It was soccer.

Okay, so my soccer knowledge is slightly better than my volleyball knowledge, but that's not saying much.

Nonetheless, I placed FOURTH. Covering my first sporting event and covering soccer and I place fourth. Not too shabby, eh?

It was funny, though. We were all up in the press box...and I couldn't see very well. And I was only half paying attention. So I had to ask around to see what was going on haha. And no one could see the jersey numbers so everytime someone made a play, it was like "who was that? No. 3 or No. 6?!"


(I took this during halftime because I was bored....this is Mario, the other guy from our school who did sports with me. Everyone found it funny that I beat him.)

But we had a postgame press conference and got a box score and miscallaneous stats, so most of the story came off that.

Being up in a press box was kind of cool though.

I also got SECOND place for a mail-in news feature. I have no idea which story it was, but I'm pretty sure it was something relating to Jackie Robinson, because I remember that coming up when we were discussing what to send.

I am surprised but veryyyy happy! I've gotten something at the other JACCs I've been to but I FINALLY got past the honorable mentions!


(This is me playing with one of the photographers' Cannon D1s. Yeah, it was heavy too.)

I snapped pictures like crazy, even though I looked quite weird next to the photogs and their huge ass SLRs. But I took over 200 pictures...some people were like, dude you should switch over to the photography side. *shrug*

(and here are a bunch..)


I like taking pictures of clouds. Yep.


Most of the group...


Took this on the way there Saturday. It was just after 7, so the sun was still coming up. The back window was misty, it was hard to focus because of bumpy roads and going 85, and I came up with this trippy shot.


Daniel, one of the photogs. I like this pic...hah.


Steve, another photog.


Self-shot of me and Kate, my good buddy and EIC.


All the schools bring their newspapers to share. We picked up one of every school's I think. This is the pile...


Paul, one of the writers, preparing for his competition.


And Natasha prepping for hers.

Oh, and UCLA won y'allz. 8-0 baby! I actually called the boy to find out the score...we were sitting there waiting for awards and I wanted to know and also kill time....and we ended up having a 1/2 hour conversation...then I called him again afterwards for the final score and I found out they won in OT again. Later on, I found out that they were down by 21 with 8:26 left in the game and they cam back. WHOA.

Anyone know anything about volleyball?!

Because it turns out I have to compete in the JACC Sports competition tomorrow.

And knowing it's taking place at Cal-State Fullerton and it's usually one of their sporting events we're going to have to write, about it's probably going to be some sport like volleyball. Or soccer. Or water polo. Or some other weird sport that I know nothing about (my sports knowledge is pretty much limited to: baseball, basketball and football).

I remember last year when the old sports editor found out that the event would be volleyball. She said something along the lines of "Shit, I know nothing about f-ing volleyball."

So it turns out I am registered for Friday too and that I'll have to go now since the sports competition is tomorrow night.

Would've loved to write in the opinion competition, but that's Saturday morning at 7:30. Which would've meant i had to leave HERE around 6:30. UM, NO THANK YOU. I am so NOT a morning person. I'm not even awake at 6:30 most of the time! What kind of mofo expects you to be alert and able to compete at 7:30 a.m.?! Geez.

I guess part of the reason is that a lot of the schools are staying the night in Fullerton. We are not since our school deems Fullerton too close to pay for us to stay over there. HMPH.

I found out I have to leave at 7 but that's better than 6:30. Besides, I don't have to really function until later....

Anyhow.

It's cloudy and it's depressing me. It's been cloudy all week! I miss the sun!!

Actually, I think it was sunny yesterday but I was holed up in the newspaper day all day. Yep, I never really know what's happening in the outside world on Wednesday because I'm indoors, working on the paper all day.

I made French Onion soup the other day. YUMMMMM.

Congrats to the White Sox, I guess. I didn't really care who won this World Series, because I don't really care for either team either way. *shurg*

And now I'll be turning my attention to basketball season......well, and keeping up with UCLA football.

I was asked to be EIC of the this year's magazine next semester...I said I'll think about it but I'll probably end up turning it down. Why? one - That would be the third time takjing the class. Last year, my second time around, I ended up being bored to tears. Third time? um, yeah. Two - I need to transfer after this semester. I've got a couple more classes to go, classes that aren't my thing and I've procrastinated on but need to be done...I'd already been thinking of dropping the paper for next semester. So. And three - I don't really think I've got what it takes to lead a WHOLE staff. I can handle my page. But a whole staff? Um...yeah.

But....I was looking through the list of classes I've got to take and I don't have as many as I thought. Go me.

Speaking of transferring - can you belive it'll be November next week?! That means I've got only a month til most of my applications are due! EEk.

I'm applying to a bunch of places, but I'm probably going to end up at UCLA or UCSD.........

hm. It's *technically* Monday. BOO

This weekend, I scrapped. And scrapped. And scrapped some more. Submitted a bunch. Did a bunch for my friend Amy's b-day gift album (I'm exactly halfway done! yipee!)

This week is birthday week. You know, the middle of the month was birthday week (Julie and the boy), this is birthday week again (Amy, Cristin, Mom, Judy). Gotta finish this album for Amy. Gotta finish knitting scarf for Cristin (dude, I'm going to be a crafty bee all week, aren't I?) Gotta send Judy a card. I know what to get Mother, I just need to go purchase it!

I dunno how celebrating is going to work out. I've got a journalism conference this weekend. I took Friday off, specifically because I thought we were going to Knott's to celebrate Amy/Cristin's birthdays. Apparently, we're not. Apparently, we're probably celebrating Saturday. I signed up for the conference on Saturday! Maybe Thursday though. Maybe. But doode! JACC is horribly bad timing this year. It was perfectly good timing LAST year.

Myspace is also hosting a concert/anniversary bash at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. I so want to go. I also know who also would so want to go (*hint* a boy) but TOO BAD I won't be around. PSHAW.

Oh, my mission this week - to find a new coffee mug. I broke mine in the sink last week. This cool, cute, clear mug with fishies on it that I got in Japan. Poor mug. There were these mugs I wanted from Target around back-to-school time, but they're gone now. I should've picked one up then.

Did I mention that Grey's Anatomy is fabulous? Really, it keeps getting better every week. Yep.

Oh, and EK I still wanna kill you because I'm still addicted to them Take 5 bars. hahah.

Quickie Post

It's Friday! YAY!

- I hate you, EK!!! After reading your blog and your bits about them Take 5 bars, I bought a pack of fun-sizes. Now I am addicted to them and cannot stop. I must've had like 5 yesterday. They are SOOOOOOOOOOO goood.

- Embarrassing story of the week - So I'm the female voice of the sex column (it hasn't really been about sex the past couple of weeks though) for the paper, right? Well, as of Tuesday we didn't have a topic (the paper goes into production Wednesday). So I called the guy that writes it with me, Mario. Except, I have a friend named Mario and his number is the one that is in my phone book in my cell phone. So this Mario picks up and he has no idea what the hell I'm talking about. I on the other hand think I have the wrong number. Five minutes later I figure out that I called the wrong Mario and this Mario probably thinks I'm a psycho. So after screaming "SHIT" I call this Mario and apologize and say "sorry, I was calling another Mario so I'm not a psycho." hah. Whoops.

- Played Graffiti on Yahoo last night with a bunch of friends. If you don't know, Graffiti is like online pictionary. It was f-ing hilarious. Especially because my friend Nora couldn't draw ANYTHING, they kept giving us odd things to draw and it was just FUNNY. Must do that again, it was entertaining. Although that kept me up last night and I could barely stay awake in class today during a speech about the Brown Act/Public Records Act.

I want some really good sooooooooooup. Yum.

It's pouring, it's thundering, it's hailing..

Okay, NOW it feels like fall down here.

I'm not a big fan of rain. Love the smell of rain, but that's about it. I hate it when it really pours, and I hate it when it rains for days at a time. Not a huge fan of really hot weather, either. In my ideal world, it would stay around 75 degrees all year long.

It was raining a little bit here over the weekend. Not much, though. Last night, it started to thunder with lightning. NOT COOL when you're trying to fall asleep....still thundering today and it's coming down pretty hard.

Was shopping at the LSS and all of a sudden it started HAILING. Huge balls of ice, too. The owner and I looked outside and went "Oh my GOD." It was crazy. I wish I had a camera. ha.

Speaking of the LSS, I got me some BG Blitzen paper today! COOL STUFF.

Celebrated my friend Julie's birthday this weekend....We went to Bucca Di Beppo, which was cool. Liked the family-style portions where everyone just shares, because we really didn't spend much and were full....and we had no leftovers! The food was yummy, too. Love Italian food. We were going to go karaoke-ing or to Midnight Magic (their school's pep rally or something, where they announced their basketball players), but we went back to Julie's apartment, and ended up staying there because she started feeling sick. 'Twas fun anyways.





Oh, and UCLA won again! It was something like 38-28 when I left the house, but when I checked scores later that night, they won in overtime, 44-41.

But the Angels lost. grrr. Oh well.

TGIF- randomness

- It's mofoing hot down here in So-Cal. It has to have been 100 degrees today. Such is "fall" in lovely So-Cal. To make it worse, I grabbed a bracelet or something without looking because it felt like something on my key chain for my house keys...and I come to realize that it wasn't. Whoops. My mother wasn't home, either. So I got locked out for about an hour. NOT cool. But alas, I am a dumbass sometimes.

- While outside, I was able to make a bunch of phone calls I needed to make....it was the boy's birthday today so I called him too. Apparently, he's not with that chick anymore because he invited me to a future UCLA game? Interesting....anyways, according to him October is the best month ever because "all the sports are being played." Well pffft, but I'm going to go broke in October thank you very much.

- Lots of scrapping to do today. And probably though the rest of the month. Need to finish up a gift album for my mom's friend....I have like 5 pages done or something. My mother, when I asked her to buy an 8x8 album ended up buying a kit for an 8x8 album so I'm using that....cute stuff but the paper is hard to work with. It's because I'm the layer-y type and this paper is for the block-y type. Then I need to finish up some LOs for submitting (I submitted another 10 or so in the last couple of days)....then another gift album for a friend on the 25th.

- So apprently my LSS did get new stuff. My Mind's Eye Kaleidoscope (WHY can't they just go for the BG Lollipop stuff!), new WIld Asparagus (shoudl be nice but I'm a cheapskate and may be refusing to buy it) andddd Gin-X/Center City Design (yay!). We'll see what else comes in, I guess....

- Celebrating my friend Julie's b-day down in Irvine tomorrow. Dinner, karaoke and I don't know. I still have to purchase her present, though.

- Found this on a thread on 2Ps -
C - You definitely have a partier side in you, don't be shy to show it.
A - You can be very quiet when you have something on your mind.
R - You are a social butterfly
O - You are very open-minded.
L - You are very open-minded.
I - You are always smiling and making others smile.
N - You like to work, but you always want a break.
E - You like to work, but you always want a break.
I guess it's mostly true. The thead is here.

I really need to get to bed.

- So I've been uploading photos to Yahoo because they give you free prints at Target and I desperately need to print pictures because my friend Amy and I cannot seem to coordinate our schedules to head to Costco (she has a card, I don't). So I still have dial-up, right. And my pictures are sized at the largest size possible at the highest resolution possible. So it takes like 10 minutes to upload 2 pictures. Gawd, I really am a scrapbook aren't I? And a cheapskate? Because really, what I would do for some free prints. lol.

- So I got this brilliant idea to purchase scrapping items I can't find on e-bay. You know what I found? 55 cent Scenic Route paper....but get this. The shipping was THREE BUCKS. For a freaking single sheet of paper. No dubasses I am not going to pay $3.55 for a single sheet of paper. No way, buddy.

- Angels won! Yay for the Yankees being eliminated. Really, I don't care for the Angels either way but the fact that they beat the Yankees? I love them for it. So I'll be a bandwagoner Dodgers-turned-Angels fan. For now.

- Finally found the Christina Cole slab and snatched it with my 50% off coupon. COOLEST PAPER. EVAR.

- I had a second coupon so I was going to get the Rob and Bob slab with it because it's cute. But NOOOOO. The lady who got to the Slab basket before me snatched the last one. I was fuming. I wanted to throw one of the ugly old Slabs at her. GRRRR.

- So I got a BHG Made in Minutes magazine instead. I should've gotten the Inspirations book because I wanted that and they still had it. Anyhow, the MIM mag is really good. So I demand you all go out and purchase it.

- I've sent off something like 11 LOs for publication int h past 3 or 4 days. One of these better get picked up, damnit. Oh well, I've got more coming their way, so. Hey, if my horoscope (see post below) is true then I should be calls from everywhere, right? Yeah, I wish.

- What the heck am I still doing up? Oh yeah, these photos need to load. Well....they can finish up tomorrow. Off to bed I go. Goodnight, all.

That is all. (If you read "The Devil Wears Prada" - I LOVE that freaking line)

Randomness...

...because I haven't posted in a little bit -

- Just found out that my cousin's wife delivered a baby girl a couple hours ago. Welcome baby Kylie, who was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches. My cousin's wife had been in labor since 2 a.m. today (yesterday now?). Haven't seen pictures but my cousin is sending them over as I speak (or type).

- So for some reason, I find myself being REALLY into UCLA football this year. I've always liked the Bruins, certainly more than them Trojans (I can't stand them), but haven't really paid that much attention til now. Maybe it's because now they're 5-0 thanks to a come-from-behind victory against Cal today. Or maybe because I just might become a Bruin next year. Just maybe. Hopefully, I WILL get into UCLA.

- I was Pubster of the Day over at TwoPeas on Thursday. That was freaking awesome. What an honor. Such coolness. Pubsters/Peas are awesome!!

- Did a couple more 12x12 pages.....and they're now starting to resemble my usual style. Simpleness is fun too, though.

- So I was looking on the KI website today....must have some of them "My Favorite Things" papers. So I fired off an e-mail to the LSS asking them to check it out and may they please carry it? I also suggested some Scenic Route and MOD and Foofala. Some other sutff I want them to carry but I forgot. Hopefully, she'll listen. hah.

- What the heck happened to the Red Sox?! They got swept. How sad. The Padres got swept too. But that's understandable because they were not so good to begin with, plus they were playing the Cards, who is my pick to win the World Series.

- Lots of baseball writing to do this week. I'm writing a playoff series for the Courier and I have to write a 1,000 season wrapup for the Dodgers for Baseball Bias.

- I've been really lazy and un-motivated this week. Someone please snap me out of it because this can't be going on.

- Lots of birthdays coming my way! Did 2 b-day surprises on 2Ps (now I gotta make a CD and mail both of them out). My buddy Julie's birthday is Tuesday and we're celebrating over the weekend. Ernesto (aka the boy)'s birthday is the 14th. That's all for this week. I don't have to worry about birthdays til the end of the month.

- But I do have to make 2 gift scrapbooks. One for a birthday, another for mom's friend. Also gotta knit a scarf. I've got plenty to keep myself busy with, I guess.

- Finally figured out the name to an Ozomatli song I really liked. The song's called "Believe. Ozomatli is a L.A.-native band with very cool music. Saw them live last year when I went to a playoff rally thing for the Dodgers last year (geez, that seems like such a long time ago). They're a fusion band - you hear Latin influence, hip-hop, rock, some soul, some middle-Eastern influence. Check them out!

- My CosmoGirl (yeah I read the darn thing still... get it free so might as well) horoscope for October says - "Creatively, you're on top and wowing everyone. Keep setting aside artistic time and you'll come up with ideas that will bring you accolades. Developing your craft could even help you come up with new future career plans." Not a huge horoscope junkie, but that caught my eye. If that were true, I'd be getting published everywhere this month. hahaa.

"Next year"

Regular season baseball is over. Playoffs begin tomorrow. In other words, the Dodgers' dismal season has ended with a pathetic effort.

I hate the last day of the season and the day after. There's a sense of finality.....and this crappy, disappointing feeling that the Dodgers failed to make the playoffs.....AGAIN.

One of the reasons last year was so great, even though I knew there was very little chance that the Dodgers would beat the Cardinals, was the fact that the season would continue, even for just a couple more days. Although the Dodgders did end up getting their asses kicked by the Cards in the first round of the playoffs, the disappointing feeling wasn't there.

But when the Dodgers don't make the playoffs, it's always "next year." Next year they'll do it, next year will be the year L.A. fans have been waiting for, next year we'll finally get that star impact player......But, as my buddy Rafael and I were talking this year, "I'm tired of saying 'next year.'" We say it every year and it never ever happens.

This season it's a bit more disappointing because of the pathetic season the team had. In past years, they came close. This year, they finished 20 games under .500. And, what makes it worse is that things are probably going to get worse before they get better.

When are the McCourts going to show us fans that they really want to win? When is DePodesta going to get a clue? When are the star prospects in the farm system going to finally grow into the types of incredible players this organization has said they are going to be?

BLEED BLUE!

p.s. i think blogger hates me. really, i've been having trouble posting. well, maybe it's my computer. i need a new one, dude.

"Scrap"-tacular

Dude. It's already October. Wow. The last time I checked, i was in Vegas ringing in 2005, freezing my ass off with a massive headache. But that was 10 months ago.

The one thing I hate about October is the massive amount of birthdays. Love celebrating them, but it's not going to do any good for my wallet....but I'm making half of the presents so it might not be toooo bad.

Today (okay, technically yesterday because it's like 12:30 here), my LSS had a 40% off sale (plus up to 75% off on clearance). The place was packed. You know how I always complain about the product in the store? You know the Disney products and stuff like that everytime they get new product? Yeah, well I realize why they have it. Them customers LOVE it. The Disney stuff wasn't on sale, but they were still looking at it. On the walls were the class samples, mostly of paper piercings. They were ooh-ing and aah-ing over those. You know those ugly (okay, that's just in my opinion) diecuts? Especially those old ones? Yeah, well those were 5 for $1 and they were picking up a ton of them. I don't like it but they do. I was going around picking up the Chatterbox, the KI Icicles, WIld Asparagus....to each her own, I guess. But since this sale is to make room for new product, I hope they balance out the Disney and diecuts with some of the trendy stuff!

Sort of staying in this weekend and resting and catching up on sleep.....I was so tired this past week. My sleep schedule was out of whack and I was cranky. When you go on a getaway with friends, it's a given that you're getting zero sleep. So I left exhausted...came back exhausted....went to school exhausted. I'm rejuvinated now, though, thank goodness.

Been scrapping a bit the last couple of days (not today, but I did make a couple of cards). What I've noticed that my scrapping comes in spurts....in a span of a couple of days, I'll get really inspired and crank out a ton of pages.....and for a couple days after that, I'll have zero motivation or inspiration. Today I'm at that point....Started experimenting with 12x12 again. I bought this Chatterbox kit last week and it came iwth a 12x12 album. I've noticed that my style totally changed when I did the bigger size. I like to layer and use tons of PP when I scrap 8.5x11....not so in 12x12. Then again, I used multiple pictures. Since I refuse to enlarge my pictures, I guess I'll use the 12x12 album for those LOs when I need to include a bunch of pictures. Yep.

Okay, this ended up being sort of a weird post....hah. Hope y'all are having a great weekend!