Fangirl

So I'm pretty much in love with Ra Ra Riot right now. They were AMAZING. Better live than their album! I'll write more about the show tomorrow night or something... but right now, I'm just sooo happy that I went to the show instead of studying for my Filipino Americans midterm which is in 8 hours!

Anyway, we got to meet 4 out of 6 members of Ra Ra Riot and Trang and I are pretty much in love with Wesley (vocals) and Mathieu (bass). They were suuuuper nice and not to mention suuuuper cute in a nerdy kind of way! They signed Trang's Comm notes and my arm! :) We even got to hug them, which pretty much made my night! It was funny/sad/cute when April asked Wesley if they get hugs all the time because they're on tour, and he said, "no, not really." Haha! It was also cute when Trang asked them if their tour bus was in the back and Wesley said, "it's more of a tour van. We're roughing it." LOL. They totally deserve a tour bus! When we left, Mathieu told Trang, "good luck on your midterm!" How nice! When Trang and I got back to my room, we listened to Ra Ra Riot and fangirled over Wesley and Mathieu. Hehe. :)

Pictures taken from my phone since none of us had our cameras with us!

Trang and I totally matched them! And Mathieu
kind of looks like Jemaine from FOTC! :P

P.S. Death Cab was freakin' awesome!

Done!

I finished a painting for Emi last night. :) I started painting after I showered and didn't finish until 4:30 in the morning. I felt sooo gross with other people's sweat all over me. The Cascada concert was sooo fun and crazy! Worst crowd I've been in (it is UCSB, afterall) because of all the pushing, jumping, and dancing. Can't wait for Death Cab next week! We're planning to wait in line at 3:00am on Monday so we can get our wristbands!

Anyway, here's the painting... sorry for the crappy lighting.


I don't know why, but I love how my desk looks whenever I paint!


And here's something special... Noho playing Hotel 626!

My first attempt at making roses

Everything was homemade, except for the cake and the dulce de leche. We made the marshmallow fondant and the icing ourselves. :)

The roses weren't that hard to make, but the icing came out really soft after piping a few petals. I guess we overmixed the icing when we mixed in icing coloring and not to mention that it was super hot over the weekend. Oh well. Better luck next time.

(The pictures were taken on my phone, so the quality isn't that great.)

Mountains will crumble and temples will fall, and no man can survive its endless call...

I wish I had time to paint.

Thanks a lot, midterms.

Yesssss~!!

Death Cab is finally going to perform at UCSB! After a looong wait, they've finally announced it! April 28th at the Thunderdome! Emi and I are totally going to ditch Anthro on the 27th to get our wristbands for the show!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down...

So last Monday, I was in a somewhat embarrassing and painful situation. I was biking back towards my dorm after my Filipino-Americans class to meet Emi for lunch when my left bike pedal decided to give out on me. I stood up as I biked up the hill heading to Manzanita Village and within an instant, I was on the floor with my bike on top of me. The whole thing happened within a second, but to me, it seemed like it was happening in slow motion. I remember feeling my left bike pedal fall off and I remember falling off my bike and onto the ground. I also remember trying to avoid hitting my head and falling on my arm... but it all happened so fast.

It took a few seconds for me to comprehend what had just happened. The guy (who luckily was the only person there at the time) who was walking down the hill ran up to me and asked if I was alright. I tried to get up, but my legs were tangled around my bike--which was lying on top of me-- and I just couldn't move. The guy helped me get up and asked if I was alright. I picked up my bike and laughed off the pain that I felt on both of my legs. He picked up my missing bike pedal (which had landed about 8 feet away from my bike) and tried to put it back on. I felt bad for him because his hands got dirty from the mixture of grease and dirt on my bike, but I also felt relieved that someone was there to help me.

After a few minutes of trying to fix my bike pedal, the guy discovered that the ridges on the metal part of the pedal was bent. I told him that it was okay and I would just get it fixed at the bike shop. I thanked him for his help and walked my bike towards my dorm. I called Emi and told her that my bike pedal came off and I couldn't meet her for lunch. I kind of felt aggravated that she sounded so nonchalant (and kind of insensitive) about what had happened to me, but I ignored it because I started to feel pain in my legs and I wanted to get back to my dorm as soon as possible. I parked my bike, left my broken pedal in my basket, and took the elevator up to my room on the 4th floor.

As soon as I walked into my room, I lifted up my left pant leg and saw a diagonal scratch about 4 inches long on my calf. I opened my closet and turned my back towards the mirror on my closet door. Shockingly, I learned that my jeans had ripped on the back of my thighs and blood was visible through the tear. There were two parallel cuts behind my right thigh that were about 3 inches long. I immediately took off my pants (haha), cleaned the cuts on both legs, bandaged them, and put on a fresh pair of jeans. I called Emi and told her that I wouldn't be able to make it to class because my "injuries were worse than what I had expected" and that I had to go to the bike shop to get my pedals replaced. She sounded the same as she had earlier and said that she'd let me borrow her notes later.

After that, I called Daniela, told her what happened, and asked her if she could accompany me to the bike shop. A few minutes later, I met her at the dining commons, had lunch, and then walked over to the bike shop near I.V. Theater. We left my bike there and walked all the way to the other end of campus to get to our Physical Anthro discussion section. After class, we walked across campus again and back to the bike shop to pick up my bike. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks and I treated Daniela because she went through the trouble of helping me get my bike fixed. :) I was happy that my pedals were replaced, but now I am pretty much traumatized and scared of standing up on my bike. When I got back to my room, I showed Emi my cuts and she was shocked. She said that she didn't know that my injuries were that bad. I guess that explains her nonchalance on the phone.

I guess what I got out of this is that I need to stop putting things off until something bad happens. I noticed that bike pedals were starting to deteriorate last quarter and I made a mental note to replace them, but I just never got around to it. So the moral of the story is: STOP PROCRASTINATING! I should probably take my own advice and finish reading one of my Women's Studies books... I have to write a paper on it and it's due next week. Adios.

The cut on my left calf the day after the accident.

The cuts behind my right thigh the day
after the accident.

The cut on my left calf four days after the accident.
The flash on my camera made the bruising look
lighter than it really was.

The cuts behind my right thigh four days after the accident.
It started to form scabs.

Numero Dos!

So I hear there is going to be a Floatopia 2 on the 16th of May...

I also heard that Extravaganza is going to be on that same day...

Hmmm...?

The madness that is Floatopia...

Today marks a glorious day in UCSB/Isla Vista tradition. Every year, during the start of Spring quarter, a little event called Floatopia is held on the beach adjacent to UCSB. The origin of Floatopia isn't certain (some accounts range all the way back to 1982), but I read somewhere that it was started not by some inebriated college students who thought it would be fun to just float around and get smashed in the Pacific Ocean, but by some engineering students who built a platform and brought it to the ocean along with a few kegs of beer.

Floatopia, a portmanteau word that merges 'float' and 'utopia' together, is a day where Isla Vistans, students of UCSB, and many others who come flocking from cities up North and down South come together and do what Santa Barbara is known for: partying and getting drunk. This loosely organized tradition of forgetting any responsiblities as you float around with a beer in hand has been growing every year. According to the Floatopia 2007 event page on Facebook, over 2,000 students attended. This year, over 9,000 people RSVPed, and by the looks of it, I am pretty sure that not a single person flaked out on the invitation.

Ironically, Floatopia is often held during the day of Spring Insight, where thousands of prospective UCSB freshmen and their parents descend upon the University to take tours of the campus, explore academic departments, and visit the Housing Fair to get a first hand look at the UCSB experience. Little do they know that they will be getting a first hand look at what it really is like to be a student here at UCSB.

Although Floatopia may make UCSB seem like it is really living up to its reputation of being a party school, it does show that students know how to let off steam before the stress of midterms and piles of homework/reading come rolling around.

Despite of the fact that the aftermath of this madness will probably be a beach littered with empty beer cans and popped floats, there will be, in true environmental SB fashion, a beach cleanup tomorrow by those who partake in this madness. Even though Floatopia is not as big of a tradition as Halloween is here in Santa Barbara, it still is an amazing sight to see. Judging by my visit to the beach today and the noise I hear from inside my dorm room situated right next to the beach, it does seem like a utopia for college students. Who knows-- maybe next year my friends and I will buy a raft and join in on the fun.

Frustration