Saturday, April 17, 2010

defenestrate

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.

Derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra, "window." The noun form is defenestration.

Thought I'd share this.

http://www.recombinantrecords.net/images/2009-12-Challenged.png

Friday, January 29, 2010

quotidian

quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\ adjective;
1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.
2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.

Origin:
Quotidian is from Latin quotidianus, from quotidie, "daily," from quotus, "how many, as many, so many" + dies, "day."

I cheated today. I didn't use today's word of the day, but I used Jan. 7's word. Sorry January 29, "verboten" is too much to handle - so negative. And I also decided not to use it because it literally means "forbidden," so I didn't want to use something forbidden because Poseidon or Zeus might try to kill me. Yeah, that's right, The Odyssey has entered my life and it's no fun. I thought we're reading good literature, not a run-on poem.

A new idea came up to me as I was writing- I decided to add the "* feature." Whenever you see the "*" mark, there's a learning opportunity at the bottom the entry. You'll figure it out, you're all smart people.

ONWARD!
I don't know about you, but I'm curious about what other people's schedules are like. Okay, so it's probably just one of my weird things... like how I whisper back to myself what I just said. Yeah, weird. So here I go babbling on about myself...

An average weekday with Simon:

a) 8:40-9:30am Santa Cruz Singers. My favorite class this semester with a teacher I've had ever year since 6th grade. And oddly enough, I am a Bass in this ensemble*. I remember not that along I was a small little Alto. Weird how people change.
b) 9:30-9:40am Break. Freak out about the Odyssey with classmates.
c) 9:45-11:15am Intensive English 1. Freak out about the Odyssey part two. But I have a good teacher for this class, too. She goes by Ms. Bradford, and she is quite the comical character, not afraid to speak the truth. You know, I've been very lucky every year with my teachers. I haven't had a single bad teacher -- except one. Mr. Virostko. He's the kind of teacher who gets high during lunch and fails to teach the next class properly. And he's the famous "awesome Jewlery teacher," and I believe it, but he just should not teach Health. "I guess I don't see why you can't use saran wrap as a condom," is just not acceptable. ARG.
d) 11:15-11:50am Lunch. Most of the time it's me and my friends, Ariel, Sierra, and Michelle, who do the usual easy 1 block walk to the gas station to get chips and a soda, cup noodles, or buying probably-illegally-distributed pizza by the slice from Costco. They buy a whole pizza from Costco, and sell them 1 slice/$2. Nice profit until they get caught.
e) 11:55-1:40 Math Academy. I decided to endeavor the "integrated, accelerated math program for motivated students" not just because I'm Asian (haha), but because quite frankly, I don't mind math. I like to be challenged with a lot of work once in a while and I like to think I'm good at math. Whatever, whether I'm good at it or not, I don't mind it. And I made a lot of friends in that class, too.
f) 1:45-3:15pm Art. Breathe. Relax. Draw. :)....
g) 3:15-3:30pm Drive home. I'M HUNGRY!! WHAT IS THERE TO EAT AT HOME?!
h) 3:30-4:30pm Eat, maybe take a nap, squeeze in some homework, and get ready for dance.
i) ~Sometime between 5-8:30pm depending on the day~ Dance! This is by far my favorite time of day. "Forget your troubles, and dance." I have a bumper sticker with that saying on my water bottle to remind me to just forget about school work or anything else bothering you during these 2 hours or so, and just dance. Frequently asked questions about my dancing:
How much dancing do you do?
9.5 hours of more depending on extended rehearsals for an upcoming show.

Wow, that's a lot. How do you find time to do your homework?
I honestly don't know. I ask myself the same question. My only advice to myself is to try to limit my time on facebook and hulu.

What kind of dancing do you do?
I hate this question. It takes so much effort to think all the genres I do, and forever to list them all. In order of appearance throughout the week: Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Latin*, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Company- a performance group performing all over the SC County and other venues including Great America.

Do you have to wear tights?
Thank goodness, no. But I'm afraid I'm going to eventually.

How long have you been dancing?
The Summer I was 8 years-old. So about 7 years.

Why do you dance? You're a guy.
I hate this question, too. Did you know? Men started the "dancing ritual" tradition, and women started the "singing ritual" tradition. So take that, guys SHOULD be dancing, and not be playing X-Box all day. I dance because I want to, and I enjoy it. I don't dance because I have to, that's ridiculous. Take a look at this man dancing (note he is half naked in this video, brace yourselves).



Although he may not be technically the best dancer, he's a great dancer in my eyes because he is having fun. And watching someone have fun makes other people happy!

j) ~8:30-? Dinner/homework. I dread this time of day. The Odyssey plops in my hands and I read, reread, read some more, reread some more, fall asleep, wake up, finish reading, and finish rereading.

Thanks for reading,
Accepting constructive criticism as always,
Monkichi


*Notes*

*For those who don't acquire musical knowledge, the sections from highest to lowest are Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass. This is for a 4-part division, or divisi, and each part can split into different sections. For example, Soprano can split into Soprano 1 and Soprano 2, or the men section (Tenor and Bass) and include a Baritone if needed.

*Latin class consists of multiple dance styles originated from Latin cultures. The Tango, Samba, Salsa, Merengue, Rhumba, Paso Doble, and Cha-Cha. Again, there are different kinds of each of these styles. For example, there is the Argentine Tango, Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom Tango (American and International styles), Finnish Tango and other vintage tangos. But we focus on just one kind of tango - and I believe it's the Ballroom, but I might be wrong.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Word of the Day

So I decided to write a blog... and I thought and thought and thought about how I can make my blog unique, creative, and different from everyone. Then I came up with a somewhat-good enough idea. We've all used "dictionary.com" before to do that quick search for a big word you heard on TV or to find a smarter sounding word for your English paper due tomorrow. This site has a feature, "Word of the Day," and I want to use the word of the day as the topic for each of my blogs. Actually, I don't want to. I am going to.

frangible
\FRAN-juh-buhl\ , adjective;
1. Capable of being broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken.

Frangible ultimately derives from Latin frangere, "to break."


It's a new year, and none us want a frangible resolution. I have a couple of resolutions:

1. Get my priorities straight.
a) Note to self: Yeah, you're always going to have a billion dance classes a week, but if there's a show or something you want to do and you have to miss a couple classes...DO IT!
b) Note to self: Staying up late doing homework? Don't blame it on coming home from dance so late. GET OFF FACEBOOK.

2. Stay more hydrated.
a) Self explanatory. I feel like I need to drink more water and catch up with my growth.

3. Gain arm strength for dance.
a) Note to self: The choreographers are starting to throw lifts at me - I can't keep the skinny look forever.

Fingers crossed that I won't forget these by Valentines. Want to impress the opposite sex? Then you'll want to improve yourself... haha...yeah no. Talking about forgetting stuff-

4. Write more.
a) Note to self: You finally got to starting a blog. Keep writing. You get lots of positive feedback on your writing, so keep writing and don't lose that creative juice!

On the note of "easily broken," it's sad for me to see Mr. Conan O'brien break up with NBC and leave his job as the host of 'The Tonight Show.' I tried to watch every episode on hulu.com, and the last week was awful and hilarious to watch him. He had a comedy bit everyday where he jokes about a classic moment from the show way back in June of 2009 as if it was a long time ago. And he also did comedy bits where it wasn't really funny, but purposefully ridiculously expensive so NBC has to pay for the bill. Although his jokes on NBC were hilarious and well deserved, as classy as his hair is, he made a deep statement about his relationship with NBC. Take a look.



"Nobody in life gets what they thought they would get in life. But if you work really hard, and are kind, amazing things will happen." -Conan O'brien

Can't get any classier than that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. That will be all for my first blog entry. Please please please don't hesitate commenting. As always, constructive criticism is gladly accepted.

Signing off,
Monkichi