Well I did alright for fall quarter in terms of grades, as for winter quarter, i am taking a a discrete math class, a stats class, and an English class. the stats and English classes are pretty fun. like in the stats class we get to figure out probabilities of all sorts of things from flipping coins to the odds of getting a full house in poker. this especially cool for me since I have been somewhat addicted to playing Texas hold em. As for the English class we get to write a fictional story 8-24 pages long. i am still having trouble of thinking of a really good main character and basic plot. here is some of my favorite exercises that i did for the class (note: they are all rough drafts, and i never really looked through them thoroughly):
Construction Worker at McDonalds
Day after day, Drew would wake up in the morning, get ready to go to work, and then go to the McDonald’s that is conveniently located across the street of which he works as a construction worker.
“Good morning Drew. Same as usual?” the McDonalds employee asked the construction worker.
“Umm..” the big construction worker thought. “Nah…I think I’ll have some pancakes today.”
This was odd. For the last 10 years or so, Drew had ordered either just coffee to go, or an Egg McMuffin. Never had he broke away from his daily routine.
“Alright sir. Your number is 198.” The McDonalds employee said to Drew as she was handing him his receipt.
There was something different about Drew that day. It wasn’t his haircut, it wasn’t his clothes. It was the way he was moving. It was as if he had had just lost his dog. Well that is what had actually happen, literally. When Drew was playing fetch with him the other day. He had turned around just for one second to talk on his phone, and when he turned around his dog was no where to be seen.
“Man I don’t want to work today. I want to be out there finding Bert,” Drew said to himself.
The employees at McDonalds noticed Drew’s sadness. They all knew something was up.
“Hey are you alright Drew?” asked one of McDonald’s employees who is familiar with him.
“No not really. I lost my dog,” replied Bert. “He was my best friend. My compadre. ¡Mi Amigo!”
“Aww that’s too bad. He’ll show up sooner or later,” she said.
Then at that moment, Drew could not hold his emotions. He was on the verge of tears. So he quickly just got up, and went to his car without his pancakes.
But right when he was turning the key to open his door, the employee who talked to Drew came out with his pancakes.
“You forgot your pancakes Drew,” she said.
“Thank you. I almost forgot it,” he said. Drew then got into his car, and drove off to work. But before he started to work, he decided to eat his pancakes while they were still warm.
When he opened it, he saw a smiley face! It was a smiley face pancake! Drew thought about how those employees at McDonalds cared so much about him, and his mood went from depressed to overjoy. After work that day, Drew decided to stop moping around and make fliers for his missing dog. And when he was putting a flier up, he saw a dog walking on the street. But it wasn’t his dog. It was another stray dog. This motivated Drew even more to put up more fliers so that one day, he can be reunited with Bert.
Glass Figurines
All Allen Santiago had in his life were his glass figurines. He has no family, no friends, nobody. He lived a quiet life, just to himself. He would get up at exactly 8 am, go to his work at the local factory, arrive back home at exactly 5, eat a premade frozen dinner while watching jeopardy and then watch some local late night news before he would sleep and then wake up to do the same routine all over again. But on the weekend is where his fun would begin, at least for him. On the weekends he would make some glass figurines of all sorts of things, from animals to buildings.
One day at work, one of the few coworkers who knew he likes glass figurines, told him that there was a glass figurine convention coming to town that weekend. Allen, who wanted to look like he was not really interested, just simply nodded. Allen decided to go, of course, to see all of the glass figurines.
The convention center where the glass figurine convention was being held was completely packed. Being afraid of large crowds, Allen at first hesitated whether or not he should still go. He sat in his parent’s old Volkswagen for the longest of time, talking to himself whether he should still go or not. After finally convincing himself that he should go to the convention, he slowly got out of his car, and slowly walked towards the convention center with his head down, hoping to be unseen by anybody.
When he finally got inside, the first thing that caught his eye was this beautiful collection of glass figurines which together made it San Francisco. He stared at it for hours, not even looking at any of the other glass figurines.
This was unlike Allen. He had already planned out in his mind that was going to arrive home before 7 for Jeopardy. So without realizing it, Allen had been there for the entire day, just being completely mesmerized of the beauty of this statue.
“Excuse me sir, I think the convention is over,” some lady said.
Allen just nodded. He was still in a trance of bewilderment of how beautiful this collection of glass figurines were. It was the most incredible thing he has seen in his life.
The lady cleared her throat in order to try to get Allen out of this trance. “Sir, I think you’ll have to leave now,” she said.
“Can you tell me who made this?” Allen asked the woman.
“I did,” the woman said.
Allen was surprised. He could not believe he was standing next to person who created the most beautiful thing he has seen in his life. He asked her a ton of questions about it. Like what inspired her, and how long did it take her to make it. The woman was as equally as surprised that Allen knew as much about making glass figurines as she did.
And before Allen even knew it, he had a girlfriend. Allen and Selena really enjoyed each other company. They liked to talk to each other, and not just about glass figurines. Selena even took him to see a movie in the movie theatre, something that he has never done before.
On the newly formed couple’s second date, Selena had to leave her little crazy dog at his house until they returned back. Allen agreed, not thinking about the repercussions about this decision. They decided to go to the aquarium for their date. They saw the dolphins, the sharks, and all sorts of different kinds of fish. But after every new animal he saw, he was reminded of Selena’s dog that was left back at his house, with all of his precious and fragile glass figurines.
Driving back from the aquarium was even harder for Allen as he was very anxious to get home. At every stop light, he would furiously race towards it, trying to make sure he wouldn’t get stopped by a red light. But before heading home, Selena wanted to show Allen her old house that she lived in as a child. Allen hesitantly agreed. When they got to Selena’s old house, she told him to park right outside of it. Selena started to talk about some of her fondest memories at the house, while Allen was trying to listen to Selena but his mind was on his glass figurines. After 10 minutes of talking about the house, Allen could not take it anymore. He started up the engine, and explained to Selena that her stupid dog is in his house with his life’s work. Selena tried to calm Allen down, that her dog is very well behaved and never once destroyed any of her works. But Allen wasn’t listening; he was just focusing on getting back to his glass figurines.
When Allen and Selena arrived at his home, he quickly jumped out of the car and dashed to the front door. Allen entered his glass figurine room and found out that the dog had broken in and just absolutely destroyed everything. It was Allen’s life work. All of his hard work was not just broken shards of glass on the ground. Allen was speechless. He couldn’t believe his eyes. But before he could even say a single word to Selena, Selena said to him, “We will rebuild them from the start, we will rebuild them from the heart.” And at that moment, Allen knew that there was more to life than just his glass figurines.
repercussions about this decision. They decided to go to the aquarium for their date. They saw the dolphins, the sharks, and all sorts of different kinds of fish. But after every new animal he saw, he was reminded of Selena’s dog that was left back at his house, with all of his precious and fragile glass figurines.
Driving back from the aquarium was even harder for Allen as he was very anxious to get home. At every stop light, he would furiously race towards it, trying to make sure he wouldn’t get stopped by a red light. But before heading home, Selena wanted to show Allen her old house that she lived in as a child. Allen hesitantly agreed. When they got to Selena’s old house, she told him to park right outside of it. Selena started to talk about some of her fondest memories at the house, while Allen was trying to listen to Selena but his mind was on his glass figurines. After 10 minutes of talking about the house, Allen could not take it anymore. He started up the engine, and explained to Selena that her stupid dog is in his house with his life’s work. Selena tried to calm Allen down, that her dog is very well behaved and never once destroyed any of her works. But Allen wasn’t listening; he was just focusing on getting back to his glass figurines.
When Allen and Selena arrived at his home, he quickly jumped out of the car and dashed to the front door. Allen entered his glass figurine room and found out that the dog had broken in and just absolutely destroyed everything. It was Allen’s life work. All of his hard work was not just broken shards of glass on the ground. Allen was speechless. He couldn’t believe his eyes. But before he could even say a single word to Selena, Selena said to him, “We will rebuild them from the start, we will rebuild them from the heart.” And at that moment, Allen knew that there was more to life than just his glass figurines.
As for sports, the Oakland Athletics signed Matt Holiday and Jason Giambi. Which is pretty cool, since with those two in the line-up with a healthy Chavez and Cust, we won't be lacking the home-run department anymore. But are pitching staff is kinda not as solid as last year. Since last year heading into spring training, we got Harden, Blanton, and Dukey leading the way. Now it's only Dukey and a lots of young arms.
The Warriors are having an off season this year. But we look promising. As the youngest team in the entire League, we could possibly have a ten man rotation in
Biendris, Jackson, Azubuike, Crawford, Ellis, Maggette, Benelli, Wright, Turiaf, and Watson. And our 11th and 12th guys aren't that bad either, Morrow and Randolph. I personally think Randolph should get more PT but as you see with our depth it is kinda hard for him to get into the game. I think down the stretch, I think we should play him since it is not likely we are going to the playoffs, or make a trade involving other players to get Randolph more PT, or they should do what they did last year with Brandon Wright and start him at the beginning of games so that he at least gets some playing time every game. And don't forget our reserves, Marcus Williams, Davidson and Kurz. I think Marcus Williams should get more playing time too, but he is in Nelson's doghouse so that is unlikely. I think if given a chance, he could be a good backup point guard for us, or even the starting point guard for us. Why won't the Warriors try it? If the experiment with Crawford and Ellis running the point doesn't work out, shouldn't they try Williams at point, so that we have a true point guard running the floor, not a two guard.
The Raiders won their last two games of the regular season last year. And, no, they did not make the playoffs this year. Maybe next year, since if the Cardinals could make it to the playoffs, couldn't the Raiders do it too? Well at least we have a good pick in the upcoming NFL rookie draft. And we should get some good free agents this year too. So overall, I think the Raiders will do fine the near by future, or in 2-3 years from now, since we will have the arm of Russell and the legs of runDMC. And if we could get Michael Crabtree, we could possibly the best threesome of a quarterback, running back, and wide receiver in the league!!! What other team could say that? Well a lot of the good ones can, like the colts, with Manning, Addai and Harrison and with the Steelers, Big Ben, Parker and Ward. So why not join them, and get Crabtree? If we don't get him, we should get either OL, to protect our quarterback and running back, or we should draft another running back, just so that we could have our own smash and dash in the backfield. Just you wait, the Raiders will be back in the playoffs before you know it. Just look at how it is possible for any team to got from being the worst to being the best, like the Titans, 8-8 to almost going undefeated.
I bought a fish yesterday @ petco, it's a Crowntail. Here is a pic of it:
So it's a boy and I named it Marky Jr. Yea I picked it because it's blue and it looks cool.
I've been watching the Office and Heroes and Chuck a lot since I last blogged. The Office is great, i laugh out loud a lot when I watch it. It's funny. Heroes is good, and chuck is funny too, but not as funny as the office. and i also been watching a lot of movies too, like Zenon, and the Zenon Zequel, Smart House, Johnny Tsunami, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle and it's sequel, Brink, Alley Cats Strike, A Walk to Remember, Susie Q, i watched all the seasons of Boy meets world during fall quarter's final week, the notebook (which has become one of my favorite movies, not because of the great romantic plot, and the good acting, but because Rachel McAdams, gosh she is cute). So yea I watched a lot of movies since I last blogged, mostly online. Oh did I mention I watched HSM3? Well if I didn't, well i did watch in the theaters and it turn out better than i thought. I was kinda surprised when Troy said he was going to UC Berkeley instead of the Albuquerque University or something.
Oh and for English class, we have to read some short stories from this book called Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. She is just great. Good book.
During winter break, I went to MOMA with my siblings. It was cool. Saw a lot of modern art.
Found a Stevie Wonder song I never heard before, called "Jungle Fever". It's a good song.
And I also won one of the lottery scratcher card thingy, twice!!!... It's too bad I only won 6 dollars total from both of them, and in the end I ended up just using my winning to try to win more, but in the end I had a net gain of minus one.
So that has been my life from the last time I blogged until now, nothing really spectacular, but some things worth noting, oh and I turned 20 years old during that time, so yea... <10 months remain until i could go to vegas and gamble and do other things that 21 year old people can do.
