Twirlr

A friend just sent me this and I gotta share (you'll see why!)



I feel like this should be Kenji's new theme song.

So Good at Being So Bad

Last night, for my last honors portfolio entry, I watched a play about Florence Foster Jenkins, an American soprano who became a legend for her bad singing. She was so convinced that she could sing that she kept pushing through, interpreting the jeers as spontaneous eruptions from the audience because her music resonated with them.

She made it, in a way. And she was happy.

Which makes me wonder why I dropped all those things that I was told that I was bad at. Perhaps to satisfy my kindergarten teacher who gave me a C on my painting of happy taxis flying in the clouds (she taught me, "taxis don't smile")?

In any case, now that I've perfected my art of procrastination, I must stop and actually write another sentence on Putnam's two-level game theory. I guess it's a case of painful writing vs. painful singing.

----

Here's a clip of her singing. I actually had to pause it in the middle because my ears hurt. But here's a cheer to those who persevere!

(Not) Scarred

"Are you this way because your face looks like (beep) !?"

I was confused. What was wrong with his face?

I was watching Pay It Forward and apparently one of the characters had burn scars all over his face. Somehow, that totally escaped me. I just assumed that he had some sort of rash or unnatural pre-aging.

Maybe it's because I've always been scarred.

When I was one, I apparently crawled into the kitchen and hot boiling water was accidentally poured all over my arm. I must have burned and screamed because my cotton jacket soaked up all the boiling liquid and when that was torn off of me, so was the skin on my arms. The old lady who took care of me calmed me down and put toothpaste on my burn. Thank God she wasn't a big fan of the mint kinds. Two weeks later, my skin grew back at an amazing rate, but started to connect my upper and lower arm together in an unholy angle. I could no longer straighten my arms. I spent two years doing physical therapy, always photographed looking slightly clueless and with my arm wound in a tight white gauze.

But when the bandages came off for the last time, I never thought twice about that browned tear drop that sits on the uneven patch of skin on my arm. It was a part of me; it was me. Better yet, it was a constant reminder, a souvenir of sorts, of the kind old lady who took care of me and loved me. My recent addition to the collection on my arm seems oddly appropriate. It has, after all, been twenty years.

Perhaps because I've always lived with and not really noticing a burn that made my fifth grade best friend gasp the first time she noticed it, I don't really see the scars on people.

Maybe that's why when I watched this mormon message video yesterday and saw a photo of Stephanie Nielson -- mother-of-four, blogger, and a victim of a burn on 80% of her body -- all I saw was a beautiful, kind woman. And I cried. Because I actually noticed her burns, and yet when she speaks, I didn't notice them at all.

Flash Mob for Japan

When the world was watching the earthquakes, tsunamis, and nuclear emergencies in Japan several weeks ago, a small group of Asians in BYU got together and started scheming.

We wanted people to remember their initial compassion and sympathy for Japan when the water recedes, when the news cameras leave, when Japan has to pick itself up and start again.

Our solution? Organize a flashmob where we raise awareness of Japan's sufferings and encourage people to buy "Made in Japan" because that is the best way to help Japan's long term recovery.

Around 200 Asians responded to the call. And this is what we did today at the wilk terrace:




Added bonus? Now the white people know that (some) Asians can dance.

Check this out if you're a little confused at the ching chong part in the middle.

Props to Kenji (for designing shirts and editing video), Ryan (for remixing the song), Jarom (master planner!), Shunta (choreographing), Amy, Rachel, Miranda (for being the most patient dance teachers), and many others!

日本

Stay strong, Japan. Don't let the waves break your spirit.

The Most Typical Face on the Planet

7 Billion: Are You Typical? — National Geographic Magazine @ Yahoo! Video

Joshua Radin Concert

The first time I heard Joshua Radin was when Justin burnt me a CD with all his favorite songs.

But the first time I fell in love with Joshua Radin's songs was in the Paris Charles de Gaulles airport. I had ten minutes of free internet time. I sent off a paper, which I was frantically writing the whole time we were in Paris, checked facebook, and fed my OCD habit of checking my email.

Kenji had written me a long email. And sent me this song. And it's been one of my favorite ever since.




I really hope he plays it at his concert tomorrow night!

Sand

This is us.

Hope to Teach For America?

Just one minute and twenty six seconds shy of the the deadline, I submitted my Teach For America application.

Thought I was cutting it close?

Hwanhi, my roommate, hit "send" one minute and sixteen seconds after me.

I hope TFA will not discriminate against procrastinators like us. After all, it stands for equal opportunity right?

For those of you not familiar with Teach For America, here's a little something:

The Extent of Chinese Censorship

You know that the Big Brother is strict and unforgiving when China's own premier, Wen Jiabao, is censored on national TV. The fact that he was censored suggests that there are higher powers in the Chinese government that do not like Wen's message. Possible factionalism in the Hu-Wen camps? If that's the case, then Wen is playing a dangerous game by opening touting political reforms in an interview with CNN.  Perhaps the question is: Hu is emerging on top? 

Read here for more details. 

A Satirical Look at the US Immigration Issue

For some reason, the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security asked Stephen Colbert to testify about US immigration issues.

Believers

I just realized that I never finished blogging about NY. BYU won top honors for both teams (Germany and Medecins Sans Frontieres) that we represented - making us champions six year running. My partner and I also won the committee award in our committee (the popular vote) so I guess people liked us :)

As Chase said, through our hard work, we made believers out of ourselves and everybody else.

Check out this video for the wrap up of our New York MUN trip!

BYU Model UN - Nationals 2010 from BYU | Kennedy Center on Vimeo.

分手是需要练习的

谈起关于你的话题 终于可以不用缺席
甚至还 表现得不再关心
从前你是伤的痕迹 现在不过是场回忆
忽远 忽近

我怕的是低潮来袭 这城市哪里够隐密
藏住我 突然想哭的情绪
宁愿失去斗志勇气 好过和你冷战推挤
这样 谁输得起

原来分手是需要练习的
等时间久了会变勇敢的
你慢慢出走 我渐渐放手
这不就是我们要的自由

原来分手是需要练习的
等伤口好了会变轻松的
海阔天空 不残留一点痛
回头看 怕懦弱 往前走 怕坠落
但我一定能学会
在想你的时候 不难过

The ultimate fantasy

I was at a house party tonight and somebody showed this to me. It's a music video by Chris Dane Owens called "Shine on me". We thought it was absolutely hilarious. This music video is Lord of the Rings/Narnia/Matrix/Eragon/Enchanted/Pirates of the Caribbean all rolled into one. Plenty of exploding ships, dragons, incineration by random flames, impossible jumps, and even a Michelangelo moment. Love his look at 1:42. But the best part is the words at the end of the song. Absolute classic.

Oh and this was made only two years ago.

Feeling Old

Even though people at the office teased me for being only twenty, I can't help but feel incredibly old now that I just had my twentieth birthday. The big 2-0 is a milestone, one that launches me into another decade of my life. I don't know if I'm ready to leave my teenage years behind yet. Regardless, it was ready to leave me behind. So with some reluctance I will resign to the fact that I'm going to start learning how to deal with adult issues like insurance, mortgage payments, retirement funds, etc. Man, I'm not even greying yet and I'm already being nostalgic.

I had a great birthday by the way. Last week we celebrated all the July and August birthdays at the Barlow Center. My friend Marie is an amazing cook and apparently she's also an amazing cake decorator. She piped our faces onto the cake, and President Obama's too of course.





On my actual birthday, my friends at the Barlow also surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries and a video that they put together for me. I nearly cried!