AiriZel: Thoughts

Oh my god. RYLA WAS AMAZING! Caps are rarely used on this blog in that succession, but man it was awesome. Some of the stories are to come, but in general, everyone who went had a lot of fun. I met a bunch of cool people, Razi, Justin, Flor, Allison, Nikki, Katherine, Peter, Mario, Sydney, Michelle, among others (sorry if I didn’t mention you, you’re still in my mind!). Everything was just amazing. As Interact President and my second year at RYLA, I got to be an Advanced Rotary Youth Leadership Award member and help out everyone and attend different workshops. The advanced ropes course was a blast and I even did it blindfolded (which was interesting). So many stories and I have more to come.

As for the UC updates, I got into UCI a couple of weeks ago and got into UCSD today. Ironically, as  I twittered my UCSD acceptance on my phone around noon, within 10 minutes, the UCSDalumi group started following me on Twitter. I thought that was pretty crazy.

In terms of pictures, I’ll have the RYLA pictures uploaded soon (The ones I can anyway) and be e-mailing the rest to everyone soon! I’m super tired after returning from the first swim meet (which, as it was against Palisades, we lost 0-4 in terms of all of our teams. Sort of lame). The after dinner at LA Pizza was pretty good. Of course, having gotten home around 8:30, I’m still very tired (and dreading the swim practice tomorrow).

Well I have to study some constitutional amendments before I goto bed so I’ll post again later (I have a lot of things written in my moleskine that I can share)

-Sebastian

It’s a really sad thing when you’re sick. I really haven’t been sick in a really long time, and I have to say, I don’t remember it sucking so much! In combination with swim (that is the whole waking up way early to swim in a cold outdoor pool), the healing process has been slow. On the other hand, the amount of work I have has not by any stretch of the imagination been reduced.

The first and most important thing that’s looming over my head is my application to the NSFI-Y program. When I first heard about this program a month ago, I was very excited at the prospects of going overseas to learn a language. With the application due in little under 4 days, I’m at a loss as to how I’m going to manage to perfect the essay in tiem. Not that I haven’t done it in less time (considering one of my best college essays were written in a span of one night, although to be fair, I felt that the struggles of the week prior to that moment of epiphany aided my discovery of the perfect esasy topic), but there are other things going on that put stress andp ressure on the entire process.

For example: Debate. The big Stanford Invitational Tournament is just around the corner (the corner being about 7 days) with the practice(ish) league varsity tournament starting in about 36 hours. That’s something I need to work on given the fact that my case structure has yet to crystallize fully in my head (and myself being a month or two out of practice as a result of Science Bowl practices and scrimmages). I need to work on this ASAP (meaning probably tonight and tomorrow night), but I have to study for the Government test tonight as well.

Another upcoming event that I’m preparing for is the Pauper weeekend event. With great timing, the Pauper event is on a terrible day in terms of timing (with the Super Bowl, first weekend in Feburary, and my own personal due dates in place). That said, I’m committed to taking my Gro-a-Shade deck that I’ve been testing there and hopefully pilot it to great success. The deck is a control deck, but the fixes the common problem of most pauper control decks. Pauper cotnrol decks at this point are known for their lack of pressure. They grind the opponent into the ground trying to A) counter everything or B) destroy everything or C) try to gain incremental advantage in order to slowly secure a victory on the back of 2/2s. Let’s just say my Gro-a-Shade deck maintains the controlling aspect that a control deck should have while possessing the ability to win within 3 turns as soon as board position is gained. Personally I see that as a good way to win.

Lastly, the Superbowl is the Pittsburg Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner is my all-time favorite quarterback, given his story and his extraordinary ability to play smart (although this ability doesn’t extend  to holding onto the ball). I feel that with a win, it’ll give him the strange honor of being the most underrated quarterback of all time. That said, in his way are the Steelers, who I strongly believe to be the favorites going into Sunday. Between H. Ward leading an explosive big play offense and the strength of T. Polamalu’s historically amazing defense, the Cardinals are going to have to play the best game of their lives and hope to capitalize off of Steelers mistakes to win this one.

Although it seems overwhelming at first, I really do live for these kind of situations. High pressure times when I really don’t have a spare moment. Hopefully I’ll get through it all winning the Stanford Invitational, the Pauper Weekend PE, and getting into NSLI-Y (written out in reverse alphabetical order. I would think the NSLI-Y program is #1 on the importance scale).

Well off to debate practice.

-Sebastian

Today [I started this post on Tuesday prior to getting really sick] was an interesting day. Beyond the fact I swam for the first time in 2009, I bore witness (via television) in both my Period 1 and Period 2 classes to the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

What an occasion that was. Although I was reluctant to go to school, as I wanted to stay home and watch the inauguration, I’m glad I went. My 1st period teacher pulled out the TV, pulled up a chair, took out his coffee and watched the swearing in with us.

I have to say, I liked Mr. Rick Warren’s prayer. That said, I debated the warrants of having so much religion (an invocation, a benediction, the actual swearing in on the Bible and references to God, singular and capitalized) and I’ll go more indepth on that later.

Moreoever, I got to see Barack Obama sworn in (and stumble, but whatever), and even go to hear most of his speech (which involved sprinting from 1st period to 2nd period with Mitch in order to get into our Enviro class to watch the TV). It was a pretty morbid speech. It got the job done. It also seemed to criticize Bush a lot, which I felt to be pandering towards the audience (Bush’s approval #s are really low. If you want to be in agreement, just bash Bush), and a bit selfish. On the other hand, it shows he’s human!

Moving on, I was really at awe at how attentive my classmates were, and just how much of a moment the entire environment was. I even took some pictures.

Me watching Obama Speak

So this might be a good time to utilize the NextGen Gallery, so you can view the other pictures I took (which include a very attentive Byron).

Anyway. This historic day had even Mr. Van commenting that we can change the world. I intend to do so. For there is no try. There is do or do not.

So the historic day past. What will I be doing in 10 years? That’s what Mr. Van asked.

This is what I wrote:

The summer before 11th grade I felt a really strange thought. Yes felt. I felt this thought, didn’t imagine it, didn’t hear it, didn’t see it, but felt it. The thought, be it God-given or self-created, gave me a choice. I was informed by this thought that I would have the choice between choosing my own personal happiness and the happiness of many more. Since then, I’ve tried to figure out what I want to do. Although I do not know where my path will take me, I know this:

I shall become a catalyst for change: a person who initiates something much greater than himself for the betterment of the world.

And that’s that. Obama is president, and I’m still dreaming of my future.

Oh and I’m sick. Stupid cold.

-Sebastian