Roots and Wings

I've moved!!

2006-08-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

As you can see I haven't updated my blog for awhile... well actually I have (just not here!)! Please continue to visit me at cassie.dara-abrams.com/blog (very simple! first name.last name.com/blog!). My blog will be getting better and better as I get more and more great ideas, so please do continue to take a look at my blog!

"Twenty years from now..."

2006-07-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

My Wish For You::

2006-06-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

Watch the video

This is my final project for the FTV (film/TV) 86 class which I took awhile ago at school. The music is from the movie Her Majesty and is written by William Ross and the poem is called My Wish For You.

Vloggercon!

2006-06-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

picture from vloggercon.com

I loved Vloggercon. I haven't really processed the onslaught of information that I got during the two days. I put some notes up on my blog, some are still just drafts (and haven't been posted) since they wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to others reading them. I'll make them readable and then publish them (hopefully, I can remember what I meant when I wrote the notes...).

I met some really cool people at Vloggercon and found out about a WHOLE lot of cool stuff. And I will definitely be making this blog a vlog (videoblog) as well (soon)!

List of links::

2006-06-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm giving a list of links to my digital video class that I found mostly through Vloggercon and I figured I would post them here as well!

Definitely check out the Vloggercon schedule where you can find all of the links of presenters and companies who came to Vloggercon.

Blogs/Vlogs:

NYC TV
Unmediated
Completely Known
Conversation God
Mobvcasting
Jen Simmons' site (vlog, blog, teaching material, many resources!)
Room 132 (elementary/middle school blog)
We Are the Media - news from the vlogosphere
I Make Things - Bre Pettris' blog
Ryanne Hodson's vlog
Zadi Diaz's vlog
Modern Feminist, Brittany Shoot's vlog
Vidlicious, Female Videobloggers!
Apperceptions, Markus Sandy's blog
Rocketboom
Josh Leo's vlog
Michael Verdi's vlog
Jay Dedman's vlog
Ebb and Flow
Richard's vlog
BX21

Information/tools:
Vloggercon homepage Interactive Videoblogging
Video Comments, a Wordpress plugin
Digital Rights Management
Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU
Flavored Video Comments Stanford Center for Internet and Society
Center for Social Media at American University (has TONS of resources, look around)
California Newsreel - Film and Video for Social Change
All things Web 2.0 "The List"
Our Media Learning Center
Node 101 (go to classes and learn how to vlog!)
Bay Area Node 101
Freevlog (learn how to vlog online!)
Outhink Media
Meet the Vloggers
Secrets of Videoblogging book!

for creating blogs:
SixApart
Blogger
Wordpress

Places to show/submit/host/edit your videos:
Artists' Television Access
Blip.tv
Internet Archive
Our Media
CurrentTV
Link TV
Eyespot (remix videos online)

Political/social change:
Witness
Echo Chamber Project
Homeless Nation

FCP/iMovie tricks session

2006-06-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

normal problems

imovieplugins.com

look for free effects if I want effects/filters for imovie

geethree.com

packages you can purchase... can maybe find free downloads.

there are some useful effects that you can use

stupendous-software.com- also have some free downloads/ demo versions

gimp, cross platform. poor man's photoshop. look it up, get it

http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ <--- this maybe

want to use as many senses as possible in your video

push imovie to the limits

zadi diaz--

if you want to cut/edit clips to the beat then you can just listen to the music and click M (for marker) when you hear the beat.

lynda.com - get resources

questions:

freevlog.org - tuturials for exported/compression rates

josh leo said he would answer questions (IM or email) and zadi said she would answer questions too

We the People::

2006-06-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

The Preamble::

We the People [of the United States], in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Thank you, Mr. LaPlante, for engraining this into my mind. : )

I'm reading about the late 40's and 50's (for an Honors history seminar I'm taking this quarter) and I was reading about the fifth amendment on Wikipedia since it was mentioned numerous times in the first reading, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?, which is transcripts of the hearings by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee on Americans (many actors from Hollywood) who were suspected of being communists. And then I went to the Wikipedia page about the US Constitution and found the Preamble and sang right along with it (my social studies teacher, Mr. LaPlante, replayed over and over again this song of the Preamble)!

I'm writing more about my readings for this history seminar if you want to see.

California Public Transportation SUCKS

2006-06-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

I hate to use such a stupid word like sucks but it's the only thing that fits. I want to get from point A to point B. They are 3 miles apart if you go the most direct route and supposedly it would take 7 minutes by car (says MapQuest). And it takes me almost 2 hours using public transportation!! And I have to go totally out of the way, I never go on the 3 mile route that MapQuest says to go by car. I walk to a Line A Marguerite stop around 1/2 mile away, I think. Wait for the bus if I miss it because I have to walk. Spend almost a half hour on the bus. Get off at the Palo Alto Transit Center. Wait probably 20 minutes for the 35 bus. Get on the 35 (make sure it's going in the right direction) and stay on the bus for around 30 minutes. Fortunately, the bus would get off RIGHT in front of my point B destination.. however, I would probably get to my destination late considering that I would most definitely miss at least one of those buses.

Or, I could just walk the 3 miles, which would take me less time.

However, fortunately, my mom called around and found me a ride.

The three major things that were blocking me from getting from point A to point B easily are::
-I don't have my license yet (HOPEFULLY I WILL ON JUNE 13TH).
-the friend who I'm seeing at point A can't legally drive me even though she has her license.
-Public transportation SUCKS.
-oh and also, neither of my parents can drive me.. : )

It just goes to show that we, the people who vote (me excluded because I can't vote yet) and the people who decide the laws, are destroying the world. Why you ask? Because propositions get put on ballots to get more money for public transportation. Well, either public transportation doesn't get the money because the people who decide/make the laws/have the money whatever don't put stuff on ballots to get more money for public transportation or the people who can vote either don't vote at all or vote no for the propositions/laws that get the money to improve public transportation. Then public transporation sucks (sucks meaning you can't get anywhere you want without walking 5 miles and spending your whole day trying to GET wherever you want to get) so no one wants to use it and everyone has multiple cars per household and drives everywhere. And then everyone has cars so there's no use for public transportation so the people who can vote vote no on these propositions that would give money to improve public transportation because they don't use it!

[umm I'm tired, it's 11:30, I don't think I'm making much sense. I'm rambling.]

Tomorrow's June!

2006-05-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is June!! Meaning that...

I'm going to see Keys people! [this Friday!]
I'm going to see YPW people! [this Saturday!]
I'm going to turn 16 1/2 years old! [on June 5th]
I'm going to take my last driving lesson! [on June 8th]
I'm going to Vloggercon! [on June 9th and 10th]
I'm going to take my driving test and hopefully pass! [on June 13th]
I'm going to have my two last quizzes in French 3!
I'm going to have my last quiz in my digital video class! [due next Wednesday]
I'm going to turn in my final project for my digital video class (hopefully)! [week of June 12th]
I'm going to turn in my History seminar paper (which I should start)! [end of June.. umm what date?]
I'm going to turn in my paper about Le Petit Prince in my French class! [end of June.. again, what date?]
I'm going to hopefully not have to take my French final because I will hopefully have an A going into the final! [NEVER!]
I'm going to start German class with my mom again! [June 19th?]
I'm going to finish my spring quarter of my second year at Foothill! [June 26th if I don't have to take the French final!]

It's going to be SUMMER!! [hopefully on June 26th!]

AAAAH! I'm going to sleep.

Searching, Looking, Erasing, Adding::

2006-05-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

The list (of colleges)::

[if there is no date next to a comment or college, it was added on May 30, 2006. everything else should have a date]

1) Oberlin, Oberlin, Ohio
+mideast

2) Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois
+nice college campus, surroundings
+cousin went there

3) Haverford, Haverford, PA
+sort of know the area
+near relatives
-/+ very small
+ check out the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship

4) Macalester, St. Paul, Minnesota
+special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.
+family friend went there and really liked it

5) Carleton, Northfield, MN
-/+Drew, my brother, went there and really liked it

6) Hamilton, Clinton, NY (near Utica)

7) Bowdoin, Brunswick, Maine
+MAINE! I used to (and still do) want to live in Maine

8) Colby, Waterville, Maine
+MAINE! I used to (and still do) want to live in Maine

9) Reed, Portland, Oregon

10) Whitman, Walla Walla, Washington

11) Grinnell, Grinnell, Iowa

12) Cornell, Ithaca, NY

13) University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

14) Penn, Philadelphia, PA

15) Duke, Durham, North Carolina

16) Swarthmore, Swarthmore, PA

17) Middelbury, Middlebury, Vermont

18) Davidson, Davidson, North Carolina

19) Wesleyan, Middleton, Connecticut

20) Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut

21) Lafayette, Easton, PA
+where Nate, a cousin twice removed or is he my second cousin??, just graduated from.

22) Bucknell, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
+international focus is listed as one of their tabs
+transfer students (they even mention transferrring from a community college) --

23) Bates, Lewiston, Maine

24) Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA

25) Pomona College, Claremont, CA

And the search begins!

2006-05-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

To continue with this college/school theme, I'm treating Foothill like my high school, which in my mind mainly means I'll be attending Foothill for four years. After the four years, I'll graduate from Foothill with an Associates degree in mathematics, a digital video editing certificate, and I'll be an Honors scholar (meaning that I'll have completed 6 Honors Institute classes), while my friends who are my age graduate from high school. Oh and I have my California High School Proficiency Certificate already (I took the exam last spring, so spring of my freshman year).

After Foothill I'll transfer in as a sophomore or junior (most likely a sophomore) to a four year college/university/whatever you want to call it. Where you ask? Who knows! I have around two years to decide! I was talking with my mom and she came up with this list of schools she's heard of and schools I've been sort of interested in.. I'm going to start my list right now and I'll be crossing out and adding schools for the next two years! I'll put the list in another post so it doesn't look as confusing with this post (if that makes sense).

Can't Complete High School? Go right to college...

2006-05-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

My brother emailed me this New York Times article about people going to college without completing high school. I'm assuming that you (whoever you are) know that I spent a week at my local public high school and then left and went to Foothill, my local community college. Fortunately, as my brother pointed out when I was trying to decide if I should try out high school or just go straight to Foothill, the high school started August 23rd and Foothill started a month later so I could try out the high school and see how it went and then I would still have time to get to Foothill for the fall quarter! And that's just what I did. It was actually pretty weird. I spent the summer at Foothill working on the summer musical, and I'm really glad I did because I met some really cool people who I ended up being at school with. Then I got ready for high school, went there for a week and got sort of into "school mode." Then I left after a week and then I was back in summer for like 3 weeks! Then I started school again... it was odd, but I like it, Foothill (most of the time).

So... uhh that was off topic but still on topic.. I read this NY times article and I thought it would be mostly about students who left high school early and went straight to college (like I did) like the title suggests.. but most of it was about people older than high school (and college) age who hadn't completed high school but still have had the chance to attend college. There was only one paragraph on the second page (you'll see it) about a 16 year old guy who left high school early. It wasn't a bad article or anything, it was informative, but just not about what I'm as interested in. However, I do think that the group of people who are mainly discussed in the article are a group that is really interesting and I didn't know a whole lot about them. But I do also think that the group of people I'm included in aren't discussed that much either. There's the group who aren't interested in high school and learning at all but are probably really smart, they just aren't turned on at all. And there many programs for these kinds of people.. but what about the really incredibly turned on students who aren't interested in going to high school either? They are at risk as well because they could become really turned off to learning if no one (teachers, mentors, friends) helps them and makes sure they're learning more and more all the time. I'm so glad that my parents, friends, or anyone that has an influence on me made me stay in high school because I knew and still know, I just had this gut feeling that being at this place for four long years could potentially turn me off to learning. I know that after a year in high school for my brother started to feel like he didn't want to go to school, he didn't want to learn. And I know that I wouldn't want to feel that way. I'm afraid that many students in high school are getting turned off to learning new things. But I guess I don't know that much about other people, but I do know about myself. So whatever floats your boat, I really don't care if anyone else likes or wants to go to high school. I won't make you leave if you don't make me stay.

Email to Senator Boxer::

2006-05-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

My brother emailed my parents and me this...

The big news around the psych department this afternoon is that some Republican senator from Texas is trying to force NSF to cut all funding to social, behavioral, and economic sciences. (Presumably that includes the type of funding that I would be applying for in the future--and maybe my fellowship, too.) She's claiming that limiting NSF funding to physical sciences and math will be of more direct economic use. So I gave a call to Barbara Boxer's office and left my little comment. If you have a minute tomorrow, could you send in a little e-mail comment too? Apparently this is up for a vote tomorrow, and although I don't know the full story, it does sound like a big deal.

So I sent an email to Barbara Boxer...

Dear Senator Boxer,

I wanted to send you a quick email message regarding the National Science Foundation funding reevaluation. My older brother, Drew Dara-Abrams, is currently attending University of California at Santa Barbara as a graduate student in Cognitive Sciences. He had the privilege of being selected as an NSF scholar and he will be receiving money for his next 3 years as a graduate student. Obviously, as a graduate student he doesn't make a lot of money or have a lot of money and he was sooo extremely excited to hear that he had gotten the NSF funding. I think his research is JUST AS IMPORTANT as a physical sciences and math.

At the moment I am getting an Associates degree in math at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills (meaning I'm into math a whole lot) and I don't think I deserve money for research more than my brother does. I totally believe that his research will help our national economy and our global economy just as much as a physical science or math graduate student's research would.

I don't know why this should even be up for debate but hopefully you will take into consideration the students this reevaluation of the NSF funding would exclude.

Thank you,
Cassie Dara-Abrams

Hmm.. I don't know how correct all of my statements are but I think she would get the jist of my email... uhhh she? Who is going to read this?? I wonder how many emails she gets per day? per hour? I wonder if she picks and chooses or her assistant picks and chooses which she reads.. well I hope SOMEONE reads this, someone excluding a computer since I did really put a lot of effort into this and trying to make it personal and heart felt (seriously, I wouldn't joke).
: )

Okay, now I guess I'm getting in bed because I spent a couple of hours that I should have been getting ready for my French quiz tomorrow (on reflexive verbs and body parts, hmm so related!) on my computer websurfing.. if only I spent as much time sleeping as I did websurfing and using my computer! On that note, I'm going to sleep.

Oh also, I went to the last SCIL (don't ask me what that stands for at the moment... I'll get back to you) talk at Stanford. Tonight it was the founder of Wikimedia Foundation, Jimmy Wales, speaking. The talk gave me a better idea of what Wikimedia/-pedia... is and how to use it. I'm glad I went with my parents. I'll put my notes up soon.

Thank you::

2006-05-09T23:51:00.000-07:00

Picture I took at 8AM when I arrived at the conference

May 9, 2006
Dear Thea Plesenth*,

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend this year's Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference. I attend Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and I'm 16 years old. I decided to leave high school early because I felt like I would be wasting four years of my life at a place I didn't enjoy. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a very good peer group at my school since I'm much younger than many of my peers. However, during and after the conference I really felt like I could count on women of all ages around the Bay Area to help me succeed in and enjoy my life. I very much appreciated the theme for this year's conference, The Power of Connection, since I feel like everyone needs to have connections with others, whether personal or professional, to be able to have an enjoyable life.

I participated in the seminars called "Making the World a Better Place," "Self-Esteem: You Can Never Have Enough," and "Managing a Cross-Cultural or Virtual Team." Just by the titles, all of the seminars sounded like they would be interesting, and they were. I found all of them thought provoking and fun. I attended the "Making the World a Better Place" and the "Managing a Cross-Cultural or Virtual Team" seminars because I am very interested in having a career that involves the whole world. At the moment, I am working on my Girl Scout Gold Award project. For my project, I'm creating a documentary called Connecting Youth to Youth. I have filmed a drama group in Johannesburg, South Africa, a group of students in Luebeck, Germany, and a group of deaf students who attend the School for the Deaf in Fremont, California. These two seminars helped me better understand how businesses and professionals are communicating with others from around the globe.

After the wonderful keynote by Dr. Bertice Berry I definitely wanted to attend her seminar about self-esteem. Her seminar was not only about self-esteem but about connection as well. During the Question and Answer period at the end of the seminar, one of the young women who won a scholarship from PBWC asked if she could find some women mentors to help her answer difficult life questions. Dr. Berry asked all of the women without children in the audience to come and stand by the young woman. And then she asked if any other young women would like to have mentors as well. I went up and received business cards from a number of incredibly friendly women. This part of the conference was a magnificent example of the power of connection.

Not only were the seminars, booths, and keynotes exciting and informative but I also gained a lot from the conference experience itself. I know that I will be very well prepared for my future business career because of all the conferences I have attended and plan on attending in the future.

Again, I'd like to express my appreciation for giving me the opportunity to have these incredible experiences at the Professional BusinessWomen California Conference. I hope I will have similar opportunities again in the future.

Thank you,
Cassie Dara-Abrams

*name has been changed (HA! I've just always wanted to do that)

--
So wait, what IS this thank you letter about? Well, I attended the Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference in SF this past Tuesday (May 2nd) and I'm about to give this thank you letter to the Honors Institute (who got the scholarship for me to attend the conference) to be sent in to thank them for letting me come! I really did have a great time as you can see....

Me with my blinding name tag in front of Moscone Center in SF where the PBWC conference was held. This was taken by my mom right before we quickly drove back to Foothill (my school) for my 6PM French class. I got to class only a couple minutes late (only because I really needed to pee).

Y FEST 2006!!!!!!!

2006-05-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

Come to Y Fest 2006!! There's going to be music throughout the day (noon-5pm), organizations to get involved with, speakers, food, and people who want to CHANGE THE WORLD! (I think that's pretty cool). I'm obviously going to be there... I'm stage managing!

Want to know more about it?

Blogging and sleeping::

2006-05-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

I really want to blog but I just don't have the energy to sit down and type a lot. I definitely need more sleep than I've been getting. Tonight, I'm going to sleep by 10:30PM. Yes, seriously, I will be asleep by then. If I extremely want to do something, I can do it.

Actually, I'm going to blog, just not on this blog. Look at my history seminar blog and see what I'm doing this weekend [reading about the Great War!]!

Bunny and a Pancake::

2006-04-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

This totally made my day.

I got there from here (and clicking on "See also: More detail here." at the bottom of the paragraph of text).

I actually wanted the more detail but I guess the bunny with a pancake is good enough. : )

NOTE EDIT [4.27.06 1:03PM]: I sent this out to a bunch of random relatives and friends and a couple of people responded saying that it made them grin and laugh. I personally thought this error message was a whole lot nicer (and funnier) than the regular stark white page with the FILE NOT FOUND 404 message. And at the same time, this kind of humor isn't about sex, it's not degrading to ANYONE (except people who don't like pancakes or bunnies?), it isn't about race or religion or current events. It's just FUNNY. I figured that it would make some people laugh and smile and I didn't feel annoyed at all that I couldn't get to the web page I had initially wanted to get to.

2006-04-26T23:55:00.000-07:00

[i totally just screwed myself over at 11:12PM on wed. april 26th 2006]

Music::

2006-04-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to some music on my laptop right now and I have headphones. Having headphones (don't need to be actually listening to anything) on is sometimes a really weird feeling. It's like you're listening to music (or maybe not) and all you can hear is THAT. I can look out at the world but in a way be in my own little world at the same time. I can see everything and everyone but I'm not really IN that world. That's why I sometimes really hate headphones or just listening to music in general. However, other times, that's why I love headphones and music; it helps me separate myself from that world, the world that maybe I don't want to be in at the moment.

But I don't understand how people can go around listening to their mp3 players or CD players ALL the freaking time! It's like don't you want to hear the world outside of your own head?!? I enjoy hearing birds, planes, people talking, and hearing my own footsteps as I walk wherever. But yeah, sometimes I do want to separate myself; but not all the time. So yeah, I keep repeating myself and I should just go back to working on this PSA (Public Service Annoucement) that I need to edit for my digital video class.

.byee

It's not procrastinating when you're doing something that needs to get done as well::

2006-04-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about the Tech Challenge since it's almost over and how I really get into it. One of my top priorities for a job is that I need to be solving problems. I can't just be doing something that's the same every single day (I know that not many jobs are the same every day but you know..). But solving problems isn't just solving the global problems of the world or trying to figure out how to make a better device to fill sand bags -- actually, I'm not too sure about having a job where I need to make a better device to fill sand bags -- this problem solving criteria includes teaching since education solves the problems of the world. Or it can include writing. But I just don't see how something like making movies could do that. Now, I think that making documentaries or PSA's and doing something along with making these videos could solve problems and change the world but I don't see how creating, directing, or filmming a narrative (fiction) movie could change the world. I want to change the world. And I don't mean to say that what I don't want to do doesn't work work for ANYONE else in the world; that's stupid. Different things turn different people on. I'm just trying to find what turns me on and makes me want to do it ALL the time. I know it sounds corny, but I really do want to change the world. Now I'm debating whether to post this. Hmm.. whatever. I will. Now, I need to read history and see how people changed the world in the past. If only I wanted to read it... maybe if I do something fun afterwards... like uhhh eat ice cream? Eating ice creams fun... ha. Okay, after I finish reading this million page thing I get to eat ice cream. Eh, doesn't sound very appealing. Maybe I get to read a good book after I finish reading this. Yes, that's a good prize for finishing. Okay. This is dorky. Whatever.

Why do I not want to do it?

2006-04-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

I want to know French, I want to edit videos, and I want to know more about history. So why do I not want to learn French, learn editing videos, and learn more about history? Why do I not want to take the time to sit down and learn about all of this stuff and practice my French and practice editing everything I can get my hands on? I don't understand. I guess I just want to know how to speak French, edit videos, and know everything about history. But is there one thing that I love learning about and doing so much that I would could just do it all the time? That could be my career? I want something that makes my heart and head ache when I can't do it. I want to want to do it all the time. I thought it could be something with technology but now I feel like I don't have anything to blog about or to look at on the web. But I do know that I over think these kinds of things all the time and just because I'm not into blogging for a couple days doesn't mean I won't get right back into it when I start up again (as I am right now). And just because I'm not into learning French at the moment doesn't mean I don't want to study languages and cultures when I "grow up" (that's such an odd phrase... I mean when I'm older and have a major in a 4 year college and am thinking about jobs or grad schools... that's what when I grow up means). I know I shouldn't think everything has to be FUN all the time and I want to have fun doing things all the time but the thing I choose to do for a job or career (meaning I think I would do it for awhile, but that totally doesn't mean I have to do it for the REST OF MY LIFE or anything) has to be something like energizes me and gives me new ideas and is a creative outlet. Hmm I was just going strong but now I'm dead. I think I need sleep. Sleep is good. Especially right now when I can't even remember what I wanted to say in this post. I think it flows well enough.

All good stuff but too little time::

2006-04-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to blog about. I'm stuck. I don't want to tell you about my day AGAIN (BTW, it was pretty good). But I just can't think of anything to blog about. Actually, I can but all my ideas take too long to type up and I need to get in bed um.. now. So is there some kind of blogging in your sleep I should do? I could blog while I walk or blog while I do yoga tomorrow morning but I think I might have a hard time typing while doing downward dog. I could potentially blog tomorrow after yoga but I need to do my geometry homework. Then, my geometry tutor is picking me up at school and then we do geometry for an hour. Then, I have to work on French homework for an hour because at 3:30 my dad's picking me up so we can go to a PARC talk that looks really interesting. And then I have French class. And finally I get home at 8PM. I could actually do some stuff then however I have a French quiz next Tuesday, a digital video first project due next Wednesday, oh and the Tech Challenge is next Saturday (April 29th). And we don't have a working device now... meaning we're working this Friday all day, Saturday most of the day probably and Sunday a good portion of the day. And there's a trial next Tuesday (oh yeah and I need to go to the OBD club meeting thing next Tuesday as well meaning I have NO time to study for my French quiz that night meaning that I need to do everything before... meaning that I should be doing it on the weekend but oh wait, I have the Tech Challenge! So uhhhh yeah, that's my schedule for these next two weeks and this will be my only post for these two weeks as well I'm guessing. Now, I need to go to bed so I can wake up and start doing all this shit (not that any of this stuff is bad or yucky, I love it, it's just too much)!

So I'm guessing I'll be reading history tomorrow night since I have to do that before Monday.

Mondays are always better than Sundays::

2006-04-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

I offically hate Sundays. Okay. Since I'm acknowledging that I hate Sundays I can not and should not care what I accomplish on Sundays! Everything I accomplish yesterday probably would have taken me 4 hours on a regular day but it took me the whole day, from 11AM to midnight. I got dressed, at a whole lot of food throughout the whole day, read two readings for my History seminar, made a new blog for the seminar, wrote up my comments and thoughts about the three readings (I had read the first one a couple days before), and sent like two emails. That's about it. Eh, well since I KNOW that I can't really do anything productive on Sundays I'm going to just give into it and have Sundays be my blah days. It's good to have a blah day to just not do anything.

But today has been very good. I started my PSA (Public Service Annoucement) project for VART 85 (Digital Video Editing 2) class and I was thinking I would start that on Wednesday, so I'm ahead of the schedule I came up with for this week! Wow! If anyone even reads my blog, you're probably about to stop reading or have stopped already. This is boring stuff, this is what goes in my paper journal that nobody sees (and I don't want them to). Now to stuff that I want people to know about me....

I checked out Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August and The Zimmerman Telegram. I'm planning on reading them. Dr. Pierce (my History seminar professor) had us read three of her essays for this Monday (the class I just got out of). I love Tuchman's tone in her essays, very conversational and readable. But sometimes it's hard to sum up and summarize conversational readings because it's like everything was great! I liked everything! But what's nice is that I don't think I have to do that for this seminar since we talk about the readings/articles on Mondays for 50 minutes and then at the end we compile all of our notes together into a paper about our observations of history and the readings; sounds pretty easy (and I'm not saying easy is bad). I think it'll be a good seminar with some nice interaction with the other students and Pierce and I figure I'll know a whole lot more about history by the end of the quarter! AND I'm fulfilling a Honors Scholar requirement. So, this seminar is good. I'm glad I'm taking it.

Since I didn't read any digital video (VART 85) stuff yesterday I should do that now because I don't want to get super behind like I did last quarter. But I do know that I got an A from that class so I didn't get so behind that I didn't know what I needed to know for the projects and quizzes.

Hmm I need to think of some better posts than just blabbing about myself and what happens during each day. Well, maybe I'll have some great insight when I read my digial video book, The Technique of Film and Video Editing written by Ken Dancyger.

Random/bloppy day::

2006-04-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

I'm in the History 34 Honors seminar this quarter (spring) and we're supposed to read different articles and essays each week. Every Monday (when we meet) we discuss the readings we read the previous week and at the end of the quarter, we write a paper about all of the readings. I've decided to create another blog for this seminar so if I want to show it to anyone I can just tell them that blog and then they won't need to see all of this blog (if I posted my history posts on this blog). I really want to be able to just 'tag' or categorize my posts and then just say this post is about whatever but blogger doesn't have that! This coming summer my family is going to redo our servers and we're going to get maybe Movable Type and put it on so we can have more features on our blogs. For now, I'll just keep creating as many blogs as I want!! Okay, I have a whole lot more reading I need to do for this history seminar and I also have reading for my digital video class so I should probably get back to it. My team and I did Tech Challenge stuff all Friday (literally all Friday, from 11AM, when I woke up, to 11:30ishPM) and Saturday from 11AM to 7PM and then I was a blob all last night because I was so tired and it was hard to make my brain think of anything other than the Tech Challenge... and now I'm getting to homework!

I wanted to go to the Los Altos Library today but nooo it's closed for Easter... and it's closed tomorrow because it's always closed on Mondays! Come on rich people (I know there are a whole lot of you who use the library and live in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills), give some money to the library!! Actually, I shouldn't complain because someone with the last name of Whipple who recently died gave a whole bunch of money to the library to build a new wing!!! I'm excited!!! I have no idea if I posted about this previously, if I did, I'm still excited!!! I think it said it's going to be done in fall 2007.. or I may have forgotten and I'm making that up.. but soonish! Hopefully I won't have gone off to college (four year college) by the time it's built. The one thing I'm wondering is where exactly this wing will go; the library is surrounded by apricot trees on two sides and the parking lot on the other two sides.. hmm or maybe it's another level, that'd be pretty cool. : )

Please feel free to read my blog about the History seminar! Okay, back to reading.

Passover!

2006-04-13T00:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Passover!! I really need to go to sleep since I have my second yoga class tomorrow at 10AM, but I just wanted to say that I'm so totally not religious (ha, those couple words definitely made me sound like a 16 year old girl, which yeah, I know, I am) but I love most of the Jewish holidays my family and I celebrate. I treat these holidays as times to get together with friends and relatives and eat good food and sing songs and light candles. I have never treated these gatherings as religious things... I don't WANT to treat them as this since I'm yes, so totally not religious. I think I'd say I'm agnostic with Jewish and Christian background... hmmm I don't know about what I'd say. I don't really like reading and singing/talking about God with any religion but I think of many of these songs as just part of my tradition. But I don't know. I really don't want to go through the motions and think that's okay. Because I don't think that IS okay. I want to actually think about what I'm doing and saying and singing and I want to believe in what I'm saying and doing and thinking because it doesn't really feel like lying necessarily but it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel right to me somehow. But I really do love all of these family gatherings and I think that's what I've always thought of when I think of what I do with my religion. Also, going off on another topic, I. ugh. wait, I totally forgot what I was going to say... hmmm well then. I hope this post is readable and makes some sense. I think I should go to sleep! This is my first week of my second spring quarter at Foothill. It was weird, yesterday in my French 3 class I noticed that there are three people from my French 1 class that I took last fall quarter and I sort of got a jolt of memories of fall quarter and how yeah, I know it wasn't THAT long ago, but I feel like I've changed and grown a whole lot. Not just in French, but in my whole life. I definitely FEEL more grown up and like I have some more knowledge of things.. maybe not necessarily everything from all my classes, but real life knowledge. It was a weird time to reflect, in my first French 3 class, but it did make sense that I would be thinking about it since it's the beginning of the quarter and I was sitting in class with these people I hadn't been with since fall. It's interesting to see when I reflect. I can't just SIT down and okay, think to myself I have to reflect on my year. I don't really reflect on December 31st about the previous year... it happens at weird times. No, wait I take that back. I do reflect when a new year is coming but I intentionally think about it. But it's weird and interesting to see when I just maybe see a face I haven't seen in awhile or think about a thought I haven't thought about in a long time and I'll suddenly remember how I felt however long ago and how I feel right in the moment, and how sometimes those feelings are very similar or sometimes extremely different. I guess this goes with when sometimes NOTHING is going right and it feels like I can't do anything correctly or I'm not understanding anything a teacher's saying.. I need to remember that "this too shall pass" or something like that and that yeah, I really did somehow get through that hard part.. since yeah.. I'm still here today and I'm in the next math class or whatever. But I definitely know that it's hard to think like that (logically) when I'm thinking the sky's falling and EVERYTHING possible is going wrong and I can't do anything about it. I need to remember about everything else I've done and gotten through.

Yes, okay. Now I need to sleep, I'll think more tomorrow. I hope my yoga class is nice and relaxing...

Daily Thoughts::

2006-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just read this New York Times article about companies wanting to have consumers make their ads. I guess it's all "hip and cool" for companies to do that... I don't know if I'd want to make something and then have it taken for a company I may not even like. I think I'd only do that for some company or product that I really like and I don't know how many companies I really like! Well, I have a couple stores that I shop at so okay...

I'm in Drew's apartment in Santa Barbara now. We got in super late last night after leaving home at 7PM. There was a fatal accident on 101. It's so hard when it's something fatal. but yeah, it's harder for the family and friends of the person who died.... hmmm going to stop writing about this.

--

I wish I could clean my room virtually, that'd be pretty cool. Because now that I'm not at home, I finally have the energy for cleaning and organizing my room!! But I'm not there!! So, I think I should create a tool where you can either just have a 3D picture of your room on your computer and just use the mouse to pick up things and clean it. Or you could even have like a virtual space room where you could actually like "move" the things but it looks like you're just picking up air. I don't know how that would work. Or you could just hire someone to go to your room and have a webcam set up of your room and just point or say the things you want to be moved! It could work!

Okay, I'm going to get dressed and maybe walk to the coffee house that's near Drew's apartment.

What do I do all day??

2006-04-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

I found this blog and I decided to do something similar as he has done in his most recent post. Let's see how it goes::

11:00AM: got out of bed, went into family room and turned on laptop then went into kitchen and warmed up oatmeal in the microwave (does a microwave count?)

11:30AM: logged into laptop, opened Mail and Firefox. waited. One new email, read email. clicked on my bookmark tabs: my backpack homepage, blogger home page, went to my blog to see if anyone else in the world had viewed my blog (Clustr Maps), logged into mybloglog account to see again if anyone had viewed my blog, checked the blogs I frequently check (look at 'read what I read' in right column, over there -->), checked email again... at the same time of all of this, i read a new york times article, checked my email again, found that i got my 'daily insight' from the yoga journal and read it.

12:00PM: read some of the Los Altos Town Crier. my dad and I played with my digital camera.

12:30PM: blogging...

we'll see how the rest of the day goes! You would think that I wouldn't use my laptop anymore today considering that my parents and I are hopefully driving down to Santa Barbara soonish but I'm known for watching movies and looking for wireless during a long drive.

Puzzling Ed Plan::

2006-04-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been working for a looong time on my education plan (ed. plan) for the two years I have left at Foothill. It's so hard trying to figure out where to put in the classes. Not only do I want to only take three classes per quarter because I know that I realistically can't take four or more classes and do well in all of them, but I need to make sure I fulfill the IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) requirements, Associates Degree General Education requirements, and some sort of high school requirements to just say "yeah, I took high school classes." Also, I want a Video Arts Skills Certificate and I want to get an Honors Scholar Award. So, with all of these things I want to and need to do, it's extremely hard to figure out how to fit every class in. Fortunately, I'm good at solving problems. Unfortunately, I tend not to be as good at solving my own problems. But the thing is that I really had and wanted to figure this out because I wanted to see if I could start Calculus next fall instead of this spring like I had originally planned. And I needed to figure that out NOW because I needed to figure out what my plan for my classes this coming quarter! I finally dug into it and moved around and added and took out numerous classes and seminars and I did it! I even have two different paths I could take, physics or computer science and discrete math. Both of these groups of classes are for my Associates Degree in math. I also have room to switch around classes depending on when they're offered.

But... another bump! I just got an email from the math dean saying that my geometry class that I'm planning on taking this quarter is cancelled!! Aaah! But I've planned for this. I sent her an email asking if there's any way to have some kind of seminar since I think there are seven people wanting to take the class. I'm waiting for her response... if she says no then I have another just as good alternative plan: get a tutor. The good thing about having a tutor is that we can both figure out what I've learned and what I need to focus on more since I learned tons of geometry in 7th and 8th grade at Keys and I've gotten all A's in my math classes at Foothill, some of which have required me to know some geometry. Both a minus to a tutor is that I'll be alone with the person and then have no interaction with peers which I know I really need to create a good learning atmosphere for myself. I'll wait and see what the math dean at Foothill says about a proposed seminar kind of class. I know something will work out.

I feel a lot better now that I've updated my Ed Plan and I can now see that I'll be able to do all of the requirements!!

I'm excited, I like the classes that I'm going to take! : )

Now, shower and clean my room (I didn't do either of those yesterday).

while looking at others' blogs: my tuesday::

2006-04-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at other people's blogs and I'm making some changes to my own blog, as you can tell. I don't even know if anyone is looking at my blog but if you are looking and you think something looks weird or cool, just email me. I'm getting lots of ideas from other people's blogs but some of the things I just don't know how to do. But I really like messing around with my template (as long as everything keeps working) so that's okay that I don't know everything!

I did many of the changes in my sidebar last night, well, actually this morning from around 11PM to 4AM. ew. I went to sleep around 4:30AM and woke up at 1:30PM today. HA, I thought I would be going to bed EARLIER since I was in Illinois.. and was two hours ahead. and with Daylight Savings Time too. But I guess not! And I'm still in my pjs, yes, I do realize it's 4:30PM now... but it's rainy and I'm on break so it's okay. Hopefully, I'll have some lunch soon, hop in the shower, and clean my room! Last night, well this morning, I had to move some things off my bed and I had NO where to move the stuff. My chair was full. My desk was full. My nightstand was full. My bookshelf area was full. There was stuff in front of my closet already. And I couldn't block the path to the door. I finally found a place UNDER my desk next to the keyboard for my desktop computer that I set up two weeks ago when I had to get some files off it for my Honors seminar ePortfolio. hmmm, time to clean? Yes. any helpers? Guess not.

What sucks about having to clean my room is it's usually a two day job and it doesn't get me outside, meaning I spend two days inside and get all grouchy. I don't like that.

My Monday::

2006-04-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

My mom and I just got back from our second German class at Fremont High School (through the Adult Education thing) and I'm starting to learn more!! We don't have class for the rest of April but my mom and I have decided to keep up and do the handouts that our teacher gave us and do the exercises in the book! If I want to be able to know eight languages then I guess I have to learn them! I wish I could just KNOW every language... when I have kids, I'm going to teach them many languages when they're young, maybe that'll work!

Before our German class, I went to Foothill to see my grade for my precalculus class last quarter (Winter quarter). I drove to Foothill from home and it went pretty well. When I got there I was really nervous to see my grade because I wasn't too sure if I had gotten an A or a B (yeah, yeah, I'm too nervous about my GPA.. I'm working on not being as obsessed). I walked over to my teacher's door and saw my grade... 95%... an A! wooohooo! Walked back to the car, drove to my yoga class in Palo Alto (there was only one time when I was a little nervous when I got a little too close to some parked car's on Alma) and got to yoga only 10 minutes late (better than the usual 20 minutes late... hahah). Catherine, my yoga teacher, wasn't there yet... another student who was waiting said she, Catherine, had called her to say that she was going to be late. When Catherine got there she asked me and the other student if we'd like to go on a little field trip to a spa/hair store nearby... so we went but it was closed! For no apparent reason!! But Catherine also wanted to go to this cafe nearby to get some hot chocolate... she treated the other student and me to hot chocolate and apricot scones, which was very nice of her! We talked awhile and it was as relaxing as yoga would have been! And I found this great (new to me) cafe on Ramona in downtown Palo Alto, yay!

Slideshow from S. Africa trip, September 2005::

2006-04-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm testing this slideshow thing out. I sent an email to the guy who has this blog to find out how he creates the links for his flickr slideshows. So, we'll see how it works! Here's the slideshow.

Back from Woodridge, Illinois::

2006-04-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Illinois last night around 10ish. I had a great trip and I loved spending time with Rebecca and it was interesting seeing a kind of place that I've never been to in the US. Yes, it was interesting if you know what I mean... I figured since I forgot to get a mircophone until around 20 minutes before my parents and I had to leave for the airport last Wednesday that it was a sign and I really did want to spend my whole time filming for my documentary (my Girl Scout Gold Award project) and not actually DOING anything with Rebecca or anyone else. So, I didn't take a microphone and on the drive to the airport I took out the tripod b/c I figured I wouldn't be doing any interviews... hahah it was sort of freeing b/c I had so much STUFF. I still took my (well, my dad's) video camera and my nice NEW digital camera. I took lots of pictures with my camera, I can't exactly use most of them for my documentary b/c I would need premission slips from everyone, which I'm sort of sick of getting... but I know that they're needed because yeah, I do need permission from people if I can film them and show pictures and video of them to others. I'm going to put my pictures up on flickr and make a slideshow.

[NOTE: I am continuing this on 3/4/06 at 3:14pm] To recap and because I don't really want to reread what I wrote above, I had a great time seeing Rebecca and staying in a midwestern suburb for a couple days, but a couple of days was enough. That is, a couple of days staying in a midwestern suburb... a couple of days with Rebecca was so not enough. Fortunately, we're seeing each other in July in California!!! woohooo. Yes, I'm happy! My goal for July is to be able to have a whole conversation with Rebecca in German, who knows how long this conversation will be but it'll make sense! If you want to read a log of my trip to Woodridge, IL you'll have to find my journal in my room. Good luck.

MATH::

2006-03-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

I'm off to downtown Los Altos to study study study math all day long! Read more about this on my math blog. Will it every stop raining? I know I should complain... but it's spring!!

NEW camera::

2006-03-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

My dad just brought home my new Sony DSC-S600 digital camera! My dad got it today at the Sony store (he works at Sony) and he got a pretty good discount. He also got two 512 MB "Memory Sticks Duo Pro" whatever duo pro means... all I know about this is that it means that I can't use the many other just plain "memory sticks" that we have for our two identical Sony (owned by Sony, borrowed by my dad) video (and digital) cameras. Doesn't that suck?! And the "Memory Stick Duo Pro" doesn't seem to work in my Sony mouse that has a slot for a "Memory stick." Now, my dad got the duo pro ones WITH these adapter things that should work with the mouse... hmmm maybe because they're refubished means that they don't work?? Well, I think we'll continue to look into that. But I can hook up my camera and download pics from my NEW camera through USB, so that works.

These are two of the very first pics I took on my camera! I'm going to try and take regular pictures and see how that goes. ALSO, I'm definitely going to load up on pictures when I go to Chicago on WEDNESDAY!!! I'm so excited about going to see Rebecca (my German friend there for a student exchange program) and meet Erin (her host) and her friends! Very exciting... and my first flight alone (exciting//nerve-racking)! Fortunately, my mom (THANK YOU MOM!!) got me on the same flight that my brother is taking from Chicago (he's coming back from Indiana and stopping in Chicago airport). So, only one flight alone!

Even though I have a really really *cool* new toy (well, birthday gift, and my birthday is Dec. 5th : ) ) I still have a really really not cool precalc final on Wednesday morning! NO, wait. don't get me wrong, I love math!! Absolutely, love math. But I have to admit. I'm done with this class. Onto new adventures! But, I do realize that not everything is fun all the time and I'm definitely planning on sticking to this because I really want a good grade in this class, and I have a good chance of getting it (if I study!!!!!!!!).

bye : )

2006-03-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

A leader of my Girl Scout troop sent this out to everyone through our Yahoo group. I'm so annoyed with this and at the same time I'm glad that I'm not in that pool of high school (girl) students that has to fight and do everything they can do and more to get into college now.

March 23, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
To All the Girls I've Rejected
By JENNIFER DELAHUNTY BRITZ
Gambier, Ohio

A FEW days ago I watched my daughter Madalyn open a thin envelope from
one of the five colleges to which she had applied. "Why?" was what she
was obviously asking herself as she handed me the letter saying she was
waitlisted.

Why, indeed? She had taken the toughest courses in her high school and
had done well, sat through several Saturday mornings taking SAT's and
the like, participated in the requisite number of extracurricular
activities, written a heartfelt and well-phrased essay and even taken
the extra step of touring the campus.

She had not, however, been named a National Merit finalist, dug a well
for a village in Africa, or climbed to the top of Mount Rainier. She is
a smart, well-meaning, hard-working teenage girl, but in this day and
age of swollen applicant pools that are decidedly female, that wasn't
enough. The fat acceptance envelope is simply more elusive for today's
accomplished young women.

I know this well. At my own college these days, we have three applicants
for every one we can admit. Just three years ago, it was two to one.
Though Kenyon was a men's college until 1969, more than 55 percent of
our applicants are female, a proportion that is steadily increasing. My
staff and I carefully read these young women's essays about their
passion for poetry, their desire to discover vaccines and their
conviction that they can make the world a better place.

I was once one of those girls applying to college, but that was 30 years
ago, when applying to college was only a tad more difficult than signing
up for a membership at the Y. Today, it's a complicated and prolonged
dance that begins early, and for young women, there is little margin for
error: A grade of C in Algebra II/Trig? Off to the waitlist you go.
Rest assured that admissions officers are not cavalier in making their
decisions. Last week, the 10 officers at my college sat around a table,
12 hours every day, deliberating the applications of hundreds of
talented young men and women. While gulping down coffee and poring over
statistics, we heard about a young woman from Kentucky we were not yet
ready to admit outright. She was the leader/ president/ editor/ captain/
lead actress in every activity in her school. She had taken six advanced
placement courses and had been selected for a prestigious state
leadership program. In her free time, this whirlwind of achievement had
accumulated more than 300 hours of community service in four different
organizations.

Few of us sitting around the table were as talented and as directed at
age 17 as this young woman. Unfortunately, her test scores and grade
point average placed her in the middle of our pool. We had to have a
debate before we decided to swallow the middling scores and write
"admit" next to her name.

Had she been a male applicant, there would have been little, if any,
hesitation to admit. The reality is that because young men are rarer,
they're more valued applicants. Today, two-thirds of colleges and
universities report that they get more female than male applicants, and
more than 56 percent of undergraduates nationwide are women.
Demographers predict that by 2009, only 42 percent of all baccalaureate
degrees awarded in the United States will be given to men.

We have told today's young women that the world is their oyster; the
problem is, so many of them believed us that the standards for admission
to today's most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men. How's
that for an unintended consequence of the women's liberation movement?
The elephant that looms large in the middle of the room is the
importance of gender balance. Should it trump the qualifications of
talented young female applicants? At those colleges that have reached
what the experts call a "tipping point," where 60 percent or more of
their enrolled students are female, you'll hear a hint of desperation in
the voices of admissions officers.

Beyond the availability of dance partners for the winter formal, gender
balance matters in ways both large and small on a residential college
campus. Once you become decidedly female in enrollment, fewer males and,
as it turns out, fewer females find your campus attractive.
What are the consequences of young men discovering that even if they do
less, they have more options? And what messages are we sending young
women that they must, nearly 25 years after the defeat of the Equal
Rights Amendment, be even more accomplished than men to gain admission
to the nation's top colleges? These are questions that admissions
officers like me grapple with.

In the meantime, I'm sending out waitlist and rejection letters for
nearly 3,000 students. Unfortunately, a majority of them will be female,
young women just like my daughter. I will linger over letters,
remembering individual students I've met, essays I loved,
accomplishments I've admired. I know all too well that parents will ache
when their talented daughters read the letters and will feel a bolt of
anger at the college admissions officers who didn't recognize how
special their daughters are.

Yes, of course, these talented young women will all find fine places to
attend college — Maddie has four acceptance letters in hand — but it
doesn't dilute the disappointment they will feel when they receive a
rejection or waitlist offer.

I admire the brilliant successes of our daughters. To parents and the
students getting thin envelopes, I apologize for the demographic realities.

Jennifer Delahunty Britz is the dean of admissions and financial aid at
Kenyon College.