LAUSD Teacher Strike

Today all the teachers of the LAUSD have decided to have organized strikes the first hour of school.

First off, we, the students, can understand their struggle because there is an especially profound, dare I say symbiotic, relationship between the teachers and ourselves. In this case the existence and prosperity of one is dependant on the willingness and presence of the other (i.e. teachers can not instruct if they have no students willing or present and students can not learn if there are no willing mentors). It is this symbiotic relationship would imply their decision to "walk out" on their students is ludicrous and naive. By neglecting their students for one hour the teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District have deprived us of over 500,000 combined hours of precious classroom time. Furthermore, this action poses a negative example to many of my peers by presenting students with the option to opt for truancy the first hour of class. If just one student from each school in the district were truant it would mean there are 658 youths walking the streets of Los Angeles prone to the many dangers that would not be an issue were they in class.

Note that I personally do not blame the LAUSD itself, but rather the teachers and their union who have organized this strike. Yesterday night a recorded call of the district superintendent David L. Brewer III was made to the homes of all students, in which he stated that the Los Angeles Unified School District, the media, and the local and state governments can sympathize with the teachers, but do not support the method in which they have chosen to express themselves for the aforementioned reason. While I can sympathize with their cause the hypocrisy behind the struggle illustrates a blatant disregard for the students, therefore spreading the issue they wish to resolve which is to improve teachers wages and challenge the state budget cuts that will quickly become detrimental to the students who rely on funding for many elective courses such as music, sports, and journalism. By walking out on students the teachers have instantaneously simulated the effects a budget cut would have on the students.

This does not mean to say there are no other means to address this issue. While teachers fight for fair wages and their positions, the majority of students are concerned with the quality of instruction. The teachers must understand it is at times like this where the student-teacher symbiosis is crucial for the success of both our causes. If either teachers or students opt to fight for their cause without the support of the other faction we harm the other side and only help to contribute to the problem at hand. Joining together and fighting for what we deserve on a united front will not only bolster our influence, but show government officials our concern not only for ourselves, teacher or student, but for the total well-being and integrity of the district.

Ichigo

Loved

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

My heart is TAKEN!

I've never been happier!!!

500 times Better than getting high off the air we breathe!

Bouncing of the walls,
Mochi

P.S. Ichi+MOCHI FOREVER!

Whoooo!

So what fills my days now?

Lets see the sched:
8Am-9Am: Wake up
Wake up-9:30ishAM: Breakfast
9:30ish-Noon: Lay around
Noon: Call everyone trying to find someone who can take me somewhere
Sometime between 3-5PM: Get home if I find a buddy to hang with.
5PM-nappy bai: Talk to Ichi-chan, eat, sleep.

My days don't suck, but they can be pretty boring sometimes.

Hugs,
Mochi

Whoooo! This has been one of the tiredest weeks in a long time....even though I just lay around and do nothing all day. Being idle is really tiring work. Hehe.

I've been eating a lot more ice cream lately like I usually do when I get bored. Everyone says I can eat a lot and not gain weight, but I still feel like a whale so what does it matter.

You can tell I'm super super bored because I have literally NOTHING to talk about right now.

So what do my days look like since my broken ankle?

Like Nothing...

Where do you go when hope is lost...

I feel like hell. Sometimes, things don't always go as you plan.

It's part of life. It IS life. Yeah, life is nothing less than ambiguities against you...

I guess every blessing has a negative edge to it. If not the two sides, good and bad, wouldnt exist.

I'll be fine. I just need a little time. Or some more persistence.

Curse my inferiority complex and low self-esteem. It was always because of me.

~Ichigo

Sunday Swiss!

I missed yesterdays post because of random sleep. =P

Yesterday, I got to use Ichi's Walther PPK/S airgun. The one reason I really like it is because, Jolin Tsai uses it in her music video for her album Agent J. It's a small little airgun...what's so neat about it is that it has full recoil. So it's pretty fun.

I was skimming through Asianbite yesterday and I noticed an article comparing TVXQ to NewS. I never really paid much attention to NewS, even though I've heard about them so I checked it out. And ooh! It's another Asian band with cute guys in it! Haha. Their stuff isn't exactly me...just decided to mention it to you guys. AKB48 is more my taste.

I've been listening to suju's Rokkugo like I'm OCD over it. Hehe. That's where the post's title comes from.

I'm still limping on by with my crutches. All is well.

Hugs ^_^,
Mochi

Sleepiness and Boredom

Ahhh! Sorry!

Another day's post missed. Don't worry! You didn't miss anything. Just another sleepy day.

And I mean super super sleepy. One of those sleepy almost dead days...where it's really bad.

The soreness of my ankle is poking at it...like it's a toy. I KNOW it'll improve...I just wish it'd make the wait easier. Worst part of this all is....I can't drive!!!

It's not like I don't know how...but it's because i hurt my RIGHT ankle so yeah...

I'm stuck at home all the time...

Hugs,
Mochi

Burned Out

So today was another sleepy, slow, uneventful, downright TIRED day. Plain out lethargic. It starts out energetic enough (I was wearing my TRIPP brand pants and jacket) but by noon....UGH. I was plain out half dead.

I don't know what got me out of it...but I've been feeling a little fragment of the apathy and lethargy what I was then. So my conditions are workable.

Mochi's sprain is a lot sorer than it was yesterday...it's definitely not nice, but if she can endure it as effortlessly as she is I guess I shouldn't worry so much.

The orchestra teacher at my school got the recording session at Capitol Records re-confirmed. Joy...Most people don't actually want to do it, it tends to be a bigger burden than anything else. I know it's a big deal and all...but after you've done it once it just seems redundant.

I need another long weekend.

Sleepy beyond belief x_x,
Ichigo

Oww!

Guess what everyone!

I sprained my ankle! I was playing softball and I slid at home plate...but my right foot caught an uneven nook in the dirt and I sprained it. Ain't it awesome? Bet your soooo jealous...

The doctor said to lay off it for the next few weeks. So I'm just gonna lay here, kick back, and sleep the next few weeks off.

It's a little sore...but nothing too big.

I asked the doctor what the best way to let it heal was...he said RICE. You can think up what I thought up: "Rice?! I'm Asian! All I eat is rice! I eat more rice than I breathe air!!!" Yup yup..turns out RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. I still don't like how confusing that was at first. "Hmm...rice."

Hugs,
Mochi <3

Slow Weekend

Ichi-chan left the Leeteuk picture up so for you guys who want to gawk at idea that everyone in that car looked at him...gawk away. He's getting less defensive over that picture...you can tell the concert high is fading away.

This was a pretty plain long weekend, but I got tons of rest so I'm content as can be.

Ichigo says his wasn't any different from mine. It was raining, cold, and just plain too icky this weekend to really do anything.

Just a little sick...and with a fresh 4 day week rolling in it's really not nice.

I'm sure your weekend was awesome...definitely better than ours.

Hugs,
Mochi

SAT Scores

Hiya!

Ichi and I got our May SAT Reasoning scores by email a Friday...I have to confess I was scared that I did worse than I did the first time I took it. Fingers-crossed I clicked and I added the numbers together...1890!!! It was A LOT better than last time! I was bouncing off the walls when I saw the 210 point improvement from last time. That weekly studying the month leading up to it really helped a lot.

My Strawberry got 1980...He is too smart! It's not fair! Haha. J/K. He only studied a few days the week before the test...His studying was pretty intense since he and his friends answered almost every question in the official SAT Study Guide. I paced my self and got to about half of the problems in each section, but still not as many as he got to do. I want to get within at least 50 points of his next score.

1890 is a really great score, but 1980 is plain amazing. Too bad he didn't get another 20 points to hit 2000. That 20 points is key for college. Knowing him as well as I do he's probably gonna get obsessive and study even harder than last time. Hehe. I just hope he doesn't burn himself out.

^_^v,
Mochi

American Stars versus Korean Celebrities

When I see big music groups like Super Junior charity is usually the last thing that comes to my mind. It's pretty awkward to see celebrities acting compassionate like the rest of us.

This marathon that the members of Suju took part of really makes me wonder about their western counterparts. I don't really hear much about star's in American doing anything major to help anyone or anything and when they tend to it's usually just to hide a scandal.

When my Ichi-chan told me about how cool and calm the Suju members and SNSD's Sunny stayed when their car was swarmed by fangirls it seemed so different from how things are here. Even when celebrities are safe in their cars among fans here in America they still get so pissed instead of accepting it as a part of being famous.

It really makes you think about America's "culture."

I'll take care of posts for the next couple days. Take it easy.

Hugs,
Mochi

Sleepless Nights and Busy Weekends

Yesterday was plain wonderful. School was only so-so, but once I was at home I fell asleep at four and woke up at six! Another nap! That itself was so shocking that upon waking up and much to my confusion I couldn't remember what had happened before so my mind rushed to assume the worst that could've happened. After a few minutes of silent panic and consideration I remembered falling asleep so I just shook off the drowsiness and scrounged up something to eat. After dinner I didn't have much to do and I couldn't find much that was interesting to do online (nobody was online) so I went to lay down "for a few minutes." Guess what?

Minutes turned to hours! I went to lay down at seven....and woke up at four in the morning. AMAZING! I haven't felt this rested in months...years even.

I don't have anything planned for this three day weekend other than an opportunity to kick back and relax. The rain keeps us from doing anything anyway. That and my English 101 class at LACC.

School takes up a very LARGE chunk of my saturday. On top of my high school classes on the weekdays I have two classes on Saturdays from 7AM to 1PM. I really like seeing my own personal improvement in weight training and the politics discussed in my English 101 class. Procrastination's the only thing that ever stands in the way of anything so it's all good. Only two weeks left of LACC then my Saturdays are FREE!!!

Mochi said she'd post something later. Check back later!

~Ichigo

End, New, Goals...

Today was my hopefully last performance of the year. I remember when the idea of playing a symphony was overwhelming, but you learn it's tiring after a few times. Don't get me wrong...if any of you ever get a chance you should definitely grab it. Doesn't it sound awesome to be able to brag to all your friends about playing an entire symphony.

Today's performance wasn't bad at all; actually it was even better than yesterday's. Seemingly "inspired" by Monday's quartet, our orchestra conductor, Ms. Paakkari decided to break the entire class into quartet/quintet/sextets. My friends who played Monday with me didn't have a problem with it, but for those who haven't had a chance to do anything like it yet...they weren't exactly ecstatic about it. Apathetic is a better word.

The verdict is out...after seeing AWESOME Korean Music Festival pictures that were taken from the Garden Boxes posted on other blogs. We've decided to save up AT LEAST $150. Up from our decision for $80 a few days ago. We figured we walked all the way to the top edge of the garden boxes anyway so picture-wise it wouldn't make much a difference. But pictures from the Garden Boxes are plain AMAZING. We're still spazzing over it all, be it much less than on Sunday. It'll take quite some time to save up that much money. We're definitely going to have Garden Box seats if not the Pool Seats.

But for tonight my goal is getting a good nights rest...

zzzZZZzzzZZZ,
Oscar

Performance, Performance, Performance...

Since Friday I've been to or played in some performance almost everyday.

Quick Recap:
Friday: The Greek
Saturday: Attended Korean Music Festival
Sunday: Spazzing over Saturday/No Concert
Monday: Quartet at the Autry
Tuesday: LACC Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday: LACC Symphony Orchestra/Watch Percussion Ensemble

Tomorrows the last day of performances for a few weeks. I realize I haven't gotten around to saying I play piano and cello. Performances are usually on cello just because. And yes spazzing on Sunday is as tiring as any performance.

I'm guessing the point of this is to show how dead tired I am. Oddly enough, I'm learning I absolutely CAN'T sleep more than 8 hours. I didn't go to work today because of todays morning performance so I got my 8 hours of sleep which is 3-4 more hours than normal. Sure, I can shake off the grogginess in the morning, but soon enough it starts to consume me. From two in the afternoon to about six I was lying in bed in a dead kind of half-sleep state. I haven't taken a nap in a long time so it's rather weird I'd just clock out for four hours like that. Even worse is that after having rested that much that tired heaviness is starting to come back.

Joy...I work tomorrow and after that's over I have to make a beeline to the performance.

Never a moments rest.

Hoping you're well-rested,
Ichigo

Another Day...

I finished scolding Ichi-chan about not being as camera happy for Chae Yeon as he was for SNSD...hahaha. He's used to it. It's just playful poking of his buttons.

Today wasn't too big for me other than spazzing over Ichi's story's about Suju, TVXQ, SNSD, CHAE YEON(!) . I broke down and had a spazgasm after hearing how he stood in front of Leetuek's car to take a pic...and I just spazzed out and died when I heard SNSD's Tiffany(?) was there too. OMG!!!! It was just too much....way too much for me.

I'm trying to convince him to take the Leeteuk pic down to keep people from reaching it and he says one of his friends told him the same. Gotta keep it pure and special...and unseen by many. Preserve and cherish it. That picture is GOLD!!

It's a sure thing that the pic will go down before week's end. If you get a copy before then...you are one lucky *****. Hehe j/k

Other than that it was too hot to do anything else. Sorry for missing yesterdays post. I'll do better! Promise!

My Strawberry had a quartet thing...knowing him he'll probably blog it tomorrow.

The Greek and The 2008 Korean Music Festival!!!!!

Today (or yesterday rather) was the best day ever!!!

Before I forget I'll do a super quick rundown of the performance at the Greek. It was MUCH better than last year and a lot of others felt that way too. Having almost no technical problems, better preparations, and an awesome moshpit all contributed to this new general appeal. I can honestly say everyone in the audience seemed to have some part of it they enjoyed. I can only hope next year is just as good...

May 17, 2008: The Korean Music Festival
Saturday started typically enough. Very tired and energy gone from the performance the night before, but trudging to weight training and English 101 anyway. I never suspected the festival would be anything like it turned out to be. Yeah, we were all excited before the concert (I won a USB drive! hehe), but the energy behind that excitement was nothing compared to the excitement as soon as it started. First up was Super Junior T with Rokkugo!!! Energy just possesed everyone in the audience and it didn't take long for it to hit me. I only took about 20 pictures of Suju even though most of them we're very blurry or distanced (we sat in the very back; the cheap seats). I seriously regretted not having a camera with more zoom or a camera-binocular...same goes for So Nyeo Shi Dae. Actually, the pic belows one of the best ones I got of them singing.

I regretted not having more pics of them even more than I did with Suju...probably because Mochi's a HUGE fan. Okay...now fast forward. After dealing with the massive gap between my camera and the stage I decided to run down to the top edge of the garden boxes and take pics from there. Those pictures were so much better in every way than those desperate shots from section W3...as the night went on I took more and more pictures that same way and I was just content with them. Not really excited. After the concert as we were all tired and ready to leave my friends and I heard screaming from the backlot so we followed to see the performers getting into the cars and leaving. Most of the girls there were in a hollow gaze of shock while security pushed them back. Lesson learned: No force on earth can keep crazed fangirls from at least trying to snap a close distance shot. I figured why not and I joined the insanity too. Suju's car drove on out slowed only by fans close to the side and I took the direct approach: Stand in front of the passenger side and snap a pic. Perfection! I snapped a straight on shot of most of Leeteuk's face. I'm sure there were better pictures, but I felt just a little accomplished doing that. My friend's sure liked the picture. A few minutes into the show we all decided to start raising money for the so-called "pool-circle" right by the stage and runway. If today was awesome it'll be worth it to raise the $200 for each of those seats.



I just had to type that out to get it out. Today was just too great a day to not talk about. Ugh...I'm dead tired now.

I'll just be "lazy" and let Mochi type out a post.

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

Weekend Rhythms

The day just started and the sun's already scorching. It's really awesome to see the trees so green and the way the rays of light hit them is pure bliss. Oh and the contrast with the sky. Sometimes I look outside and feel as though this is what we were made to live for.

I'm typing this up from the office at school. Classes have ended, but work has taken over and it's all the same to me. Can't really complain about getting paid. Today and tomorrow are pretty eventful days for me. Tonight at 7 my school is performing at the Greek Theater for the fifth annual Bach, Rock, and Shakespeare. Last years was littered with technical problems and hopefully this year will be free of them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll update later on about how that goes.

Tomorrow will start like any other Saturday. Weight training at LACC 7AM then conferencing with my English 101 instructor. What stands out about this Saturday is the Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. Before heading out to the Bowl my friends and I are gonna kill time in Glendale, grab a Cinnabon and something to drink, then drive out to Hollywood and Highland and wait it out there. Tomorrows gonna be awesome! Its a shame BoAs not gonna be there, but So Nyeo Shi Dae will be so it's all good. Only bad thing I saw about it was parking...$19-$35 per car?! I guess entertainments not cheap.

Oh by the way my posts will be in RED and Mochi's posts will be in YELLOW so you can tell right away who's talking. Check back soon! Thanks for reading!

~Ichigo

*High five* Welcome! ^_^v

Mochi here with the first ever post for our first blogger! Ichi-chan's being lazy away so I'm here to say "Hi!"

I'd say something 'bout my day...but today was too sleepy. Ichi should have something to say tomorrow Saturday since he has his BACH, ROCK, AND SHAKESPEARE V performance tomorrow at the Greek Theater. If you're livin' it up in L.A. and you have nothing better to do Google it and check it out! Sorry...last minute advertising. Hehe.

We'll be back with our first real post very very soon! Check back Saturday for our first real post!

Hugs,
Mochi