On my way to Berkeley...

So this is the end of senior year and college is around the corner now. I will be at Berkeley this fall majoring in environmental science. Berkeley is the best school for my major and it offers an infinite amount of resources for me to use. The liberating environment and the easy going culture at Cal is just the right fit for me. Not only that but I will be near my older sister, is going to school and living in Oakland, something my mom comforts in because I will be close to family if I need anything.

 Wordle
I have visited Berkeley twice so far and have fallen in love with its beautiful campus, massive libraries, and amazing people. I even met a current senior who shared many of my interests. We requested each other to be roommates! I leave for Berkeley this month to begin summer school with a program called Summer Bridge. Because of Summer Bridge,  I will gain life-long friends and acquire study skills that will prepare me as a student at Berkeley. I am excited, nervous, happy, and sad at the same time. I know I will become homesick for my family and room at home. I am extremely close to my sisters and parents, but although I will miss them so much, I know this is an important step in my life. I will meet many new people that will simply add to my life of friends and family. My four years of college will fly by just as high school did. Pretty soon my college graduation will come, Class of 2015! But for now, I am Class of 2011 and all the work has paid off! I am going to the #1  public university in the country. I can't wait!

Image: 'College Football'
Image: 'Mercy of the Fallen'
Image: 'cal'
Image: 'Beyond Time (Sather Tower)'
Image: 'Brighton Earthship Solar Panel'
Image: 'Platinum LEED'
Image: 'Pomp and Circumstance'
Image: 'Doe Library Stitch'
Image: 'The Dorm Desk'
Image: 'Helping out'
Image: 'Brick Road Pizza (121/365)'

Book Tracking Made EASY

As an avid reader for leisure and for school work, a site such as GoodReads is an ideal site to use for me to keep track of the books I have read or are reading. There are many tools this site has to offer for free. I enjoyed how people can rate books and a person can determine whether a book is recommendable by looking at its rating. I also think that tracking your progress on the books you are currently reading is a useful feature because it makes you feel accomplished once you finish reading and you can mark it as "read". The idea of storing all the books you have read on the "bookshelf" on  GoodReads allows you to keep track of all the books you have read (or can remember reading) so that you have a number next to your name. I always  wanted to create a list of books that I have read but I never got around to it. With GoodReads this tracking memory system is easy and simple. I think I will definitely continue using this site to track my progress on books and also find new and interesting books to read in the future.

Fun Websites to Use!

Making art online such as comics and mosaics is fun and easy. There are two sites you can find on Makebeliefscomix and Wordle. The comic below was such a pleasure to make because you can easily make your own story, words, characters, and colors by going to Makebeliefscomix. The mosaic that I made on Wordle describes artists in the 80's that made the generation awesome.

Celebration for my Sister!

Video for the party!


Video I made of the day  of her Quince!

Video

Umbrella:

 Image: 'John Singer Sargent: Morning Walk'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99051133@N00/2727928023

Horse/Carriage:

Image: 'DSC_7210 - Giddy-up'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22490717@N02/2866885571

carriages:

Image: 'Wien - Traffic Jam at Heldenplatz'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68193770@N00/269305717

Image: 'Central Park'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48941604@N06/4997797854

Image: 'Central Park'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28567825@N03/3464016289

Image: 'Paris Paris in Las Vegas Black &+White'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35375520@N07/4636107462

Image: 'First Collage'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82518118@N00/384961583

CENTRAL PARK:

Image: 'untitled'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8067492@N04/480913293

Image: '2 Heck-Andrews House, Front and Side'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43164076@N06/5092283692

Image: 'century home autumn bloom'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28801512@N00/1526593225

Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

I believe Animoto is very useful for any project whether at school or for social events. For example, I used it to make a Video of a book I read called Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Not only did I use it for Library Science but also to make Photo Montage for my sister's Birthday Party. I am excited to continue using the Animoto for future projects in life.

Fun with pictures!

Image Chef

1.  Image: Yep, not too bad

2. Image: 'Great Barrier Reef 101'

3. Image: 'Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin' http://www.flickr.com/photos/22261589@N00/2153203674

4. Image: 'To the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain HDR' http://www.flickr.com/photos/30982194@N05/3726309560

Crazy for the 80's!

I do not know where it started but I have a fondness for the 80's. The movies, the music and the style. Without a doubt if I ever had a time machine, I would go back and relive the 80's!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60057912@N00/4747273039

Movies of the 80's that never get boring: 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Pretty In Pink (1986) , Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) , Say Anything (1989), Back to the Future (1985), When Harry Met Sally (1988), Revenge of the Nerds (1988), The Goonies (1986) 

*Molly Ringwald * John Cusak *Matthew Brodewick

Music from the 80's that occupy my ipod: 

Michael Jackson, The Go-Go's, Berlin, A-ha, Prince, Bon Jovi, Cars, Duran Duran, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Elton John, Queen, The Police, Madonna, Blondie, Soft Cell

Just have to say that without these artists, where would we be? It may be one or all for you but 

Crazy 80's style:

If you've seen the character "Deb" from Napoleon Dynamite or any of the beginning scenes from 13 Going on 30 you know that this is only a smidgin of how 80's dressers dressed like. 

-Side ponytails are a must. 

-Tons of blue eye-shadow, pink blush, and pink lipstick

-Lots of prints and on everything from pants to sweaters

-leg warmers

-bright oversized jewelry 

-LOTS and lots of spandex

So this 80's style is so much fun to re-enact. I find myself going all out for 80's spirit days at my high school. 

Creative Commons :D

Image: 'Book Cover: Retoned'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25748635@N00/3273488323

This photo tells a story. It's a story about a poverty stricken family that remains intact and happy. I admire the  smiles on these children's faces. They are sincere and beautiful. I chose this picture because of its message that having a family is happiness - not money or material things but people who you love and love you back. I found this photo while I was searching for 'book' on FlickrCC and it showed up and amazed me. 

Image: 'Jack 14'

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21885349@N07/2594746630

Jack Johnson. Raised in Hawaii. Professional surfer. Environmentally conscious musician. I've seen him perform live in Irvine! He is beyond talented and collaborates with phenomenal musicians in his concerts such as Zee Avi, Zach Gill,  and G. Love & Special Sauce. I found this picture on FlickrCC. It was easy to find a great picture of Jack Johnson in a concert. He is definitely one of my favorite people in the world :D

Copy.....right!

• Copyright is the protection the author has when they create a painting, computer program, story, film, music, or book. It protects the expression and not the idea.
•  Copyright is limited and protection is not offered to titles, names, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols or designs, methods systems, principles, or information that is common property that contains no original authorship like calendars or height and weight charts. 
• Fair use is also an exception and that is when the public domain can us a person's work for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or library archiving. 
• Works that are in public domain are not protected by intellectual property rights or if their rights have been expired. Examples of such works include Bethoven, Newton Physics, the English Languag, works of Shakespeare and the patents on powered flight
• Copyright protection lasts a lifetime...for the author of the work at least, and 70 years after they pass!
• Creative Commons is a site used for creative thinkers to share their ideas online for free as well as protects against uses they do not consent to. 
• Creative Commons was created to make it easy for anyone to license their work. It defines the rules of copyright and allows for collaboration among teachers, writers, artists, and anyone else who wishes to use another person's work. 

An Avatar's Purpose

An avatar is a safe way to represent a real person online. A person can personalize their avatar to make it fun and interesting for another person reading their blog. An avatar is creative form to express thoughts and messages without risking a damage to their digital footprint. 


My favorite avatar is the the one I used by using the site Build Your Wild Self. This site was such a fun experience because of their many options in customizing your avatar. It allowed for my imagination to to its job in representing how I wish to be portrayed. I began building my "wild self" by going to their website at Build Your Wild Self and clicking "START". I chose a simple hair style, then brown eyes, then a flamingo mouth. I am wearing a heart printed shirt and a brown skirt. For head gear i chose antlers, for feet I chose bird feet, for arms I chose monkey arms, and for ears I chose rabbit ears. I also have gorgeous peacock feathers as well as beautiful butterfly wings.  My habitat background is in the ocean with fishes swimming past me.  All these animated details are simply exciting and attractive. I took advantage of the site's impressive animal options and accomplished to make an AWESOME avatar. I love my avatar. It's amazing..not only because it's creative but also because it captures a gorgeous combination of animals and insects. :D

Picture of ME

These are pretty legit representations of how I look on a day to day basis...

Monday after the weekend....

Wednesday during the weekday...

And Friday before for the Weekend :D

Special thanks to:

Build Your Wild Self

Dream Avatar

Manga

My First time...

This blog will be my first ever and I am excited and curious about where I will take this blog. I think I would enjoy blogging about my experiences as a senior in high school, what I've done in the past, and where will I be in the future. Mentioning family, friends, and pets are also things I would update on.

Digital Citizenship is almost like US citizenship where you are accountable for laws you break in the country except that online actions remain online forever. Being responsible for my posts and comments are ways to remain a good digital citizenship. Also refraining from putting up embarrassing photos of anyone is something I will abide to.

Privacy is just as important as digital citizenship. I will not share any names, places, or any photos that will allow anyone to "find" me. Especially creepy stalkers...So I will be careful and share only general specifics if that makes sense.

Random Post Topics for the Future are as follows:

Travels out of the State/Country
College Expectations
Being an Auntie of 6
The era of the 80's
Love the Literature
My influences
Movie Maniac