Lemon Water

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..::I Can Touch The Sky::..

Gmail Chat with Anon, on Sunday Mar 22

me:

1:51 PM I’m disgustingly cheerful
1:52 PM So
jajajaja
JAJAHAHAJA
1:53 PM -sings “We Are The Champions” by Queen-
1:58 PM anonxeidrii: >D
WHY?
me: CU>
BECAUSE
I GOT INTO MT HOLYOKE
AND LIKE
I HAVE A SCHOLARSHIP
AND LIKE
I CAN TOUCH THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
anonxeidrii: >DDDDDDDDDDD YEEEAAAAAHHHHH
1:59 PM omg
THATS SO GREAT O__O
me: YAHAJAJAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
anonxeidrii: STJYTRTERTYETYRTKY
DRJ
IOH
HIOG
me: IT FEELS SO FUNKY
anonxeidrii: G’GUYTYSEYH
me: IT REALLY DOES
DID YOU KNOW TOUCHING THE SKY MAKES YOU HIGH?
anonxeidrii: xD all the crap pays off?!
HAHA
me: JAJA IT DOES
anonxeidrii: THE SKY IS MADE OF CRACK
me: THE SKY IS THE CRACK
2:00 PM OF ALL CRACKS
Not only was I accepted to Mt Holyoke, but they gave me an amazing scholarship (Twenty First Century Modern Scholars Scholarship, and it’s renewable every year!), they invited me to a Diversity Worskhop where they were GOING TO PAY MY TRIP AND BACK (I won’t be able to attend even if I get accepted though, it’s in the beginning of April and we are dying with exams and more over here), and in the Science Scholars program, which would take in July and I would travel and get research facilities aaaaaaaaaaaaand… = D
Oh my God. I’m so happy. Bennington, Smith, Mount Holyoke…
And today?
I got accepted to my top choice. Bard. With it’s 25% admittance rate (at least 2008).
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
My twitter:
  1. *shrieks* AAAAAAAAH I GOT INTO BARD COLLEGE! AAHH!! *screams* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH =D
  2. Universe, are you TRYING to make me extremely happy? Because it’s working.
  3. I love you! I promise I’ll work my arse off to take advantage of all these opportunities! I’ll get started on my homework right now! = D <3
  4. Ok, so I danced first, which half the time consisted of jumping up and down in time with the beat. But still!! JAJA

Ajajajaja I’m so happy = ´D      ;w;     TwT


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Smith Lightens My Horizon

Today, I was informed online that I had been accepted into Smith College. I learned that my friend -S- also got in.

I’m so happy. I’m so happy!! My dad was very proud! When I ran down to tell him, he made a funny motion with his fist and said “YES! I KNEW IT!” in Spanish.  He then just HAD to check all my other colleges, even if they won’t post the decision yet. <3 I’m really happy! My mom was happy but I had to tell her through chat. I think I’m making them proud = D

My dad says we might travel together during Semana Santa to visit my top 3 choices when I find out about all of my colleges. I’m both looking forwards to and terrified by it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Like -S- says, “2 down, 7 to go”.

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Dad and Books!

My dad came back from his business trip to Boston, which makes me a very, very happy kid. Additionally, he talked to a trustee of Mount Holyoke, who reassured him and through him me, that I’m probably going to have a good time getting into colleges. I certainly hope so.

My dad is baaaack *sings* I really missed him, especially since soon I’m going to have to go away to college, and well, I’m going to miss my family. He also got me some two shirts even though I didn’t ask him for any – I specified books, and maybe a pashmina, jajaja! He’s been amazing so far, no fights etc, and I’m just… overjoyed his back.

THE CRUX of this post, however, is the list of books my dad got on his trip! Here they are! I can’t wait to read them!

My Requests

He wasn’t able to get all of my requests, obviously, but he did amazingly well. I gave him two authors, a few specific recommendations from Mr. Pruzinksy, my English Teacher, and requested some books about Third Culture Kids. My dad was really impressed with Mr. P’s recommendations, as well as my request for Earth Democrac. He plans on reading them as well, so I guess these are going to become family books.

  • Earth Democracy – Vandana Shiva
  • What is the What – Dave Eggers
  • Drown – Junot Diaz
  • Terrier – Tamora Pierce
  • Unrooted Childhoods; Memoirs of Growing Up Global – Anthology
  • Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds – David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken
  • A Gift of Dragons – Anne McCaffrey

Family

  • Dreams from My Father – Barrack Obama [Everybody is going to be reading this...]
  • The River of Doubt – Candice Millard [He got this for my brother but really recommends it to me as well]
  • 2009 State of the World: into a warming world – the Worldwatch Institute [We are getting a lot of books and reading regarding this subject in my family. My dad says this was an amazing book.]

Of course, he brought magazines and a few candies as well, but it’s the books that I like the most. Besides, I’m glad I can hug my dad again, and I’m all the more aware how I’m going to miss my family.

Gods above and below, I am grateful for my family and life.

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Review: Runaways Vol. 1 : Pride and Joy

I decided to start reviewing what books I read… and this time I start with the comics I just picked up my school’s library! New shiny books… hmm… beware for spoilers, but it’s the first volume, so it isn’t much of a problem.

I had heard about Runaways before, and it was mostly good. I did like the beginning, although the pacing threw me off, the art threw me off, and the comic in general threw me off because I have gotten so used to manga. Manga tends to have a different pacing, and the art is very different – in this case, the lack of exagerated expressions shocked me a bit. I’m looking forwards togetting over this and start reading comics more regularly (when I was a kid in Boston I would read some X-men completely out of continuity or order, but I didn’t care.)

The story seems promising: we have a group of teens whose life is turned upside down overnight, and trying to do the right thing, even if it goes against their parents. The kids seem to have good personalities overall, and the way the groups (both The Pride and their kids) interact is interesting.

Things that irked me:

  1. The scene where Nico is inside her room going frantic for her black nail polish. I mean, can we stop with the “girl takes forever to get ready” scene?!
  2. Molly acts so childish. I swear I wasn’t so childish and innocent at that age! Or my friends!
  3. The dumb jock stereotype with Chase… I get the feel he won’t create much problems anyways and wil lalways be the annoying guy in hte group, but create really minor problems. Big problems are saved for the female characters…
  4. “Lucy”’s crying scene when she discovers she’s well… not of this world. It bugged the heck out of me.
  5. Parental race stereotype: Alex’s dad is like a a Gang boss (Anybody else headdesk at the idea of the africanamerican guy being the suit-dressed gang boss? It might just be me, I haven’t seen him yet.)
  6. Parental race stereotype 2 : Nicos’  parents (asian) are apparently dark cultists.
  7. The whitey alien parents are hollywood celebrities! XD

Things I found interesting:

  1. Two characters out of five are not caucasian. And one of them is their leader.
  2. Well, the story is interesting <3
  3. I have no idea what to write anymore

I’m off to do homework now! T-ciao!

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I Can Dream Of Better Representation in Fantasy

I can envision a future MMOG where character selection starts out with a degendered/desexualized body wherein players can pick and size features such as breasts, hips, and muscle sizes, as well as the gender identity of their character (male, female, transgendered), and where characters can pick the types of clothing they wear so that the same outfit on a male is not automatically pants and on a female not automatically a skirt.

Oh please do. I’d make one female character with the muscles I can only dream of.

Is it too much to ask? When I played WoW, I would wince constantly from the female version of some clothes. Not to mention my then-friend’s Succubus, especially considering how he always made his warlock summon her so I would be irritated.

I can still hear her horrible lines and fawning “seductive” tone. And the objectification of her body…

And there wasn’t even an Incubus for female Warlocks. D <

I’m not a huge gamer, but I really love MPORGS,  when I find the time for them. I love fantasy stories, epic journeys, quests (that aren’t too repetitive and annoying), and I love the interaction you can sometimes find in these games. But honestly? Not a very safe or welcoming place for women or girl gamers.

So at least this is a step in the right direction.

Note: I’m too depressed to write about anything else. Sorry about disappearing, but massive personal upheaval in the family area, and honestly, I just don’t want to talk about it.

I just can’t wait to get away to college.

And a month ago, I couldn’t imagine wanting to leave my family, despite still doing Finacial Aid forms.

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AtLA’s Friky Diky Cast: The Best Links Roundup (Under Work)

Since I seem to be getting pretty good at roundups, I decided to start making a few more selective ones. This one is dedicated to collecting the (IMHO) best ones protesting the situation, instead of the “EVERYTHING I CAN FIND” in my first roundup.  I’ll try to have it organized and in categories.

Glockgal (She is being so amazing regarding this issue that she deserves her own category)

Why it matters

Why Anime Characters “Don’t Look Asian”

Evidence that AtLA is based on Asian and Inuit Cultures

Other

Movements or Projects

Outside of the Fandom, but still valid and with insight

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AtLA’s Friky Diky Cast Media Coverage Roundup! (Under Work)

Since I seem to be getting pretty good at roundups, I decided to start making a few more selective ones. This one is dedicated to collecting all the links that show Media coverage of our issue, and I will try to put it in chronological order. If you find one link missing, please tell me so I can update this!

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Bringing In Our Year With Grand Style, and Lists

First, I want you to listen to this song:

Has the video loaded? Will it play while you read this? Good. We’re starting this blog post with cheerful, dynamic energy.

My new years was a very pleasant day. Finished editing my art portfolio site for college, which is now added to my links list on this blog. Look to the left! I also added a “new” theme – “new” because I have used it before. When I get back from my trip home to Bolivia, I’ll edit the headers and perhaps use a different theme, but I wanted a fresher and paler theme than my last one, which felt too formal.

Returning to my last day in lil’ ole ‘08, after the last edits in the portfolio, I underwent a massive cleaning/organizing spree. My desk is now nearly empty (I have a few things that will vacate this space once I regain my room), which feels a bit odd. I don’t want clutter, but I definitely feel like something is missing, so I added a few sketches and arts-in-progress so that my desk feels more productive. I am pelased to say that most of my stuff is a lot more organized, and that I plan on keeping it that way!

Because I was busy organizing until around 10 pm yesterday, my mom was left alone in the kitchen (usually my dad loves helping and ordering and taking over there… but he was rebooting my brother’s computer, as he lost all of his files), but she still put out a delicious dinner for the whole family – which this time, included my uncle, his wife, and my five year old cousin. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my yellow underwear (Yes, I am talking about my underwear. See, Latin America has a tradition where if you wear underwear of a particular colour, the next year will be better in a particular way. Yellow can be money, luck, love, depending on the country. Green is sometimes for money, red for love… it really varies from place to place to place. You get the idea. I wear yellow for overall Good Fortune In All And Everything.) We had delicious soft salmon, some odd pasta which tasted much better than I expected and still want, asparagus, camote puree, and a dessert of apple crumble and ice cream. My uncle and aunt (I’m still getting used to her as an aunt) helped her in the making, mostly in the slicing of the food.

Then, of course, it was midnight, where my brother opened a bottle of the champagne, and we all had a glass (well, some of us had two), as we went to our little balcony to watch the fireworks. Soon, we ended up putting our music set, and placed The Red Army Choir to play grandly as we talked and enjoyed ourselves. All in all, a very nice and peaceful end of the year.

I don’t know how to tell how psyched I am right now, as I feel a lot more free and energetic. 2008 was definitely a quite good year, despite college and school stress; I managed. I’d like to thank 2008 for not inflicting me with crushes or infatuations in school, excessive friend drama, no sudden dips in my grades, and a relatively accident-free time. 2008 is also the year that Obama was elected President, so I’ll take that as a good sign of what is to come. As it is, 2008 had its share of dissapointments, the biggest of which is in myself… so!

New Years Resolutions!

Blog wise:

  • Change my theme and personalize it a lot more
  • Finish adding and editing my Blogroll and Links
  • Catch up on on those overdue posts (Creamfields, Tambopata, Analysis ala Sociological Images, etc..)
  • Edit my categories, and categorize each post
  • Add a page of the webcomics I read

Additionally, I want to thank everybody who takes their time to read this blog, and including those who came with the influx of the Avatar Cast Movie posts – I hope you found those useful, and I thank you for taking the time to get informed and writing to make a difference!

More Ok Go goodness, but their songs make me really happy!

School and work wise:

  • Make notes for all my IB classes so I am ready for the IB exams that are looming nearer. Two year’s material!
  • Not allow stress to get to me
  • Organize my assignments, my materials, my locker, to avoid the mess that 2008 has had
  • Do all my financial aid forms and required materials AHEAD of time.
  • Finish the big ITGS project

Health and Habits wise:

  • Organize my room once it is vacated, and keep it that way throughout the year (Includes closet and clothes, art’s drawer, hygiene drawer, jewelry drawer)
  • Enter a workout schedule weekly or daily so I get in shape (10 minutes exercise in the morning, every other day 30 minute jog with dog)
  • Stop eating cheese and cracker snacks each afternoon! Eat fruit and drink water instead!
  • Fix my sleeping habits and schedule, it is insane.
  • Fix my work habits.

Personal:

  • Draw more! I feel I have been leaving my art to the side to finish my schoolwork, and I want to develop it and improve!
  • Work on my personal graphic novel story… actually set the story in paper and design my characters.
  • Stay in contact with everybody I love (work got in the way…)
  • Stay as happy as I have been, despite everything.

I hope everybody else has a wonderful year too, and I hope we get past any troubles we run into. I also want to stop right now and thank for my parnets (though they are unaware of the existance of this blog). Mom, thank you for helping and understanding me all this year, for your invaluable advice. Dad, thank you for your input, and for learning a bit more how to hold your temper in check… though part of it is because my brother and I are getting better at dismissing you when you get out of hand. (Seriously dad..). Juanga, dear brother… thank you for… the sweet moments, when they come up. It’s really odd to think it’s my last year of high school, that 2009… that it really is the time for S09. Wow.

To Steph: thanks for reading my rants, joining my rants, and telling me when I am messing up with your subtle tactics… Thank you for being there for me, and for confiding in me, and for helping me in my messy chaos. You are and admirable appear-everywhere-do-everything-friend, and honestly, this year would not have been the same without you. We need to get out more together, grab some Starbucks, and then get you at my house so we can play some lovely wii and laugh at… well, everything.

To Patrick: I know I haven’t been online on msn lately, so we won’t get to talk until I get back from Bolivia, probably. Sorry about that, so hopefully you’ll remember this blog exists and read this little message. Thanks for staying despite the huge workload you have (Btw, Mr. 7-in-chem-and-physics, how the hell do you do it?!), and despite the difficulty in communication with you (lets face it, talking is sometimes confusing and hard, and you love making me so frustrated I can’t articulate anything in debates, but then, you ARE in the debate team), and for being my friend. You need to come again so you can beat me at Brawl some more.

To Insun: I know you won’t be reading this, because I haven’t linked you here, but the sentiment remains.  I know sometimes you are volatile and irritable (… all the time), but I love being the other half of the Dynamic Duo! with you, and we share a great many times and fun. (Just, please stop with the idea of “let’s tell the guys who ask us to dance at clubs we are lesbians so they leave us alone” because it seems to me they get turned on…) It’s like we are meant to be balancing each other, and I’m glad that you want me to stay in your life. I hope you always know I’ll be there for you! Let’s walk together in the Graduation and remember all the sparking good times : D

To Mabel: Mabeeee, I love talking to you, and sharing with you. It seems to me each of my friend receives a particular facet of me more than others, and with you my geekyness just leaps bounds and bounds. Your attitude in life is refreshing, and sometimes I feel like you are the oldest of all my friends – lighthearted, but ready to face life. In a sense, you remind me of my cousin, in that maturity and humour go hand in hand. I’m just going to end this part with one word: ORUUGAAAS!

To Izzy: I don’t know if you have the time to read my blog, Isa, but hopefully you do and though we don’t talk a lot lately it is a form of communication. I jsut want to let you know that I miss you dearly, and hope that we talk again soon. Please answer my email queries, becasue since I’ll be going to college in the US (very likely, at least), I want to know if we can meet! Dear soul sister, I hope you have a wonderful time with Charles and your family, and please remember how much I love you.

To Paul: Dude, it’s been forever. I am sorry I’ve been so lacking in the contact department, apart from occasional Gmail comments and some tweets, but I miss you hun.  I’m glad that so far from what I see, you seem a more confident person (nearly wrote seme there… but maybe that’s my subconscious saying something ; D) It’s kind of weird because you’ve gotten more serious regarding school, and what I remember of our afternoons at your place involves squabbling over who’s fault it was that your Fable character was being chased with a bounty, or something,  you Franco! Regardless, I miss you, and all the awesome moments. Let’s recap red bar.

That’s it for now. There are more people I want to talk to, but I have to pack my bags now. 18 days in Bolivia and seeing family! Wish me the best, I’ll be wishing it for you guys <3

On that note, I leave you with Vampire Weekend and their cheerful music:

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Writing Gives You Power: AtLA’s Cast, And What You Can Do

In a continuation from my last two posts, I’m going create a more specific directory in the spirit of glockgal’s livejournal post about the same. This time, it’s not about the reactions or the issues at stake, but rather, focusing on what you can do to change the whitewashing of the cast.

First, you have to write. Yes. Write a letter (polite please) to as many people as you think can make a difference. To the Big People over there, to the Media People, to your felow-avatar-fan-that-isn’t-clued-in, or to that friend-who-you-think-would-write-too. Spread the word to the people who would support you in this venture, and prepare your pens, sharpen your quills, or stretch your fingers for some epic typing, because it’s time to work for that diverse cast that AtLA deserves.

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Re: AtLA’s Friky Diky Cast

To the guy who commented as “Michael” in my last post

Your attack on me is laughable. First of all, you assumed that I hate white people, and partly because I am not white; I am white. I am so white that when I wear skirts my friends comment on my whiteness. My family is white, a great number of my friends and my social circle is white, and I do not hate them or myself for being white. I do not need to not be white to see racism, nor to fight it. Besides, the colour of one’s skin should not matter or affect the logic of their argument: I simply am more privileged and so less likely to see racism in my everyday life, because I benefit from it and am not affected by it. (You might want to study the dynamics of privilege, since you seem to be soaking in it). Second of all, attacking me instead of the issues and the logic I raise is a logical fallacy known as ad hominem.

(Additionally, I was only using Harry Potter as an example of possible ways of choosing a cast based on talent, in a BIG movie. It really has little relevance compared to the whole weight of the post, but that this is the only thing that sticks in your mind shows how little you understood what I wrote).

Third, yes, I am critiquing a movie and their choice for a cast, because it shows racist undertones and considerations. I have not seen the movie, or most of the actors. Please note that I specifically mentioned that I would refrain from commenting on the acting ability of those cast for Katara and Aang (and even for Sokka) because I don’t know enough from them, apart from their ethnicity (and not even that for Aang).

When you say I am “completely in the dark”, that I “don’t know what the movie is about, have no idea about the storylines, or scripts, or what has been added or subtracted”, I want to laugh. I have seen all the Avatar episodes, do know the storyline, and so have a pretty damn reasonable idea of what the movie will contain (finding Aang, freeing him, Zuko finds him, the chases, Aang has to master waterbending, the comet!!!, are the basic elements), and I am not in the dark. True, I don’t know what specific changes have been made to the script, but I do know the casting, and it is the casting I am critiquing – not the script.

And here I would argue that I do have a reason to hate the cast. And it is here when you completely miss the point of the post. Let me quote rawles, as s(he) probably phrases this better:


“Taking a show where the cultures and the world that the characters all hail from are clear, blatant, confirmed analogues and amalgams of a diverse variety of various Asian cultures, where the characters have Asian names, where their magical martial arts styles that are the expressions of their very souls are Asian martial arts, where every single written word is actually IN CHINESE and then casting white people to play the main characters is offensive.”

Let me point the clueless to this wonderful post by vagabond_sal, because again s(he) says the same thing, and a bit more, better than I can.

I have the right to express my disappointment and provide constructive critique in the hopes of making Paramount Pictures and Avatar the live action movie a more inclusive movie that doesn’t discriminate against race – because racism is wrong, and should be stopped in all of its forms – but rather, welcomes diversity and makes positive of it. I have the right to expect that people of colour are fairly represented in the media, although it is currently not. And since it isn’t, I sure as hell am going to demand for it.

BTW: Batman and Heath Ledger is not an appropriate comparison, because it was a white character being played by a white actor. Please, avoid false comparisons – another logical fallacy. Instead of actually analyzing the logic and the arguments, you are trolling my blog and my person. Who was it that was talking about invulnerable internet tower and hurling insults?

“In the end, one loses an open mind, when they open their mouth.”

PS: Why did people get upset over Heath Ledger as the Joker again? I don’t remember that angst. And please, let it somebody other than Michael that informs me about this.