MP3 EXPERIMENT

Yesterday I attended the mp3 experiment in San Francisco, and I can honestly say it was one of the highlights of my summer. For those who are not aware of what I am talking about, the mp3 experiment is a sort of improve gathering where people get together wearing different colors and play a special mp3 they downloaded of the experiment home page and play it at exactly 6:30, from here on they follow the directions of the mp3.

I was a bit nervous to go, considering me and all the people who went with me were wearing Red and were worried about being mistaken for gang members. Well we arrived late due to horrid SF traffic and when we approached the site of the even I was amazed, tons of people in assorted colors all playing thumb war (we started the mp3 at 630 so we could keep up with what was going on). Me and my friends joined in and started following the mp3s instructions…which ranged from playing “Steve” Says (the voice telling us what to do was named Steve), making a human dartboard, playing twister using the colors around us, and freeze tag.

It was so cool to see the crowd of non-participants watching from the edges of Union Square and the windows of the adjacent mall. I heard someone asking “is the music telling them what to do?” and I could not help but laugh. Through the whole experience I could only wonder how weird or awesome our group looked from afar, and whether or not people wished they could join us. This was a perfect event for me, considering I have a fondness for controlled chaos and randomness, which is exactly that this event was. It felt good to just go with the flow of what was happening and not worry about anything else. The event ended in an epic battle in which the red and yellows faced off against the blue and greens, using only inflated balloons as our “weapons”. This was fun and insane as I rushed through the sea of green and blues to push to other side…this was the only strategy I had considering my balloon was taken out of my hands within 5 seconds.

After this was all over the crowd of colors all waved goodbye and I went with a few friends to get dinner.

 We roamed around the mall, but what happens there is for a different post, until then I urge you, if something like the mp3 experiment comes near you, GO TO IT. It is pure fun and randomness, i.e. a perfect venture for friends XD.

Forever Spontaneous 

The First Two Days

Ahh… band camp, the rite of passage into the notorious PVHS Marching Band. I still remember my first ever day of band camp ever when I was going into high school those 4 short years ago. Looking back I can see how much I have changed since then and how the band was helped bring me out of my shell, but enough about me, on to the first 2 days of camp =).

THE FIRST DAY:

It was an honor to be chosen as a unity leader this year and I felt extremely excited get to help break in the freshman. I showed up to camp early (as I must every day for a quick meeting on how the day will progress and such) I felt a strange combination of excitement and nervousness  as all the people entered the band room, some for the first time. When the time arrived and I met the group of people that would be in my unity group, I was very happy to be with some of my good friends, but also freshman that were willing to engage in our crazy band way of life. We played some games and came up with our hybrid insect and soda name, the DIET CANTS >=D, I saw my group laughing and I felt more confident about being a unity leader. It feels so good to know that when we graduate and pass the torch down to the next leaders of band, that not only will the next leaders be ready, but that the people they lead will have enthusiasm for band. The camp went on as all the other ones did, rookies learned stuff, veterans reviewed stuff, and we all came together and had our first official drilldown, in which I happily placed second. When we broke off into sectionals and we got to mingle with the new trumpets and see their skills, I was genuinely impressed by how good we sounded, and I can tell that this is going to be a very good year for us trumpets. This day went incredibly smooth and was by far the best first day of band camp ever; I can only hope all the days are like this.

THE SECOND DAY:

As with the first, came into camp early today, ad actually hitched a ride on my way there with our band director Mr. R, and it was funny to see the faces of my fellow band mates as we rolled up blasting AC/DC music. We did our little unity leader meeting and started the day with warm ups and exercises after the rest of the bandies came. We played some more games in our Unity groups and my group was able to place 3^rd, which was something to celebrate considering the game we played was human knot.The day was even smoother at first, and this was the day rookies learned to march. We had a few stumbles along the way but the rookies picked it up in a relatively fast manner. We had two drill downs today (which I surprisingly took first place in both) and I now feel the need to break a former band members record of first place ribbons >=D. In trumpet sectionals we went over some pre game music and we got to hear how we really sound as a horn section, and we sounded pretty good. I am really looking forward to see how these new trumpets will grow as players. We ended the day by marching ad on big unit across the football field, as we will do many more times this year. Band camp is going perfectly at this point and I am excited for band camp.

Also for the record, I love being part of a group that officially has the right to say “this one time, at band camp..”

Friendship Advice from Misfits

To those of you reading this, I feel the need to come clean in this blog with my intentions. When I started this blog I wanted a way to kind of put out a random message every so often and maybe help make someone’s day. I have no idea whether or not I have accomplished this thus far but I have been getting really positive feedback on my blogs so I feel as though I owe it to my readers to be truthful.

Lately I have gotten into this show called Misfits; it is an amazing show that my friend showed me about teen delinquents gaining super powers via a strange storm. Any who the reason I am even mentioning this is because there is a character on the show named Simon whom I fee last ho I can relate too. To those of you who do not watch the show, Simon is an awkward character who was bullied all his life and is constantly teased by one of his fellow peers who gained powers. Simon reminds me of myself during my freshman and sophomore years, and even sometimes now, because he feels as though he does not have any friends who care about him. Truth be told, some of the more emotional moments with Simon have almost made me cry due to how they connected with my own personality.

I am a happy person, but I was not always this way. During my freshman years I felt distant from my peers, like I did not belong, and as a result I isolated myself from media and things that associated me with them. I could not really trust people and really let them in because I felt as though their friendship was fake or feigned.  These were dark times for me and I could not confine in anybody due to my trust issues… I honestly cannot for the life of me remember what lead to this sort of faux depression, but I am glad I was able to find my way out. And the reason I owe to being able to get out of that funk was because of the true friends I made.

Just as Simon does on misfits, I slowly began to come out of my shell (due to my taking in interest in dance) and I never would have guessed that i would become the person I am today. See friendship is a learn-as-you go process, not everyone you meet will become your best friend, but if you are real with people, they will be real with you. I was able to make the amazing friends I did because I stopped being afraid to be myself. A true friend will accept who you are and support what you are trying to do, in turn you should feel obligated to do the same, it is this cycle that makes friendship so rewarding.

In this cold world I personally find it impossible to survive without knowing I have people who care about you and have your back, the wonderful people I met helped make me into a new person who is ready to take on the world. Most people see friendship as something that is for purely amusement and fun, and while you are expected to have fun with your friends, they are so much more than that. There are a lot of terrible and scary things in this world that I urge you not to face alone, get support from your buddies, pals, and amigos, then take on this crazy world filled to the brim with confidence and a smile on your face.

I still don’t know why I had the urge to suddenly write this…but to all my friends out there, I love you all, and to those of you who think they will never find good friends…give it time and be yourself, and you will find your people.

Just a little advice from a Misfit ;D. 

Random Poetry

CAMP ROYAL>DARKNESS
As i straddle the line between darkness and vanity
i struggle to see the truth, the neo reality
all i find are fights, conflicts untame
and i find myself putting the entire human race to shame
but its always darkest before dawn
we must strive to pick ourselves up and move on
to a new era, a new time of peace and love
carried away on our metaphorical doves
corny rhymes with standard rhytms
cannot compare to people and the energy within them
for i have never seen true love at all
until my joyous venture to camp royal.



HOMELESS ANGEL


Ive never felt how i do now
like an akward tipped over land cow
restless in spirit,needing love at its finees with no remorse knowing that nature would soon take its course
i drift along 
alone
wishing for a piece of this world i could call my own
but for some odd reason
its ads though ive commited treason to the universe and this is its way of paying me back
 as i march on i see a homeless man on the street
only..hes not sad...hes peacful, knowing he has nothing to eat
i go up to him, drawn by a mysterious power that i cant explain
working more with my heart than with my brain
he tells me in a calm voice "im glad youve come, ive been waiting for you...my son"
i can only stare, astounded by his words
they were calm and thoughtful yet obscene and obserd 
he grabs my hand and i notice his pale skin
yet i have no urge to run or get away from him
hes says in a clear powerful voice
"love is infinte in you, and should always be your weapon of choice"
with a gasp of breath he continued to say "im not long for this world, by ill be watching over you in my new heavenly nest"
"to watch for the one day you become youre....best"
with that his life faded and i stood in the cold streets, pondering everything that had happened
it was too sudden, too deep to comprhend, too rapid.
then it hit me, love, the only reason people chose to live how they do
i had to use it to find myself so i past this message to you
never fear things that you cant influnce in anuyway
love the ppl around you cherish them, and they will be there to hold your hand on your final day
and to that mysertious angel guarding over my life and goals.
i pledge to put as much love and understaning as i can into peoples mind, body and souls.






BLIND KNIGHT
The darkness surrounds her, killing her sense of reality
he wanted to save her, but he thought "she doesnt need me"
he turned in tears, knowing what he was doing, but also realized that there was know one he was fooling.
at the last second he hear her scream
"no! i cant just leave her, thats to obscene".
the young knight rushed to the princess
heart, love, and courage at his very best
he wrapped his arms around her, not caring where they touched, for the cost of saving her soul was worth that much.
he yanked the princess out of the blackness as the other stronger knights arrived, they stood there awestruck that this puny man had survied
but the princess never doubted him, contrary the the young knights belief
and they strolled off into the sunset
happlily ever after with huge relief






BE MINE
As the earth turns and the moon sleeps,
the bugs fly and the owls weep,
he thinks of her and never regrets
the choices hes made until now and yet
he misses her glory and bold attitude
strutting and dancing with confidence and never rude
how can i love such a goddess he wonders
more confused than a jean-less scott summers
so he wanders and wonders of life and its finess
and decides to never regret loving her highness
for love and life go hand in hand
so he wholeheartedly asks to be her man

Beast.Inc files #2 Inspiration and Exploration

Today I was inspired more so then I ever have been before and I cannot explain why. I woke up just as I usually do, but I felt a weird urge to better myself… it was an unusual feeling but not an unwanted one. I spent the morning looking up videos from YAK films and just watching dancers…I felt connected to them and I felt the drive inside of me to become a better dancer. Eventually I became possessed to watch Step UP 3 just to get more inspired to dance.

It is very bizarre how much dancing has changed me in these past few years, and this finally hit me today, “I am a dancer, I share the path of the Jabbawockeez, Iamme, The LXD, and I cannot stop until I help spread the ways of positivity through dance and music. Truth be told my mind works in very abstract ways, looking at the big picture, but I believe the Jabbawockeez put it in the best describable form: Mus.i.c (Muse I see). They challenge those who watch them dance to see more than just the dancers performing, but to see the link between them and the song and understand its beauty. If I had to describe the feeling I had today, it would be as such, that I felt my inner muse connecting to the outside world and urging me to dance and experience this beautiful connection firsthand.

Later on in the day as I met up with Beast .Inc and we strolled around Hercules, it was unplanned and completely spontaneous, living life to the fullest. I think if people took more days like today to just stroll and smell the roses, no conflict or stress, that the world would be a different place. As sappy as that sounds it was truly refreshing to just do what I do best and goof around and dance. We were filming and just spent a lot of time looking for goods shots and doing a lot of freestyles. This of course was just a warm up however as we did our coolest project yet, freestyling inside Lucky’s grocery store! I loved watching people’s reactions as they saw a bunch of random teens gliding, tutting, breaking, and doing flips randomly in the isles.

Our final project of the day was to make a one shot vid (meaning we don’t stop recording, we do it all in one take) of us dancing. This took a little while but in the end worked out better than we could have hoped. After a long day of riding up and down Hercules and visiting the local parks in which we did some mild parkour in, visiting Hercules high and searching the whole campus to find a water fountain, and planking (of course) we went our separate ways and ventured home. I think I had a whole new aura about me today due to my earlier inspiration, and I want to continue to feel connected with things around me so I will continue to get better and better at dancing, for the sake of spreading inspiration.

The journey is always one of the best parts of any trip, this held true today as another win for spontaneity was claimed. Stay Beastin’