. The students and the teachers are all pretty different from each other, especially the students. Proof of this diversity is shown in my friends. All my friends come from different cultural backgrounds, and also different religion groups. If you look at the classes, it's easy to see how diversity takes hold of Anderson. I've really learned a lot about different cultures and religions just from talking to my friends and classmates. Honestly, it's crazy to see how these different morals blend in with the present society.
I'm currently in choir at Anderson, and it's absolutely HUGE. There are a lot of very exciting people in it, and it's really easy to make friends with all of them. The different clubs and societies at Anderson are like ginormous families that easily grow on you. A lot of the students start with maybe one or two clubs at first, and build up to more, which gives them a wide variety of friends and skills.
Well...theres my blog. :D

Illegal Immigration

2008-10-04T18:55:00.000-07:00

Illegal immigration is one of the big problems that the United States faces every year. Most illegal immigrants come from Mexico across the Rio Grande River, which leads into Texas, or across other borders from Mexico into the United States. As a result, southwest Texas is home to many of these immigrants, and overtime, has contributed to Texas' diverse community as a whole.

In many ways, illegal immigration has changed immigration to the U. S. in general, such as how immigrants can get their green cards, which has caused a lot of problems for legal immigrants. A lady that I know immigrated from Mexico a few years back, and she has now settled a home in Austin with a loving family and a good job. She has filled out the required papers multiple times for a green card and has sent them in multiple times for the U.S. government to approve. The United States government has gotten so caught up with stopping illegal immigrants that they forget about the legal ones. This lady so far has not been able to get her papers approved by the government for a green card yet, which means that if she ever goes back to Mexico, she can't come back to the U.S. Her dad is works for the Mexican government, and he too has tried his best to fix this whole mess.

Overall, illegal or legal, once you get here as an immigrant, the U.S. government should allow you to stay and work to become a legal citizen. It takes years to legalize an immigrant in the United States, but once your here, you should be welcomed and be able to stay. If someone is so desperate for a new and better life that they'd break the law to get one, then why not? Good people deserve to live in a country that gives power to the people. They've done nothing wrong by wanting a better life in a good country. If their records clean then why not give them a better life?

Summer Vacation

2008-09-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys! It's me again. A little malfunctioning going on with the internet at my house, so I am currently sitting in my dad's office writing this oh-so-fabulous blog. :) Anyway, so this blog is about summer vacation (well duh) and where I went. So, I'm going to start off with the beginning and work my way to the end (or to the beginning of school).

The first few weeks of summer were quite boring, actually (it was transition camp time) but I guess you could say that was the calm before the storm. The first (and one of the best things) that happened this past summer was TGE. The Great Escape is a church trip that I went on with my church youth group in colorado, and it was my third (and last) time to go. That trip was AMAZING, especially when we went white water rafting in the Arkansas River (which is the coldest river in the United States, no lie) and got dunked in at the end (oh, yeah, did I mention it was like seventy degrees outside?). Anyway, the thing about Colorado is is that it's so extremely beautiful. It seems so unreal to see a snow capped peak in the distance, and know that it's perfection is real. (I'll try to eventually post a picture of it some time soon!)

Sadly, that trip had to end, and as soon as we got back from the Rocky Mountains, I was rushed to re-pack so that we could arrive in the Smokey Mountains in (literally) twenty-four hours. If you have ever been to both the Smokey Mountains and the Rocky Mountains, then you know what I'm saying when I tell you that they are extremely different from each other. The part of the Smokeys that we went to was in Boone, North Carolina, which is where my aunt and uncle live (and also where the Samaritan's Purse is located which is where my aunt and uncle work :] ). When you're in the Smokey Mountains, and you wake up in the morning on top of a Mountain, it's quite and eerie feeling to look out of the window and see the clouds below you. That trip was fabulous, and if you ever go to Boone, make sure you go to Grandfather Mountain (it has a swinging bridge fifty feet in the air).

So that was basically the end of all my traveling for the summer when we got home. Over the next few weeks, a lot happened, such as my uncle getting a job as a head coaching job of a college baseball team, them (he, my aunt and their three children) moving to Arkansas, and us (my mom and I) meeting up with my aunt and the three children to kidnap the eldest for two weeks. My cousin tends to act older then her age (in a good, responsible kind of way), and she had been doing so much for my aunt over the past months, so we invited her to an intensive dance camp at my studio so she could get back to what she loves to do. She is an absolutely amazing dancer, and I thought it was pretty cool that she made friends here in ATX that she still keeps in touch with. Sadly, it ended too soon and she was heading back to Arkansas and her new life.

A lot of sad things have happened this summer, but most of them have a happy ending, like my friend Aya moving to Israel. Her father is a professor at UT, and he's taking a sabbatical the 08-09 school year, so at the end of July, Aya and her family packed up after saying their goodbyes and took off to Israel. The good thing about a sabbatical is that it only lasts a year, so we'll get to see Aya next August. :] Saying goodbye to Aya was basically the cherry on top of summer. It was a sad but optimistic goodbye, with a sort of finality woven in.

Well, that was my summer basically summed up in a lot of lines. It kind of got mushed together and confusing near the end, but I was kind of dozing off (I would blame it on allergy medicine making me go loopy, but I didn't take any today. Oops. ). Well, I think there's another blog due next week, so I'll blog to you then (weird sentence). Until then....

About Me...Continued

2008-09-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the general information I think all of you got (my name, where I am, my interests, etc.) in the "About Me" section of this blog page. So far, you know that my name is Olivia, I am currently in Texas, and I love to dance (alot). I'm currently a fish (freshman) in high school, but I do have an older sister (senior) that drives me to school everyday ( Just not this week because the five minutes it rained monday morning, we were going down the Jester hill (a really, really, really big hill) and my sisters care slid when she put on the brakes and we did a 360 and crashed into the guardrail. It was kind of scary, and we got to school late, but by miracle a huge rock stopped us from going over the guardrail :] ).

As I said (multiple times) before, I love to dance, and am involved in my studio's amateur dance company with Allison (who is also doing this blogging project). Reading is also one of my favorite things to do, but with all this homework plus dancing, I don't really get to read much. So far, I'm most likely failing a lot of my classes (I'm not usually like that) with all the Pre-AP homework and dancing and church stuff, but hey, it can only get better.

I live in a house on a street (I'm not telling you which house or what street) two houses down from my grandparents with two cats, two dogs, a little monster (our dachshund puppy), my mom, my dad, and my sister. My church youth group is like my second family, so I (try to) go to as many church things as I can. My mom used to teach three-year-olds and my dad is an engineer at Polycom (the place that makes triangular phone conference things). My sister is extremely intimidating if you're and aspiring artist and/or writer, and she is currently trying to find a college to go to next fall. So that pretty much sums it up for the "family" portion of this about me section.

Anyway, on October 25, 1993, I was born into this world in the Stanford hospital near Palo Alto, California. We moved to Texas for my dad's job when I was one, and decided to stay, so here I am. I can be a spazz sometimes when I'm excited, and I tend to be (unintentionally) loud, especially with my friends, which is not really a good thing. I guess I'm a good girl in the classroom, though (hopefully). I freak out about my grades, and I'm a perfectionist, which is definitely not a good thing when your in highschool. Hey, I only said I was a perfectionist, not perfect.

I guess this is the end of my little "get to know me" section, but if i remember anything, I'll post it or something. Until then....