At UCLA, students like to de-stress during finals by doing some silly things, like Midnight Yell and Undie Run. In case you feel like you’re missing out on the fun, here is a look at what it’s like to be a part of the Wednesday night tradition that grew so big it was banned. It would have been tonight (and I know a small group still showed up to do it – we’ll see how that went down when the Daily Bruin comes out tomorrow).

To start, there is a lot of cheering, singing, screaming, and all-around joy.

At the stroke of midnight, the crowd begins to move, hollering at the top of their lungs. Note the traffic lights that have been disabled – police took measures to ensure motor vehicles stay away from pedestrians overtaking the roads.

In the recent year or so, the route of Undie Run was changed to go through this tunnel, which actually makes it quite fun since it’s so thunderous in there.

Bruins enjoying themselves always shout “UC! LA!” and do multiple 8-claps (not captured).

The last “legal” Undie Run was re-routed once again so that it ended not by Powell Library and Shapiro Fountain, but on the IM field, where there were plenty of lighting and spectators, including this helo!

All in all, a great celebration that gives students a relatively innocent outlet for the intense studying that had taken over their lives for the past week or two. It’s a pity the university wasn’t willing to work out another revision to allow it to continue. I’m sure the students will continue to fight for it, until they either get it back or find a new way of letting out their tension.

Ok, rather unrelated, but both have to do with the word “wave.” First, a wave that went around the Rose Bowl. Fifteen (maybe sixteen) times!

Then, wave boarding afterwards! The wave board I got in China had light-up wheels, which was just plain fun and awesome to play with in the dark.

A drizzly night earlier this month, my friend and I went into LUSH after a wooonderful dinner at Buddha’s Belly.  A lovely surprise awaited as I was invited to get a free facial!

Ready to start!

First layer, the face wash.

Having some fun with the fizzle they put in the water.

The final stage, a mask. Mmm, blueberries!

I love my alma mater. This is how we get into the spirit for sports games:

1. Get pumped up listening to the UCLA Bruins Marching Band.

2. Go to the Rose Bowl and be entertained as Red Bull parachuters wind their way down from the sky.

3. Cheer your team to touchdowns (and dance along with Joe and Josie Bruin).

4. Enjoy a lovely halftime show, including a showdown between some young’uns.

5. Celebrate a victory where the lights of the Rose Bowl are turned off just so we can do an 8-clap in the dark.

6. Round off the night with a firework show!

Check out some of the things I made with my BuckyBalls!

A snowflake.

A tube.

Pentagonal pyramid.

The pentagonal pyramid side view.

The underside of the pyramid.

That circle was just the right size for the pentagon!

216 balls means this hexagon was one ball short.

I decided it would be symmetric in more dimensions if the missing one was moved to the center.

I made myself a little tie to wear.

Unfocused lights make me think of the holidays. Warm and fuzzy lights.

My own creation.

A Bucky Ball!

I wanted to use up all the BuckyBalls so I made the ball a sidekick.

I’ve been looking through some of the Bloggie nominees and I found that I have no interest in the food or travel blogs.  Ironic, since I love food and travel!  But I think that is precisely the problem, actually.  Rather than looking at pictures and videos of other people enjoying eating delectable dishes and fantastic adventures, I’d much prefer to be the one doing those things!  So maybe it’s in part jealousy, but mostly it is just the fact that I’d rather go discover it myself.  I don’t want to live vicariously through these other people having a great time when I could be the one loving life like that.

Food blogs are great for those who want to be shown new foods to try, how to cook cool things, or just love to look at food.  Food blogs are not good for those who want to discover the great edible things out there themselves, don’t care much for cooking, or see images of food and must go eat.  Now.  Can you guess what type I am?  I absolutely love to take pictures of my food and share it with my friends.  I quite like seeing their pictures.  However, reading a blog with pictures and extensive descriptions takes up too much time when I could be at a restaurant or little street stall, munching away.  So though they could come in as a useful reference if I’m really having trouble finding something to eat (ha!), food blogs are generally not worth the effort to me (except in times when I miss something and just can’t find it in LA, or whichever city I’m in).

Travel blogs are great for those who can’t go and want to see what it’s like, don’t want to actually go but want to see what it’s like, or are about to go and want to see what it’s like in a new place.  Travel blogs aren’t ideal for people who can travel (just not at this exact moment) and experience things themselves, don’t care about traveling at all, or want to find their way around a new city themselves.  Though I can’t make it out to a far-away city right now, it’s certainly within my means in the near future and I like to not really know what it’s like til I get there and I look up places of interest, or talk to locals and recent visitors who can share their wisdom.  I don’t want to spend my time hearing about other people’s travels because I want to be traveling.

Generally I’m obsessed with researching ahead of time, but when it comes to traveling, I am perfectly content with vaguely knowing what a country is like, showing up, and finding some really awesome experiences.  I also seem to have random run-ins with locals.  And you know what?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Once again, I find that I would prefer to just use these types of blogs as references (aka: “Hey, I want to go to [insert country/city here], I wonder what random things they have to do there?” *searches entries on travel blog and glances through titles and tags*  ”Ah, ok, got an idea, let’s go!”).  Beyond giving me an idea of what’s available, especially obscure stuff, it doesn’t interest me to frequent those type of blogs.  Let those people enjoy their travels and share it with those who want to hear about it!  I want to go out and do it too, without tainting the experience with too much foreknowledge!

So really, it just comes down to me not wanting to live a vicarious life.  Why do that when you can be the one sharing your experiences?  As my friend Ninja once said, I want to live a life worth making a movie about (or writing a book about, in my case).  You can’t do that if you’re too busy cooped up reading about other people’s lives!  Not that those blogs aren’t great for certain crowds.  I just find that I don’t belong in the particular group that reads food and travel blogs, that’s all.  :)

What about you?  Do you like to safely follow the lives of those more adventurous than you?  Or do you prefer to go have the adventures yourself?

I wanted to do a “real” video blog today – you know the type where it’s a webcam shot of someone talking at you? Well, turns out when I upgraded to Windows 7, I lost all the pre-installed programs so now I don’t have anything to record on my webcam with. Until I figure out what software I need or find a different program that can do that for me, you’ll just have to make do with watching me enjoy the kick of this rifle.

The past week has been really hard on me, as the pressure to get a job grew and my parents and I had a tiff over my sleeping pattern and job search, among other things.  So, it was an absolute blessing that Opportunity Green was holding a retreat over the weekend.  One of the Board Members owns Casa Barranca, a fabulous estate out in Ojai.  People who had contributed to the Opportunity Green Conference back in November were invited to either stay the weekend or swing by on Saturday or Sunday to hang out.  Tucked in the hills of Ventura County, in a gorgeously maintained house from the early 1900s, I got to spend my weekend relaxing, enjoying nature, and chatting with some really amazing people.

Delicious potluck to start off the weekend.

Friday night I arrived thinking I was late for dinner, but it turns out the days drag out so peacefully and slowly there that dinner hadn’t even been thought of yet.  I hung around the kitchen, talking to some of the people I hadn’t really gotten to know prior to the conference – we were all so busy, after all!  It was already completely dark outside when I pulled up around 6:30, so it felt like 11 when we eventually got around to preparing the food.  I think it was more like 7:30-8.  But that’s the thing about being far away from the city and its lights and noise; time stretches itself to its very limits and you discover how much can be done in just a few minutes, a few hours.  There’s a serenity about Casa Barranca that relaxes you and lets you forget that you have an inbox full of e-mails or that your favorite TV show is on.  In fact, there isn’t a television in the entire place, which I found to be one of the best choices they could have made.

That yoga studio was to die for!

The house itself is absolutely lovely and you should definitely check out the virtual tour on the Casa Barranca website.  Besides that, there are a bunch of little bungalows or “teahouses” sitting around the property and small cabins as well.  You can easily fit 30-40 people without ever feeling overcrowded.  When I got a chance to first see the grounds during the day, it was even better than I imagined.  The yoga studio sits perched at the top of a hill overlooking part of the valley below.  There’s no better location to get in touch with your inner spirit and truly experience some Zen.  Between that and the house lies a little orchard, teeming with citrus trees of all sorts!  Since part of the grounds is an organic winery, I think it’s safe to assume those fruits were organic too.  I meant to pick one to try, but was so distracted by the beauty that I forgot to.  There’s also a chlorine-free pool and hot tub, small field to frolic in, a koi pond, a hammock, and so many great vantage points!

A cute little shop in the middle of town!

The town is also a delight, with a main street that is lined up with little shops.  The Casa Barranca tasting room is right next to the ice cream shop (and thank goodness, because I got hungry pretty quickly and needed something to fill me!).  I felt slightly out of my comfort zone in their downtown, which didn’t have lights illuminating every inch of street.  When I was directed to the nearest ATM, I turned around too early because the lights stopped.  It seems that their town is so safe and quiet that they don’t need lights all over the place.  It was strange to be back in that type of place again, after years in the city.  At night when I went to sleep, I was struck by how absolutely silent it was out there.  It was completely dark as well, and laying there was such a tranquil experience.  The rest of the people had long since called it a day and were no doubt happily dreaming away in their respective beds.  I’m glad I had a roommate to share the space with, otherwise everything might have seemed too still.  But with another person in the room, I fell asleep easily as a long day caught up with me.

Can you believe it was only her first time teaching? She did a fantastic job and should totally be a yogi.

I slept in until 10:30 on Saturday, but was still able to enjoy a full day, complete with yoga, sitting out in the sun, chatting in front of the fireplace, going down into town to watch the Casa Barranca wine tasting (mentioned above), playing Spoons and BS, lots of opportunities to experiment with the ISO settings on my camera, an intense game of Jenga, and some hot tubbing.  It was really nice for the day to go on forever, since it allowed me to have a multitude of quality conversations with some remarkable people.  We talked about all kinds of random things, from what they do to what I want to do to what drives us and how we came to get involved with Opportunity Green.  In the mix was also random talk about crazy cat ladies and women who obsess over fake babies.  Sharing some of my ideas really helped me think about what it is I want from life and the like.

We came across some great vantage points and learned to be grateful for every bit of shade we got.

On the final day, I got up at 9:30 when I was told we were leaving for the hike.  About a dozen of us headed out along the trail, making our way up the path in the morning sun.  After awhile, those of us with long sleeves began to regret the decision and the few who brought water found themselves sharing with the group.  We met some wonderful people along the way and got to play a bit with their adorable dogs!  Two of the people staying at the retreat had brought their dogs, one of which came along for our hike (even though she’s 13!).  The trip was absolutely worth the huffing and beads of sweat that began to form, as we were rewarded with views of so much greenery it was hard to imagine life back in the city.  It was a great way to spend the morning before heading out in the afternoon.  Though physically I was tired from more physical exertion than I had done in months, it was a great feeling and my spirit was lifted after being there.

And for more pictures of the weekend… I’m quite proud that some came out looking nearly like a DSLR took them, or so I think!

I went to have some fun on the springy surface.

They tried to get a shot of me in the air, but the timing just wasn't right. I had a blast anyway!

Artistic pieces sit by the doors that open out to the view over the hillside.

The view that we saw as we did yoga in the studio.

The statue that sits to the left of the yoga studio entrance.

The fire pit situated right outside the yoga studio doors.

I wonder if the tree was shot at or got infected with bugs?

This pathway led up to one end of the house, where the kitchen is located.

Looking the other way down the path, you see more fruits that you could possibly eat!

Hidden amongst the green, orange, and yellow is this little gem, just barely clinging on.

These plants grew in a patch just outside the kitchen.

I love the colors of the Bird of Paradise.

It kind of looks like those 8-prong head massagers.

Take a look at that freshness!

There's something really fun about the dimpled texture of citrus fruits.

What a beautiful shade of purple! Absolutely gorgeous.

Jack, one of the dogs with us for the weekend.

Jazzy, the other dog hanging out with us.

One of the bungalows/teahouses scattered around the property.

Inside each were two single beds, a little desk, a fan, and heater.

A hammock was put at the edge of the hill, with a great view of the land below.

It was a hazy day and the sun began to sink slowly.

It soon became a brilliantly beautiful sunset. I love the details of the rocks in the distance.

It was so cozy, warm, and welcoming.

Everyone squeezed in to the bar for their share of the wine being sampled.

Many of these were tasted that night, as Casa Barranca generously shared their products.

Check out these awesome coasters recycling paper into a great new use! I think I remember reading they were from Vietman or Thailand or something.

Along the trail path were these funky leaves, complete with curling tendrils.

The kind of fence you used to hand make with an axe and nails.

Now that house is situated in a place with views in nearly every angle!

A random sculpture tucked away along the trail.

Such a pretty little puppy!

I was trying to capture how there was a perfect little paw print on her leggings, but the angle isn't quite right.

So many layers of hills!

We seriously expected some sheep to be grazing here. I thought we were continuing over this hill, but thankfully we cut down the mountain before then.

You can see part of downtown Ojai now.

Now that's an imposing wall to have for your driveway.

Back inside and we are made some fresh guacamole! I learned that putting bananas and avocados together makes them ripen faster.

There's nothing quite like freshly-made, is there?

There was this cool rooftop patio complete with lounge chairs for resting in!

The view of part of the backyard from the rooftop.

You can sleep here and feel like you're outdoors without the bugs!

Lines of vines of wine grapes! That's just too fun to say.

Jealous much?  ;)

Today was my 24th birthday and I got to spend it with Panda and my parents.  :)

I couldn't drive off without a picture first!

I got up early in the morning, surprising my parents, since  I love to sleep in.  Well, I had a date to catch!  Since Panda does not have his own transportation, I went out to pick him up so we could have lunch with my parents.  I was allowed a day of joyriding in my new car for my birthday, after which the car will be stored away until I get myself a job.  Call it sort of reward and encouragement at the same time.  I got a chance to set up the Bluetooth connection and made my first call with it to Panda.  He couldn’t even hear a difference!  Excellent.  Now I’ll never miss a phone call in the car since my music will automatically be muted for incoming calls.

Isn't that the smallest cone you've ever seen?

So we drove back to my neighborhood and I called up my parents to direct them to the local Souplantation.  I can’t believe we never knew about it before!  But you know, now that I think of it, it looks awfully familiar and I think it’s been there for a long time, but we just never knew about it.  So lunch was nice, with my dad and Panda doing most of the talking.  My parents really enjoyed Panda’s choice of restaurant and it was quite healthy and filling.  Plus, they had the cutest little ice cream cones!  By and by, it was time to part and for me to head off with Panda for the rest of the day.  We did a little strolling around the area before heading over to the dealership, since we’d noticed that the floor mats in my car were missing.

Look what we came across on our stroll!

With the paper mats in the way, we didn't notice at first that the actual mats were missing!

This fish must have been very hungry, since it spent the night trying to eat rocks.

The rest of the day was very chill as we hung out and enjoyed each other’s company.  For dinner, I had a hard time choosing, so we found something on Yelp that was near his home and headed that way.  Unfortunately, the place was closed for some reason, but thankfully, he had just gone to a nice Japanese place just down the street the day before.  We went there and had a nice time eating and watching the fish doing silly fish things in the tank in front of us.  Nice place and nice food.  To round out the night, we made a pit stop at cha for tea, my all-time favorite boba place.  They offer games there for people to play as they hang out, drink tea and boba, and munch on some food.  We’ve got a little tradition of playing Connect 4 there, so we sat down to a showdown.

All too soon we had finished our drinks, played many a round, and realized it was time to head back for the night.  I dropped him off and drove on home, enjoying the feel of the Corolla one last time.  I came back to dozens of birthday well wishes from friends on Facebook and a steadily growing number of votes coming in to help me towards winning a job interview for January 4th!  It’s great to have support and it’s been a fun way for me to earn my foot in the door for an exciting job.  With just one day left, I’ll do one final push and hope for the best.  I do believe I can stay in the Top 5 and earn an interview, but just in case I’m still working hard to ensure it’s taken care of.

In honor of the “numbers game” that my parents keep saying job searching can be, I thought I’d play around with some numbers myself…

1 lifetime:

2 parents

3 cats

4 countries lived in

5 states of residence

6 cars our family has owned

7 major relocations

8 cousins (and a step-cousin) I don’t get to see enough

9 jobs where I’ve earned money (3 internships without)

10 years old when I started documenting my life like the packrat I am

11 (and a half) places I’ve called home

12 grandparents, aunts, and uncles living in Asia (plus a step-grandparent)

13 years of keeping a daily journal

14 schools attended from pre-school through college (some simultaneously)

15 European countries traveled over a 5-week spring break

16, an eventful age: took driving lessons, attended Leadership Academy, went to Australia & Hawai’i, and moved to California from New York

17 (and a quarter) years’ worth of education thus far

18, the last landmark birthday (21 doesn’t count since I don’t drink)

19 affiliations with UCLA organizations throughout my college career

20 (intermittent) years in this country

21 major cities traveled to over that 5-week spring break

22 countries traveled to overall (not counting the 4 I’ve lived in for some period of time)

23 airports I’ve been through

culminating in 24 years of rich experiences!

I’ve certainly got a lot of stories.  As always, things in my life tend to be more exception than rule, so these numbers may be slightly off, depending on your criteria.  You get the idea though.

From chaos...

...to what we dubbed "Sparta."

Fun times at ESLP (Education for Sustainable Living Program) during the lecture series.